Their Problem + Your Solution Isn’t Enough
B2B buyers don’t make impulse purchases.
The risk to their reputation is simply too great.
What’s the best way to address their doubts and skepticism?
Uncover, understand, and unpack their whole business problem.
Understanding their challenges won’t be enough to win their trust - even if they’re facing a business challenge that you’ve solved for other clients – because that’s only half of the problem.
The other half of their problem is the story of their buying journey – how the challenge came up, what they’ve done to address it, and what they want to achieve – that’s a story that’s uniquely their own. And understanding their journey is key to winning their trust and winning their business.
Here’s the math:
The Business Challenge they’re facing
+
Their Unique Journey to find the best solution
=
Their Whole Business Problem
Why is this important? No problem, no sale.
Here’s how to get a handle on their whole business problem - and win the business.
Establish Rapport
Rapport-building is Sales 101, but the basics are always worth a mention:
Be curious.
Remember names - and use them.
Gently challenge their current thinking. If they do become your client, you’ll be challenging their thinking regularly as part of adding value to the engagement. Better to know early on how they’ll react. My ideal client appreciates me for challenging their current thinking.
Don’t hog The Spotlight - Talk Less and Listen More
Sales and success guru Brian Tracy talks about using “The Spotlight” to improve your listening skills. Here’s how it works: shine an imaginary spotlight on whoever is speaking when you’re with a prospect. After the conversation, estimate how much time you spent in the spotlight. If you spent more than 20% of the conversation in the spotlight, then it’s time to check your ego and re-structure your approach.
As my Pops used to say: “Tellin’ Ain’t Sellin’.”
Don’t Rush
One costly mistake I see B2B sellers make all the time is running discovery on (or even worse, presenting a proposal to) a target that isn’t fully qualified yet. Thoroughly qualifying a lead is an investment in your ongoing success. They’ll appreciate it too.
Buyers are savvy. The best buyers place a premium on being sold to in a professional manner and find it reassuring. Glossing over or rushing through your process will increase their skepticism. Differentiate yourself from your competition by being thorough.
Focus your attention on understanding both halves of their business problem as early on in your sales process as possible. And ask multiple people on the buying team the same questions. Assume there’s a shared understanding of their challenge and their journey and you risk alienating a key player - by inadvertently making them feel left out of the process.
In the Discovery Stage
Use Skillful Inquiry – a blend of open questions, closed questions, and active listening – to give them a safe space to open up and share their challenge and their journey with you.
Before moving on from the Discovery phase be sure you ask them what their purchase process looks like. If you don’t, you create a preventable problem that could bite you in the butt at the most critical moment in the sales process – after you get a verbal yes but before they cut you a check. Understanding their process dramatically increases the odds of a smooth transaction.
Focus on Their Priorities
Finally, be sure you ask them where this business problem stands for them priority-wise. Is this a must-solve-asap problem? Is it a nice-to-solve-at-some-point problem? If you proceed without asking this, you’re sending a message that your own priority (converting them to a new client) is more important to you than their priorities and can kill the deal.
Knowing where their business problem stands in their minds priority-wise makes it much easier to adjust the timing and actions of your follow-up and other next steps.