Staying to the Left of the Sales Pendulum If you’re desperate to make something happen, and you try to control events and people, you push away the people you want to influence and you prevent the desired outcome. I’ve written about the Paradoxical Intent and anti-suggestions before, explaining if you try to “tie-down” a buyer, you will not gain agreement. You will create resistance. A … Read more
The Winning Edge is Often Subjective Success depends, not just on checking off the technical aspects, but understanding the subjective and emotional criteria. In many competitive scenarios, all of the vendors can check all of the technical boxes. The winning edge is a deeper understanding of the subjective and emotional criteria. Seek to understand the functional requirements. But don’t stop where most salespeople stop. Understand … Read more
Never Get Ahead of the Buyer After reviewing an MRI, I had a doctor tell me, “This surgery is inevitable. You are going to want to do this.” His knowledge convinced him of the need, but he was ahead of me emotionally. He was convinced before I was convinced. Another doctor, looking at the same MRI, took the time to show me the image and … Read more
Sales Tools and Tips to Use at Each Point in the Buyer’s Journey Sales Tips to Facilitate the Shift from Latent to Active Need 15 Lead Generation Techniques Self Depreciation Over Social Rapport What to Say if a Sales Call is Not Going Well The Value of Training – The Value of Training Salespeople | Creating useful sales habits Style Matters in Sales This is … Read more
The Buyer’s Journey The image below depicts the five phases a buyer moves through to recognize a need, assess alternatives, make a purchase, and promote that solution. Buyers move through these stages with no assistance. Moving through the phases is like an element moving through changes of state, from gas, to liquid, to solid. It is primarily an emotional journey. The changes of state are … Read more
Preparing To Be a Player As a rule, success depends on practice; hours and hours and hours of practice. It’s true in sports. It’s true in music. It’s true in entertainment. Most professionals wisely eschew seat-of-the-pants performances. In the sales profession, we often enter into a negotiation with little to no preparation. As a result we rely heavily on instinct. Instinct tends to drive us … Read more
Lessons From a Savvy Seller A seasoned sales leader, who I had the privilege of working with, pointed out that, as a young salesperson, he made three mistakes at the end of a long sales cycle as he entered the final negotiation: No real plan. His plan was “to get the deal.” Ask for the order. When his old boss asked how he intended to … Read more
Do salespeople have to “give” to “get”? 95% of salespeople and sales managers believe salespeople have to “give to get.” A review of recorded buyer/seller interactions debunks this sales myth. Why do we feel the need to “give to get?” This widely held belief is based on the idea of “qualifying” the buyer. Qualifying is extracting information for the seller’s purposes. There’s a need for … Read more
Close the Door on the Close One of the reasons salespeople get a bad rap is because most people associate sales with a hard close. No one wants to be manipulated or pressured into making a decision that they may come to regret. Buyers don’t like a hard close, and the truth is salespeople don’t either. I’ve heard countless people say that they aren’t cut … Read more
The Problem of Pressure Software sales can be described as a pressure cooker. Wall Street and private equity firms put pressure on the company CEO, who in turn puts pressure on the CRO. The CRO then pressures the sales team, which forces them to pressure customers. Pressure is often applied in order to accelerate revenue, but this approach can lead to dysfunction. Ultimately, pressure will … Read more