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What Influences Your Prospects Decision To Buy?

Guest post by: Mark Satterfield

Article Overview: How to develop a deep understanding for what motivates the decision-maker.

What Influences Your Prospects Decision To Buy?

"One of the concerns I had about calling on key decision-makers was determining what I was going to say. My experience had been selling much lower in the organization and I considered myself pretty effective at the standard features and benefits presentation. I knew that this wasn't going to be enough if I was fortunate to get the attention of the top person.

Over time (and more than a few botched attempts) I was able to determine what was important to these senior level executives. Although it varied somewhat depending on who I was talking with, the key areas of concern included; increased efficiencies, growing market share, reducing expenses and increasing shareholder satisfaction. Once I figured this out, I was able to align the benefits of my products and services with what was top of mind with the senior executive. It was a subtle rather than dramatic shift in how I sold. I truly think it made me more effective. If nothing else, it raised my confidence level that I was communicating on the same level as the person I was talking with. This made me, at least in my own mind, equal in stature to the top person." Tim Lang, Professional Services

The more you know about the individuals on your account the more effective you'll be at managing the account as a whole. The more knowledgeable you are about this particular account the more you'll be able to make accurate judgements about the issues that affect other companies in the same industry. For example, if managing supply chain relationships is an issue for your client, it's possible or even likely that this may be an issue for other companies in the same industry. If nothing else, it will give you a bona fide reason for calling other companies to determine if they are facing the same issues. Having assisted one company in an industry goes a long way towards establishing your credibility with others in similar fields.

Although your long-term strategy should be to become an industry expert, it's important to remember that sales is an intensely personal process. Companies don't really buy from companies as much as people buy from other people. The client really isn't Citibank; it's Nancy who's a senior executive in the finance department. Thus, it's very important that you have a deep understanding of what motivates your decision-maker.

Business success and personal achievement are usually intertwined. This is important to keep in mind during the sales process, since individuals usually will not agree to a business decision unless they feel that it's both in their own personal interests and in the best interests of their company. As an extreme example, getting a prospect to buy a product that could result in the elimination of his job is a highly difficult sale. Prospects are most likely to buy products and services if, 1) it helps their company achieve its goals, and, 2) helps them as individuals achieve a personal goal. We refer to the first as business results and the second as personal wins. We need to discover what constitutes results and wins for everyone who has influence on our account.

What might a result be for the decision-maker? It could be increased efficiency, greater market share or an increased percentage of repeat customers. Other results might include greater employee utilization, reducing the cost of sales, or lowering expenses. These are all business results that are of importance to decision-makers.

The more you can tailor your communications to the specific needs of your audience, the more effective you'll be. For example, if you discuss technical specifications and ease of training with a senior level decision-maker, she probably won't particularly care. Conversely, if you talk about how your product fits into the broad business objectives of the organization, a lower level manager might find the discussion to be intellectually interesting, but it won't relate to the specific reasons for why he should buy your products. Successful communication of results depends upon tailoring what you say to meet the business interests of the person you're speaking with.

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Article Tags: business sales training, executive sales training, insurance sales training, sales development training, sales presentation training, sales rep training, sales team training, telesales training, training in sales



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Re: Subject line Etiquette - [quote="jvprosperity":b50c4a20]Another email rant: Is there some place on the internet that outlines proper "Subject line" headings? There mus be a system out there that people use to be more efficient email senders. Not everything that comes into my mail box requires my immediate attention. I would love to educate myself and the people who send me emails on proper subject lines. Maybe something like: "Urgent Review: <<Title of document>>" "Decision Required: "<<Subject matter>>" just something for me to quickly scan the subject lines and decide which ones need my immediate attention. Anyone know of such email standards that exist out there?[/quote:b50c4a20] The only messages I get that say Urgent or Decision Required etc are spam. I tell people to put something relevant to their business with me in the subject line - this is especially important for the people who fall into my junk mail. Chris
Re: Essential Leadership skills - Vision Values Mission Strategic Thinking Decision Making Communication Team Bonding People Development Coaching / Mentoring / Guiding / Grooming Presentation Thanks Robert
Re: Email Etiquette - [quote="jvprosperity":24jznj58] The P.S. suggestion is good but it depends on the type of communication (e.g. Autoresponder series verses one off emails to Clients or Prospects)[/quote:24jznj58] Andy, You are right. I was mainly referring to Auto Responder emails. To end a normal email, I attach signatures. Takuya
Simple way to avoid Cold Calling - Gary, A chiropractor I work with hates cold calling (me too!) and he uses a technique to warm people up to using his services - it's so simple! In Sales your dealing with 3 pools of people: 1. Strangers 2. Prospects 3. Returning Customers You need to move people from one pool to the next. We'll concentrate on #1 and #2 as it's most relevant to your question. My Clients does the following (you just have to tailor it to your situation - be creative). My Client (we'll call him Bob) Bob leverages his time and resources to only get people that need his offer (pain relief) to put their hand up. Dealing with Strangers can get expensive and they don't like to be told what to do as they have no trust or relationship built with him. So to get Strangers to put their hands up he writes up an offer with a free report on a particular pain relief - let's say lower back pain (note: he can simply just change lower back pain to neck pain and have a new report). and uses multiple marketing vehicles to promote the Free report - magazines, newspaper, forums, postcards, private clinics etc. The only people picking up this information are the very people Bob would like as customers as they have Lower back pain. Bob's Free report ends with him stating his services and includes a Free in-house Consultation with no obligation. You'd be surprised at how easily Bob converts Strangers into Prospects. Note: They become prospects when they ask for the Free Guide and in exchange provide their contact details. This gives Bob unlimited opportunity to contact them for the Free in-house consultation with no obligation to continue using him. At this stage Bob's ability to close the sale lies in his office providing good customer service, Bob's ability to help the prospect and provide value at the free in-house consultation. Notice, he hasn't had to pick up the phone to COLD-CALL his Stranger pool or his Prospect pool. Hope that example helps to increase your prospecting!
Subject line Etiquette - Another email rant: Is there some place on the internet that outlines proper "Subject line" headings? There mus be a system out there that people use to be more efficient email senders. Not everything that comes into my mail box requires my immediate attention. I would love to educate myself and the people who send me emails on proper subject lines. Maybe something like: "Urgent Review: <<Title of document>>" "Decision Required: "<<Subject matter>>" just something for me to quickly scan the subject lines and decide which ones need my immediate attention. Anyone know of such email standards that exist out there?


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