Give Buyers Control And Win More Business

A research-based summary of what buyers value and how that compares/contrasts to what sellers think buyers value.

It’s a great time to be a salesperson. Yes, even in an era when an abundance of information on the Internet, product commoditization, global competition, and unrelenting price pressure put buyers in the power seat.

Recently published research and books confirm that the way salespeople sell, more than what they sell, has the greatest impact on winning business. The new findings concur – success comes to sellers who immerse themselves in the buyer and their buying process.

In this report, you’ll learn what buyers value and compare these facts to perceptions of what sellers think buyers value – insights we gained in our recent survey of 200 sales and marketing professionals in 10 countries. Understanding these alignments and disconnects offers you a dependable roadmap to closing business.

-- Cliff

The research and books we consulted for this report are listed on page 12.

Cliff PollanCEO & Founder, Postwire

@cliffpollan

Sellers consider a slow cycle as their primary impediment to winning business, yet buyers want to speed up the buying cycle – by about 40%.

Sellers believe value-to-price ratio is the most critical factor affecting a buyer’s product/service choice, yet multiple studies of buyers reveal that the sales process and person are the most influential factors.

Buyers and sellers agree on what differentiates a winning salesperson from a second place finisher -- winners educate with new ideas and perspectives and collaborate more effectively.

Sellers need to shift priorities from generating more conversations and pitches to delivering value at each step of a customer’s buying process to earn the role of trusted advisor.

7 Key Insights

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Sales identifies the development of content that helps them deliver insights to buyers as the most important contribution marketing can make to speed the sales cycle – consistent with buyers’ principal desire to gain new ideas from sellers. Sales understands the significance of sharing insights and relevant content to build rapport and trust with buyers. Focusing on buyer pain, while engrained in salespeople, no longer suffices -- research shows it is the price of entry, and sales must move beyond to help buyers overcome their challenges.

Action

Consider Andy Paul’s Zero-Time Selling philosophy: “Selling with maximum impact in the least time.” Paul says, “For B-to-B sales, success is inextricably linked to information and speed. If your customers are working their way through their decision-making process, they can’t and won’t progress to the next step until their information requirements for the current step are completely satisfied.” To eliminate impediments to purchase, follow Paul’s advice for speeding the sales cycle – think “AMP:“

Product market mismatch

Too much techno babble in the product information

Competition

(Lack of) speed of sales cycle

Other

What is the primary impediment to winning business?

17%

19%

42%

11%

10%

A -- Accelerate responsiveness

M -- Maximize value delivered at every exchange

P -- Practice simplicity

Sellers consider a slow cycle as their primary impediment to winning business, yet buyers want to speed up the buying cycle – by about 40% -- and perceive salespeople as the biggest impediment, reports International Data Corporation.

1Insight

Action

The Sales Executive Council of the Corporate Executive Board Conference reports that high-performing sales people drive business though “insight-led sales.” Their “Challenger Selling” study reveals that sales experience is paramount to company/brand impact, product/service delivery, and value-to-price ratio. To drive sales and loyalty, they advise salespeople to help buyers:

Company and brand Impact

Product and service delivery

Value-to-price ratio

Sales experience

Other

What is the most critical factor in a buyer’s product/service choice?

5%

27%

56%

12%

0.5%

With unique perspectives on the market

Navigate alternatives

Avoid potential landmines

Learn about new issues and outcomes

Sellers believe value-to-price ratio is the most critical factor affecting a buyer’s product/service choice, yet multiple studies of buyers reveal that the sales process and person are the most influential factors.

2Insight

Educated me with new ideas or perspectives

Collaborated with me

Helped me speed things up

Anticipated my questions and proactively provided me with answers

Other

What is the top thing salespeople believe winners do more effectively than 2nd place finishers?

17%

27%

53%3%

Action

Action

The RAIN Group’s research ”What Sales Winners Do Differently” based on 700 B-to-B sales situations pinpoints the behaviors of winning salespeople versus 2nd place finishers. Of 42 behaviors studied, the 10 below account for the greatest gaps, and therefore, behaviors to adopt:

Educate with new ideas or perspectives

Collaborate

Persuade that results will be achieved

Listen

Understand needs

Help avoid pitfalls

Craft a compelling solution

Accurately depict purchase process

Connect with buyer on a personal level

Deliver paramount value relative to competitors

Buyers and sellers agree on what differentiates a winning salesperson from a second place finisher -- winners educate with new ideas and perspectives and collaborate more effectively.

Insight 3

Action

The book Insight Selling, based on the RAIN Group’s research findings, outlines a three-tier model for winning business.

Remove Steps in the Buying Process

More Quality Sales Conversations

Accelerate Product Adoption

Keep Clients From Going Dark

Other

What change in the sales cycle will best improve close rates?

17%

63%

8%

0.6%

11%

Level 1 – CONNECT the dots between buyers’ needs and compelling solutions; connect with buyers personally – connection is the price of entry.Level 2 – CONVINCE buyers by demonstrating experience, building trust and inspiring confidence that they will achieve worthwhile results and your solution offers the lowest risk – to minimize losing to no decision or a competitor.Level 3 – COLLABORATE with buyers by being proactive and responsive, educating with new perspectives – to drive demand as a trusted partner in the process.

Insight 4Sellers need to shift priorities from generating more conversations and pitches to delivering value at each step of a customer’s buying process to earn the role of trusted advisor.

Action

Best-selling author and marketing and sales strategist, David Merman Scott, discusses the importance of content in his latest book, The New Rules of Sales and Service: How Agile and Real-Time Sales Grow Your Business Now. Scott posits that while we live in the era in which consumers control the buying process, sales situations do not need to be stacked against sellers. With sales no longer in control of parsing out information to fit their sales cycle, marketing must make valuable information available on the web mapped to each stage of the buying process.

Scott clarifies the functions marketing and sales must take ownership of:

Make sure the Brand logo is used consistently

Design a pitch deck that looks good

Produce content that the sales person can use to show insight

Generate more website visitors

Stay out of the way

What do you feel is the most important thing that marketing can do to speed up the sales cycle?

85%

1.2%

1.2%

10%

1.8%

Marketing -- Generate attention of the many people who make up a buyer persona.

Sales -- Communicate with one potential customer at a time to put the buying process into context and educate and inform versus adhering to the old model of interrupting and selling.

Insight 5Sales identifies the development of content that helps them deliver insights to buyers as the most important contribution marketing can make to speed the sales cycle -- consistent with buyers’ principal desire to gain new ideas from sellers.

Prepare

Share Insights

Follow-up in a timely manner

Share relevant content

Pitch them a PowerPoint deck

Action

In The New Rules of Sales and Service, Scott advises salespeople to sell more by not selling, and instead:

What is the best way to build rapport and trust with buyers?

16%

32%

11%

41%

0%

Highlight their expertise by sharing videos, content-rich websites, social streams, blogs, e-books and images rather than using the old sales playbook of hoarding information and letting it drip out.

Get on the buyer’s timetable, focusing on their needs, not a rep’s own ego, product, or company.

Add context to their company’s expertise, products, and services by using marketing-generated content at the precise moment the buyer needs it.

Adopt a real-time mindset -- Respond immediately to sales signals, including an opened email, a web site visit, a changed job or title on LinkedIn…

Sales understands the significance of sharing insights and relevant content to build rapport and trust with buyers.

Insight 6

Your prospect’s “pain”

Your prospect’s opportunities

Your prospect’s boss

Your prospect’s buying team

Other

Action

The RAIN Group reports that of all the factors buyers experienced with the winners, “deepened my understanding of my needs” was 40th of 42 factors – diagnosis is not as influential as sales perceives it to be. The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in a Buyer-Driven World outlines competencies for moving beyond diagnosing needs to create value at each stage of the buying cycle. The authors surveyed 239 buy-side and 352 sell-side negotiators, and found both groups agree that collaboration between seller and buyer is a paramount need. To create a true partnership, they stress: What is the most important prospect issue that the sales

professional should focus on?

67%

28%

2%

2%

0.7%Open and transparent behavior

Seeing sales as equals with buyers in a mutual quest for optimum results

The alignment of buyer problems with seller solutions

The adoption of a new sales personae – Micro-marketer, Visualizer and Value Driver – with the situational fluency to engage buyers both online and in person to enhance buyers’ visions

Focusing on buyer pain, while engrained in salespeople, no longer suffices -- research shows it is the price of entry, and sales must move beyond to help buyers overcome their challenges.

Insight 7

Sales research and strategists agree. Assuming the buyer’s perspective and letting their needs and process drive interactions is critical, even though it requires a considerable cultural shift for many salespeople and teams. We hope that this report and referenced books and research inspire you and your sales team with new ideas. Please contact me with any questions or if I can be of help.

Thanks,

Cliff

cpollan@postwire.com 671.299.1515

Sign up for a FREE Postwire Account or call us to discuss your needs on 781 350 3416

Postwire is a web and mobile tool for sales teams to engage with their buyers. It helps them sell faster and smarter by providing a personal place to engage each prospect and client beyond email, calls and meetings.

Winning sales teams are sharing information and insights with their prospects and clients. Postwire helps them do this quickly and easily. With Postwire they align with their clients and prospects, empowering them to get to yes.-- Cliff Pollan, CEO

Cliff Pollan is co-founder and CEO of Postwire – a finalist at TechCrunch’s prestigious Disrupt NYC 2012 event. Cliff was a co-founder and CEO of NewsEdge Corporation, a pioneer in live integrated news alerting, which had a very successful IPO. He has spent his career combining technologies with content to dramatically enhance the way people work.

www.postwire.com

RAIN Group, “What Sales Winners Do Differently: The surprising differences between sellers who win the sale and the second-place finishers”

International Data Corporation's 2013 IT Buyer Experience Survey: Create and Close Customers up to 40% Faster

Sales Executive Council, Corporate Executive Board Company, “Challenger Selling, Driving Growth Through the Insight-Led Sales”

Research BooksInsight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently, Schultz and Doerr

Agile Selling: Get Up to Speed Quickly in Today’s Every-Changing Sales World, Jill Konrath

Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company’s Sales, Andy Paul

The New Rules of Sales and Service: How Agile and Real-Time Sales Grow Your Business Now, David Meerman Scott

Slow Down, Sell Faster!: Understand Your Customer’s Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales, Kevin Davis

The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in a Buyer-Driven World, Eades and Sullivan

eBooksBe Relevant or Be Deleted: The Top 10 Ways to Sell Value

How to Help Buyers Overcome Indecision: Six Proven Tactics

Seven Ways to Help Says Use Marketing Content to Earn Buyer Trust

Accelerating Sales Cycles