It’s The Consensus, Stupid*

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Buying decisions happen well before buyers consider your solution regardless of their need or the efficacy of your solution, marketing, or content. In fact, a purchase is the very last thing that occurs in a string of events buyers must handle as they seek to solve a business problem.

One of the first things they must do is assemble the complete Buying Decision Team to garner the consensus necessary for change. Studies from the CEB show that a Buying Decision Team includes approximately 6 decision makers and untold influencers who must achieve consensus before considering how to resolve their problem, whether it’s a purchase or another fix. Let’s look at this from 3 angles:

  1. Buyers don’t initially know who belongs on the Buying Decision Team. The time it takes them to assemble the right people and hear their voices around fixing a business problem is part of the buying decision path. These issues are political, systemic, relational – not focused on need. We are not facilitating the assembly of the team.
  2. An external solution is considered only when there is consensus that an internal problem can’t be resolved with familiar resources. We are not facilitating the systemic discovery process that has little to do with our solution.
  3. An external fix causes disruption. It’s necessary to have consensus as to when, if, or how to bring in a new solution so disruption can be either avoided or planned for. We are not facilitating consensus as it’s unique and systemic.
  4. Any solution – internal change or an external purchase – must address the change management issues that result from anything new entering the status quo. We are not facilitating change but merely offering content on what might be a solution.

Content Is Not King

Content is merely one way the decision makers and influencers can learn about possible solutions when they are ready to begin thinking about options. Other solutions being considered include internal workarounds that will manage the problems more simply. A purchase is merely the very last thing buyers consider. We are limiting our success to a small segment of opportunity and should be facilitating decisions point before pushing solutions.

We can facilitate a buyer’s consensus from sales, marketing, and social, but not with the current sales or marketing models. Add Buying Facilitation® to your sales and marketing and enter earlier by first helping facilitate consensus. It’s not sales, nor is it solution driven – it’s a change facilitation model. But buyers have to do it with you or without you. It might as well be with you. And THEN you can sell your solution.

*Thanks to Bill Clinton: “It’s the Economy, Stupid.”

About the Author

Sharon Drew Morgen is founder of Morgen Facilitations, Inc. (www.newsalesparadigm.com). She is the visionary behind Buying Facilitation®, the decision facilitation model that enables people to change with integrity. A pioneer who has spoken about, written about, and taught the skills to help buyers buy, she is the author of the acclaimed New York Times Business Bestseller Selling with Integrity and Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it.

Contact Sharon Drew at [email protected] and add her Buying Facilitation® model to your sales or marketing solutions. Then you can influence the entire decision path, not just the back end.

The old way or the new way? It’s really not a choice anymore.

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My sales perspective flies in the face of traditional selling. And it’s not just a disruption – it’s the new way of sales. What’s your perspective?

Last week (in part one) I discussed the worthlessness of the old way of selling – everything from cold calling and finding the pain to overcoming objections and closing the sale. I referred to ‘the old ways’ as manipulative, insincere, and aggressive and cautioned that customers and prospects are not only against it, they’re insulted by it! Ouch.

Me? I prefer being assertive. And there is a huge difference between assertive and aggressive. Here are the four majors:

  • Aggressive salespeople tell. Assertive salespeople ask.
  • Aggressive salespeople try to ‘close.’ Assertive salespeople use testimonial proof.
  • Aggressive salespeople go for the sale. Assertive salespeople go for the customer.
  • Aggressive salespeople think ‘quota.’ Assertive salespeople think ‘relationship.’

Which one are you? It’s the difference between the old way and the new way.

Here’s my list of what’s happening NOW in sales. The New Way. UPDATE: Sales will be happening the new way for the foreseeable future:

  • Value attraction. A marketing approach that tells me how I win, not who you are.
  • Social attraction. A social presence that’s value-message based. Social messages that your prospective customer can find. NOTE: It’s time to rethink and revamp the so-called ‘law of attraction.’ If you’re looking to identify and attract willing buyers, value attraction and social attraction are the new laws. Value attraction and social attraction are the new way of selling.
  • Find the pleasure. Things you both know about and like will make the sale easier and faster than painful things (that are likely none of your business) that make the prospect uncomfortable.
  • Ask emotionally engaging questions. Ask questions about them (the prospect or customer), that make them respond in terms of you. Uncover their experience, their wisdom, and their knowledge.
  • Discover the customer’s motive to buy. Why people buy his one billion times more powerful than how to sell.
  • Give perceived value beyond price. As a customer, I don’t need justification to make a purchase. I need a perception that the value you offer me in exchange for my money is greater than the price you’re charging. I need to know how I win, produce, and profit as a result of purchase. I already know what it is, I already know what it does, I already know how it works. I don’t need you to tell me you’re the greatest. I just need you to tell me how I win after I take ownership.
  • Confirm the urgency of your offer. Once you understand the customer’s motive to buy, their urgency becomes apparent. If you haven’t uncovered their motive, you will never know when they intend to purchase.
  • Provide ‘voice-of-customer’ proof. Video testimonials are the new black. When you say it about yourself, it’s bragging. When a customer says it about you, it’s proof. Take advantage of your best salespeople – your loyal customers! Testimonial videos can be offered as sales proof during a presentation and can also be posted on every form of your social media outreach. One of the most interesting aspects of testimonials is they also reinforce the belief of salespeople in their own product.
  • Be both available and easy to do business with. 24.7.365 is the new 9-5. I want a friendly, intelligent, live human being to answer the phone when I call, and so does EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET.
  • Give ‘after the sale’ value. Once I purchase, show me more and tell me more about how I can use, produce more, and profit more from what I own. Give me a weekly value message, not another sales message. Serve me, WOW me, and surprise me.
  • Earn customer loyalty. Loyalty is earned slowly over time. (Just like trust.) Loyalty is gained with quality of product, ease of doing business, availability of people, online alternatives to both purchasing and service, speed of response, and value received. Loyal customers purchase time and time again without regard to price. Loyalty is defined in two parts:
    Part one: Will the customer do business with you again?
    Part two: Will the customer refer you? If they do both, that’s loyalty. Any other measurement is bogus.
  • Earn referrals. Asking for referrals has been replaced by earning referrals and giving referrals. Think about the last time you GAVE a referral. Oh wait, maybe you never have! That’s because giving referrals requires work. I didn’t say the new way of selling was easy, I just said it was a new way. Ask before you tell. Give before you get. Earn before you ask.
  • Build online and word-of-mouth reputation. What are you known as? What are you known for? What is your image? What is your Google image? What is your social image? These five elements comprise your reputation. No asset is more valuable.
  • Build relationships. Everyone talks about being relationship oriented. But my findings show just the opposite. A quick review of the elements above will let you see exactly where you are on the ‘solid relationship’ scale. I don’t want you to be relationship oriented, I want you to be relationship building. Every day.

Review this list and rate yourself between 1 and 10. Anywhere you score less than a seven in is telling you you’re not near the new way yet. Work at it!

The new way will pay.

FREE GITBIT. I’ll be writing more about the new way of selling, but for now if you would like to get both part one and part two that I’ve written, go to Gitomer.com and enter the words NEW WAY in the GitBit box.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

You cannot ignore the present. It’s where your sales are!

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My sales perspective flies in the face of traditional selling. And it’s not just a disruption, it’s the new way of sales. What’s your perspective?

Here are seven realities to get your thinking started:

FIRST REALITY: Traditional selling is aggressive – telling, pitching, manipulating, and closing. This old-world approach to sales is over and has been for more than a decade.

SECOND REALITY: The first sale that’s made is the salesperson. If the prospective customer does not by you, they’re not buying anything.

THIRD REALITY: The customer is as smart or smarter than you are. The internet has provided them with competitive savvy and social media has provides proof.

FORTH REALITY: Your customers and prospects are busy with THEIR stuff and may have little or no time to be bothered by you and your stuff. It’s so much more powerful when they find you in time of need.

FIFTH REALITY: Customers and prospects want intellectual engagement about how THEY WIN, not a sales pitch! They do not care about your urgency to make quota. They only care about their urgency to make profit.

SIXTH REALITY: The prospective customer must perceive value in your sales offering, trust you as a person and as a company, perceive that they win as a result of purchase, and be able to visualize outcome after purchase (maybe with the help of your video testimonials).

SEVENTH REALITY: You better have a social presence and a social reputation that proves your worth to others, and provides peace of mind to the prospect.

Look at this list – carefully – and see if what you do, the actions you take, or any of the strategies about how you sell are contained here. If they are, you will consistently lose to the ‘new way.’

  • Cold calling. If selling has a dark side, it’s the cold call. Total interruption of others (the prospect), and predominantly a waste of salespeople’s time. Higher than 90% rejection rate and the major cause of sales failure.
  • Hunting and farming salespeople. This is basically a sales specialist making a sale and then running away. Leaving behind the service department, or inside sales, or the delivery guy, and the customer to feel desserted. Hunting and farming is the worst case for relationship building ever created.
  • Find the pain. Perhaps the rudest of all sales processes, it’s “probing” to make prospects feel uncomfortable. This is an old-world tactic, where the salesperson miraculously proposes a solution to an issue that the prospect has. The solution is not the issue. The issue is that finding the pain is the focal point of the sale. No value, no engagement, no connection – simply manipulation. The only thing more idiotic (and more rude) than “finding the pain” is cold calling.
  • Pitch the product. Telling your prospective customer stuff about your product that they could’ve found online in three seconds, or that you could’ve emailed them in advance of your meeting. Customers do not care what you’re selling, unless you’re showing them how they win as a result of purchase such as how they will produce more, and how they will profit more. Start there.
  • Overcome objections. “Your price is too high.” Really? You still dealing with that? Where’s the value? Where’s the testimonial? Where’s the relationship? Where’s the trust? Where’s the social proof?
  • Close the sale. Manipulative closing is a thing of the past. The sale is made emotionally, not manipulatively.
  • Proposals and bidding. This part of selling will never go away, but can be significantly reduced with loyal relationships and proven quality.
  • Insincere follow-up. Call looking for money.
  • Customer satisfaction. J.D. Power and Associates gives ‘customer satisfaction’ awards to airlines. Do I need to say anything more about how ridiculous customer satisfaction is?
  • Ask for (beg for) referrals. If you ask for a referral once, and the customer does not give you one, and you call again reminding the customer that they promised to give you a referral, and the customer still does not give you one, they will never take your call again. Instead of asking for referrals, why don’t you give one?
  • Low or no social media presence. Failure to understand the fact that social media is a combination of attraction, proof that you are you say you are, and a sales tool.
  • Low or no social media awareness. Inability or refusal of salespeople to participate gives your competition an ability to use it and dominate.
  • Low or no relationship. The quality of the relationship allows you to make multiple sales, earn more profit, earn referrals, and gain their testimonial proof. If you’re lacking in these four areas it’s your relationship report card, and loss of sales or profit, or both.

    • Me? I prefer to be assertive. Assertive salespeople ask. Aggressive salespeople tell. Assertive salespeople go for the customer. Aggressive salespeople go for the sale.

    Which one are you? It’s the difference between the old way and the new way.

    The ‘new way’ is next week – stay tuned!

    Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

    About the Author

    Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

    Customer Retention: Stop Rolling the Dice

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    Banking on a steady stream of new business can be like gambling away your future. It’s a well-established fact that customer retention can yield a huge return—yet companies still struggle to make it happen. Doing things like creating a more positive customer experience right from the start and identifying the root issues that cause customer churn can ensure a stable and prosperous future.

    Below is an infographic from Sparked that illustrates the dangerous mindsets companies have that ultimately lead to churn and a significant loss in profit.

    BPM Process Methodology

    Click here to view the complete infographic.

    Help Buyers Buy: Facilitate The Buy Path, Then Sell

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    Your solution is the last thing a buyer needs. Literally.

    The sales model is a solution placement model. It does a fine job assessing needs, pitching, presenting, and placing solutions. Yet we close no more than 7% of prospects from first call, spend huge amounts of money creating presentations, sites, and marketing materials bring that in a fraction of the business they were designed to, spend inordinate amounts of resource responding to RFPs that fail, and attempting to make appointments with prospects who either reject us or don’t buy. We waste at least 90% of a sales professional’s time. As a result we hire more people and set our budgets accordingly.

    We have great solutions. Our sales folks are professionals. What’s the problem?

    The problem is that buyers don’t buy the way we sell. In fact, a purchase is the last step buyers take along their buy path, and we sit and wait for them to traverse their steps without having the proper skills to influence their journey from the start.

    A Buying Decision is a Change Management Problem

    To understand how buyers buy, we must understand systems and change. Buying anything, from a shirt to a company, a training program or a piece of software, is a change management activity. Something that has existed, and worked well-enough for a period of time, will be replaced by a relatively unknown entity. Change. And change is systemic: anything that touches the new element will be affected in an unknown way and potentially mess up the system. And systems won’t abide by disruption; we learned that in 6th grade chemistry.

    Like all of us, buyers live in systems; everything within them chugs along together like a set of gears so the system remains stable. Stability – the status quo – gets maintained with rules and processes and job descriptions and relationships. Whatever doesn’t fit within the system gets chucked out because the system is sacrosanct. When there is a problem, the system creates workarounds so it can continue functioning; the problem then becomes part of the tapestry of the system. Only when there is no other option will the buyer face the potential disruption of bringing in something that is outside the system.

    In order for buyers to buy and be willing to have something foreign enter their system, they need to first manage systemic change: they must get buy-in for the change, design new rules or roles, replace the old solution in a way that insures equilibrium is maintained, and last but not least, involve the managers, department heads, and sundry people who will touch the ultimate solution – folks not necessarily direct stakeholders or decision makers, but folks whose jobs will be effected by the change. Without managing this change, they will buy nothing, regardless of their need or the efficacy of your solution.

    A buying decision is a systems problem. And sales acts as if the buyer’s problem were an isolated event.

    Buying Includes a 13 Step Buy-in Change Process

    There are unique change management issues that must be addressed before a purchase can occur. Indeed: until there is a clear path to change, there is no way to even know who is a prospect; before every appropriate voice is assembled and heard, there is no way to define a need. As outsiders focused on placing solutions, we have no ability to enter into the buyer’s environment and facilitate these activities because they are idiosyncratic and personal. And the time it takes them to figure out how to manage the backend change is the length of the sales cycle.

    We’re currently entering at the end of the decision path: the very last thing a buyer needs is your solution. The last thing. But we can enter earlier. Here’s what we should be facilitating that is currently outside our purview and skill sets:

    1. All – ALL – who will touch the new solution must have their voices heard. Usually it takes buyers a while to understand who must be included on the Buying Decision Team. In a small sale, it’s easier than a larger sale, but the process is the same.

    It’s possible to facilitate our buyers in both assembling the full Buying Decision Team on the first or second call, and their discovery of the types of systems change they would need to address. They have to do this anyway: helping them speeds up the buying process and gets everyone at the table for an appointment.

    2. Before a purchase, every element that would be disrupted needs to know how to compensate for change: tech folks must figure out their new scheduling or find outsourced support; sales and marketing must have a unified strategy to share budget; HR must get the right groups together, etc. It’s unique in each situation, although totally independent of need.
    Sellers can use a facilitation model to navigate buyers through their change before they sell, so all areas that will be affected will know how to manage the change and be ready to buy. This speeds up the sales cycles and makes the seller a part of the Team.

    9 out of the 13 steps in a buying decision involve systems change and include idiosyncratic, historic, and personal activities. Using only the sales model or marketing, a seller has no place at the table until it’s time to choose a solution. But we’re missing great opportunities to become real relationship managers and trusted advisors and suffering much longer sales cycles than necessary.

    Use Buying Facilitation® with Sales

    Selling and buying are two different activities. Change the way you are entering. Stop:

    • pitching, presenting, or discussing solutions before buyers have defined their route to change;
    • trying to get an appointment until the entire Buying Decision Team is assembled;
    • assuming because you’ve spoken to one or two people there is a need;
    • assuming that because there’s a need it’s a prospect;
    • basing your sale on your solution;
    • basing your sale on price (it has nothing to do with anything).

    Instead, before selling:

    • facilitate excellence and buy-in, from the first call with the gatekeeper;
    • be a neutral navigator throughout the steps of change;
    • help assemble the complete Buying Decision Team (even for a small sale) with you on it;
    • recognize when a system cannot change and when it’s no longer a prospect (it’s got nothing to do with needing your solution).

    Buyers don’t need you: they need to solve a business problem. And the business problem involves more of a solution than just your product. It’s time to help buyer’s buy.

    About the Author

    Sharon Drew Morgen is founder of Morgen Facilitations, Inc. (www.newsalesparadigm.com). She is the visionary behind Buying Facilitation®, the decision facilitation model that enables people to change with integrity. A pioneer who has spoken about, written about, and taught the skills to help buyers buy, she is the author of the acclaimed New York Times Business Bestseller Selling with Integrity and Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it.

    Need help developing content, tools, training or questions that will enable a buyer’s buying decision process? A speaker at your next conference? Contact Sharon Drew at [email protected] or visit her website: www.buyingfacilitation.com.