Much has been written about the research that suggests that a buyer is 57% through her buying process before she engages with a vendor. I have written about how I think that "57%" is sometimes misinterpreted.
Sometimes buyers engage with you early, and sometimes they call you after they have done their own research. Strong patterns exist that correlate a buyer's level of awareness of a need to act as he rushes headlong to that 57% Point, directly with his propensity to buy something. That is really no surprise.
The parallel pattern, however, is that his level of awareness is inversely proportional to your opportunity to create value. This is a vital opportunity to which every sales strategist should be paying attention, and that’s because most effective selling happens before the buyer calls someone for a solution.
We can illustrate a buyer’s readiness to buy in the Propensity to Buy Curve. Prospects are more likely to buy sooner the closer they are to an “Active” awareness of a need.
A ready-to-buy customer represents less opportunity to create value. They’ve probably established criteria that are difficult to overcome, and you may have to resort to outflanking their criteria and your competition.
The opportunity to engage creatively and productively with a prospect increases when they know less about what they need. In the extreme situation, a well-informed seller can propose a solution that solves a problem the customer hasn’t fully considered.
Such a solution, obviously, can play to the seller’s strengths. This requires imagination, insight and a thorough understanding of the customer’s business. It also requires more time, so selling in this model has a longer sales cycle. There is, however, a better opportunity for success.
Every successful example of using value creation involves insight about what’s good for the customer. This is simply the most effective way to sell.
Selling early means working in the areas traditionally assigned to marketing: raising awareness, generating interest, and being top of mind as the buyer develops a preference. Our way of expressing this mindset is “Account Planning Is the new Marketing.”
Think about what good you can do for your customer early rather than waiting for him or her to call. This gives you an opportunity to apply account planning principles early and helps you deliver superior value.
Focus on creating, developing, pursuing, and winning business that delivers mutual value to you and your customer. If you can work on a project that’s good for the customer and good for you, it’s more likely to be non-competitive and less price sensitive. By delivering more value to your customer, you’ll improve your opportunity to succeed.
You need to have a deep understanding of your customer’s business problems, and you need to know their people. Our surveys tell us that only 61% of salespeople think they’re good at uncovering their customer’s business problems, and only 54% of salespeople believe that they know how to discover this key information. That’s a challenge that you must address and overcome to assure success. If you don’t understand the business problems and don’t know and understand the people, you’re unlikely to create value or make a sale.
Every buying decision is subject to these four phases:
You need to determine whether you are acting before the buyer develops a preference. Whenever you can, act early—you'll have a greater opportunity to create value. If you determine that you’re acting after the 57% point, you can still prevail as long as you qualify carefully and work from deep insight about the prospect’s business needs. Then, flank toward your strengths with unique business, target the people who can assist you—and win.
Please feel free to download our latest publication: Battling the 57%: Deconstructing the Buyer Seller Dance.
Donal Daly, one of the sales world's most prominent thought leaders, is now a Salesforce Sales Community contributor. This community is a new collaborative networking group for sales executives sharing best practices and innovations in sales leadership. We encourage all salesforce.com customers to join Rogers and other top sales thought leaders in the new Salesforce Sales Community.
Author of Amazon #1 Best-Seller Account Planning in Salesforce, Donal Daly is CEO and Founder of (his fifth global business enterprise) The TAS Group, the global leader in Smart Sales Transformation. Combining his expertise in enterprise software applications, artificial intelligence, and sales methodology, he continues to revolutionize the sales effectiveness industry. Feel free to download The TAS Group's latest publication, Battling the 57%: Deconstructing the Buyer Seller Dance.
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