I came across an article in Business Mirror (and HBR) by Steve W Martin a teacher of sales strategy at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business where he outlines 6 major reasons why Salespeople wins or looses sales.
- Customers have preferences in their engagement. These are linked to the departments they represent. Some want to be challenged ( 30%) while others prefer salesperson ‘who listens, understands and then matches their solution to solve a specific problem’(40%).
- It’s really a committee of one – this is contrary to the data around Account Based Marketing / selling where Gartner says there are at least 6.8 persons in a decision. Steve reports that one dominant voice exists in all such committees who ensures his / her choice of vendor 89% of the time and the sales person should target only them.
- Market leaders have an edge This is again contrary to popular belief that the better solution wins. A dominant player in a market almost always takes the order.
- Price works differently for different buyers. Some are sensitive, some are price conscious and some price immune.
- It is possible to cut through bureaucracy, Sales IT and Engineering have more internal clout than say accounting, Human Resource and Marketing.
- Charisma sells. The ability to master the intangible, intuitive human element of the sales process is key differentiator between winners and losers.
More reference data of the 76 part survey filled out by 230 buyers is in the articles.
What do you think? Is the 2017 Buyer study still relevant?
Link to the article/s below :
6 Reasons Salespeople Win or Lose a Sale https://bit.ly/2sZoTSv (HBR)
https://bit.ly/2G2x4nr (Business Mirror)
In case you missed this last time: B2B Buyer Research Reveals Key Mistakes Salespeople Make https://stevewmartin.com/buyers-report-whats-wrong-with-salespeople/
If you want to find my earlier posts in this series check this link. I update this everyday. https://bit.ly/2T5sI2Z
