If you’re in sales, you have probably encountered this scenario. You’re trying to convince a potential customer that your products or services will solve their problem. To show them, you explain precisely your solution.
Mr. Potential Customer listens carefully, asks many questions and takes lots of notes. Everything seems to be running smoothly. The customer nods and says all the right things and you leave convinced that the sale is in the bag. The problem is, when you call to close the sale, Mr. Customer is nowhere to be found.
Later, you hear that he has decided to buy from your less expensive competitor. Frustrated, you find yourself asking, “Where did I go wrong? Why didn’t I see it coming?”
You realize, you’ve fallen in to that common trap: unpaid consulting.
Unpaid consulting starts when we cross the line between diagnosing the problem and explaining the solution. When we start designing solutions, we start acting as unpaid consultants.
In past decades, this was not a monumental issue. Generally, there was limited competition in complex sales. If you figured out the problem and designed a unique and valuable solution for a customer, the sale was almost guaranteed and the salesperson was rewarded for their consulting effort.
Today, there is an ever-increasing proliferation of competitors in complex sales, and once a solution is designed, the customer can easily shop it to the competition.
So, what’s a sales professional to do?
In today’s complex business arena there are no simple “band-aid” solutions. What is required is a systemic approach to an environment characterized by long sales cycles, multiple decision-makers, and numerous perspectives that may cross national and cultural boundaries.
Consider the following suggestions for avoiding the pitfalls of using outdated methods.
• Don’t present too early. How can you present a solution before you clearly understand what the problems are? While most salespeople devote the majority of their face-to-face time presenting and handling objections, the most successful salespeople focus on collaborating with customers, diagnosing their situation, designing a desired solution, and resolving to solve the problem.
• The customer has to acknowledge their problem. The traditional salesperson draws conclusions for the customer—often prematurely—and presents them to the customer before he or she is prepared to hear them. It is important that the customer discovers and takes ownership of the problem before deciding to seek a solution.
• There has to be pain before a sale. Dissatisfaction is the most basic motivator for change. People realize if they don’t change and deal with a problem, they will face consequences. As a result, change will not occur until an individual or company recognizes that it would be more painful not to change. This is why it’s critical to do a thorough diagnosis that uncovers the pain of the current situation, and the lack of the future outcome.
• You are the professional, help your customer. A thorough diagnosis allows the salesperson to quickly identify the 20-30% of their prospects who have the immediate reason and resources to make a change. The traditional salesperson wastes time arm-wrestling with a prospect that has no pain and hopes to win the sale by sheer tenacity. This has its roots in the theory that the good salesperson never takes “no” for an answer and the salesperson’s view that “no” equates to personal failure.
The often-ignored reality is that customers need outside expertise to help them understand the problems they face, design optimal solutions to those problems and implement the solutions. It is up to you to provide the help your customers need. See yourself as a project manager for your customer’s decision. That is the secret behind succeeding at the complex sale.
Have Fun,
Alan
