can neuroscience enhance sales effectiveness?

WHITE PAPER 2020

CAN NEUROSCIENCE

ENHANCE SALESEFFECTIVENESS? - Exploring possibilities under the lens of the IT & Software Industry

© 2020 All rights reserved by TalSmart.

Against this backdrop, effective sales people

and processes are imperative for businesses

to grow, or for that matter even stay afloat!

At the end of the day, if the conversion rates

are inadequate, the entire organization can

derail in terms of morale, revenue, and

profitability - irrespective of the quality of

the technology product or service.

In this white paper, we shall explore the

current challenges faced by the sales function

in the IT & Software business environment

and, in that light, analyze tangible

possibilities of enhancing sales effectiveness

from the view point of modern neuroscience.

INTRODUCTIONThe current business landscape is most precisely described as a complex realm. With the

obsolescence of the archaic classic times wherein supply simply created its own demand,

concentrated efforts into selling are extremely vital today.

Specifically talking about the IT and Software industry, it’s safe to say that it has

become synonymous with agile innovation, cutthroat competition with very limited

product differentiation, and unending uncertainty.


Following are the common set of challenges that emerge in the realm -

Long durations of sales cycles Sales cycles refer to the time gap between the first touch point and finally sealing the deal. They are usually quite long for B2B technology products and services and typically range anywhere between three months to eighteen months.

This makes the entire journey across the funnel quite intensive for the sales team – whether it is the Awareness, Interest, Desire, or Action phase.

The interplay of multiple stakeholders Since technology purchase is a costly and long term one, the decision-making is not

centralized or restricted to just a single person. Instead, it is spread across different

functions, seniority levels or even geographies that may not examine all factors from the

same set of criteria.

Constantly fluctuating minds While there is plurality in both the number of months and the number of minds to convince,

an additional challenge that arises as a concoction of the two is the fluctuating minds of the

same set of people over the different stages in the sales cycle.

KEY CHALLENGES IN THEB2B TECHNOLOGY SALESREALM TODAYB2B technology products and services typically form an expensive investment for

their buyers, thereby making this purchase decision a naturally complex one.

2.


WHAT DENTS THE EFF ICACYOF MODERN DAY TECHSALES TEAMS?

3.1. A monochromatic approach

Majority teams in the technology sales function approach their processes as an “art”

instead of a well-rounded “science”. They either just focus on their product, features, and

benefits or only try to appeal emotionally as against giving balanced weightage to soft

skills or addressing why the brain buys.

3.2. Ignoring the superseding hard facts

The only numbers that majority of the sales teams track at the end of the day are the

absolute conversion figures that measure the “what” or the success rate achieved, without

delving into any scientific explanation of the factors influencing those numbers or the

“why” behind them. This forms a key leakage in the short and long-term efficacy.

3.3. Overlooking the intricacies of the buyer’s brain

Finally, even though some teams do formulate buyer-centric sales strategies, they fail to

address the most important component – the buyer’s brain, which pretty much forms the

core of the decision-making.

3.

Even though the challenges described above are quite consequential,

the sales strategies and tactics followed by majority teams still seem

to be quite outdated. As per an article titled “6 Tips For Hiring Your

Next Sales All-Star” on Forbes, as many as 55% of salespeople lack

even the basic set of skills that are demanded by the role.

The following facets typically retard the ability of most sales

people to successfully close deals -

55% of salespeople

lack even the basic

set of skills that

are demanded by

the role - Forbes


Against the background of the above limitations of sales teams, a proven and dependable

solution lies in learning clearly about the complexities of human buying behavior. Science

has revealed that people make decisions as a complex function of several motivations that

are beyond just cost-benefit analysis or emotions. A deeper understanding and

acknowledgement of this reality can make all the difference in addressing the low sales

conversion cycle and can be well explained by applications of modern neuroscience.

Neuroscience in simplistic terms refers to the study of the nervous system and the brain,

the most complicated and intricate faculty in living organisms.

THE GROWING RELEVANCEOF MODERN NEUROSCIENCE

Neuroscience in simplistic terms refers to the study of the nervous system and the brain,

the most complicated and intricate faculty in living organisms. In this division of science,

the impact of the brain on behavior and cognitive functions can be measured. Even though

the field has traditionally formed a part of biology, today it has relevant applications in a

wide range of disciplines ranging right from mathematics, linguistics to computer science,

philosophy, and psychology. As an industry at large, the global neuroscience market is

expected to exhibit a CAGR of 3.9% between 2019-2027, to surpass US$ 38.9 Billion by the

end of the forecast period.


4.

Social neuroscience, under its umbrella, lends

scientific backing to the traditional art-based

approach towards selling. It helps to

systematically and accurately decode how

different sets of buyer’s brains work in a real

purchase situation and what a seller can do to

successfully influence the interplay of

prospect(s) towards the desired action. As a

result, the discipline has garnered many proven

applications in terms of tangibly influencing and increasing sales conversions.

The first step towards enhancing sales effectiveness with neuroscience is acknowledging

that closing any deal is all about connecting with and influencing the array of human

decision-makers involved. The next step is getting inside the workings of their minds and

understanding the cocktail that gets triggered during the different stages of the sales cycle.

Thereafter, leveraging this understanding to navigate across the layers of the sales funnel.

Essentially, its prime application lies in

acknowledging that effective sales

persuasion is not just a standard constant

function of ‘perceived’ charisma, luck,

timing or product features but a variable

scientific process that has quite a bit to do

with the anatomy of the human brain.

HOW DOES NEUROSCIENCEINFLUENCE SALES RESULTS?

5.


The logical brain analyzes information from a rational perspective. The emotional brain

provokes an individual to bend towards a particular decision. On the other hand, the

instinctual brain assumes responsibility for protecting and guides the so-called gut feeling

about people or situations. Any well-rounded sales pitch needs to appeal to each of these

divisions of the brain to enhance the chances of conversion.

Traditional sales practices revolve only around

catering to the logical processing area of the brain,

disregarding the emotional and instinctual brain. This

makes the process incomplete and retards the

effectiveness of sales pursuits – no matter how good

the product or service is.

A study discussed in the Harvard Business Review

titled “Vision Statement: Do You Really Know Who

Your Best Salespeople Are?” stated that, as many as

63% of salespeople regularly behave in ways that

dampen the likelihood of a conversion. This pretty much proves that there has been a key

component missing in most sales strategies and processes.

Neuroscience based selling, on the other hand, advocates for a full circle. It gives equal

importance to the emotional and instinctual brain in addition to the logical brain.

As per neuroscience, the parts of the human brain that are actively involved in any purchase decision making process can be divided into 3 broad areas – the Logical (Neocortex), Emotional (Limbic), and the Instinctual (Reptilian) brain.

A PEEK INTO THEHUMAN ANATOMY

6.


Your actionsare not your own

Your three brains

That’s because the motivations of saying yes and no could

vary quite a bit across functions and seniority levels. For

instance, a CFO could be more concerned about Return on

Investment, whereas a COO could be evaluating the product

from the efficiency of a process standpoint. On the other

hand, someone lower down the hierarchy could be more

concerned about the instant benefit or reduced effort they

can achieve by implementing the technology.

Hence, it’s wise to begin with basic research, identify the

different groups involved, and then apply the

holistic Tri-Fold Neuroscience Framework

to win at technology sales, which is

described below.

Kill the defenses of the instinctual brain

The killing of instinctual defenses can be achieved by investing time and effort to make

each of the stakeholders in the buyer organization like you as a seller.

TRI-FOLDNEUROSCIENCE

FRAMEWORK

KILL THEDEFENSES

OF THEINSTINCTUAL

BRAIN

CONVINCETHE LOGICAL

BRAIN

PULL THERIGHT CHORDS

IN THEEMOTIONAL

BRAIN

Given the fact that multiple decision-makers have a role to play in a technology purchase decision, it’s intuitive to appeal to each of the groups involved.

THE HOLISTIC NEUROSCIENCEBASED APPROACH TO EFFECTIVETECHNOLOGY SALES

7.


Unfortunately, as per Forrester Research, as many as 8 out of 10 executive buyers feel

that their meetings with sales reps are a sheer waste of time, with their preparedness

level appearing as poor as F. Starting out with this kind of a negative impression is

exceedingly damaging for the end result. The statistic clearly indicates how

important it is to get to know prospects well enough first.

Next, what needs to be understood is that nobody likes to be sold to. Getting any

prospect to feel so in the early stage can immediately compel them to pull up their

guards, and derail the whole process. Given this reality, what is important for sales

teams is investing in effort to build a real rapport with each of the different

stakeholders involved in the decision-making process.

Exploring common interests, sharing personal information, behaving like more of a

consultant than a seller, along with using the right choice of words is some of the

ways that could help with this. For striking meaningful conversations, broad areas to

know about well beforehand include industry basics, key pain points, and individual

psyche across different levels of the corporate ladder. A generic understanding of the

different groups of people, ideally combined with specific individual insights works best.

While basic research and industry knowledge can guide with respect to the generics,

uncovering individual insights is tougher. A combination of deeper research and

technology tools could be deployed for the same.

Pull the right chords in the emotional brain

Next, if the stakeholders have a sense of

basic trust in place, the proceeding step is

invoking the right mix of emotions that

can motivate them to be attentive and

move ahead in the buying journey.

Usually, if you can get the prospect to

imagine and fall in love with how they

think they will feel after using the product

or service, the most difficult part of the

job is done. However, a word of caution

here is that this needs to be done in

non-intrusive ways throughout the sales cycle at regular intervals. The idea is to stay on

top of mind without forcefully targeting people when they’re tired, stressed or simply not

interested. © 2020 All rights reserved by TalSmart.

What is also important is being particular about not over-promising or abusing the

emotional aspect with tactics such as invoking too much of any negative emotion

such as fear, frustration, or creating a sense of false urgency as this kind of abuse

creates a negative impact in the long term. It is key to understand that the whole idea

behind all emotional foreplay should only be to get attention at different steps but

not force any kind of instant decision-making.

Convince the logical brain

Finally, once the different stakeholders trust and are attentive, the only link in the chain that

remains is to prove your credibility and rule out the logical objections to the purchase!

Statistics suggest that as many as 58 percent of buyers feel that sales representatives are

simply unable to respond to their questions satisfactorily. Knowing and explaining the

product or service features well, and establishing credibility with testimonials, statistics and

references can help negate the problem and help in successfully convincing the logical brain.

A word of caution: In some individuals, the order of the occurrence of the above three steps

could be interchanged. However, the underlying principle towards addressing each of the

areas of the brain remain unchanged irrespective of the sequence.

© 2020 All rights reserved by TalSmart

B2B Technology sales cycles are typically quite long and are characterized by the interplay of

multiple stakeholders who tend to keep changing their minds at the different stages of the

buyer journey. This reality necessitates the elimination of outdated monochromatic strategies

that just stick with the intuition of what works without any scientific backing behind it.

What needs to stop is the focus around selling without the understanding of why the brain

buys! The truth to acknowledge instead, is that human motivation behind making

decisions is complex and multi-dimensional. Understanding the very intricacies of the

human brain before attempting to influence it to take a particular action is what modern

neuroscience can help with.

The discipline offers a holistic approach to addressing the 3 broad areas of the brain that

get triggered during a sales cycle – the instinctual, emotional, and logical brain and

influence individuals effectively. Applying the tri-fold neuroscience framework can help

measurably empower sales professionals to achieve greater conversion rates.

With increasing competition, limited product differentiation, and dynamism in the technology business environment, sales form a key metric for survival and growth.

CONCLUSION

8.

Talsmart is a global player that imparts industry relevant

practical sales competency using industry experts, and

principles of neuroscience. Our training is highly

contextual, extremely sticky and enables the development

of muscle memory that creates lasting changes in key sales

person attributes of courage, compassion and

commitment. TalSmart is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

Dallas, Texas, United StatesMAIL : [email protected] : 1-469-360-2160

www.talsmart.com

TALSMART

can neuroscience enhance sales effectiveness?

Documents