Selling In Tough Economic Times...

We hear it every day… “I can’t…the boss won’t let me…we have too much inventory…your stuff didn’t sell through and my favorite, simply NO!”

When most sales people hear these comments; their normal routine calls for them to restate product benefits and features, push for the sell and adopt a take no prisoners mindset. This is old school selling and it doesn’t work today. The opposite is also true; even the best sales talent when faced with obstacles, will often compound the situation by not returning calls and emails.

Today’s buyers are responsible for numerous categories, several which they have little knowledge of. It’s more about meeting dealines, ROI, timing and sell through versus sell in. The buying process is remarkably more nuanced than ever before. Our current economic situation magnifies the negatives and forces buyers to be even more risk adverse than normal.

What is the difference between selling in a robust economy and selling in a failing economy? The easy answer…A LOT. But perhaps not what you might think;
Your product is the same
Your pitch/presentation is the same
The buyer’s need is the same

The difference is the decision-making process the buyers need to go through and the information they need to provide to their supervisors to justify a purchase preference. Knowing that, wouldn’t you agree that it is your job to provide the best answers to everything the buyer needs? Wouldn’t it be smart to know what the supervisor wants? The only way to uncover these needs is to ask questions and facilitate discovery that gets to the heart of why buyers buy. Webster’s defines facilitation as: the act of facilitating, to make easy. I’m not suggesting that selling is easy. However, when you know the answers to a test, it greatly reduces the pre-test angst and significantly improves your results. The same can be said for the selling process.

“Strategic planning is a rational planning process, but has strong psychological effects on an organization and the people involved in the process.” – Dr. Shirley McCune

In a depressed or pressurized climate it is all the more vital to avoid the urge to persuade and influence the other person to do what you want. They simply cannot. So they won’t. Instead, follow a facilitative methodology, and you will rise head and shoulders above all those (your competitors) who are persisting with old-style push and persuade techniques. I suggest creating a paradigm change in your style; enable, rather than persuade. Help, rather than sell. Offer a broad expert overview, rather than narrow self-interest. Until your buyer figures out what immediate needs must be addressed- whatever that means to them- they will take no action. In other words, getting their ‘needs met’ is job one. Regardless if it is a creative or temporary solution rather than a product purchase or help figuring out their immediate needs, will put you in line as the first vendor they connect with once they decide to purchase. Adopting a “trusted business advisor” mentality and providing solutions to problems will assuredly place you inside the buyer’s circle of influence. This could be as simple as providing industry feedback and eyes & ears to what is important to them. If you can augment your job to include being a ‘decision consultant’ or a ‘trusted business advisor’, you can make good use of economic uncertainty. While your competitors continue to push and persuade- which gets nowhere. You can be seen as a helpful advisor and eventually part of the buying process. Make use of difficult economic times to differentiate yourself as a true trusted expert advisor. You’ll not only get more business than you otherwise would, you’ll also gain access to the buying decision team, line up future business that will close once the economy turns around, and be seen as a genuinely helpful external resource. The best book I’ve read on this topic, Mahan Khalsa’s Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play, provides an approach that is as eloquent as it is sensible: “The decision to trust doesn’t start inside (your prospect)—it starts inside you. Intent is a choice, and your choice will have consequences. You will communicate intent whether you want to or not…Based on your intent people will decide to trust you or not.”

“A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

Asking the right questions will provide the road map of discovery and best practices in meeting your buyer’s needs. Always be prepared with thought provoking and strategic questions that you can use in future meetings to always be one-step ahead of your buyer and several ahead of your competition. Over a cup of coffee or lunch outside of the office conversationally ask;
What type of questions does your boss ask when you present your buy plan?
What information do you need to be a rock-star in your boss’s mind?
What can I provide to help this process?
Do you need industry, competitor or product information?
What kind of frustrations and obstacles do you have and how can I help you resolve them?
What keeps you up at night?

You may be thinking how might I improve my discovery skills? Here are a few key habits I’d suggest applying;
Bring an insatiable curiosity to your appointments.
Don’t assume you know the answers to your most important questions.
Endeavor to see the world through your client’s eyes. This empathetic view requires one to ask questions.
Listen for unexpected answers, probe further and have the agility to capitalize on the resulting opportunities.

The best idea I received was this one: “If I am unclear about who, what, when, where and why, I keep asking questions. Uncovering answers to these questions will absolutely improve your selling success. Have fun, ask questions, learn and apply.