Money and Power: How to Get to the Decision Maker I have discussed previously why co-building the business case is important in its own right. In addition, it opens the door to power. Power = person who makes the financial decision and controls the purse strings. Junior and/or technical people are often uncomfortable or unable to talk about money. You can use this to your … Read more
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
Develop Dissatisfaction to the Point of Action There are endless reasons why a potential buyer may be looking for a new software solution, but it usually involves some level of dissatisfaction with the current solution. Unfortunately, dissatisfaction alone is not enough to close a sale. Deals can stop because the financial decision maker feels there are other priorities, or because someone on the purchasing committee … Read more
Influencing The Buyer’s Vision When You Are Late to the Opportunity If you were not the first seller through the door, you are at a disadvantage. If your competition was involved in the formative stages of the buyer’s journey, the buyer’s vision may be well developed and hard to change. You CAN still win, but you must adjust your tactics. Decision Criteria Ask what the … 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
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
Money Before Technology I will argue that you should talk to a buyer about money before you talk about technical details. Believe it or not, buyers are on board with this idea. It’s salespeople who aren’t. Doing a quick analysis and getting a buyer’s input on whether it makes financial sense to move forward is a much quicker process than dealing with technology. This saves … Read more
Relationships Take Too Long “I see the value of relationships, but sometimes I think that takes too long.” This statement was made by a salesperson in a Software Sales Bootcamp, and raised a key point of how to establish rapport with a buyer. I’ve listened to thousands of hours of sales calls, and I’ve heard salespeople try to break the ice by starting out with … Read more
The Purpose of Questions When you’re on a sales call, you should have a purpose. That purpose helps to focus your questions and guide the call, to ultimately bring about a solution. If you went to engineering school, like I did, you were taught that asking the right questions will bring you 80% of the way to a solution. You cannot jump to a solution, … Read more
Breaking Down Your Stroke This tip focuses on using a diagnostic probe, which is the first step in the Need Diagnostic. If you’re not familiar with this resource, I encourage you to download it from the Toolbox as a reference, or review this tip which provides examples of how to use an Open Diagnostic Probe. The rule: If there is no need, do not proceed … Read more