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Becoming a Priority

Guest post by: Greg van der Linde

Article Overview: Sales reps that do not put ample time into researching and planning can only hope for the best. Reps that are dedicated to creating specific and specialized solutions that are based on the buyer’s current priorities have a legitimate chance of doing business. These sales reps can effectively relate a valid business reason to the buyer’s current situation.

Becoming a Priority

Creating Buyer Interest

The ability to stimulate a buyer's interest is one of the most important skills for sales reps. Unfortunately, it is often an underdeveloped and misunderstood skill. Prior to contacting buyers, sales reps must take the time to understand their current status. If sales reps want to become a priority, they must stimulate the buyer's interest by offering a valid reason to do business. The reason has to engage the buyer through a buyer centric approach, which needs to differentiate reps from their self centric competitors. . There is a need to develop improved prospecting skills. Sales reps must approach each sales opportunity with a valid reason to contact the buyer. This is not only for the initial call, but for every subsequent form of contact they have moving forward.

The sheer volume of sales reps that buyers come into contact with on a regular basis makes it difficult for reps to get a legitimate opportunity to sell themselves. Therefore, sales reps have to be prepared and focus on:

• Avoiding a Self Centric Approach
• Using a Valid Business Reason to Initiate Contact
• Becoming a Priority for Buyers

Avoiding a Self Centric Approach

When initiating contact with buyers, the vast majority of sales reps have a self centric approach, and rely on stylishly crafting a value proposition. This proposition commonly takes a similar form to the following:

"We've just come out with a number of upgrades that all of our clients love!"

This is usually met with initial resistance. However, with enough persistence, reps will persevere and get face-time with the buyer. Some sales reps contest that they can get a couple of minutes with buyers, citing reasons such as the one above. What these reps do not realize, is that buyers give them time for the sole reason that they deal with so many vendors they know resistance is coming if they say "no." Therefore, a buyer just says "yes" to get it over with, even if the rep is not hostile.

Sometimes this works and sales reps garner interest from buyers. However, in most cases, buyers simply toy with reps, and have no serious interest in what they are offering. The situation often leads to a one sided situation:

• This creates a scenario where the buyer spends time with the rep out of frustration. The buyer simply listens as opposed to participates.
• This sets a precedent where the buyer is not right. The buyer will not attempt to be right again, and because of this, will only give single-syllable responses.
• This tricks the sales rep into thinking there is opportunity, where there probably is not.
• This forces reps to hope that their reason resonates with the buyer.

Using a Valid Business Reason to Initiate Contact

To properly initiate contact with a buyer, provide them with a valid reason to do so. This is done through proper research of:

• Industry trends
• Local happenings
• Pains & challenges shared in a specific sector

If it is a new prospect, sales reps can uncover this information by doing pre-call research. If the opportunity is an existing buyer, then reps must carefully review their file to uncover a valid reason for contact. Sales reps that do not have a focused and specific reason to contact a buyer will have difficulty breaking through the buyer's front. A conversation with a buyer is meaningless unless they are engaged in what the sales rep is saying. Consequently, this is why having a valid buyer's reason is so critical.

• Sales reps that use valid buyer-focused reasons to initiate contact:
• Always get face-time with buyers instead of just hoping they do.
• Immediately compel buyers to share information about their situation and needs.
• Eliminate the need to build rapport simply so it can be "cashed in" for a sale.
• Don't waste time chasing opportunities where there is no legitimate fit.
• Connect to the vision of an ideal solution in the buyer's mind.

Becoming a Priority for Buyers

Having a valid buyer-focused reason to make initial contact is only the first step of many for sales reps. Once they have garnered some attention from buyers, reps still have to establish themselves as a main priority. This can be accomplished by developing the valid reason to do the following:

• Have a clear impact on the buyer: If rep successfully identifies a legitimate reason to contact the buyer, it will have an impact. The buyer will be more willing to listen and engage in the meeting.
• Relate the reason for contact to the buyer's priorities: This will immediately create alignment. The buyer will know that the reps are serious and have done their background research.
• Clearly stating the benefits the buyer will receive: This will instantly show buyers what they can expect, and will help them determine if they want to move forward in the process.
• Make it clear to the buyer what will be discussed: Providing an outline of what is to be discussed will give reps credibility because it demonstrates that they are prepared and want their business. It proves that reps do not call hoping to do business, but plan to do business with the buyers.

Sales reps that can successfully accomplish the fore mentioned tasks will find themselves at the top of the buyers to do list. Reps need to understand that buyers are not going to announce when they are a priority. This makes it difficult to understand what is working and what is not. However, focusing on a valid buyer's reason will put reps in a favorable position in the buyer's eyes. If a buyer engages, then they are interested in what a rep has to offer.

Bottom Line & Business Impact:

When sales reps establish themselves as a top priority, buyers will be more inclined to meet with them and be further engaged. The sales rep's solutions will automatically be more buyer-centric, based on the buyer's priorities, receive more attention, and meet the mark.

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Article Tags: ample time, business reason, current situation, doing business, priorities, priority, sales best practices, sales reps, specialized solutions, valid business



Related Forum Posts
Re: Subject line Etiquette - [quote="jvprosperity":btyoa0j1]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:btyoa0j1] Hi Andy, The only system I know of at the moment is the "Set Priority" feature on MS Outlook. It allows you to add an exclamation mark to flag the message as being of high, normal or low priority. However, I'd say that a "sender" is still better off using the phone rather than sending an email that's labeled "urgent".


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