Another Sandler rule is “don’t do unpaid consulting”. This can be a game changer for almost anyone in the sales world. It’s not necessarily about being unhelpful or secretive, but it’s more about securing the business before you provide solutions. This ensures that you are paid as you should for your time and expertise. Unpaid consulting often happens when people give away too much advice or service during the sales process. This is dangerous for your salespeople because prospects may take your advice and use it, or they may take your advice and shop around to see what others have to say before picking someone to do business with. There is definitely a fine line to walk between providing value in your pitch in sales conversations, but keeping enough value nuggets in your back pocket to convince the client that they must do business with you in order to get those nuggets. So, how do you salespeople avoid this type of mistake? First you must ensure that whoever you are talking to is genuinely interested and capable in making a purchasing decision. Second, use a consultative selling approach that requires asking questions of the prospect before providing solutions. This helps you develop a relationship with the client, and fully understand his wants and needs, which positions you as a trusted advisor rather than just another salesperson. That being said, your expertise is how you make money. So you must show parts of your expertise in order to help the prospect understand that you’re the right person to work with. This leads to engagements that are beneficial for both you and your client. By adopting this “no free work” mindset you will not only be paid for the work you do, but you will protect yourself from prospects who potentially want to shop around and aren’t serious buyers. This will ultimately lead to more meaningful and productive relationships and will increase your selling effectiveness.
By kuechlycj22
BoweryJE22 7 thoughts on “Why ‘No Free Work’ Should Be Your New Mantra in Sales”
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This is an interesting rule because I’ve seen free work be beneficial to the start of a business many times. The examples I think of could have been charging well below the normal market price for their services now that I think of it and still gotten the business.
I think this is a really interesting conversation. I think free work can help in building trust and a portfolio of good work. As a designer sometimes you have to do work for a client for free so they can see the quality of your work before fully investing in it, but I understand your standpoint. Working for free is selling yourself short of making money doing what’re you’re good at. There are definitely limits to working for free.
Great insight. Once you realize the value that your expertise brings to the table, you can create value. Offering it away for free takes all the value off the table.
Social media often gives out “freebies” so viewing this in a different lens has been very interesting for me. I like how you provided a way forward, and didnt just focus on the problem. Finding creative ways around it were a great way to end the post- well done!
This is a great reminder for salespeople in ensuring they don’t undervalue or undersell what they know they have to offer, simply for the sake of seeming “nicer” or more polite. While you can find creative ways around this as a way to still offer the prospect a free taste of something you have to offer, you have to keep it in check with some limits and boundaries. Great insight!
This post was very good! Giving away too much in the early stages of the sale can prove costly to you in the long run. Making sure you have an equal balance between giving advice and seeking compensation is crucial. Free work is sometimes not the most beneficial thing to do. Good work!
Caleb, I love this post. It was well written and it has a great message. This reminds me of the concept of not spilling your candy in the lobby. I think it is hard to not do this a little, but if you can perfect not doing it at all, that’s when your sales can really start to thrive.