6 Ways Sellers Misjudge The Solution

Not surprisingly sellers are very good at talking about their solutions, after all they know the features and benefits of their products and services off by heart. However, there can be a surprising difference between the seller’s view of the solution and that of the buyer. This can happen in at least 5 ways:

1. Can’t See The Alternatives

The buyer has a range of alternative solutions beyond that of the seller, including do nothing, do it in-house, adopt another technology, support a competing project, etc.

The salesperson has to consider the full solutions set available to the buyer and place his, or her solution’s advantages in that context.

Increasing the real competition faced by a salesperson is not another vendor, but another project, technology, or strategy. Being aware of these alternatives is important in order to prevent surprises.


2. Confusion About The Source of Value

The buyer and seller can have a different view of the features and benefits that are most important. For example, a market research company may promote the scientific nature of its research techniques as a key selling point, however for the buyer the ability to make decisions based on the information gathered is key. The buyer is likely to want to talk to business analysts and consultants ahead of statisticians.

When sellers list of features and benefits they should stop to ask the buyer how important these are and why. That will enable them to provide the buyer with more of what he, or she is prepared to pay for and less of the rest.

3. Key Success Factors Are Not Clear

The buyer in meeting his business needs knows that the seller’s product, or service is only one element of success. In particular, there is a people and a process dimension to the buyer’s overall solution.
For example, a financial services company purchases the latest back office solution, replete with new features and technologies. However, the impact of this technology is likely to depend less on how good it is and more on how well it is implemented, in particular how it fits with the people and processes within the organisation.

Managing a programme of change around the adoption of the solution, including training and support to users, process re-engineering, etc. will have a major bearing on the seller’s success. These factors can often be overlooked by technology vendors in particular.

The solution is not the product, or the system, it is a mix of product, people and process. So what are the people, product and process dimensions of your total solution?

4. The Total Project View

The seller’s solution is only one element of an overall programme, or investment by the buyer. For example, one of our clients was negotiating the sale of its financial services solution, valued at almost 8 million, as part of a larger 120 million project in the financial institution. Knowing where its solution fits in a complex project resulted in:

• The seller being able to offer lessons from similar large scale projects
• The potential to run certain phases of the project concurrently, eliminate areas of overlap and the potential to share resources (in respect of testing for example) across a number of phases of the project
• A full appreciation of business drivers, constraints and the dependencies for the project overall.
• An understanding of how other aspects of the project could impact on the success of the seller’s implementation
• The identification of a number of project partners (e.g. the consulting house) with whom relationships should be developed.
So, how does your solution fit into the entire budget, programme, or strategy of the buyer? How will it contribute to the success of all these other things.


5. Confusion About Scope

Lately we have been advising clients to include a new section in their prospoal documents. That is a section that clearly spells out how both parties will know when the project is complete. That is the scope of the project.

Solution scope is very important and sometimes overlooked. This is important where:
• The scope of the project has not been clearly defined, or defined properly.
• The buyer’s needs change during the course of the project resulting in scope creep.
• The demands of the project have expanded now that work has started and more information is not to hand.

Agreeing what is inside and outside of the scope is very important, so too is managing scope creep as the project progresses. That is because salespeople can be tempted to promise the world when looking to close a deal. Having said this it can turn out that buyers are sometimes more realistic than sellers. They don’t, for example, expect your product or service to do everything and they do expect that there will be some setbacks involved in most projects.


6. The Underlying Motivation

The first and most common mistake with respect to matching the buyer with a solution, is to fail to fully understand the buyer's needs.

Buyers only want solutions because they fix a problem, or meet a need. In this respect it is not how a solution works, which is where sellers focus most, but the benefits that matter most.

The salesperson may have the ideal solution and may be tempted to immediately present it to the buyer. However, that could seriously hinder the sale. If the seller races ahead of the buyer to sell his, or her solution, then he or she runs the risk of getting the solution wrong, in an of the 5 ways listed above.


Arriving at the Solution

These are important reasons why the speed at which the seller arrives at defining the solution is not an advantage.

Every day sales people are forced to make assumptions regarding what buyers want, this is particularly the case where buyers chose to keep sellers at arms length. When it comes to competitive bidding situations, sellers are forced to take the buyers requirements on face value. Both of these clearly have dangers.

The seller has to arrive at the solution in tandem with the buyer – that is based on a full and thorough exploration of needs and based on a joint process of reviewing alternatives.

It is time to take account reviews out of the dark ages!

Today I witnessed another example of how the revolution in organisational buying (what we call the buying revolution) is challenging salespeople to their very core.

Another Account Review

I had the opportunity to sit through an internal account review with a highly experienced and professional sales person earlier today. The review process was structured – clearly the person involved had done his preparation in advance of our discussion. First, he detailed the strengths and weaknesses of the seller's position in the account, as per the table below:

Review of our position in Account X

Our Strengths	Our weaknesses
We have the CEO’s ear Our efforts have been showing results – the CEO has recognized this by email They have adopted our methodology in-house The work involved is work we like doing	We are under pressure on day rates The focus of our work is not as strategic as we would like Some of the key areas agreed are not being auctioned by their managers Key managers need to make a mindset shift No contact with other directors / senior managers

Then the salesperson proceeded to outline the opportunities 'pull extra revenue from the account’ in next quarter and any associated risks, as per the table below:

Opportunities o Process re-engineering in respect of back office, value 20k, 50% probability, qtr 4 this year o Training programme for managers and staff, value 5k, 40% probability, quarter 4 this year o Product A pilot 5k, 20% probabilities o Set the ground for a new implementation in Qtr 3 of next year, value 80k, probability 30%

Risks o They may start to take us for granted o Budget – can they afford to keep using us? o Some comments have been made that call into question whether the project is addressing immediate priorities o Are expectations clear? o There is a change of management personnel pending

Finally the sales person applied the PRIME formula. That is prove value, retrieve missing information, minimise weakness and emphasis strengths - listing off some next actions in respect of the account, setting a target for the follow-on revenue and that is it! Account review completed, next account please! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!


The Narcissistic Account Review

This is a typically narcissistic account review. It is about Me! Me! Me! There was no mention of the client and his, or her needs. The focus was on how to sell, more rather than how to help more. Now, I know this salesperson well and I know that he does genuinely care about the client and his success. I also know that he is under pressure to meet target in what is a slowing market. The problem is that the latter has overshadowed the former. Perhaps the salesperson was also trying to demonstrate how hard-nosed and sales driven he was, something that would appeal to many sales managers.

But, if an account review does not look for a win-win in terms of looking to help the buyer more and in return sell more, then it is starting from the wrong place and the very health of the client relationship may be under threat.

Buyers are increasingly skeptical of self serving salespeople and their efforts to push new products, or services. This review is a reminder, if one were needed, that the seller is motivated foremost by his, or her own sales target and less by what is best for the buyer.

Throughout the entire review, about 60 minutes in total there was no mention of the buyer’s:

· Changing priorities

· Satisfaction

· Needs and unmet needs

· Expectations and perceptions

· Problems and chalenges

· Opportunities

· Anxieties and concerns

· Metrics

Understanding the Problem

The salesperson’s one-sided view can be explained by the challenge of spending time with the buyer. In particular a number of meetings have been cancelled at the last minute. In any respect the last formal feedback session was all of 10 months ago! Clearly, that makes the need to sit with the buyer and to discuss his needs and the seller’s performance a real priority.

On delving into the opportunities listed above, it became clear that probabilities had been assigned to opportunities that had not been discussed with the client! This clearly indicates fancy-full pipeline forecating processes and procedures.

Our advice is that salespeople should treat existing accounts the same way as they do new accounts. That is with the same attention, drive to understand requirements, focus on developing relationships and so on. This avoids complacency or taking the account for granted. It also prevents making dangerous assumptions – such as that the client’s priorities are the same as they were at the time of the last sale.

Making the Change
As sales people we have been selling things one way for a long time. It is difficult to change our ways. But change is exactly what is required to cope with the new market realities. This account review not only suggested that there were opportunities to improve not just the management of this account, but the very processes and mindset applied to the management of all accounts. At a time when customer poaching is at its height, then this has to be a top priority.

Do you Understand your Buyers Complicating Factors?

There is a word we find ourselves using more and more in respect of managing sales cycles and that seems to keep coming up again in reviewing pipeline opportunities and accounts. That is COMPLICATING FACTORS.

When it comes to the complex sale, things are never straightforward. There are certain to be complicating factors. Understanding what exactly these are is essential to the seller’s role in successfully matching a solution to the complex needs of the buyer. If unaddressed these have the potential to scupper the sale.

The number of complicating factors involved in the typical sales is on the rise in response to the following trends in respect of today’s buying decisions:

Slower Buying Decisions– the longer a decision takes the more complex it is inevitably going to be. Against the backdrop of changing market conditions and business priorities, decisions can quickly be overtaken by events. It also means that the people involved in the decision can change during the process and this can have a major factor in derailing a potential sale. Try though as you may most sales people will struggle to accelerate the sale/buying cycle. A word of caution you run the risk of impeding the buyers buying process ever time you run ahead of them.

More People Are Involved – the more people that are involved the more complex the sale is likely to be, different stakeholders can have different, perhaps competing requirements and motivations. Getting a consensus can be a challenge as more people means more politics and it also means a greater risk of misunderstanding. Gaining access to and engaging in a meaningful way with all those now involved in making, or shaping the decision is a real challenge for the salesperson.

More sophisticated. Today’s important buying decisions are more carefully made than ever before. They are attributed by all the complexity of an important business strategy decision. That means more rigor, more information, more documentation, more oversight and so on. Buyer autonomy has been greatly restricted, with decisions being made at increasingly senior levels.

The issues of impact on the bottom line, cash flow and the balance sheet are key. More robust financial analysis is required, together with a more sophisticated investment appraisal. More feasibility type information is required, more external validation, and a robust business case. Issues of strategic fit, risk and implementation are at the top of the agenda. The discussions on these complex issues often takes place behind closed doors (a point we sales people sometimes forget).

More Risky. Today’s buying decisions are taking place in the context of greater market turbulence. In an environment of greater risk and uncertainty managers are tempted to play it safe and to delay, or postpone difficult decisions. With pressure on budgets projects are being stalled, shelved, or scrapped. Meanwhile organizational priorities have changed, with a focus on cutting costs, regaining competitiveness, managing cash and so on.

Spotting complicating factors in respect of the sale is vital to the success of the sale. Trying to close a sale when there are complicating factors that have not been resolved is not only foolish, but dangerous. It can call into question the sellers very commitment, or expertise.

This however can pose challenges for the salesperson, particularly in the context of the increasingly hands-off approach being adopted by buyers. This is certainly the case in respect of competitive tenders, for example.

The sales person must get close to the sale and more to the point the buyer if he, or she is to really understand and appreciate the full range of factors impacting on the buying decision. The seller must develop a deeper understanding of the buyer's business in order to understand his, or her impending business decision.

Is Your Sales System, or Database Working?

A checklist for getting the most from your most vital Sales & Marketing Tool.

There is one essential ingredient of effective sales and marketing in all companies - that is an up-to-date and easy to use database. It drives the sales process – from sales prospecting to account management – making the contribution of all those in sales and marketing focused, efficient and clear.

Here is a checklist to help you examine how effectively your company is using, what is potentially at least, it’s most important sales and marketing tool:

1. How widely used is the database?

· Do the user logs show regular use by key people?

· How up to date is the information?

· How thoroughly used is it (e.g. prospecting, nurturing, tasks completed, etc.)?

· Do key accounts have next actions assigned to various people and dates for completion?

· Do all priority account have an owner?

2. How easy to use is the database?

· Have users received training?

· Is good documentation available?

· Is support available? Has it been taken advantage of?

· Are key features being used?

· Is there a consistent approach to how information is updated across all users?

3. How much information does it contain?

· Number of accounts (clients, past clients, prospects, etc.), opportunities, contacts and leads?

· By sector/market?

· How representative are accounts of your company’s:

o ideal customer base/target market?

o the companies sales and marketing activity for this year?

4. How up to date is the information?

· How recent are the last modified date on key accounts, last date on actions, cases, etc.

· Is contact information on the accounts and contacts up to date?

· How much screening / cleansing of the data is undertaken?

5. How thorough/detailed is the information?

· How well kept are records, for example are there web and address details, company description, contact information, notes of actions/meetings, accurate ratings, etc.

6. How does the database comply with best practice and the law?

· Does it comply with any legal requirements re direct and database marketing (e.g. TPS (Telephone Preference Service) in the UK)

· Are opt-outs offered on any emails sent

· Does your company have a privacy policy (is it on emails, web sign-ups, etc.)

7. How well it is managed

· Does one person have responsibility for it?

· Who is responsible for keeping the information cleansed and up-to-date?

· Is administrative support available for users in such time consuming tasks as finding telephone numbers, entering new companies, mail-shots, etc?

· When is the last time there was a discussion on how the database was to be used, or developed?

· Are campaigns using the database measured for their effectiveness?

· How customised is the database to your company’s needs? Are there redundant fields? Are there important fields missing? Have drop down menus been customised?

8. How effectively is it guiding sales activity?

· How regularly do sales people log into it?

· Can the company’s present sales and marketing targets be readily identified from the database?

· Is it used as part of sales campaigns?

· Does it have up to date opportunity/forecast information?

· Are top ranked accounts easy to find and do they have next actions allocated to them?

· Can the activity level of sales people been seen from the database?

· Is it used to trigger next actions in respect of advancing sales cycles, progressing opportunities, nurturing prospects, etc.

9. How effectively is it employed:

· As a marketing tool (mail-outs, email campaigns, etc.)?

· How easy is it to use in monitoring and reporting on the success of campaigns, reporting on activity, etc.

· How effectively is it employed as a sales pipeline forecasting and management tool?

· For customer relationship management, fulfillment and other purposes?

· How well does it integrate with other systems, e.g. accounting systems?

10. How effectively is it being use in account management?

· Are customer accounts prioritised or categories in the database?

· Does it have details of account revenue targets and plans?

· Does it record notes of meetings, cases, etc.

· Does each account have an owner?

· Are the names of all decision makers, influencers in the account company identified?

· Are there a list of tasks completed and next actions in respect of managing and servicing the account?

11. How does the database perform in terms of:

· Accessibility?

· Security?

· Back-ups?

· Availability (e.g. down time, remote access, etc.)?

· Service/support?

· Does it integrate email, document storage, calendar, etc.?

· How good is the reporting function?

· What degree of customisation is available (e.g. customisable down menus, etc.)

12. Cost and payback

· What is the annual cost? Licence costs and software (if used) together with time spent gathering and updating information, undertaking mail-outs, set-up and customisation, etc.

· What is potential value of this information?

· What would the cost be if purchased, or gathered in other ways?

· Does it save people time, or make them more efficient?