Published July 30, 2020 | Updated March 28, 2022

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Albert Einstein called it insanity. But too many commercial equipment and technology dealers call it business as usual when it comes to leading with anything but a payment.

Here are a few numbers:

• Only 9% of commercial equipment and technology sales teams lead with a payment, despite the fact that customers are 48% more likely to choose a less preferred brand if a payment is offered upfront.
• 76% of salespeople said they feel “pushy” when talking about a payment, despite the fact that salespeople who offer payments upfront are 600% more likely to hit their annual quotas.
• 82% of salespeople will only bring up payment if the customer does, despite 73% of commercial equipment and technology customers saying they are more likely to keep shopping until someone brings it up to them.

This data comes from annual research on commercial equipment and technology buying and selling behaviors. And the disconnect between what sales teams do and what customers want is increasing for the third straight year.

Why? The most common explanation for the gap by commercial equipment and technology sales teams is that they’re doing what they’ve always done.

Commercial equipment and technology sales teams like those are afraid of leading with a payment. The data shows that it drives more sales conversations than any other activity, their customers clearly want it, which would be a significant differentiator among the competition. But they go on doing what they have always done.

Sticking with the status quo can be comfortable. But who has ever done anything truly great by doing only what was comfortable?

To grow our businesses, we have to try new things. And sometimes fail. But not trying new things may end up being the biggest failure of all.