What is the best equipment to sell? Sale of industrial equipment. To whom to sell complex equipment

Most managers believe that sales techniques in all sectors of the economy are identical to each other. However, each product has its own specific properties that must be considered when selling. So the sale of technically complex goods - expensive machine tools, production equipment or medical technology requires a thorough knowledge of their technical features.

How to increase equipment sales?

• figure it out yourself in terms of the product being sold.
• Explore all the non-obvious or little-known specifications goods. This will go a long way in answering customer questions about how your product is better than your competitors.
• Knowledge of technical specifications. This will allow you, when talking with customers, to calculate how much they will benefit from using your equipment: sales profit or significant cost savings.
• Put yourself in the place of a potential client(head big company), who intends to purchase technically complex equipment similar to yours. Try to complete all the steps that the head of the company performs: from choosing a manufacturer to analyzing commercial offers from possible suppliers. After that, it is necessary to fill in a summary table of the most significant characteristics of the largest suppliers: equipment versatility, delivery conditions, availability of warranty service, cost of consumables, etc.

Such a table will allow you to visually analyze the situation on the market through the eyes of potential customers. You will immediately notice all the most profitable offer, as well as compare the best offers with the ones you sell, which will allow you to focus the interlocutor's attention precisely on strengths your offer.

Finding Clients

A traditional search for clients using the Internet can give disappointing results, since a visually solid website of a legal entity does not indicate its readiness to purchase expensive high-quality equipment.

The prospects of a particular client are best assessed with the help of specialized directories, industry press or catalogs of exhibitions held.

Industry news often contains information about the most successful companies that have achieved good luck in their field of activity. This source of information also contains information about major plans legal entities for its further development.

A lot of interesting information can be obtained by browsing popular trade magazines, since the authors and advertisers of these publications are often potential customers of sophisticated equipment themselves.

Product promotion

Since customers are often afraid to be left without technical support in the event of any malfunction, great importance has a long-term relationship of trust between the customer and the supplier.

Of great importance is the placement of your advertising in the industry periodicals in a hidden form, since such publications increase the credibility of the information posted. Advertising should not be intrusive and contain your contact details, just the name of the company and the products offered are sufficient.

To promote sales, it is important to distribute on your own industry periodicals containing information about your services: at exhibitions, by mail or at a meeting with potential buyers.

Participation in allows you to find new customers who are ready to invest significant financial resources in the development of the economy. Wherein Special attention should be given not to exhibitions at which your competitors perform, but to events attended by your potential customers. It is desirable to participate in all international exhibitions, since it is there that the people who make decisions on the conclusion of multimillion-dollar contracts are present.

What questions will you find answered in this article:

You can often hear from consultants: sales techniques are the same in all industries, and it doesn’t matter what to sell. In my opinion, this is absolutely wrong. Each product has its own characteristics, especially when it comes to technically complex products - machine tools, production equipment, medical equipment. I happened to be engaged in the sale of such equipment (metalworking machines), and in this article I will share my experience.

What you need to know about equipment in order to sell it

First of all, you need to understand the product.

Firstly, it is necessary to study its technical characteristics: non-obvious or little-known technical features can become weighty arguments in negotiations with a potential buyer. If you do not own technical side question, it will be very difficult to counter the objections of the client related to the fact that you and your competitors have the same product in principle.

Secondly, you need to isolate the benefits that the product provides to different customers, and calculate how much profit it can bring to them - whether it be direct sales revenue or cost savings.

To get started, it's helpful to do the following. Imagine that you are not a seller, but a client - CEO a company that has decided to purchase equipment similar to yours. Do everything that this director would do - from finding a manufacturer to collecting commercial offers from potential sellers (for this you will have to register a separate mailbox and introduce yourself as a real, but little-known company). Then compile a summary table of all important characteristics of supplier companies: equipment, terms of delivery, service, expendable materials. Analyze which seller you would choose if you were a client. So you will see the advantages and disadvantages of your competitors and understand what advantages your company has. It will also become clear what additional offers on your part will make customers who conduct such market analysis choose you.

By the way, about competitors. Do you have them? Many will answer that there are many. However, I think otherwise. When selling complex technological equipment, the main competition is not in the product itself, but in sales skills, the ability to convey benefits and advantages to the client. A complex product with knowledge of the technical side of the issue can be quite easily positioned in comparison with other similar products. There are no absolutely identical products, there is a seller's ability to correctly and at the right time to present the technical advantages necessary for the client and reveal the nuances.

Where to look for buyers of technological equipment

The first thing that comes to mind is the Internet. There really are clients there, and all the main ones are even known. But the fact is that the Network will not help evaluate the future buyer in terms of his capabilities. The site of a potential client (company) may look very solid, but this does not guarantee the company's willingness to pay worthy money for your products. It often happens that a manager spends a lot of time on a seemingly large client, who ultimately buys a product in a very cheap configuration or does not buy it at all. Therefore, it is better to use the Internet only as an aid. Assessing the prospects of clients is based on other sources - primarily on specialized industry directories, exhibition catalogs and industry press.

If a potential buyer is willing to spend money to participate in a reputable exhibition, or places information about himself in expensive industry directories (say, in the directories of the Maximov Editions company), then this good sign, by which one can indirectly judge the company's readiness to invest in its development, including the purchase of expensive technological equipment.

What should you do if you have, for example, a catalog of exhibiting companies in your hands? Select potential clients and call them. At the same time, it is good to mention that you met with a representative of the company at the exhibition: this will make the first contact warmer. Praise the client's booth and start a conversation about how the event went and what the results are. After that, it will be possible to gradually move on to talking about equipment.

Another source of information about the client's solvency is industry news that talks about development plans different companies. Regularly analyzing this information, you will form an idea whether the client has the opportunity to buy sophisticated equipment.

In general, the platforms for promotion are the same as for finding customers - industry media and exhibitions. If information about your company flashes on them, this will form more trust among potential customers. In the sale of equipment in general, and especially expensive technological equipment, trust in the supplier is often more important than trust in the equipment itself, because customers are always afraid of being abandoned in the event of a breakdown.

Participation in exhibitions. I advise you to identify the key exhibitions in your industry. Moreover, you need to focus not so much on the sites where your competitors are located, but on the exhibitions that attract your customers. The fact is that top officials of client companies rarely come to specialized exhibitions (where, in addition to you, there are manufacturers of similar equipment); most likely, they are visited only by ordinary specialists. On the other hand, if you participate in exhibitions that showcase customer products, you will meet many more decision makers there and will be able to spend more time with them. effective negotiations. That's what I did when I was an employee of a company that sold machine tools worth several million euros. I have always insisted on placing at least a small stand at the International Aviation and Space Salon (MAKS). The products of our potential customers were exhibited there and there were very few of our competitors (they participated mainly in the exhibitions "Metalworking" and "Engineering"). I can say that MAKS gave us many times more useful contacts and further contracts than all other exhibitions combined. This event brought together the most influential people from companies - potential customers, who are very difficult to meet in a normal setting.

How to help managers sell equipment more efficiently

Rely on people with a technical background, train them in sales skills if necessary. Techies offering sophisticated equipment to customers will be able to speak the same language with them. There are two things to keep in mind when designing an incentive system for technology sellers.

1. A lot of time passes from the contact to the contract, therefore, if the manager is given a small salary and a commission, he will not be very interested, since he will have to wait for the first commission, perhaps six months or a year.

Given this, I consider a decent salary and a bonus for work (once every six months or a year) to be the optimal motivation. At first, when there are no sales yet, but the volume of work is still large, the bonus can be calculated based on the number, for example, of meetings held or contact details received, and after the start of sales, from the volume of contracts concluded and the percentage of completion of the plan.

Instead of a conclusion

There are a number of features in the sales of complex machinery and equipment, which I also advise you to pay attention to.

1. There are no trifles. Even the largest potential contract may not be concluded due to the fact that you missed a small nuance and it became a stumbling block. Therefore, study all the little things at every stage of working with a client.

2. A lot of meetings and negotiations are held in the client company without your participation. Therefore, your task is to promote not only your product, but also the idea that the specialist with whom you met would sell your equipment within his company and in your absence.

3. Even best product can lose a tender to a weaker one if the manager does not know how to correctly present products, negotiate and build sales steps. Develop your managers, conduct training under the guidance of specialists with experience in selling similar complex equipment.

4. Since you will need to carry out a large number of negotiations with different employees of the client company (starting with the head of the company and financial director and ending, perhaps, with technical specialists), you need a broad outlook on issues that are interesting to these people, otherwise you simply will not be able to speak the same language with them. Expand your knowledge in these areas. This will greatly increase your chances of making a successful deal.

How to quickly sell used machines

Have you purchased new equipment and do not know what to do with the old one? Or maybe you decided to re-profile production, so you want to sell used equipment? Or are you closing the enterprise and selling off all used machines? In any case, you should make the sale as profitable as possible for yourself. And the speed of its implementation is also important: there is no need for extra equipment to gather dust in a warehouse if it can help someone start their production.

How many potential buyers for used machines do you think there are in your city? Most likely, quite a bit. And therefore, even if you advertise with the text “I will sell used machines” in all the newspapers of the city, it is unlikely that you will receive many offers. It is better not to waste time, but immediately turn to professionals for whom selling used machines is a common job. Where to find them? Everything is quite simple: you need to go to a site that specializes in posting ads “I will sell used machines” and “I will buy used machines”. If you do not find anything suitable for yourself among the offers of other visitors to the resource, then you can count on the help of the managers of the company that owns this resource. They have regular customers who will gladly buy your used equipment. Also, if necessary, experienced professionals can help you negotiate with transport company, repair shops or customs services.

In fact, such a resource is a bulletin board for the purchase and sale of used equipment.

Here you can place your ad like "buy used equipment" or "sale of used machines" for free. In this case, you can even provide a note with a photo of the machine or its diagram. But in fact, the functions of such a resource are somewhat wider and include assistance to their clients. Managers of the company that owns this bulletin board will provide you as a seller with several options for offers from buyers at once, from which you can choose the most suitable one for yourself.

Now let's give an example. Imagine that the owner of a small production, for example from Saratov, needs to sell lathe boo. He did not find buyers in his city and, without thinking for a long time, hastened to place an offer on the bulletin board on the Internet. In parallel, he looked through ads beginning with the words “buy used machines” and found among them several suitable options for himself. But one buyer was from Vladivostok, another from Kaliningrad, and the third was from Ukraine. Then the manager of the bulletin board contacted him and said that there is a client from Saratov who buys used machines. The choice is obvious.

Thus, without losing anything, you can easily sell used machines, and possibly even buy some others. The main advantage of using bulletin boards is that only potential customers who want to buy used equipment come to them. And this greatly increases the chances of a speedy transaction. In addition, by selling used machines with the help of such a resource, you can count on better offers than with any other method. Even if you search for the phrase “buy used machines”, you will find much fewer offers than on a specialized bulletin board. And experienced managers will provide you with a whole database regular customers who buy used machines. They will also tell you which repair shop or which carrier to contact.

So, the conclusion is obvious. If you want to sell used machines quickly and profitably - declare your offer on the bulletin board on the Internet! Any equipment (used milling machine, lathe, drilling, foundry, welding, woodworking and many others) can easily find its new owner on such a resource.

Based on materials from MashStock.ru

When a customer buys himself, in fact, this is not sales, but service requests. But what if the client does not buy? And in many markets it has become just that. How to form a system that could generate sales? "Change or die" - this principle, many companies have put in the basis of the new strategy.

The industrial equipment market is no exception. After all, the majority of companies producing and/or selling industrial equipment used a purely reactive approach in their work. What does it mean?

The model looked like this. The customer's purchasing officer called potential vendors for the equipment he needed. Where did he get information about suppliers? Mainly from reference materials, advertising media: the Internet, specialized press and catalogs of the suppliers themselves, and later - from their own communication experience. On the phone call potential client replied Technical Specialist on this species equipment. Together they discussed what equipment could meet the request and be provided, as well as the volumes, terms and commercial terms of delivery. After that, everyone went to do their own thing: the consultant prepared the appropriate offer and sent it to the client, and the buyer continued calling in the hope of a better offer.

I must say that for the client this made sense. Firstly, due to the large flow of buyers, not all equipment could be obtained from the warehouse, some popular items had to wait more than a month, or even three. Secondly, for the same reason, the price of equipment could vary by 30 percent from supplier to supplier. In addition, the services provided by suppliers also varied greatly - from logistics to service and warranty support.

A fundamentally necessary change in business processes is their reorientation to the client when assessing own resources and proactivity, that is, the transfer of the initiative to build relationships to the supplier company. Therefore, responsibility for each client should be assigned to a specific manager who will solve all the client's questions and know everything about him.

1. Logistics

It is important to learn how to analyze the assortment, evaluate the sales potential of each item of equipment, make a sufficient supply of the most popular items and some stock of potentially popular ones. This is all the more critical because the supplier company cannot afford to freeze funds in illiquid goods during a crisis. On the other hand, it is necessary to discuss with the production the conditions for reducing the terms of the production itself and / or the supply of the rest of the equipment on request, so as not to miss the client who is ready to wait. True, there must be a reason for the client himself why he is waiting. If it is rare equipment, then the expectation is logical. Otherwise, you should consider a profitable commercial offer: either at a price (which is highly undesirable - except perhaps a “game” with the course), or at additional conditions- installation by the supplier, on-site training, free shipping, extended warranty period, 24-hour Help Desk and a number of other bonuses that were not there before.

2. Informing the target audience

In no case should you stop informing, which is subject to optimization, but not to reduction. Understand how you can communicate information to the client more actively, how to collect information and optimally redistribute the marketing budget.

Often, such a method of active dissemination of information as a visit (but not participation!) Industry exhibitions and other events of potential customers gives an effect. The purpose of the visit is to collect as many contacts and business cards as possible, to talk with the client's representatives. This information can be used further for the target contact. It is best for consultant managers to go to such events so that they can collect really useful information and call an already “familiar” specialist from the client’s side after a face-to-face conversation.

The collection of information about customers can also be carried out by the call center. Just do not force operators to engage in cold sales in any case !!! The result, as a rule, is a bunch of employees who are demotivated by the lack of results and a sense of the meaninglessness of their work. The task that should be assigned to them is only the collection of information about the current situation with the client, contact persons, decision-making levels and updating / replenishing the database. And if the operator accidentally stumbles upon a client with an actual request, then such information must be immediately transferred to the consultant manager.

3. Call Center and Help Desk

Now these are services not only of consulting and receiving calls, but also of increasing customer loyalty due to courtesy, efficiency and quality of solving requests, as well as a more attentive attitude to the needs of the client. In addition, incoming calls can be used to collect additional information(see above).
Why do you need to transfer the call center and Help Desk to work on extended hours - depending on the geography of customers. If the company's equipment works around the clock at customer sites, it is desirable to install 24-hour support.

4. Service center for warranty and post-warranty service

Now any service is an additional source of value formation in the eyes of the client. Therefore, you need to conclude contracts for the maintenance of your equipment with others. service centers, to develop their centers in places of congestion of customers.
It makes sense to think about extending the warranty period by the supplier company.

5. Active visits to potential buyers

Establishing a relationship with a client in person is much easier than over the phone. Therefore, visiting customers on their territory becomes an urgent task. The reason for the visit may be previously established contacts, already established contacts at a higher level, as well as incoming requests. Previously, such requests were processed exclusively by phone, but now the manager has the opportunity to catch on and offer an on-site visit to assess the situation - this will identify a much wider range of needs for additional equipment. Do not forget: often customers do not even assume that the supplier has not only those price list items that they are used to taking.

6. Summits

If the client does not stop production, then he must plan the funds for the material and technical base. Spare parts and consumables are always needed, because equipment failure does not stop with a crisis. The allocated budget can be spent on different vendors (as was the case before) and MUST be spent only on your equipment. That's the point of the summit meetings - to agree on principled mutually beneficial cooperation, and then link the performers together so that they know exactly what to do when the need for equipment arises. The "summits" tool is very subtle. First, a supplier representative typically has only one chance of a successful meeting. Secondly, the performers must also be taken into account and "pleased", otherwise they can skimp on the management's agreements in the most innocent ways ("the equipment does not fit into ours!", "breaks", "inconvenient to work" and so on). Third, such relationships require informal support. All of the above suggests that such meetings should be attended by leaders from the supplier, and the preparation for such meetings should be carried out in the most thorough way!