You're in sales engineering. How can you inform clients of product limitations without losing the sale? (original) (raw)
Last updated on Aug 27, 2024
In sales engineering, it's crucial to balance honesty with maintaining the sale. Try these strategies:
- Highlight alternative features that align with client needs, showing the product's unique value.
- Be transparent about timelines for potential enhancements to address concerns.
- Build trust by discussing limitations in the context of real-world usage scenarios.
How do you approach discussing product limitations without deterring clients?
Last updated on Aug 27, 2024
You're in sales engineering. How can you inform clients of product limitations without losing the sale?
In sales engineering, it's crucial to balance honesty with maintaining the sale. Try these strategies:
- Highlight alternative features that align with client needs, showing the product's unique value.
- Be transparent about timelines for potential enhancements to address concerns.
- Build trust by discussing limitations in the context of real-world usage scenarios.
How do you approach discussing product limitations without deterring clients?
Help others by sharing more (125 characters min.)
4 answers
- I can’t give you advice as to how to “balance” honesty. Honesty is honesty. Sure, you can hide details and you might get the sale. You won’t have a long term customer though. And you’ll get a (-) reputation. If your product has limitations, the product has limitations. If your company is one that offers any value, these limitations can become the basis for version 2.0 of your product. Highlight to your client how your company listens to feedback. How it has a track record of incorporating that feedback into revisions and next generation product to meet ongoing needs. You are not selling a product. You are selling a long term relationship. If there are no examples of your company listening to feedback, find another company.
- Manage the clients' perceptions by emphasizing the product was engineered to overcome the weaknesses of competitive products and provides benefits that add value by increasing the mean time between failure, operational efficiency, and decreasing costs. No product is perfect, but ours was designed to deliver the best possible performance in its class.
- In sales engineering, addressing product limitations while keeping the client engaged is a fine balance. I've encountered situations where clients had high expectations for certain product capabilities, but instead of sidestepping the issue, I found that being transparent and strategic worked best. Here's how I handle these conversations: 1. Let’s say a client is looking for a feature that isn’t currently available in the product you’re showcasing. Rather than immediately focusing on the limitation, I start by highlighting what the product can do that aligns with their core needs. For example, when I worked with a mobile gaming studio, a client wanted a specific integration between our analytics tool and their third-party marketing platform
- Discuss the strengths that have been optimized to satisfy the pain points that the client needs addressed. Point out the other features as additional benefits. If your product is superior in its primary functions, there may be opportunity to sell a complimentary product to address the secondary shortfalls if the client is concerned about them.