The BEST Customers Don't Need Sales or Sellers

What makes a good customer? One who can align the priorities of their key internal stakeholders, one who can fully uncover and then articulate what is required for an initiative to be successful and one who then can show the WIFM to all three categories of stakeholder HOW SUCCESS WILL BE MEASURED.

Unfortunatly, most customers can't align priorities, understand requirements or establish criteria. And that is one of the primary reasons that Gartner reports that less that one percent (.8) of all major IT initiatives deliver to the original intended value (scope/time/resources).

So, I have to chuckle when I read "... through questioning, the best sales people are able to empower their buyers by giving them a vision to achieve goals, solve problems, and satisfy needs if they had the sellers offering."

Isn't it awfully presumptive that a seller is going to 1) get the appointment/audience with a buyer (will questioning get the appointment?), 2) earn the right to ask a series of questions, and 3) receive the "correct" answers to the questions? Going in with a "give to get" approach works 99.9% of the time to earn the right to the most productive collaboration with your "less than able" buyers.

Remeber, customers want and need your help to improve their odds of success beyond .8%. Initially going in with a series of open ended probing questions does little to help you stand out from the crowd. After all, your questions are not unique.... just like everyone else.

Balancing Sales and Helping the Buyer Buy

Today I was interviewing a 30-year sales veteran and he told me that had he tried to help the buyer be more successful with the buyers project rather than trying to "sell his solution", he would have gotten both a sale and he would have helped the buyer simultaneously. And he might not be looking for a job today.

What?

We have all heard stories of how we manipulate the questioning techniques we've read in books to get at the problems and implications and the pain etc. etc. etc.; do you realy think the buyers are not "on to you" with that approach?

Instead, go in realizing that the buyer wants and needs your help to make the buyers project as successful as possible (with or without you). In so doing, you wll be rewarded. That means helping the buyer align priorities with the three categories of stakeholder, (bet you didn't know that the buyer is really three distictly different buyers in a high dollar matrix-buying sale), understand requirements and establish success criteria. Tell me your experience when you've done this effectively for the buyer.

Figures lie and Liars Figure

Remember that saying? There is an ongoing debate about the use and importance of EBITDA in valuing a company. Here is a wonderful short article about the pros and cons to help you better prepare for for Customer Collaborations.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/analyst/020602.asp

Collaborating with Customers when interviewing

HOW TO MAKE COMMON SENSE COMMON PRACTICE-
The job market for high tech sales professionals is tough, you don't need me to tell you that but why are we making it even tougher to get hired?

Consider this; prospective employers know that if you were the top performer at your past company you would still be there. Period. If you have been out of work for a while they are wondering why you are still looking. So you better have the answers to these two basic questions going in. Here are some other common sense ideas to consider.

1) A prospective employer will only hire you if you can add value in the form of something they don't have now and need/want. How do you go about finding out what they need and want other than traditional notes from job boards or a recruiters spec sheet?

2) Using social networks and introductions from friends and colleagues does not mean that you can lob in a call to the CEO and expect her/him to automatically take your call. What are you doing to get the attention of the key individual(s) you need to impress to get the job? How do you prep? What do you look for to position yourself in the best light?

3) Graying hair can be a plus or a minus! The reality is the person interviewing you is most likely younger than you. How will you be able to relate to a younger person? A younger person is going to question (non-verbally of course) your stamina. Your intentions. Your longevity. Your desperation factor! What can you do to make all of these "concerns/question" a non-issue?

All these and more are common sense. Right? But in my part-time role helping folks interview better, I recently witnessed poor preparation, defensiveness, going in without a plan, inability to understand the buyers 1) priorities, 2) their requirements to add the next hire and 3) success criteria that will be measured to know that they made a good decision.

While I have only scratched the surface, these were top of mind today. I'd love to hear your thoughts around common practice and common sense.

Without a simple set of methods and tools making common sense common practice defaults to intuition. Intuition is very difficult to teach and the key reason that change managment is so daunting for sales professionals.