If I read another blog post or hear another sales person (or leader) mindlessly regurgitate that “buyers are 57% through the buying process before they engage a salesperson I think I’ll need to excuse myself to go outside and literally regurgitate my lunch. I just read a post recently that compelled me to write this. Now, I’m not saying this statistic, made famous by the CEB and either refined or refuted by others, isn’t without merit. It’s just that it seems so often misinterpreted and regarded like a law of nature and as a basis for sales strategy and perhaps even the organization of sales teams. Many seem resigned to the notion that they must just accept it because there is nothing they can do about it.
To be fair, the statistic does provide an important wake-up call to the reality that today’s buyers have more means than ever to “self-serve” at the front end of their buying process. Actually, that reality is not new; buyers have for decades contacted sales people after doing much of the evaluation of their situation, definition of their needs and development of a solution on their own (or with the help of others). It’s called the RFP you didn’t expect or didn’t influence. Back then the buyers just didn’t have such easy access to information. They had to get it through off-line research, word of mouth from colleagues, and often from a consultant or one of your competitors. It’s just so prevalent nowadays due to the proliferation of information access and therefore does warrant consideration as an important trend.
But it is just that, a trend; an average calculated across diverse selling organizations of various sizes, serving different markets, with different products and services (some more simple and some more complex) in different stages of their lifecycle and so forth. Assuming averages apply to a specific situation can be misleading and can cause us to take as “given” things that we might actually be able to do something about. And I fear it has caused some to take a stance that their only choice is to be reactive in how they structure their sales approach; maybe even providing an excuse to not prospect or otherwise be lazy.
But the best salespeople have always been proactive, and the best still are. They don’t sit and wait for the phone to ring. They don’t just hope for “sales ready leads” from Marketing. They actively prospect in their territories and with their assigned accounts. They seek to “get in early” and be the ones helping prospects identify and clarify their issues and formulate solutions. They collaborate with prospects to navigate, even sometimes define, the buying process. They are the influencers not the responders. This is how they deliver value, stand out from the rest and excel.
So before you resign to being reactive and responding to demands late in the game with the rest of the herd , consider your specific situation. Why not proactively prospect? You’ll still be late to the game sometimes but not always. And those where you can engage early will likely be your best prospects. Can your buyers really figure it all out on their own? Can you help them identify and clarify their issues? Can you help them create the case for change? Can you help shape their vision of a solution? Can you help them clarify their own buying process? I think in many if not most situations the answer is YES! It may not be as easy as “waiting for the phone to ring”, but it is surely much more effective!
