Your company is facing an increasingly 4 critical questions for strong belgium email list competitor – yet you won’t find them listed in any Google search of the key players in your marketplace. But this competitor is playing a powerful and often-undefined role in almost every significant B2B buying decision. And it’s the reason why a growing number of your apparently well-qualified opportunities are ending up with the prospect deciding to “do nothing”.
Have you recognised the competitor yet? It’s the status quo – and in today’s increasingly risk-averse decision-making climate, where it may be harder than ever before to get approval for discretionary investments, our prospects might think that sticking with the status quo is the safest option open to them. We need to persuade them otherwise. And we need to make the case for change before we make the case for our solution.
Is the status quo holding you back?
Before we can expect to win their business . A we the sales manager’s competitive edge – why coaching matters in complex b2b sales need to play our part in persuading all the key stakeholders in the buying decision process that the cost and risk of doing nothing significantly outweighs the cost and risk of the investment we are asking them to make – and that our offering represents the least risky of all the options open to them – including the decision to “do nothing”.
Let’s be clear. If we haven’t done all we can to persuade the prospect of the need for change, we probably don’t deserve their business. Yet I still observe experienced sales people rushing in to propose their company’s product or service offerings while their prospect is still unclear or unconvinced about whether they need to let go of the status quo.
The truth about burning platforms and compelling events
Sometimes we will get lucky, and the prospect will already have concluded that they are standing on a “burning platform”, or face a truly “compelling event”. But we shouldn’t be surprised if, during the course of our sales process, the flames start looking a little more bearable, or if the upcoming event seems just that little less compelling.
We need to make sure that all the key stakeholders in . A our prospect understand why they need to change, why they need to do it now why we are best . A positioned to help and – perhaps most important of all – why our prospect can . A trust us to ensure that they achieve their intended outcomes.
No case for change? no deal!
Failure to make the case for change is one of the most common root causes when . I conduct pipeline analysis to help prospects understand . A why opportunities are stuck or being lost to a decision to do nothing. But the impact is deceptive, because the effects often show up later in the sales cycle.
If you’re suffering from a rash of stuck late-stage sales opportunities. ,I strongly recommend that you investigate whether an adequate . A case for change had been made and agreed earlier on in the sales process. Don’t be surprised if your sales people turn out to. A be suffering from a condition I have come to refer to as “premature elaboration”.
The 4 Whys
Before they are prepared to approve fans data any significant investment. A the decision-making group (and the final approvers) need to . A be completely satisfied with the answers to these four key questions:
