If you choose to believe and internalize what has been said here, this has the potential to completely change everything about the way you sell.
Everything we do should be done with the specific intent of helping our client to do something they need to do in their buying process.
Any action we take, or any move we make, that is not done with the intention of empowering, enabling, or encouraging our buyer to move one step closer to a purchase, is wasted energy. We only do the things that we do in our process so that they will do the things they need to do in their process. This might require us to think differently about how we do our job. Before we pick up the telephone to call-or before we drive over to see-our client, we should be asking ourselves, ‘What exactly is it that they need to do next in their buying process, and what exactly am I going to do on this call or on this visit to help them do that?’
Let’s say you’re planning to meet with the company president of your best prospect, who will-as far as you understand-provide the final approval to move forward with any proposal you might ultimately choose to submit. What do you want him or her to do? Not just in general, I mean what is it exactly that you want him to do during or after the meeting? This would depend on where they are in their buying process, wouldn’t it?
Perhaps the best place to start then, would be to ascertain where he thinks they are in their evaluation or selection process. It is shocking how often it’s not the same place that the director of information technology thinks they are. In fact, you’ll probably find out some things in that very meeting that change your understanding of what has to happen before they can move forward, and it could very well change your whole game plan for that meeting, as well as others in the future.
We should go into every meeting with a plan of what we want the person we are meeting with to do during, or after, the meeting. Do you want him to:
- Endorse your plan to meet with, and interview, some of the other executives?
- Schedule a meeting where you can bring in one of your business analysts to get a better understanding of how the products and services you offer can help them reach their business goals?
- Introduce you to both their CFO and their legal counsel so you can work with the CFO to produce a valid justification for the investment, and with Legal to approve the terms and conditions of your standard contract?
- Commit to or schedule a time to meet with you again, after you have done your opportunity assessment, to present your findings and recommendations?
If you know exactly what you are there to accomplish, then your primary objective for that meeting is to make sure you get their commitment to do those things before you leave.
I want to encourage you to take this concept of selling with specific intent to the next level. Think about the purpose of every single thing you do with your client. What are you hoping to accomplish? Establish a clear understanding of the possible outcomes of every single interaction, select the outcome you think is most desirable, and focus on achieving that. But also, be prepared to handle all other possible outcomes. Never allow yourself to be surprised.
If you are going to provide additional information about your company, products, or services, what do you want them to think differently or do differently after you deliver this information? If you can’t answer this question, do not share the information. You will be wasting their time and yours.
If you are planning to give a presentation, ask yourself, ‘What do I want the audience to think differently or do differently after they see this presentation?’ Never present something that doesn’t have a purpose. If the information you are presenting does not serve a specific purpose, and is not designed to work for you, then the best that can happen is nothing, and the worst is that it will be used against you.
Break it down one step further. Look at each and every slide in your presentation deck and ask, ‘What do I want the audience to think differently or do differently after they see this slide?’ When I do consulting work with my clients who are preparing presentations for their customer’s C-Level executives, my rule of thumb is: ‘If you can’t explain exactly what purpose this slide is serving, then get it out of the deck.’ You might even want to throw them all out and make them earn their way back in. You and I, and our customers, don’t have enough time as it is. We certainly can’t afford to waste any of it doing things that don’t serve a specific purpose.
I am asking you to think differently about the way that you sell. Before you pick up the phone to make your next customer call, figure out exactly why you are calling. What do you want your customer to agree to on this call? If you’ve come over to see them, what do you want them to do before you come to see them the next time? Your customers are not always willing or able to take the steps that you request or recommend. But if you don’t ask, or worse yet if you don’t even know what steps you would recommend if they were willing and able, there is no possibility that they will take them.
Before the next scheduled interaction with your customer, review what you know, and don’t know, about:
- Their selection, approval, and buying process.
- Where they are in that process.
- The next step they need to take in that process.
- What you are going to say or do to get them to take that step.
Of course, gathering or collecting some of this information might be the main reason for having the next call or visit. That’s fine. It’s a never-ending process of learning, readjusting your plan accordingly, learning some more, and readjusting again. But always keep in mindthat . . .
If you or I drive over to see a client-or worse, get on an airplane to fly there-without knowledge of their buying process, where they are in their process, the things they need to do next, and what we are going to say or do to enable or inspire them to do those things, we are nothing more than a ‘professional visitor.’