I spend a lot of time "educating" our prospects

I spend a lot of time "educating" our prospects about Embroidery, Screen Print and Promotional Products . Unfortunately, they sometimes use that information to purchase their solution elsewhere.

These "educational" moments are always tough to stomach. I have spent several long phone calls educating a prospect on how to solve their particular challenge only to have them come back and say, "Well, we decided to go with Vendor X because..."

I had enough rapport and credibility with the prospect to empathize with their challenge and offered several ideas on how to solve it. Unfortunately, what I learned was I didn't provide was enough value, unique to my solution, to keep the prospect from wandering off.

When you finish your meeting with a prospect, at some point you will ask yourself what will stop "Bob" from going online, calling one of my colleagues, or calling my competition and buying something similar to what I just showed him.

What you need to do is endear your prospect to your offering by:

• Selling yourself as a strong resource, capable of providing unique and refreshing ideas.
• Don't brag about your accomplishments.
• Don't talk about your product or service.
• Don't talk about your competition.

In the unlikely event that they go with another vendor, don't be shy about scheduling some time with them for a post mortem. Find out why they chose this other vendor, where you fell short in your process, how you can improve, and most important, ask for referrals.