Real Partnership

How do I win more business sales and acquire more customers and clients? 

Winning Sales

Critical to winning new business is ensuring that others are compelled to buy from you.  The traditional sales model fails because there is too much pushing involved.  It’s an almost physical thing of invading other people’s space.  I see this barely perceptible ‘non verbal’ behaviour all the time,  in restaurants, in retail shops and car dealerships all trying to get others to buy and buy more.

I feel it even when I am on the receiving end as a customer when people are trying to upsell to me.  Do I want a bun with my coffee?  Would I like a new tie with my new shirt?   It’s a pushing motion – it’s a movement into my territory.

Physical Invasion of Space

This ‘physical space invasion’ is also evident when watching professional service providers talk with their clients.  You can see the emotional state of the sales person change as they go for the final kill.  Joy and friendliness affect their facial muscles as the sales person thinks she or he is about to close the sale – this is the final push.

You know, most people don’t really like having things sold to them – that’s why they become so adept at throwing back objections to the sales person.  The predatory sales process delivers such poor results

Is it best to Buy or Sell?

Intuitively, I would much rather people sought out my services rather than having to sell to them.  I think that the traditional sales cycle is an invasion of other’s space.  It is an encroachment into their personal territory.  That’s why the traditional sales model is so lousy at generating results.

Making cold calls or even meeting with warm prospects is not a good investment in time.  In most business contexts, as little as 2-4% of sales are achieved in this way. Sales are equally low even with relatively warm leads. 

Recruitment consultants sit for hours making prospecting calls all day – maybe they make two hundred calls a day and barely get a positive response.  The solution seems to make even more calls but the quantity of calls will generate a frugal harvest.  This is true in most industries whether you are selling insurance, holidays, retail finance, consumer products, bathrooms, kitchens, training and consulting etc.

Why does Sales and Selling not work?

Using the traditional sales approach down to tracking down the next prospect is predatory and unproductive.  Focusing entirely on the sales cycle from prospecting and qualifying to closing the sale is not representative of how want to people buy, so it’s important to take a much more in-depth view of the whole process which underpins buying behaviour.  Many people now talk of the ‘buying cycle’ rather than the smaller ‘selling cycle’.  The actual sale is only a small part of the complete buying process.

People prefer to Buy

It’s important to looking at the buying process and what prompts people to want to buy.  For instance, they may have a need to solve an existing problem.  They do not always know what they want.  This is especially true when we look at how organisations purchase products and services from other businesses in a B2B context.

You’ll recall in the sections above I made reference to the ‘pushing behaviours’ evident in the traditional sales model.  When people really want to buy they are compelled to be ‘pulled’ emotionally in a set direction.

Skill Sets for Buying

To move from the stagnant ‘push’ and invasive nature of selling, to enabling others to buy requires a significant change in mindset, and a great deal of empathy – not to notice buying signals but to help the buyer explore the situation they are in, to collect relevant data, assess the processes which underpin the presenting problem and calmly consider their real ‘needs’ from their ‘wants’.

The Big Picture

Instead of selling solutions that may or may not fix problems. it is far better to see the underlying ‘presenting problem’ for what it is.  It is imperative to examine cause-effect issues and look at the root cause. Explore all avenues, look at key and subsidiary stakeholders’ interests and influence, the politics, culture, priorities, challenges, and only then consider the clients’ ‘wants’ and differentiate them from their real needs.

Investigative Analysis eliminates the potential for Buyer’s Remorse

If you are working with clients and using a ‘discovery review’ process, it is highly unlikely that any solution generated between you and your client will always address the underlying ‘presenting problem’.  Because you have explored the presenting problem and uncovered its root causes, it is unlikely that the client will ever experience ‘buyer’s remorse’.

Training that evolves from this Facilitated Buying Approach

There are lots many providers of sales training but few who really understand the buying model.  I think the buying model is gaining ground because, if you work closely with potential clients you don’t have to chase vast numbers of prospective clients, to achieve the old traditional sales cycle norm of 2-4%.  So the tension of making hundreds of phone calls, the wasted time and money in devising advertising campaigns and publicising huge mailings is not required.

From 2-4% to 50% Success

Obviously, I can only speak about my client base. I cannot guarantee this result but you should be able to improve sales closure to contracts from 2-4% using traditional techniques, to 50%.  I know myself that using this approach – which has always been how I have transacted business I am able to secure at least 50% of the projects I pursue.

Subjugate Your Desires in favour of Your Client 

The reason is simple.  If you subjugate your desires and your agenda to those of your client – you are not selling anything, but offer a listening and questioning ear.  You have to dump any ego.  No, this is not a technique – it is an ‘attitude’ that underlies all your business dealings. 

Stop making assumptions 

You ask questions which enable the client to get some real depth in understanding of their problem.  You listen at multiple levels and formulate questions based on your client’s mindset on the problem and then pose questions to help them think differently about that problem.

One can calmly focus attention listening to clients and engaging those who you are aware of suffering business problems.  Of course you are still prospecting for business but your aim is strictly win-win with the ideal that you are the facilitator to enable the client to win first.  ‘Selje’ is the Norwegian for Sales – but when you translate the full meaning ‘selje’ means to serve.  Now, how many sales people really service their prospects?  How many account managers really subjugate their needs and priorities to those of their clients?

Developing this New Facilitated Buying Approach

It starts with examining current practises of your sales and account management team.  Most companies will have data on customer retention, migration and the cost of new acquisition.  Armed with that data, most engage on a revamped sales campaign driven hard with traditional sales practise.  Sometimes it works but often ‘more of the same’ results in canvassing for new clients, more sales and calls and so the cycle continues.

Empathy & Real Partnership

This can all be reversed by adopting an approach to clients strongly flavoured with empathy and real partnership.  I am not suggesting that the new sales model comes about overnight, but as soon as you start embedding the new facilitated sales or buying process into the hearts and minds of your account or sales managers and staff, the sooner you will achieve a more rewarding relationship with clients and customers.

It is much easier having long term clients than having to recover or harvest others from your competitors 20%+ new customers to retain your sustainable customer base every year.  This is not about ploughing the market for new clients or luring existing ones from competitors, but rather about growing and investing in forming long term ‘buyer’ relationships.

Buying Facilitation & Consultative Model

The management and personal development strategies that promote this approach and create it as the dominant culture for business development are tailored to the special needs and context of any sales organisation.

Needless to say, this model works very well whether you have a high customer migration rate.  It can turn one-off to multiple transactions, resulting in customer and client loyalty and positive and, hopefully, unsolicited endorsement.

Quality improvement in customer service increases very quickly and for those B2B’s that offer ‘big ticket – high value’ services and products to their customers, this approach can build a very powerful relationship with them.  Understanding the culture, politics, stakeholders perceptions and priorities, together with the skills underpinning the Facilitated Buyer approach, can create a very powerful and profitable competitive edge.

Philip@philipatkinson.com