I have had some fantastic guest that have generously given their knowledge to the Scale Your Sales Podcast, and I thought it would be good to highlight and compare their answers to themes discussed over the last quarter.
This part 1 of 2 articles compiled from the first 13 episodes of Scale Your Sales Podcast.
Sales are the foundation of every business; if you do not sell, you cannot invest in your customers, in innovation and business growth. According to Niraj Kapur, salespeople are becoming irrelevant as buyers have become savvier, while sellers have not! People buy people, and this involves a conversation. Niraj voiced, the problem is salespeople try to sell by email, they don’t answer questions adequately, they do not research their client and do not listen to their customer enough.
Let’s look at what the guest expert had to say about buyers?
What Do Buyers Want?
Sales are the lifeblood of any business and essential for remaining competitive, viable and profitable. Paul Durrant agreed that in today’s’ ultra-competitive market, buyers are far more educated and sophisticated, and sellers must rise to this challenge.
With globalisation, increased competition, complexity and technological advances this means that in many categories, buyers have a completely different perception of risk and are less able to make a bad purchase and get away with it, so rightly, they demand much more from the seller, remarked Glen Williamson.
All powered by the internet and social media and review sites; the seller must understand that the power is now with the buyers declared Stephen Kelly.
Timothy Hughes said you must understand that your clients are on social, and you need to move there to stay relevant. The trick is not to do it in a piecemeal/tactical way, but to have a methodology and one that is proven.
Jo Harding offered that the construction industry, like many others, wants to speed up the processes (reduce costs), but this means they need the right knowledge at the right time so knowledgeable and experienced salespeople cannot be replaced with broad-based information.
Give Buyers a reason to trust you!
According to Paul Durrant, buyers don’t want to be sold to. They want to engage with individuals they know and trust, those who are subject matter experts in their field that can guide them and provide real insight.
Marlen Von Roth declared that you sell the customer on a solution and not a product. Treat every customer as unique and different. Listen more than you talk, so you understand the customer, their needs and the journey.
Glen Williamson declared that over the last five years that buyers have taken control of the sales conversation and are 70% down the road of a sale by the time the seller gets there. This for Glen is an over-simplification. Where poor salespeople are in the game, buyers have been in control since the beginning of time. Where quality salespeople are in the game, buyers don’t want control. They want to collaborate with the seller and are happy to revert to 100% of the sales process. That’s if there is a good reason for them to do so.
Alice Kemper professed, the concept previously was that we were vendors. Buyers have done much research; they need a sales strategist they do not need another vendor. Buyers get so far and then they need a strategic salesperson. Buyers have already made so many decisions before they see you, they have done their research. It’s not about the product; it is about partnering with them in a business environment.
Glen Williamson agreed, buyers simply don’t have time for salespeople who cannot add value. Sellers who are not using a value proposition as the basis of their sales approach will find it difficult to get consistently.
People don’t buy because they like you, it helps but not helpful and is the causes of mediocre sales results affirmed Glen Williamson. We are in an information world but are we any wiser? Glen remarked that knowledge is overstated in our society.
Glen Williamson declared buyers are facing choice and information overwhelm, such that they don’t know what great value looks like, so they need sellers to step up and get involved in the conversation that the buyer is having in their heads.
Alice Heiman agreed buyers are bombarded with information. It’s crippling. I’ve seen the worst cases of “Analysis Paralysis” with buyers who are looking at content from competitors and are trying to understand it. They look at websites, articles, pricing sheets, videos, and sites that do comparisons. After talking with a salesperson, they still can’t figure out why one solution would be better than the other. Buyers already have too much information to sort through. Sellers need to change from givers of information to guides that help buyers make sense of information.
Carolina Castillo asserted, it is critically important for buyers to have reliable salespeople that can provide insights and make the right things happen for the buyers at the right time. Buyers want someone who can give unbiased advice and challenge their thinking.
The expert’s follow-up with advice for leaders to stay focused and aligned with what the buyers and customers want and need.
Sales Leaders and Leadership
Stephen Kelly – So often he sees in small and the big companies an internal focused. Businesses follow the process and do not stop and ask themselves ‘where the customer is in this conversation or decision?’ If there is a problem – ‘how do, we drop everything and solve it now?’ As a CEO, I know it is essential to ground yourself every day on how you serve the customer and what you do for them.
Alice Heiman declared that leaders of the company must understand sales well enough to truly lead sales. Not having a real understanding of what can and cannot be achieved in sales, is putting tremendous pressure on sales without giving sales the resources to perform well. You want to double in size, great, then provide the resources for sales to do the job.
Sales are the only profession that does not have consistent on-going sales training. Alice Kemper shared in conducting “Career redirection” she would pronounce “You hate me now but what you are going to realise is it will be better for you,” and later the salespeople do thank you for it. Alice disclosed that too many sales leaders hire and have a sink or swim attitude. This is a failure for everybody in the company.
Stephen Kelly asserts leaders can serve a much bigger social purpose, which starts with having a vibrant business around customers and recruiting and motivating excellent colleagues and connecting supply partners, while driving growth with a social purpose, that the right shareholders will be delighted in.
This part 1 of 2 articles compiled from the first 13 episodes of Scale Your Sales Podcast.
I have selected some of the many insights from the guest experts. Some of the words were adapted to ensure that there is a flow of content. Some of the guest answers are selected from the questionnaire completed prior to the guest interview. And some text was taken from the audio interview transcription.
I hope you enjoyed the article, please do go to the original Scale Your Sales Podcast guest interviews where you can select the guest interview and listen to the full interview and connect with the guest below.
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