I was having a conversation earlier this week with one of my clients about his sales process. He had what was ostensibly a two-step process: Connect with someone on LinkedIn, then get them to see his software demonstration. And while he had decent success getting connections, and even some success getting prospects to sit through a demo, not much was happening after that. My advice to him? Slow down.
I get that salespeople and seller-doers have a sense of urgency. We all have sales goals to hit or new products we want to get to market or a business to grow. But rushing to one of those destinations is not the best way to get there… and for several reasons.
People like to buy, but they don’t like to be sold. Think about buying a new car… you love the feeling of driving off the showroom floor with your shiny new vehicle, but you hated the process of buying it – especially dealing with the pushy and aggressive salesman and sales manager. It’s no different with your clients… they like to buy, they want to buy (because your services can help solve a problem), but unless there’s some sort of emergency, they want to do it in their timeframe, not yours! So, follow their pace. And odds are, it will be a lot slower than you want it to be.
Buyers won’t buy from you until they get to know you – then like you – then trust you. And that’s not happening in just one or two calls. You’re trying to build a trust-based relationship… and that takes time. Get to know your clients’ goals and challenges. Develop an understanding of their business – their company, clients and competitors. And get to know them on a personal level. The problem is that most salespeople and seller-doers rush it. They don’t allow the relationship to develop because they give up too soon!
Get More. If you allow the sales process to spread out over a longer time period, you get more… more zoom calls, more phone calls, more visits… all of which result in more conversations. And the more you talk with buyers, the more you learn. Which then allows you to better understand their business problems, which lead you to making more targeted recommendations for how you can help them.
It also leads to more opportunities. Let’s say you were invited by a buyer to talk about helping them with a customer satisfaction study. If you rush the process, the C-SAT will be your focus. But with an extended process and more conversations, you might find out that they’re also in need of help with their innovation and segmentation problems.
Beyond that, more conversations ensure that you get the “complete picture.” For example, who else – beside your contact – is involved in the buying decision. Or, what they like and don’t like about their current supplier. Or, what sort of sales objections they might have. Better to find out all of that information before you make your big pitch.
Bottom Line
How would you want to be sold to? Pushed quickly to make a decision by someone you only chatted with once or twice… or given the opportunity to get to know your sales rep and the sales rep to get to know you and your business. It’s the difference between a vendor and a trusted advisor. So… slow down!