For decades, salespeople scrunched their faces when I mentioned “how buyers
buy”. I heard comments like: “I know what they need.” or “I
understand exactly how they buy: price, price, price.”
But sellers only close 7% of their prospects (and far, far less if using
marketing automation).
If you understand how buyers buy, why do you have less than a 40% close
rate?
Indeed, it’s not enough to understand: so long as you are using the
conventional sales model (and bas your interactions on placing a
solution) you have no idea how your buyers travel through their buy path or
who is involved. And you certainly have no way of influencing it.
MAKE YOURSELF THE BUYER
Let’s say you’re not closing all of the sales you deserve to close. You
follow many prospects and are surprised at which ones finally buy and which
ones disappear. You constantly shift the dates on your pipeline ... (more)
So many sales folks are targeting ‘appointments’ these days. I wonder if
you know who actually is in attendance. And who isn’t but should be.
As you enter your meeting, do you know
what percent of the entire Buying Decision Team is there? what weight your
contact has on the full Buying Decision Team? if everyone who will touch
the solution has added their buying criteria to the ’needs’ discussion?
who is NOT at the meeting… because they haven’t yet been brought onto the
Buying Decision Team? because they are at war with someone in the room but is
influential? because they don’t w... (more)
Austin is both a cool city and a hot town. It’s hot during August and
September – furnace hot, actually – but every town has its drawbacks. And
since the weather is mostly temperate year-round (except it does get down to
near-freezing a couple of days during December), we happily complain for 8
weeks about how hot we are and either leave town, stay inside, go to the
movies, or bake for those two months.
Except this year the furnace began in May, and by now (mid June), we’ve had
many days in the hundreds already, setting a record. And not only is it
burning hot, with ‘heat adviso... (more)
NOTE: Due to the holidays, we are reposting favorite posts. Original posts
will resume January 5th.
I don’t know about you, but when I get long emails my eyes go running
around my head. Too many words for me to take in during a busy day when I’m
sure I’m suffering from some form of ADHD as I try to multitask beyond
human capability. So I ask folks to please, please, puLEASE not send me long
emails.
But they do anyway. And then they get mad when I don’t read them –
especially when they’ve written something personal. They actually expect me
to put down what I’m doing and read a o... (more)
Sales folks like having control. You ‘understand the need’, ‘manage
the relationship‘, ’follow the digital footprint’, send the
‘right’ data at the ‘right’ time.
But what, exactly, can you be in control of? You are in control of the
details about your solution, and how it’s used in a particular
setting, and the data you seek from prospects. You certainly have control
over how you enter, and maintain, the relationship. But that is the sum total
of what you’re in control of.
Obviously it’s easy to spot a need that matches your solution. But the
number of buyers who buy is much, m... (more)