Is It Your Category?

Then kill it!

The march toward excellence brings its own rewards. Sometimes it also brings a really cool name.

For instance: category killer. Even if you’re unsure of the definition, you have to admit that’s a pretty awesome phrase, in a gritty film-noir kind of way.

"Category killer" comes to us from the world of retailing. A category killer is a specialty store, one that so dominates its category of offerings, that it effectively “kills” the competition in that area. The competition surrenders that category of merchandise, knowing that the “killer” has it all sewn up.

The Henry Bierce Company of Tallmadge has since 1910 been playing in one of the most competitive sandboxes imaginable: hardware and home improvement. Since the rise of the big-box hardware stores, family-owned stores like Bierce’s have been endangered and dwindling toward extinction.

But Henry Bierce is a category killer. The category is masonry. Oh, they have every other type of hardware you’re looking for, to be sure. But bricks and blocks, trowels and mortar tubs, along with the skills and experience that go with them — Bierce owns that category. There are no viable masonry competitors for miles around. There probably never will be, as long as there’s a Henry Bierce Company.

There are many disreputable, dishonest, even illegal ways to crush the competition. There’s one laudable and estimable way to do it, and it’s how Bierce did it: domination through excellence. Killing the category by being best at it. Showing your competition that it’s folly to take you on.

As we’re sure you’ve guessed, we’re not just talking retail anymore. Anywhere there’s a category of commerce, there’s an opportunity to kill it. If you’ve got competition of any kind, if you’ve got a category of any kind — you can assert your domination by claiming the title of “best.”

And that’s nothing less than what you were already going for. Right, killer?

The C4:

1. Retail is where we all go for Selling 101. No matter what sort of commerce you’re engaged in, you can learn a lot about the theory and application of marketing from the folks who set up shop to do it every day.
2. The pinnacle of that retail world is the category killer. This is the seller who knows his category so well, who can sell it and service it like none other, that effectively shuts down the competition through the force of his own awesomeness.
3. Anyone can be a category killer. Anyone. And everyone should be striving for it.
   
   
4. Next time you’re building a wall (or wanting to gaze upon a category killer), drive down by Tallmadge Circle and visit our friends at Henry Bierce. Conventional wisdom says Lowe's and Home Depot killed their category, so Bierce is the tottering dead and just doesn’t know it yet. Don’t believe it, Bierce will outlast us all. Bierce shows how you pick your category, work hard, pay your dues, and own it. Do that and your title couldn’t be more apt: Killer.

Just Ask The Question

Didn’t close that last selling opportunity? Any idea why?

Chances are, you just plain didn’t ask.

You probably have your pitch honed to perfection. You may demonstrate features, advantages and benefits in your sleep. You know your prospects and you build a convincing case why they should be buying what you’re selling.

But what about that last step? The happy ending? The sealing of the deal?

The biggest hurdle in sales is overcoming common psychological buying resistance. Customers are wary, probably have been burned before, and must be sure they’re investing their money wisely. A convincing pitch only gets you part of the way there.

A good close is the trigger that turns persuasion into action. It gives your prospect permission to accept your promises, and to sign on the dotted line.

There can be as many closing styles as there are selling processes and prospects, but they have one thing in common — they always end with that big question. Next time you sense prospect interest at the end of your presentation, try asking: “How would you like us to proceed?”