A Prospect Won't Buy Unless a Need is Met

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It may sound obvious, but it’s a fundamental truth in sales: a prospect won’t buy unless they have a problem the purchase solves.  It’s actually a very liberating truth in sales, because it eliminates the idea that selling is about convincing someone to do something they don’t want to do, which is akin to forcing a child to take medicine-- not a pleasant experience.

There are basically three states that a potential buyer may be experiencing, and only two of them will make them receptive to your solution.

1)     Pain-if a prospect is experiencing a negative situation and your solution will help them get out of pain, they will be receptive.

2)     Growth-if an organization is experiencing growth or wants to grow and your solution is perceived as being able to drive that growth or manage it more effectively, they will be receptive.

3)     Even-keel-if a prospect is even-keel, and they perceive no positive or negative change as a result of taking action, they will not be receptive to your solution.  Complacent prospects though may cycle into a state of pain so it’s smart to maintain a relationship.

The good news is, if you’re frequently in touch with potential buyers and maintain a relationship based on trust, mutual respect and demonstrated expertise, chances are at some point that prospect will have a need and you’ll have an opportunity to present your solution.

Do you find that these three categories of buyers ring true in your business or industry?

The “Un-Strategic Plan”

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Mention the words, ‘strategic’ and ‘plan’ in the same sentence, and many people conjure up the image of a high cost, low value exercise.  Often those plans have included the commensurate three-ring binder—the fatter the binder, the more expensive the plan. 

Many of us have also had the chance to suffer through a strategic planning ‘retreat’; a day-long exercise rich in brainstorming, flipcharts and sticky dots, but short on Objectives, Action Plans, and Follow Through. 

Hopefully those feel-good but unproductive planning experiences have not deterred you from tackling a planning exercise in your own business.  In every case, it’s not the concept of strategic planning that’s flawed, but rather the process used to conduct the exercise.  Actually those negative experiences can inform us on how to better conduct an effective planning exercise.

In reality, effective strategic planning is not a yearly event, but rather an on-going undertaking in your business.  It just makes common sense when you think about it…we need to be strategic every day of the year, and it’s the well designed plan that’s referred to on a weekly if not daily basis, that guides us in our decisions.  

Culture Drives Performance Management

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Every group of people that spend time together whether in a business, non-profit or family, has a culture.  The culture of an organization is something you can feel as soon as you enter the door.  It’s something your senses pick up from the clues given off by groups of people working together. 

Much has been written about how to establish the ‘right’ culture for your business.  Many organizations focus on establishing a creative culture with funky décor and opportunities to play games to keep a light, festive feeling.  Other companies work hard to establish a culture of dependability and reliability, and opt for a subdued conservative culture to communicate longevity and trust.

It’s the sense of hearing however, that will tell the story of an organization’s performance management culture.  Listen to what people say about their role in the organization and you will quickly identify a culture of high performance.  When you hear that employees have clear expectations, measure their results, and meet on a regular basis to monitor progress, you know there’s a culture of performance management.

Ask individuals in your company to describe your culture, and listen to what they say.  If they offer descriptions such as; fast paced, changing, chaotic, and confusing, it’s time to be more deliberate about creating a culture for performance management.

How to Give Backbone to Your Business Objectives

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There’s no greater tool for improving the performance of an organization than setting well-thought out goals.  Goals give individuals working together on a team a common target to aim towards.  Well written and developed organizational goals provide the guiding structure that teams and individuals need to set objectives for the important outcomes in their respective areas.

The value of goals is diminished however, if a comprehensive Action Plan for “how to” accomplish the goal is not also created.  This is where you put the ‘meat on the bones’ of the goal setting process.  Action Plans break goals & objectives into bite-sized doable actions, which makes it easier to get started and helps avoid getting overwhelmed. 

The key to developing an Action Plan is to have clarity on the deliverable.  The deliverable is what you have when you are done.  It might be something like: “Create Board of Advisors by the end of the second quarter.”  Once the deliverable is clear, the Action Plan needs to indicate the specific steps that need to be taken, by whom and by when. 

For instance, before an Advisory Board is created, a business owner might want to first do research into best practices, talk with business owners who already have a board, and talk to her attorney to determine any legal ramifications.  Each of those steps needs to be defined, given a deadline and assigned to one individual.  Ideally, every major business objective has a corresponding Action Plan.  Well written objectives which are backed-up with detailed Action Plans provide the structure a leader needs to grow their business.

The Single Most Neglected Element in Selling Today

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In today’s professional selling environment, STRATEGY is a prerequisite to tactical success.  Tactics refers to the techniques you use when you’re actually face to face with a prospect and includes all the tools of the trade such as questioning techniques, overcoming objections, presentation skills, trial closes, etc. 

Strategy, on the other hand, describes the process you use to position yourself with the potential customer before the sales call even begins.  Good strategy, like good tactics, can be learned.  It’s ironic then that strategy is the single most neglected element in selling today.

Integrating strategy into the sales process requires a conscious, planned system that is visible, logical and repeatable.  Creating and defining a sales process eliminates the phenomenon of individuals reinventing the wheel and creating something that’s unsustainable. 

An organization’s sales strategy needs to be based on best practices and includes a logical sequence including the following steps:

1)     Conduct a situation analysis.

2)     Define goals & objectives.

3)     Isolate critical success factors & barriers.

4)     Identify strategies & create an action plan.

5)     Create a feedback loop for monitoring, measuring and reporting.

6)     Meet on a regular basis to review, reassess, adapt & train.