As
professionals, you have the tools to assess whether
or not a prospect is a good risk for buying your
product: you know the type of problem best suited to
your product and the signs of ‘need’; you ask good
questions, analyze needs with a keen eye and ear;
create presentations or professional pitches; and
manage objections to ensure understanding and
product differentiation.
So
why do you close only a small percentage of the
business you recognize as yours?
Going
against the beliefs of the sales model, buyers don’t
buy because they have a need or an Identified
Problem (that visible tip of the iceberg that we
sometimes call ‘pain’, different from the hidden
pool of historic problems that created and maintain
it). Buyers buy because they have a business problem
that needs to be resolved BEFORE being in a position
to fix it.
Indeed, the Identified Problem is merely the visible
part of the prospect’s entire range of issues that
comprise their problem. And although your
solution is seemingly a perfect fit, it will most
probably not manage the business problem that
created the Identified Problem to begin with, even
if the prospect placed the call to you: it’s most
likely far too early in the buyer’s decision
process.
WHAT
IS A BUSINESS PROBLEM?
A
business problem arises when the system that
prospects live within makes a change in their rules
or policies, relationships or initiatives, and in
the process creates that ‘pain’ that your product
most probably can resolve.
In
fact, the point at which the prospect actually
decides to solve their Identified Problem usually
has no relation to when or how you meet them, or how
‘urgent’ their need seems to be. They might just be
beginning their search, be caught in a quagmire of
internal stuff (and has nothing to do with you), be
absolutely ready to buy NOW (hence those sales that
happen in record time), or really not even sure they
are going to take any action at all. It’s even
likely that the prospect’s Identified Problem has
been around for some time and has become so
ingrained in the company story that change is not an
option no matter how well your product can help
them.
The
prospect’s Identified Problem is merely the tip of
the iceberg of the full range of issues that
would need to be rectified before a decision to fix
it gets made.
A
prospect’s problem is much bigger than what you can
see or your product can manage, and therein lies the
dilemma: the piece you can fix is merely one aspect
of a set of problems that need resolution. In other
words, before they can resolve the part that’s yours
to fix, they have other work to do. And sales won’t
help you help them.
When
you ask questions, gather data, or do needs
assessments, you are merely attempting to understand
or resolve the tip of the iceberg that seems to be
an obvious match with your product. But the standard
sales competencies do nothing – nothing – to
manage the issues that have been happily holding the
problem in place: ‘happily’ because if the problem
were as much of a problem that we think it is, it
would have been resolved already.
THE
BUYER-SELLER GAP
The
buyer-seller gap is really a systems problem,
brought about by the imbalance caused by the
possibility of change that the buyer is
facing. The most important thing to understand here
is that no action will take place, no matter how
urgent the apparent need, until the buyer figures
out how to handle each of the people, policy, or
political issues that conspired to create the entire
problem to begin with. And every Identified Problem
has a string of systems issues behind it: no
Identified Problem is an isolated event.
Here’s a simple example: when I moved to Taos, NM –
a mountain town known for its heavy snows - I
desperately needed a new car. My new house was on a
road that was not paved, and because of the
centuries of snow and ice and mud, an SUV was vital.
But because it was winter and the ground frozen, I
couldn’t build the garage I needed to protect the
car. I also had to wait until my favorite builder
came back from his Mexican winter break. So I
couldn’t purchase a car until the spring. Needing a
car was my Identified Problem – that tip of the
iceberg that was what sellers would have seen if I
had been going to car dealerships. But no matter how
hard anyone could pitch me on an SUV, there was no
decision I could make until the other issues got
resolved – the weather, the builder, and the
garage. And, the weather was both the creator and
maintainer of the Identified Problem.
The
buyer-seller gap is created by the buyer and seller
operating out of two different sets of assumptions:
the buying decision assumes the need to manage the
internal issues that are creating a problem; sales
assumes the need to solve a problem with a specific
product.
Sales
is a solutions-based model: Understand needs. Fix
the pain. Solve the problem. But the buyer would
have already handled this if they knew how to
resolve the underlying issues that need to be
managed. Like my car example, if I could have built
a garage – that I couldn’t build because of the
weather - I would have bought my car – that I needed
because of the weather.
Buyers merely seek a resolution to a business
problem and must take into account the people,
policies, rules, and initiatives that created the
underlying problem that created the Identified
Problem. It is up for discussion whether, when, how,
or if the actual Identified Problem itself will end
up being solved along the way.
Until
buyers figure out the dimensions of the underlying
problem – how it manifests itself daily, who it’s
touching and how, what it needs to look and act like
over time, and what levels of responsibility each
part must take to ensure a solution and manage the
ensuing change – they can’t know what actions need
to be taken to fix it. Indeed, if solving the
Identified Problem creates so much disruption that
the internal systems issues will be dismantled or
greatly disturbed, no action will be taken. Or just
palliative activity will be tried.
Whatever they decide, it’s out of your hands: you
cannot help buyers manage these issues. And the
fascinating thing is that they don’t even begin to
understand how all of these elements operate
together, or need to be resolved, until they
start the process of searching for a solution to
their Identified Problem. You assume that once
they show up with their Identified Problem, they
would have already managed these internal issues.
But they haven’t.
CHANGE AND SYSTEMS: A BALANCING ACT
The
reason for this conundrum isn’t so obvious, except
within the world of systems thinking: all systems
are balanced. No matter what is happening within a
system, each element plays a role that maintains and
creates its status quo. Once a decision is made to
make a change – and bringing in any sort of fix is a
change – the system gets frightened and behaves
badly: systems don’t like disruption.
If
any part of the system acts impulsively rather than
from within the unique laws of that system, the
system can be harmed. Indeed, everything within the
system is organized around maintaining stability. It’s called ‘homeostasis’.
Here
are some of the rules of homeostasis:
-
The whole (system) is greater than the
sum of its parts.
-
The system is more important than any
one individual and will sacrifice the individual if
challenged.
-
When one part of the system shifts,
the entire system shifts.
-
Each system has a unique goal and
modus operandi.
-
Each system keeps itself in balance
and will constantly self-correct in any way
necessary to maintain this balance.
-
Many of the rules within systems are
implicit, and often translated uniquely by its
members, making the system a living balancing act.
-
Resistance comes from some part of the
system that is threatened when being pushed into
unfamiliar territory.
When
you introduce ‘change’ into this equation,
individual parts will resist, messages will be
miscommunicated, sabotaged, and misunderstood, and
ultimately, the system will fight to maintain
balance.
SALES
COMES AT THE WRONG TIME
When
you first meet your prospects, they are in an early
or mid-term stage of recognizing the systems
elements that must be addressed in order to fix
their problems. They can’t be any farther along than
that or the problem would have already been
resolved.
When
you first meet a prospect, you see a problem and
wrongly assume that you can gather data, do a needs
analysis, recognize possibilities for a solution
(one that you could possibly offer), and then assume
because they’ve got the problem and you’ve got the
solution that they should make a purchasing
decision. But they don’t.
What
you cannot see is their unique range of internal
issues. You can’t fathom the way the parts of the
system are fighting for balance, or resisting, or
creating delays. You can’t fathom personality issues
or fears, egos or job descriptions, vendor issues or
initiatives.
Sure,
you hear about a small fraction of those things, and
sometimes even understand a few of the issues (never
all, certainly). Sometimes you even learn about how
the buying decisions get made. But only Insiders can
affect change.
Note
that a problem, or a need, doesn’t insure that the
system will want to change, know how
to change, be willing to go through what
would be necessary to change, or take into
account any particular needs when
entering the change process.
But
our sales model consists of tools and techniques
that solve problems and answer needs around an
Identified Problem and product placement, causing
the buyer to spend too much time, too early, in
targeting what should be the last thing they do.
Their first job is to figure out how to manage all
of the internal pieces fighting for control, not
caring that there is a problem.
Until
buyers do that, they won’t purchase your solution;
focusing on the second phase of their decision
process first slows them down. The sales model
itself actually causes the length of the sales
cycle, and limits the buyer to dealing with you
around that part of the problem that is easily
visible.
FACILITATING DECISIONS
You
can create a much more important dialogue if you
understand your job differently. Think about your
job as a neutral navigator, or a servant-leader, or
a Buying Facilitator. Think about your job as being
the person who can work with the Inside person to
actually lead the change, and your product
as one of the cogs in the wheel. Not THE solution,
but merely one of the pieces that will go in to the
business problem resolution.
Buying Facilitation is a systems-management model
that approaches this first aspect of the decision
process by using a very unique form of question – a
Facilitative Question rather than conventional
information gathering questions – to lead the buyer
sequentially through generic aspects of the system
that would need to consider change before being
willing to adapt. This might include: leading them
to decisions around how they will manage their
current vendor, or work toward managing internal
stakeholders who are being difficult.
Once
the buyer recognizes all of these unique systems
aspects (which they will do eventually anyway and
the time it takes them to do this is the length of
the sales cycle) and is en route toward solutions –
again, with the aid of the Buying Facilitator in
designing solutions and actions – they will not only
be able to buy the product much quicker but will
automatically choose the Facilitator as their
provider. No price objections. No confusion around
which product is better.
By
using a sales model rather than a Buying
Facilitation model, you are impeding the buyer’s
decision process, elongating the sales cycle, making
it difficult to differentiate yourself and causing
price objections. Change your job and change your
results. After all: do you want to sell? Or have
someone buy?
ABOUT
MORGEN FACILITATIONS, INC.
MEET OUR NEW PARTNERS:
Dr. Jean Norris, of
Norton/Norris Inc (Nn), the only full service
marketing and consulting firm focused on Tactical
Enrollment Management®. With over 50 years of
combined experience working exclusively in higher
education, Nn offers award-winning and
results-oriented marketing and training services
including the exclusive license to teach Buying
Facilitation® to admission professionals.
www.nortonnorris.com. 708.633.6645
Trent R. Smock and his company,
Straight-line Management Group, are experts in the
area of sales, management and behavioral selling in
the Financial Services arena, working specifically
in the area of Variable Annuities. Straight-line
Management Group’s focus is helping organizations
differentiate themselves as sellers by helping
buyers understand their own internal decision
process, now incorporating Buying Facilitation® into
their training offerings.
www.smgmovie.com. 602.359.2685.
The Right Mind, headed up by
Jill Rigney and David Hanlon, an Australian training
consulting and coaching company specializing in
agribusiness and food sectors, working with
corporations and SMEs throughout Australia. They
will be adding Buying Facilitation® to their roster
of programs in negotiations, leadership, and team
coaching.
www.therightmind.com.au. 0617.3869.3044
XLNT Facilitation is a Swedish
affiliate to Morgen Facilitations with extended
experience selling enterprise solutions to the IT
industry. Offering Buying Facilitation and
Facilitating Buying Decisions training, as well as
executive sales coaching and management, Ted Elvhage
is a long-standing member of the MFI partner team.
www.xlnt-facilitations.com.
SELLING
POWER MAGAZINE
Look for
Sharon Drew’s podcast on the Selling Power Magazine
Newsletter, June 4.
www.sellingpower.com
COACHING
Sharon Drew offers individual coaching to senior
executives seeking support in making major decisions
around: set up of new sales groups and initiatives;
sales management; hiring/firing of top sellers or
sales management; designing sales initiatives; set
up of telemarketing units; selling against
competitors to ensure differentiation.
As always, we’re here to serve
you.
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Copyright 2007 by Sharon Drew Morgen. All rights
reserved