Slow Down, Sell Faster: Learn First, Pitch Later
If you talk about your solution as soon as you identify a customer need, you will get to your “close” just when the customer is starting to shop around. Focus first on learning about your customer’s needs and a “solution vision.” Save your pitch for later in the buying process. ... Read More
Sales Reviews in Business to Business Selling
Chart progress and conduct reviews with salespeople based on where customers are in their buying process. What should matter to you is not where your salesperson is in their sales process, but where the customer is in their buying process. If you want to be customer-focused, the key issue isn’t… Read More
Skills for Business to Business Selling
People and organizations buy in two ways: Buy-knowing:When buyers already know as much as they need to know in order to buy, they quickly make a decision. Buy-learning: When buyers do not have all the information they need to make an educated purchasing decision, they need to do some research… Read More
Sales Training Tip #9
Convert intangible customer criteria into tangible criteria. You cannot make a case that some feature or capability of your solution is tied to a customer need if you don’t know how the customer defines that need. Ask your customers to describe what they will see or notice if a particular… Read More
Sales Training Tip #8
Help your customer define realistic expectations. Ask them: “Six months from today how will you know this decision was a success?”... Read More
Sales Training Tip #7
Keep close contact with the customer, especially when they are in a comparison mode (evaluating solutions from multiple vendors). If you are asked to deliver a proposal or presentation, the odds are high that the customer is asking other vendors as well. Talk to your sponsor ahead of time to… Read More
