Storytellers Top Sellers are >>>> I
The Art and Science of Compelling Sales Conversations By Bob Apollo
s your sales process characterised by lengthy buying cycles with the involvement of multiple decision makers? Are buying decisions frequently delayed
or postponed? Are you finding that you are losing to a decision to “do nothing” as often as you lose to a conventional competitor? Then you’re not alone.
We live in a world where the balance of power is clearly in the hands of the prospect, rather than the sales person. But recent research has both confirmed the problem and shown that the winning habits and behaviours of top sales performers - the ones that have adapted best to the new world of buying - can be developed and taught.
Fewer Than 1 in 8 Meetings with
People Create Value
Before we explore some potential remedies, let’s confirm the problem. According to research published earlier this year by Forrester, fewer than 1 in 8 meetings with sales people are rated by the prospect as creating any value or helping to advance their buying decision process - and it’s clear that they resent their time being wasted.
Our own research into B2B buying behaviour consistently throws up the following response from prospects: “as long as I’m learning something, I’m listening, and prepared to invest more of my time. But the moment the conversation turns into a sales pitch, you’ve lost me.” When that happens, your sales people might not get thrown out of the meeting straight away, but their opportunity to influence has been lost.
The Problem with “Solution Selling” Sales
Naive implementation of “solution selling” principles isn’t helping, either. In all too many cases, it follows a game of 20 questions in which the sales person is desperately trying to get the prospect to acknowledge a problem the vendor can solve, at which point they immediately switch to proposing their “solution”. They switch to pitch far too early in the conversation.
According to our observations, top performing sales people behave differently. First, they play a game of “give and get” with the prospect, sharing valuable information in response to the
prospect’s
answers. Second - like a well trained doctor - they hold off prescribing the cure until they have worked with the prospect to fully diagnose the problem, and understand all of its effects and implications.
Finally, they make their points through educational stories and anecdotes that the prospect can
relate to.
Learning from the Winning Habits of Top Sales Performers
This ability to “sell through storytelling” is a consistent characteristic of top sales performers - particularly in new market categories or high-value considered purchases where the prospect often simply decides to “do nothing”. Prospects clearly prefer working with educators rather than pitchers and with advisors rather than order takers - and they vote with their wallets.
Top sales performers appear to understand this instinctively. The weakest sales performers will probably never be able to master the subtleties. But we’ve found that there is tremendous scope to elevate
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