Different sales techniques, based upon the product or service and the prospective “user,” are required to maximize selling success. Selling commodity, easily-purchased products is significantly different than selling expensive, considered-purchase products. But in all cases, sales occur when the benefits received equals or exceeds the price required to obtain it – when “value” is created.
When value is not created, the purchase does not take place, or if it does, “buyer’s remorse” sets in. Value decisions are made daily by real people on a personal basis, at every level of every organization. Making the assumption that business buyers do not make personal decisions is a mistake. All purchase decisions have personal components that must be understood and accommodated as part of the value-building process.
Typically the higher the value (cost/benefit) of the purchase, the more “considered” the purchase will become, because the risk of making a bad decision – for the company or the purchaser themselves – increases. With this increased need for value, the amount of “selling” required to cause the decision to be made in your favor will also increase. As the investment becomes more expensive, more technical, and more competitive;
- The higher in the organization the decision is likely to be made / approved
- The longer the sales cycle is likely to be
- The greater the value required to cause a purchase to take place
- The larger the number of players involved is likely to be
- The more important it is to build relationships early in the process with the right people
Early relationship building allows both seller and buyer to clearly establish reasons to move forward. The seller quickly validates that there is an opportunity to make a sale over time and identifies the needs and person(s) involved. The buyer validates that the seller can meet their needs. Relationships built correctly, at the right time with the right people create the highest mutually satisfactory outcomes – where both purchaser and seller get what they want.
Most high-value RFPs, for example, are awarded to the firm that built the relationship ahead of the RFP being generated – wisely ensuring that the RFP itself was written around their offering. Rarely does an RFP get generated for high-value products or services without such an end-offering in mind. And businesses that simply answer RFP’s as their first contact with prospective buyers close a very small portion of what could be attained.
If your product or service requires value to be built over time, start early in the process, work at all the right levels, and help prospective users make quality investments. Don’t wait for prospects to send you an RFP written around someone else’s specifications. Don’t make the assumption that the person that contacted you is the decision maker. Don’t mistake continued communications as a sign that you are likely to get the sale. And don’t assume that “presenting” your offering is “selling.”
Showing up and throwing up
“Showing up and throwing up” is a selling technique used by rookie sales personnel daily. In this process, it is assumed that if you “tell” a prospect everything about your product, the sheer brilliance of the product itself will cause the decision to made in your favor. Great “presenters” are not by themselves great sales people, they are simply great showmen.
Most technical product or service businesses build technical sales presentation teams as their sales force. These presenters work exclusively at the technical decision-maker level because that is the level that engaged with them to start. The only way to win at this level is to convince the “technical” decision makers that they have the best widget and cause them to sell upward or laterally in their organizations to other unknown decision makers. This process tends to be a “show up and throw up” agenda – whereby the technical selling team inundates the technical buying team with all the data they believe is needed to win the order – without understanding any unique customer needs around which to build required value.
Successful high-value sales people spend their professional life learning to build great relationships with the right people and the right value – at the right time – to win the greatest percent of deals. They know how to employ valued company resources and how to choreograph the use of those resources at the right times.
If you need to build a great value to maximize sales, you need to build high-value selling teams – not just presentation teams.
