An outstanding post by Dave Brock inspired me to add this perspective. So much of what salespeople typically focus on is about them…their need to “close the deal”, “bring it in this month”, “overcome objections” and so on. Not that these things aren’t relevant, but too often the customer perspective is isn’t even part of the thought process. And this applies not only to salespeople, but to their managers and leaders as well! In fact, they often instill this self-focus in their salespeople.
There is a paradox here. It’s absolutely critical that sellers take the lead and to an extent control the sales process. They need to plan their sales calls, articulate the agenda, lead the dialog, qualify the opportunity, probe to discover issues and “pain points”, gain commitments, and so on. These things are critical to their success and to some extent “self-focused” (but they should be conducted in a way that’s meaningful to the buyer too – a topic for a different discussion). After all, they have a quota to meet and can’t just “wing it” or let the buyer control the whole process as some suggest. Passivity doesn’t work!
The problem is too many salespeople only view things from their perspective. They only wear the “my objectives hat”. But the best salespeople put on the “customer focused hat” as well. Of course everybody claims to be customer focused. It’s heresy to say otherwise. But often it’s just lip service. The most effective sellers really put themselves in the customer’s shoes. They balance their own needs with those of the customer. All the sales dialog is about the customer, not them. They’re skilled at merging the buyer’s perspective with theirs. They get on the “same side of the table” so to speak. See my recent post for more on that. They take the lead in the engagement, but always make it about the customer. They are empathic sellers.
Again, that doesn’t mean they are passive; quite the opposite. They are assertive! But they understand that ultimately customers buy for their reasons, not ours. We can and should influence them. That’s our job. But ultimately it’s about helping them get to a better place than they are now. If we take that perspective, assuming we’ve targeted prospects that meet our Ideal Customer Profile and properly qualified the opportunity, the friction between buyer and seller is reduced, even eliminated. Ironically, this can actually shorten the sales cycle and increase win rates. It’s a much more effective approach than pressuring customers and jousting with them to satisfy only our needs!
If you’d like to chat about this or other sales related topics send me a LinkedIn message or better yet contact me at 215-840-9981 or email me at dmulhern@pvgsolutions.com
