Effective selling requires sales teams to clearly understand the current and desired state of a buyer’s business: What are the key problems holding them back from reaching their desired state, and what is the impact of such — including business, financial and personal (or emotional) — challenges?
Helping buyers solve those problems is where you, the seller, bring the value that resonates with your buyer and for which they are willing to pay. Without a comprehensive view, developing a differentiated strategy aligned with the buyer’s pains is impossible. No problems to solve, no value to deliver, no sale. That’s not just value-oriented selling — it is selling. Furthermore, the perceptions and causes of issues tend to vary, based on people’s role in the organization.
GO ON A QUEST OF DISCOVERY TO MAP YOUR PATH TO TRUSTED ADVISOR
Why does this matter to the buyer? Often, buyers have not considered the issues they face in full now or the impact they have on the business or themselves — the pain points. They do not have the context for a future state and the benefits it could bring. Effective discovery helps the buyers better define their current situation and its impact on them, as well as their organization and the business as a whole as a precursor for mapping the value of moving to an enhanced future state.
Why does this matter to you, the seller? Acquiring solutions (e.g., software, hardware and / or related services) is a risky and often confusing situation for the buyer. Without a clear understanding of the pains their current situation presents and the benefit of addressing them, they are unlikely to extend the personal and organizational resources to solve them — “no pain, no gain.” They are unwilling to take personal risks unless the likely upside is substantially worth it.
How does it improve your chance of winning? As a knowledgeable partner, guiding the buyer through an effective discovery process — helping them identify issues, understand the impact of them and the value derived by solving those issues — is fundamental to mapping out the story or vision that will energize decision-makers to move away from the status quo. By doing so, you can build a relationship as a trusted advisor.
KNOW THE VALUE YOU OFFER A BUYER BEFORE PROPOSING YOUR SOLUTION
Only when you fully understand the buyer’s current state — the problems, the impact and root cause of those problems, and the buyer’s desired future state — are you in a place to effectively position the value you can bring and even consider proposing your solution.
Get our revenue performance accelerator how-to cheat-sheet for performing the quest of discovery today and share the 8 leading practices for buyer discovery with your sales force.
The quest of discovery is just one part of the greater whole. Your sales force needs the right skills and behaviors for each of the 10 critical steps in the sales process to lead your buyers to a deal.
EARLY STAGE
- Prospecting power moves
- Resisting the itch to pitch
- Leading their meetings
- Performing the quest of discovery
MID-STAGE
- Becoming a trusted advisor
- Maintaining control of the buying journey
- Avoiding being single-threaded with buyers
LATE STAGE
- Reframing objections
- Managing radio silence
- Going beyond budget constraints
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