We struggle to get in front of customers, to find opportunities, to nurture them through the buying cycle, and ultimately, to win. Yet, the majority of those complex buying opportunities end in “no decision made.” For those that are left, we hope to win our fair share. Then after our customers have made a decision, we learn there is high decision regret. They aren’t confident they have done the right thing, they won’t achieve their goals, or they could have made a better business decision.
It’s not an image of optimism, for our customers or for sales.
If we are going to create the greatest/differentiating value with our customers, how do we change this dynamic? How do we help our customers achieve greater success in their buying journeys? How do we help them have greater confidence in the decisions they do make?
Sometimes, we — and our customers — rush into things, without understanding what they are trying to do and why. Often, buying efforts don’t start as a result of an intentional effort to address a major issue or make a change. Too often, it’s a knee jerk reaction to some problem that has just happened, or a quick response to a challenge by senior management. It can also be something that’s important now, but is displaced by something else tomorrow (both us and our customers tend to fall into the “problem du jour” mentality.)
We rush into these things with our customers, we don’t pause to question what and why they are doing this. We are just thankful we have a potential opportunity, we have a customer that wants to engage us. We don’t want to do anything to upset the momentum, if anything we want to speed it up.
But what if we slowed things down, particularly at the beginning? What if we helped the customer become more thoughtful and purposeful in what they are trying to achieve?
Our customers will be challenged within their own organisations and by their management with the question: “Is this an important problem for us to solve? Is it something we need to solve now?”
When I do deal reviews I pose the questions: “What’s the compelling reason for the customer to change? When do they need to have a solution in place? What are the consequences of not having a solution in place by that date?”
Most of the time, the sellers don’t have the answers to these questions. I task them: “Go talk to the customer, ask them these questions, then let’s discuss….”
It’s stunning, but often, the salespeople come back saying: “The customer doesn’t know, they can’t answer these questions….”
Don’t get me wrong, the customers articulate reasons they want to buy, reasons they are doing these things. They tend to focus on the task of buying, what they are looking for. They may even be impatient with salespeople slowing them down asking these fundamental questions as they want to get the task done.
However, if they can’t answer these three questions, they may not understand their problem well enough. They may not understand whether the problem is important, or important enough to get the internal support for the changes they are trying achieve.
The inability for the customer to answer these questions in a meaningful way is a key predictor of the quality of the deal and their success in completing their buying journey, gaining approval, support in their organisation, and making a high confidence decision.
What do we do about this?
Simply put, we must help the customer develop meaningful answers to these questions early in the buying process. Help them think about what they are trying to do, why, and how important it is for them to solve the problem. Provide the leadership to guide them to developing these answers, answers they need for themselves to keep on track and stay focused, and for their organisations and management.
Doing this will increase the customer success, and consequently increase our success in working with them.
Written by David Brock
Dave is driven by the mission of helping each individual and organisation achieve their dreams, exceeding what they ever believed possible. A theoretical physicist joining a four-person start-up right out of college; Dave soon learned there is a lot more to business success than a great idea and hot product. He got his MBA, then went to the “dark side,” selling mainframe computers to large banks and investment companies in New York City. Dave progressed to executive leadership roles in high technology giants, also, was on the founding team of two successful technology start-ups with current market cap exceeding $50 Billion. He led the successful turnarounds of several companies, before starting Partners In EXCELLENCE. He’s a popular guest on numerous podcasts, webcasts, and as a speaker; known for his ruthless pragmatism and is the author of the bestselling Sales Manager Survival Guide and the upcoming Sales Executive Survival Guide.
Original article here