Sharon Drew Morgen

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)

Who’s in the meeting – and who’s not?

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)

Far, Far Too Hot

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)

What Is Email For?

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)

Sellers can’t control the buyer’s decision journey

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)