How to properly sell complex industrial equipment. New equipment for small business

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 equipment 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 actions that the head of the company performs: from choosing a manufacturer to analyzing commercial offers 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 offers, as well as compare the best offers with the ones you are selling, 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 who have made good progress in their field. This source of information also contains information about major plans legal entities for its further development.

Lot 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 of being left without technical support in case of any malfunctions, 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. At the same time, special attention should be paid not to exhibitions where your competitors perform, but to events attended by your potential customers. It is advisable to participate in all international exhibitions, since it is there that 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.

First of all, 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 the technical side of the issue, 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 goods, there is the ability of the seller to correctly and at the right time to submit the necessary technical advantages 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 ready to spend money to participate in a reputable exhibition, or places information about himself in expensive industry directories (for example, in the directories of Maksimov's Editions), then this is a good sign by which one can indirectly judge the company's readiness to invest in its development, including the acquisition 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 point is that top officials of client companies rarely come to profile exhibitions (where, besides you, there are manufacturers of similar equipment); most likely, they are visited only by ordinary specialists. On the other hand, if you attend exhibitions that showcase your customers' products, you will meet many more decision makers there and you will be able to negotiate more effectively with them. 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 contact to contract, therefore, if you put a small salary and commission on the manager, 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 properly 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 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.

To succeed in the market industrial enterprise it is necessary to strictly observe the mandatory condition: to stimulate the development of the company and production. This implies, among other things, the timely expansion of the technological park and the replacement of equipment with a more adequate, modern and relevant to the needs of the market.

We buy used industrial equipment

Our organization will help you to modernize production at the lowest financial cost. You can sell used industrial equipment to us. This will allow you to free up significant additional funds.

We buy a wide range of used industrial equipment, including large-sized, atypical and obsolete ones. In each individual case, we will evaluate your equipment and offer unique price. We can consider your offer even if you want to sell used industrial equipment in the form of industrial lines.

Currently, RuSkupka is purchasing industrial equipment used:

• — metalworking machines;
• — presses, forging equipment;
• - forklifts;
• — rolled metal;
• — laboratory equipment;
• - electric motors;
• - gasoline generators;
• - gearboxes;
• — compressors;
• — non-standard stationary equipment;
• — non-standard mobile equipment;
• — hydraulic equipment;
• — hydraulic units, hydroblocks;
• – industrial tools and special equipment;

If you did not find your equipment in the above list, please contact us by e-mail or by phone (see the Contacts section), and we will consider your case as unique.

Dismantling and removal of industrial equipment

We practice an individual approach when considering each proposal, as industrial equipment is not in high demand. You will save yourself the trouble of finding a buyer, because it can be very difficult to sell used industrial equipment. It is even more difficult to find one buyer for the entire line.

In the case of the sale of small industrial tools and equipment, we are ready to consider both small (usually our competitors refuse to consider them) and large lots.

We buy used industrial equipment, both domestic and foreign.

We can independently organize industrial equipment, but the cost of these services is negotiated separately and deducted from the cost of your equipment. When selling industrial equipment, you should take into account that dismantling can be quite an expensive procedure, especially in a fire hazardous, explosive production or in continuous operation shops where it is necessary to remove the equipment without stopping production process. It is often much cheaper, safer and faster to dismantle this type of equipment by in-house specialists. No one knows your production better than your employees.

Terms of payment, export, terms of the transaction, we are ready to "adjust" to your needs.

We help grow your business.