by Dave
(USA)
When a customer says we buy off of a contract, what would be a good response to keep the conversation going?
Answer
The interesting thing with a contract is that a sale may be a long way off, but when you get the business you've got it for a long time too.
Many of the sales I made in my B2B sales career were contracts.
When, I'd encounter a new prospect who said they bought under contract the first thing I went after was details.
For example:
What advantages do you get buying under contract?
How long have you been buying that way?
How long do you prefer the contracts to run?
How long before your current contract ends?
How many people offer you this product/service?
How interested would you be in having another supplier?
At then end of a set of questions like that you should know what's important to them, when you can quote, how big the business is and how interested they are in an alternative supplier.
Then it's a matter of aligning how you operate and what you offer with what's important to them and accentuating the ares in which you have an advantage over your competitors.
Hope this advice helps, Greg