A few weeks back Bob Apollo (the founder of Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, the leading UK-based B2B value-selling consultancy) wrote an insightful article in LinkedIn – about sales methodologies and simple practicality. Sales in a B2B scenario is a value transaction process. For the sales person (vendor) to offer value to the prospect (customer) the core is to figure the real pain (need) and offer an optimal solution. Bob terms this – situational selling and goes on to explain – ‘…It recognises that there is no such thing as a “standard” sales situation and that, therefore, there can be no one universally perfect approach’.
So it is essentially about keeping an open mind, not getting stuck with a method and analyse the customers circumstances in its entirety and adopt a sales methodology that best suits the situation. In the end the best solution for the customer is the best solution to sell.
To me this is a no brainer. But the key obstacle in better results and outcomes is ‘the status quo’ – both at the selling and buying organisations. Bob helps articulate by listing a bunch of incisive questions for your Discovery phase, like –
- Where they are in their decision journey? Are they unconcerned, exploring, defining, selecting, verifying or confirming?
- How clear are they about what they want to achieve?
- Have they already established a clear vision of a solution?
- Has the decision group already been formed? ….etc.
He also writes about the kind of sales person you need to be to be able to pull ‘situational selling’ off.
There were some interesting reactions to the article, mostly in agreement with the POV. Samples below :
Andrew Ford – …. It’s a conversation to get to the nub of who the customer is and what they need. Talk, engage, get to know them. It has to be tailored for their needs
Hakan Forsberg – …My conclusion is, there are too many arguments over which methodology is the best. Most of them have merits, but in different situations,..
Martin E. Stevens – …The big takeaway for me was the critical importance of doing a competent discovery. To my mind it’s what sorts the good sales people from the average ones.
MikeAdams – …I’ve come across market situations where you can implement one specific process and drill a team of ‘marines’ to follow. Also for me, the process has to include the marketing campaign, the methodology around ideal approach timing and post sales referral . The classic sales processes tend not to extend to those edges
David Masover – …It’s hard to argue that “the more we understand about our prospect’s situation, the smarter choices we will make.”
It is an easy read. Again, can help you straighten your thoughts. It is not the latest technology or methodology that will help your reps make quota this quarter. It is understanding what your customers want and delivering that at the most competitive price.
Link to the article below:
The sales methodology that outperforms all others https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sales-methodology-outperforms-all-others-bob-apollo/
