That has been the downfall in the sales model. Until now, and as a result of our inability to have influence over the private meetings, the in-fighting, the beloved old vendor who shows up, and although we are very actively involved in relationship building and discussing outcomes and needs with execs, we’ve been relegated, basically, to sitting and waiting until the prospect comes back and buys, accepting a success/close rate of plus or minus 7%.

But even that is not happening now: over 50% of us aren’t meeting our quotas.

THE WEB IS CO-OPTING OUR JOBS

But as one door closes, another opens. Now that so much of the sales model is being co-opted by the internet, it’s time to enhance the job of a seller to actually come to the rescue with a new skill set to help buyers navigate through their decision journey — the part that they’ve done privately and soooo slowly, and that is very problematic for them now. And that part is the piece the internet cannot help them with.

As we move from a consultative sale to a ‘social sale,’ we are still intent on selling a solution. Because we’ve always used relationship building, becoming a trusted advisor, understanding problems, being professional consultants, etc. we somehow believe that these are THE SKILLS  necessary to make a sale. So we are attempting to turn the net, with all of its new capability, into providing the same skills we’ve used until now to close our 7% . But we can close a lot more even now. And not compete with the net.

Imagine if we change the goal. Imagine if we let the web do its thing and take over some of our historic sales functions, and change our job to be decision facilitators who can help buyers navigate through their behind-the-scenes decision issues that need to occur before they get the requisite buy-in for a purchase. No, not the decision issues around their need or solution, but their issues around buy-in, and company politics, and department heads who don’t want to work together. Sales skills won’t manage these issues.

Are we ready to make a change? Are we willing to add some new skills? Given the capability of the net, what is our job if we don’t? Let’s think about this.

QUESTIONS TO START THINKING DIFFERENTLY

Do you realize that choosing a vendor and solution is the last thing that a buyer does – and you’re not involved in the first thing they do, or the second, or the third?

Is there a reason you are attempting to use the same skills to close sales as you’ve always done, but attempt to fit them into a new/different format – i.e.build relationships, uncover need, discuss solution and trying to make your sites or metrics do this?

What would you need to consider differently to actually add some new skills and outcomes, to offer an additional service that buyers can’t get on the net – and actually need help with?

Do you realize that by focusing on discovering a need and selling a solution – and these days, focusing on who is clicking and when – you’re omitting a very important service you could be offering prospects?

Do you realize that your jobs as solutions providers are getting close to irrelevant?

No, I’m not talking sales here. But your sales skills aren’t working so well now, are they?

Why not add a new skill and become a vital part of the buyers Buying Decision Team. Why not consider using Buying Facilitation™ when your prospects show up with all of their researched data? Just because they know about your solution doesn’t mean their tech team doesn’t want to take over, or their new business partner doesn’t want to supply the solution. Just because they call you doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy.

Would you rather sell? Or help someone buy. Your choice. If you decide to do some decision facilitation, you just might meet your quotas and get far, far greater than a 7% close.

sd

To learn more about Buying Facilitation™ have a look at my new learning Modules. And get a copy of Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it.

Why are sales tied to solutions? How is that working for you? is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

On the sales end of the equation, you NEED to understand the prospect’s situation to make sure you are placing the appropriate solution in the right place. This same data will give you ability to fine-tune your presentation and pitch to ensure the buyer understand how your solution will fit in their environment. You also need to understand the buyer’s vision, and criteria for Excellence.

There is no way to truly understand anything else.

I know I”m bucking up against some resistance here, but hear me out. You will never understand the private, idiosyncratic issues going on within the buyer’s environment. You might ask questions about these things, hoping you’ll glean enough data to help you target your pitch. But if that worked, you would have closed a lot more sales. And, an outsider can never understand what is really going on inside of anyone else’s situation. There are relationship issues, company politics, history, working relationships, ego issues, rules, vendor issues, partner issues. An outsider can never ‘grok’ the import, the nuance, the residual feelings, the unconscious biases, that go on between people…especially people you don’t know and in groups you aren’t a part of.

I’ve been writing and speaking about the off-line decision issues for decades. This last year, folks are beginning to talk about them and start using the terms I’ve been using all along. Yesterday I got a cold call from a local vendor who actually had something I might be able to use. As the call was ending, I said I didn’t have the bandwidth to think about it now (book launch took over my time) but I’d take his number and call him when I was ready. He then said to me: “Can you please tell me when you’re going to make a decision?” I smiled, knowing he was probably told by a manager to start ‘finding out’ about people’s decision making (and knowing that my work had finally come into the mainstream of sales thinking) and didn’t have a clue what it meant or how to go about it.

Here is the rest of my conversation with the sales guy:

SDM: What will ‘knowing when I’m deciding’ give you?

Rep: What? I just need to know.

SDM: Why?

Rep: If you’re not going to be deciding within a month, I’ll call you back. Would a better question have been: Can I put you down for an order in a month?

This is a real conversation. Did the seller need to know when I was deciding? What would he have done with that data? What did he expect that question would do…make me commit? He never managed my issues: What did I need to know? How was I going to choose to buy?

Imagine if our new jobs as sellers include helping buyers understand how they will line up their internal, off-line decision issues – the people that need to be involved, the historic issues that must be resolved, the buy-in that must be encouraged - that need to take place so they are free to choose a solution. Not the issues involved with a purchasing decision, necessarily. Often, the internal issues have absolutely nothing to do with the buyer’s need, yet they must be handled.

Here is a simple way to look at the new skills I’m suggesting: in the first stages of the buyer’s decision making – you know, that behind-the-scenes part that we are not privvy to  - buyers are unfamiliar with the steps they need to take as they lurch toward solving a problem. If you could take the part of a GPS system and just offer coordinates for choice, the buyer (driving the car that the GPS system is not involved with) would easily find where they were going (they must drive alone, and watch the scenery that you can’t see) and you could be there at the end with the solution.

We can’t understand the exact specs of a solution until the buyer has traversed the journey. Knowing ‘how they buy’ or ‘how they decide’ won’t help the buyer choose you. Add Decision Facilitation to your sales skills. It will make your job easier to not have to understand so much at the front end, and save it for the back end when the buyer really can hear about, and use, your solution.

sd

Check out my new book: Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what to do about it. Read two free chapters, testimonials, and much more. Then buy the book.

Or consider purchasing the bundle: Dirty Little Secrets plus my last book Buying Facilitation™: the new way to sell that influences and expands decisions. These books were written to be read together, as they offer the full complement of concepts to help you learn and understand Buying Facilitation™ - the new skill set that gives you the ability to lead buyers through their buying decisions.

What do Sellers Need to Understand – and When? is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com

The only thing I found lacking was a Reading List that would have offered me recommendations on books to read to catch me up in the areas I wanted to persue more deeply. But maybe they will get to that. There is also a section for HR professionals, and one for Leaders. Clearly this group has a corner on the market for business tool kits, and they do it with great passion and professionalism.

If you have some new Managers, or want your folks to learn some new skills for Leadership, this is an easy-to-use guide to Mangement/Leadership With Integrity.

For more senior managers, I’d like to recommend two books that I use as ‘thought provokers’ when I sit down to write about decision making:
Organizational Culture and Leadership (second edition) by Edgar H. Schein (Jossey Bass) and On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You Are Not by Robert A. Burton MD (St Martin’s Press). Both of these books offer insight into human behavior and how groups and people work together to make the decisions necessary for excellence. More skills based, these books will help your managers learn how to understand and monitor their own behaviors first.

Here is a site to go to that will introduce you to definitions for ‘corporate culture’ and ‘systems’ – both major themes in my new book coming out soon (The Dirty Little Secret: why buyers don’t buy and sellers don’t sell and what to do about it), as without a buyer navigating the elements of their system in a way to make change a viable choice, no purchasing will happen. Having a good understanding of culture and systems is vital for any sales person as well as managers and leaders. Check it out. http://managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm

http://www.goodpractice.com

Business Practices for Managers is a post from: SharonDrewMorgen.com