Can you make it easier for your prospects to buy? In today’s crisis environment if you can’t make it easier to buy versus your competitors you won’t sell them.
Most of the time sales execs and CEOs focus on how to make the sales teams more productive. Improving sales productivity is highly leveraged because it hits the top line and the bottom line. Improved sales productivity can only happen if buyer productivity is improved.
Most potential prospects that you contact are either not planning to change the status quo or are not yet committed to change. They have not yet answered the “Why Should I Buy Anything?” question.
If you can help them visualize compelling reasons to change they will start to question the status quo. Particularly in today’s environment, your reps won’t get this far unless they understand consultative selling and selling value. As they explore the risks/rewards they will make a Commitment to Change. If your sales reps can help make it easy for prospects to visualize the benefits of making a change and helping them to feel confident that they understand the risks and can manage accordingly, you're over halfway to obtaining an order.
Starting a substantive conversation with a prospect, executing a meaningful discovery process and helping the prospect commit to change will usually require more time and effort than completing the sale. However, it is essential that reps understand that a commitment to change is not a commitment to buy from them. A lot of deals are lost because the rep transitions from consultative selling to burying the prospect in all of the features and benefits of their value prop. They win when they help the prospect develop a keen understanding of their requirements and priorities. When they become a trusted advisor, they will win the deal. Most of the time they won’t even have to ask for the order. The customer knows when it is time to buy.
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