Solve These 6 Common Problems of the Complex Sale
1: Eliminate risk and failure in complex sale negotiations.
“Even though we provide a highly technical and complex solution, we find our prospects, and even our most knowledgeable customers, are forcing us to compete as a commodity with severe pricing pressures and relentless negotiating. I keep hearing, ‘your price is too high.’”
Let’s face it, the more complex the situation becomes, the more people try to simplify things, and the simplest denominator is price. In negotiating, knowledge is power. Learn how to build a knowledge bridge from your customers’ critical issues to the added values of your solution. You’ll be able to negotiate with your customers on a financial level that will eliminate pricing pressures and close more sales.
2: Gain the executive’s respect and sponsorship. Build exceptional credibility.
“It was difficult connecting to the executive’s critical business issues and I ended up getting pushed back down to the support level. I knew I had a powerful offer, yet I was met with indifference.”
Brilliant ideas and valuable products fall short if you can’t immediately establish relevancy, credibility and connect to the executive’s most pressing issues. Understand the three major objectives that drive executive decisions and how to build a compelling solution that connects your best capabilities to their business drivers.
3: Qualify customers early, long before valuable time is wasted.
“Customers smile and say all the right things. Then when I try to close the sale, they pull the rug out from under me. I feel used and strung along. What really hurts is I should have seen it coming.”
Your time is too valuable to waste on dead-end situations. Know how to determine a customer’s intent. Discover a system to reach the decision-makers and influencers with the greatest source of power, right from the start. Learn to manage levels of influence in the committee. Differentiate between stalling tactics and legitimate concerns or delays. Master the art of resolving conflicting messages and expectations.
4: Differentiate yourself and your solution without giving away the store.
“I know I need to educate my customers before they buy, but I give them the advice and information they ask for and they end up buying from my competitor. I become an ‘unpaid consultant.’”
The more complex the problems you solve and the solutions you offer, the more guidance your customer will need. That’s both good and bad news. The bad news is the risk of unpaid consulting; the good news is you have an exceptional opportunity to differentiate yourself through the diagnostic process. We will show you where the line is between required discovery and unpaid consulting. You will be able to get the information you need and set yourself apart without giving away the store.
5: Build powerful proposals that connect at the executive and operations level.
“My convincing proposal won the first round of approvals, but I later found out that the executive buy-in never happened. This executive had criteria on the table that I never tapped into or knew existed.”
Engage the executives early in the decision process to establish the criteria which creates senior-level ownership. Build winning proposals that build a business case for the financial impact of your solution and connect the business drivers at all levels of influence and decision.
6: Become the valued resource and the trusted advisor.
“I’m dealing with qualified prospects but they won’t open up and give me information to help them.”
In the minds of customers, salespeople are guilty until proven innocent. Discover the subtle behaviors that harm your credibility and keep you in the dark. Learn how to differentiate yourself from 90% of salespeople who reinforce negative stereotypes. Get your customers to feel safe and open up. You will learn how to establish trusting relationships that will give you an unrestricted flow of vital information.
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