Why Buyers Can’t Buy And Sellers Can’t Sell

Help me write my new book on helping buyers buy and sellers sell.

I am in the throws of doing final edits on my new book The Dirty Little Secret: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what to do about it and would love you to read a chapter. Many of you have been reading my books since the first book (“Sales on the Line” – still in print)  came out 17 years ago; I’d now like to add your stories about facilitating buying decisions to the book.

This book takes my previous books to the next level, into the realm of systems management, decision facilitation, and servant-leadership. It shows what internal decisions need to get made and why, who needs to buy in and why, how a ‘need’ got to be a ‘need’ to begin with and why it’s kept in place rather than be resolved, and why buyer’s systems fight to maintain their status quo. And, importantly, it explains why sales is so inefficient.  It actually offers the tools to

  1. help buyers understand, manage, and resolve the complexities of their buying decision process;
  2. lead buyers through their unique process of generating systems buy-in to ensure that the internal people, policies, rules, and initiatives are ready, willing, and able to adopt a new solution;
  3. adds a new dimension to sales that has been lacking.

The book goes well beyond sales: our sales model doesn’t help buyers figure out how to attain the internal buy-in (based on the rules and roles of the culture – not on ‘need’) necessary for a buying decision. They have to do this anyway, and because sales doesn’t manage this, they do it on their own while we sit and keep our fingers crossed until they return with a purchase order.

It’s where buyers go when they say ‘I’ll call you back.” Or when they can’t see a need which seems obvious to us. Or when they can’t differentiate us from our competitors. Or when they take forever to close when it seems it should be simple. And the time it takes them to do it is the length of the sales cycle.

One of my favorite things about the book is that it offers a cool Case Study that shows every angle of a sale – from both buyer’s side and sellers, including all of the delays, the internal decisions, the personal/relationship problems. And then I take the same Case Study using Buying Facilitation and show the differences. The time to close is reduced to 1/3 for starters. Not to mention another 1/3 more prospects are discovered.

If I’ve gotten you curious, you can read one chapter of the book here. Also, please send me stories about how  you actually facilitated a buying decision (separate from closing a sale) and I’ll include them in the new book. Send to my private email address: sharondrew@newsalesparadigm.com or just comment on this blog.

I look forward to our journey – and thanks for your encouragement. Because of your love and support, my thinking has grown richer and I’ve learned how to serve you better. Thanks for joining me in making the field of sales a values-filled profession.

5 thoughts on “Why Buyers Can’t Buy And Sellers Can’t Sell”

  1. Ken: Thank you for your kind comments!

    Note the ‘Selling with Integrity’ is actually the opposit of Integrity Selling, which focuses on product sale, not decision facilitation. My material manages the implicit, unconscious decisions that buyers must figure out so that their internal organization doesn’t go nuts when something new enters. So it helps with the other department head who doesn’t want to change, or the HR department that doesn’t want an outside vendor – it’s that place where buyers go when they say ‘I’ll call you back” and we sit impatiently and wait. We’ve never been able to follow them there, and my model actually leads them through their travel route. It’s VERY VERY different from sales, but needs to be included within the ‘selling’ process cuz sales doesn’t do that.

    Does this help any?

  2. In the “throes” of a new book has to be exciting. I appreciate your kind comments at ActiveAmericans.com. As a sales guy, I went through the Integrity Selling process three times and just ate it up. I spent a year with the company, but was recruited to work with another firm. Great site … great topics!

  3. Ken: Thank you for your kind comments!

    Note the 'Selling with Integrity' is actually the opposit of Integrity Selling, which focuses on product sale, not decision facilitation. My material manages the implicit, unconscious decisions that buyers must figure out so that their internal organization doesn't go nuts when something new enters. So it helps with the other department head who doesn't want to change, or the HR department that doesn't want an outside vendor – it's that place where buyers go when they say 'I'll call you back” and we sit impatiently and wait. We've never been able to follow them there, and my model actually leads them through their travel route. It's VERY VERY different from sales, but needs to be included within the 'selling' process cuz sales doesn't do that.

    Does this help any?

  4. In the “throes” of a new book has to be exciting. I appreciate your kind comments at ActiveAmericans.com. As a sales guy, I went through the Integrity Selling process three times and just ate it up. I spent a year with the company, but was recruited to work with another firm. Great site … great topics!

  5. Ken: Thank you for your kind comments!

    Note the 'Selling with Integrity' is actually the opposit of Integrity Selling, which focuses on product sale, not decision facilitation. My material manages the implicit, unconscious decisions that buyers must figure out so that their internal organization doesn't go nuts when something new enters. So it helps with the other department head who doesn't want to change, or the HR department that doesn't want an outside vendor – it's that place where buyers go when they say 'I'll call you back” and we sit impatiently and wait. We've never been able to follow them there, and my model actually leads them through their travel route. It's VERY VERY different from sales, but needs to be included within the 'selling' process cuz sales doesn't do that.

    Does this help any?

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