As we seek and identify new sales opportunities, we are looking for a prospective client who has a business objective they want to achieve, or problem they have to solve, and is both driven and able to take action to do something about it. Granted, it could take a lot of work on our part just to help them get to that point, but once they’re there, we can begin to frame the opportunity as a shared objective and a project we can work toward together. Then, beginning at the end, we work with our customer to reverse-engineer a series of actions or ‘hurdles’ that lead to a successful conclusion.
Step 1: Establish Urgency
As early in the process as you deem appropriate, begin asking the ‘When?’ questions that relate to the Action Driver of Urgency. I try to ask these questions during the very first conversation, especially with an executive. As soon as you begin discussing the goals they are trying to achieve, or the problems they are trying to solve, make sure and ask:
- ‘When was this goal established or initiative adopted?’
- ‘When did you first realize this problem needed attention?’
- ‘When do you need to get this done?’
- ‘When do you need this problem solved?’
- ‘When do you need to start seeing results?’
What we would like to discover through this line of questioning is a deadline or a time-bound trigger of some kind, which can drive an urgency to take action. It’s sad, but true, that if your customer can get by without taking action, that’s probably what they will do. But if we are able to identify and leverage what some refer to as a ‘compelling event,’ we are much more likely to be successful.
Please keep in mind, this is not, ‘When do you want to buy?’ or ‘When do you plan to make the decision?’ Those are questions about point ‘B.’ They indicate to your customer that you are ‘in it for you.’ It makes people feel uncomfortable to have to tell you when they are going to decide. Keep your questions focused on outcomes, and when they want to achieve their desired results.
The most compelling buying triggers are tied to promises that have been made outside the organization you are selling to. A personal mandate from a senior vice president (SVP) to get a new system in place by September 30 can easily be displaced by some other urgent issue the SVP is faced with. On the other hand, if that same SVP makes a promise to her biggest customer that a certain new system-perhaps one that enables the customer to check order status via the Web-will be in place by September 30, it is far less likely to be ‘bumped’ by the next issue that comes along.
Step 2: Establish Motive
Once our customer has given us a time frame for arriving at point ‘C,’ the next thing we need to explore is the motive that makes it compelling and important. We learn about their motive to take action on a project by asking, ‘Why?’ Let’s assume that they have told us that September 30 is when they need to be ‘up and running’ and starting to see the results that they are looking for. Our next question could be one of these:
- ‘Why is September 30 your ideal time frame to be operational?’
- ‘What is it about September 30 that makes it important?’
- ‘Why would you pick September 30 instead of August 31?’
In order for a sales opportunity to be well qualified, our customer has to have a pretty good reason to take action sometime before September 30, so they will be able to start seeing results by then. Without a strong motive that is tied to a time-bound trigger, deals can drag on forever. We should start early, and constantly be looking for any event, occurrence, or urgency that reinforces a motive to buy.
Step 3: Establish Consequence
So, your client wants to be ‘live and in production’ with their new system (or process) in place by September 30. They might even have a good reason ‘Why?’ But we have one more critical question to ask. We need to know if there is any consequence to not getting this done in the time frame they have established. We should ask:
- ‘What bad thing will happen if you aren’t ‘up and running’ by September 30?’
- ‘What will your biggest customer say if you don’t have this done by September 30?’
- ‘Have you figured out how much it could cost each month that this is delayed?’
When several budgeted projects, as well as a few dozen unbudgeted grassroots projects, all start competing for the same limited capital and resources, something’s got to give. Managers start asking, ‘What can we put off for a month or two?’
In some cases, it’s not simply a matter of which deadlines carry a consequence, but which ones carry the greatest consequence. The conversation sounds like this:
‘If we push this project back, then we will make certain people mad, and if we push the other one back, we make these other people mad. Which of these two choices does the least long-term damage?’
Nothing can insulate our sales campaign from these harsh realities, but let’s do all we can to understand what we’re up against, and where we stand, before it all ‘hits the fan.’
To frame an opportunity, and understand its chances of coming to closure, we work with our client to understand what they are trying to accomplish, and the urgency, motive, and consequence to get it done. I tell participants in my workshops to repeat those three words silently in their mind when they are exploring a new sales opportunity . . . Urgency, Motive, and Consequence . . . Urgency, Motive, and Consequence.
We need to constantly have our radar on, monitoring the frequency for ‘When?’ ‘Why?’ and ‘What if you don’t?’ Each time we meet with a new person who plays a role in the buying process, we should try to add their perspective of Urgency, Motive, and Consequence to our composite understanding of the Action Drivers at work in the opportunity.
It has been my experience that only about 20 percent of the opportunities in any given sales pipeline carry an urgency, motive, and consequence that can be tied to a certain date or point in time. This doesn’t mean that the other 80 percent of your opportunities are ‘no good.’ But a project or an initiative that does not carry these will normally be ‘bumped’ from the list by another initiative that does. To be most effective . . .
We should spend 80 percent of our time and effort on the 20 percent of our opportunities that carry a strong urgency, motive, and consequence, because these are the deals that can close.