How to handle – the B2B sales person’s dilemma – 3

B2B, education, education, Marketing, Sales

This is the last part of the series of posts on this topic. We started with how to identify the various stake holders and then figuring out the players who are in competition. I shared possible conversations which you can mould to your sales situation. You can read some very good books on B2B sales like The Challenger Sale, or Strategic Selling by Miller, Hiemann etc. which you can use to direct your effort better.

While these are tactics, I shared, on how to become a more mature and professional sales person, you will not adapt these till you resolve the root cause of why you are afraid to ask these questions inspite of the fact you know them. While I am preaching this too you, I too was in the same boat. I read a lot of books to figure out better methods for sales but I could not solve the core problem.2B

The root cause is the fact that you don’t have enough options in terms of prospects. Since you don’t know if you will have another prospect, if you lose this one, you are scared of losing this. Professional buyers can actually sense this. They deal with sellers all day long.

If they realise that you don’t have other prospects on whom you can bank for sales they will keep negotiating with you till “they can’t wring the towel anymore” and then still not give you the order.

If you are in a hyper competitive industry like IT , where the barriers to entry are non-existent, then I can’t blame you because the targets for you and your competitors are very high and there are only so many deals happening.

But within these industries, intelligent sales people figure out ways to prioritise the accounts where they see a better match. Whether it’s their personal branding or the way they understand their prospect’s pain better, these folks can outrun the competition. Most of the times, it’s about asking better questions to the prospect and challenging her thinking and be willing to walk out if there’s no match instead of wasting time.

As I have mentioned earlier – for the sales guy, time is her rarest asset. If she can invest that time well she can earn massive returns.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Using reverse psychology to win in sales

education, Human Brain, Marketing, mindset, psychology, Thinking

Most customers believe that when a sales person comes / talks or meets them, they will talk superlative about their company products and services. A lot of that will be worthless and baseless.

So most customers raise their guard and are ready with all kinds of objections to counter the claims of the sales person. Its just a mindset issue.

I have mentioned many times that marketing and sales are all about applied psychology. So if we know that the customer will come up with various objections to our offer, why not give out all the things that your offer does not have – upfront. This way you will puncture all the arguments that the customer could have been trying to add up against your offer.

Obviously you need to word it in such a way , that it does not demean the solution that you have provided. You could put it as …. most of the vendors have policies that completely disregard the customer’s need for authority….we were also like that….however we have now got better sense and brought about this change so that you have the authority….

By acknowledging the challenges upfront, you disarm the buyer with whatever objections they were intending to raise against you.

In addition if you have been educating your buyers , using your marketing, then the buyer would already have been primed with the fact that you keep the customer’s interests in mind first. Which helps reduce the pressure on the sales team when they are selling.

It’s taken me many years to utilize the understanding of human psychology in improving my customer handling capabilities and I am trying to still learn everyday. You should also see how you can utilize this knowledge.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

As an example

Compelling versus convincing

compelling, education, education, Marketing

The appreciation of the difference in the words Compelling & Convincing, and its implications in marketing was made possible due to Dean Jackson. I would highly recommend his podcasts Morecheeselesswhiskers.com and his podcast with Joe Polish, Ilovemarketing.com.

Whenever you place an argument in front of a person, even with all the data in the world and show them a conclusion, they will be resistive to it. If the conclusion is not drawn by the person herself, she will always try to find the “catch”. What is it that she’s missing.

On the other hand if you educate a person and logically lead them on a path, then the conclusion that they draw is their own and then they are compelled to look at you.

Look at Apple. They have well designed products no doubt. But look at the closed hierarchy of systems they have created. Every few months they have some global launch in which they showcase how the integration between their products and the newer technologies they are launching will make your life even more comfortable.

Till about 4 -5 years back we didn’t have a single Apple device, we now have 8. And my family members wait when a new item is getting launched. Apple does not try to convince them to buy, but they have got so strongly hooked into the Apple ecosystem, they will give you all the reasons why you should not buy anything else.

A person who is compelled to take action will be your customer for a long time because she has taken the decision based on the education you have given her.

So instead of trying to convince people to your point of view, give them the tools by educating them and compel them to take an informed decision.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem

Every education has a price to be paid

coaching, education, training

In ancient times in India there was a concept of paying fees (dakshina) to the teacher (guru) after the education was over. It could be in terms of whatever the teacher wanted. Money as medium of exchange was not so prevalent in my opinion hence it was generally in kind and typically what the “guru” wanted. The teachers were reverred more than God because it was thought that the route to reach God would not be feasible without a good teacher.

Yesterday while I was listening to a show on ETNow a finance TV channel in India, there was one a very mature fund manager Samir Arora who was getting interviewed.

Through the interview he made a statement which suddenly caught my attention. While he was talking in terms of the financial markets in India, the statement is true for every field. Every education that you get has a price to be paid. In the financial markets, while I have read a lot of books and heard a lot of lectures, what you learn when you start playing the “game” is invaluable. I for example have learnt that I don’t have the psychology to trade even though I know most of the rules.

While there’s nothing better than getting a real life education, it can take a lot of time even though you may not be paying money but you will end up paying with your time.

That’s where experienced coaches can help, if they are in the field you’re wanting to take. That’s why I pay to join programs from Joe Polish and Jay Abraham and others. These kind of coaches can help speed up your learning process, so you save on time.

If you want to save time to get the experience faster, pay the fees to a coach, because you will have to pay for the education either in terms of money or in terms of time.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!