Managing Off-Line Decisions

icon_offlineWhere do our prospects go when they say, “I’ll call you back?” Most of us guess, but really, we don’t know where they go.

Where they go, in fact, is to get ahold of their colleagues and figure out how to get agreement for whatever outcomes the new solution will cause within the  buyer’s environment. We rarely think that way as sellers: we see a problem, figure out if we have the appropriate solution, and go forth, fearlessly, to match the need with the solution.

We forget the vast amount of internal politiking, or behind-the-scenes jockey-ing, or deals, or relationship management issues, that go on in the prospect’s environment around their search for a solution. Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to be intimately involved with these off-line discussions and are left with the results.

It looks like this: hot prospects don’t return and go quietly into the night, never to be heard from again; prospects purchase a small portion of a solution with some excuse as to why they can’t buy the rest  (budget, timing, partners, initiatives, etc);  prospects return to discuss price; prospects want their internal folks to join the effort and work with you to implement.

In other words, they aren’t purchasing what you think they need. Why? Simple: Because they haven’t gotten the buy-in they need. It’s got nothing to do with your solution or their need. The tech team shows up and wants to do the project; the HR department wants to be involved; the old vendor develops something new that might take care of the problem.

It is possible to help the buyer choose you – but approaching the need resolution with the sales model doesn’t help much to help with the buy-in process.

Have a look at my video and send in some comments. Let’s begin a conversation about the buyer’s off-line decisions and how to help them make their best decisions.

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If you’d like me to write a White Paper for you on understanding the decision issues your buyers face, please email me at sharondrew@newsalesparadigm.com.

Check out my new book coming out October 1: Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what to do about it. Read a free chapter. Sign up for presales deals, and announcements. I’ll be doing a webinar on the material close to the launch date, so stay tuned.

Or have a look at my book Buying Facilitation:the new way to sell that inluences and expands decisionsClick here for two free chapters. It will teach you how to understand and manage the route through the internal decision process. Will it help you make a sale? Maybe. Maybe not. But it sure will help you make a client.

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