Awhile back, I was talking to a prospective customer who was considering buying some equipment from us. One of the drawbacks of the buying process that he was struggling with was not being able to see the equipment in action. As a result, he was very unsure of whether to make a purchase or not.
I’m proud to have a network of people I’ve sold equipment to who are happy to have me bring a prospective customer to their facility to have a look at the equipment doing its thing. I took him to see this particular piece of equipment in action. When he saw it working in the real world, he was hooked.
“I knew the equipment was good, but not this good,” he said.
We ended up bringing him on as a customer, one who has since purchased multiple things from us.
Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but I’ve learned to remember some key things when it comes to providing people with processing equipment.
- People want to see equipment perform prior to investing in it. To make the leap from a prospect to an actual customer, the customer I described above needed to see the equipment performing for someone else who had already invested in it. A car you can take for a test drive. Seed cleaning equipment, not so much. The nature of the product is just different. But, if your equipment provider has a proverbial Rolodex of happy customers to call upon, you can see the equipment in action in a number of different scenarios.
- A network of happy customers is the gateway to making a good purchasing decision. People in agriculture typically all want to help each other succeed. People are usually willing to share their success stories.
- Leverage social media to your advantage. I love to show people pictures and videos of our equipment in action via my Twitter account. Don’t forget about the power of social media in helping you make purchasing decisions.
