shifting sales paradigms
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Sales Velocity Partners www.salesvelocitypartners.com
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Shifting Sales Paradigms
Salespeople expect the customer to make the connection and depend on the customer's
ability to align their own problems with all of the proposed solutions available. It is very
difficult for customers to understand and manage the scope, details, and ramifications of
their problems and the characteristics of the myriad of available solutions that will best
resolve their individual problems.
The problems resulting from deficiencies in a customer's decision process are further
compounded by the tendency of conventional selling approaches to overlook the
distinction between the customer's decision process and the customer's approval
process. Customers always bring an approval process but, they seldom bring a quality
decision process.
A customer who cannot comprehend the solution will probably not buy it, will certainly
not buy it quickly, and won't be willing to pay a premium price for it. With the
comprehension level that low, every solution looks the same to them in regard to price.
What is your customer's level of comprehension? How well do your customers understand their own problems? How well do they understand your solutions?
Conventional Selling Methods
Depend on the ability of salespeople to determine the customer's decision process.
These programs instruct sales to find out what customers are looking for, what's
important to them, what they need, and what criteria they will use to decide to purchase.
Traditional Sales Processes
Are focused on sales numbers, not the reasons behind them. They understand numbers
very well and, they know that selling is a numbers game. The answer that we usually
hear can be summarized in two words: SELL HARDER! Their leaders try to solve the
problem by pumping up the system: this doesn’t work anymore!
Are you Challenging or Collaborating?
Do you find yourself debating with customers? Are your customers reacting defensively?
Are your customers challenging your recommendations? How much of your time with
customers is spent presenting, persuading, and convincing? This is the James Bond
approach. There is always a lot of collateral damage, and people are going to get hurt
on both sides of the table.
Sales Velocity Partners www.salesvelocitypartners.com
Page 2 of 2
When Salespeople start Overcoming Objections
They are placing themselves in conflict with their customers. This sets the stage for
polite disagreements and respectful differences of opinion. It often turns the sales
process into a battle in which the seller must somehow conquer the buyer to win the
sale.
This problem is inherent in all conventional sales processes because it focuses solely on
making the sale. Any reluctance on the part of a customer translates into a direct threat
to the salesperson's success. When you hear customer objections, what you are actually
hearing is the direct result of escaped or less than fully traveled exploratory branch. If
each branch has been completed to a customer's satisfaction, all of their potential
objections have by definition already been resolved. Forget about over-coming
objections.