TECHNOLOGY Sales Tech Can Help You Track the


Right Selling Behaviors, Not Build Them Technology’s great, but it can’t do its job if you don’t have the right methodology to implement it. Here’s how ValueSelling Associates helps make the two co-exist.


BY MARGARET LITTMAN


Each time a new piece of software (or app or plug-in) is introduced, there’s a temptation to believe that maybe this will be the solution. Add this new piece to your tech stack and, voilà! All the pieces will come together and conversions and sales will increase.


You’re not alone with those impulses. “Everybody loves the tech because it is shiny and new,” says Chad Sanderson, managing partner at ValueSelling Associates. In practice, however,


CHAD SANDERSON MANAGING PARTNER VALUE SELLING ASSOCIATES


technology alone is rarely a gamechanger. In fact, in the Gartner 2021 Seller Motivation Survey, most sellers reported that introducing new tech


actually hindered their overall efficiency. Sanderson is not surprised. For as much as he loves technology, “problems are solved human-to-human.” Sanderson leads value-selling training programs


at ValueSelling Associates. The firm’s proprietary curriculum encourages salespeople and their teams to think about their approaches to selling as human-to-human rather than being driven by product or quotas. It then encourages them to implement what they learn as a foundation to their sales processes on an ongoing basis. While it might seem simple, this methodology isn’t simplistic. It helps teams think about their processes separate


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from the technology used to implement them. To be successful at selling, according to the


ValueSelling Associates methodology, your sales team must master O-P-C questions. These types of questions are particularly crucial during the discovery phase. Those are: • Open-ended (these are the types of questions that get the prospect talking about problems worth solving);


• Probing (closed-ended probing questions to challenge a prospect’s thinking without creating friction and help reps understand how prospects prioritize problems, enabling sellers to re-order these so that the problems they know they can uniquely solve are at the top of the list); and


• Confirming (questions phrased using the prospect’s words that ensure everyone is on the same page).


Even the sleekest tech can’t ask those questions and then process the answers. However, technology can help you assess if your team is on the way to O-P-C mastery.


WHAT TECH CAN DO “I’m a firm believer that there is a revolution happening in sales,” says Nancy Maluso, vice- president and principal analyst for Forrester. “Because of AI’s ability to find patterns in digital information, it has become critical in the success of a sales team.” “The possibilities become endless in how we take


advantage of what we know,” she says. She believes that the right data from the right tech stack will position salespeople who are facing new challenges – such as more decision makers for each purchase – for success.


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