It’s time to ask yourself whether your Buyers believe what you are pitching and selling. Before you schedule one more demo or submit another RFP or RFQ, take your sales pulse. The only person who may be “sold” on you is you.
Today’s Buyers and decision makers are skeptical. Why shouldn’t they be? The majority of today’s sellers offer products, services and solutions which are not accurately addressing their priorities.
The majority of Sellers are interested in what’s in it for the seller. Buyers are not. If you are a seller who pitches to Buyers with a self-serving agenda, you are feeding right into their growing skepticism about you and your company.
Does your selling strategy provide them with a perfect excuse to stall, derail or abstain from making a decision to purchase from you?
When I say the word “Buyer” who do you think of? So many of the clients I coach have one contact at a company that they sell at. This one contact, in their mind, is the “Buyer.” That individual may be nothing more than an administrator, data collector, or a glorified paper pusher with a fancy-sounding title.
Buying committees, especially in the high-tech arena, can include between 3-7 individuals. Your single contact represents the tip of the selling iceberg. Reconsider whom you target when you prospect. You may be way off the mark. You may be lengthening your sales cycle in the process.
Consider that during the course of the year, each one of the 3-7 individuals are your real Buyers are responsible for multiple decisions involving thousands, if not millions, of dollars. They are looking for a reason to reduce their workload. They are overworked and frustrated at inefficiencies in their own buying processes.
You know how difficult it is to get a committee together to make a decision on anything. No wonder today’s Buyers are looking for any reason to reduce their workload so they can focus on projects which are strategic priorities for their company.
Are you playing right into their agenda?
Take a deep dive into the Buying process – from your Buyer’s perspective, not your own perspective. There are 6 key areas that the most sellers overlook when dealing with Buyers, decision makers and committees. Including these areas in your selling strategy can shorten your sales cycle and prevent you from spinning your wheels targeting the wrong Buyer.
Enjoy. Let me know how you will put the featured tips and checklists into play this quarter.
Babette N. Ten Haken, Founder & President of Sales Aerobics for Engineers, LLC, catalyzes revenue-producing business transition, startup growth and professional development. She works with traditional and non-traditional sellers and owners in the manufacturing and engineering space as well as in the B2C space.
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