The 5th and Final Buying Decision…Time To Start Working!
The customer has now purchased our product / service and we celebrate! Unfortunately, this is where 99% of sales people stop the sales process.
We’ve done it!
We have made it to the fifth and final buying decision for the customer which is “Buy”
The customer has now purchased our product / service and we celebrate! Unfortunately, this is where 99% of sales people stop the sales process. It’s okay to celebrate the win and I encourage the celebration, but when the sales person stops the sales process after receiving the order, the customer is left to fend for themselves. The customer soon will develop buyer’s remorse, not hitting the desired outcome from the purchase, and possibly thinking they were just sold something instead of purchasing a solution. The customer then associates us with the slimy salesperson that does not care about them.
Far too many sales people take the signed order and ride off into the sunset never to be heard from again. It’s a huge opportunity that unfortunately most sales people miss out on!
That’s right, when the customer agrees to buy, this is the time that sales professionals need to roll up their sleeves and move forward with the customer. The more this is done, the more the customer will brag to their friends, family members, social media, etc. about how awesome we served them and that everyone they know needs speak with us. Who wouldn’t want a sales team of individuals selling of us without having to pay them?
I love having people that have taken my trainings tell others that they need to work with me because I know that what I am doing is working!
First and foremost, when the customer agrees to purchase, they will second guess themselves (buyer’s remorse) about the purchase. That’s right, they are not sure what they did was the right decision. This typically happens for purchases over $50. We are not talking about a pack of gum here. The real-estate market has done a fantastic job overcoming this issue of “buyer’s remorse.” As soon as the customer agrees to purchase a property, they immediately begin moving the customer into the next steps.
When you confirm that the customer has made the right decision, they feel justified and will be set at ease. Getting the customer moving forward after this decision to buy and onto the next steps such as delivery date, onsite training, etc., the customer is reaffirmed and feels like they have made the best decision possible. They have a game plan for the next steps. The customer will feel relieved and begin moving forward with our help! They appreciate this, because most sales people do not do this! This simple step! Now we have a few other things we need to do as well.
The next thing we as professionals need to do is review how we did in the sales process. We do this to get better at selling our product / service. The better we do this the better we will get at the next sale and become more efficient. It’s like anything else we do. After every mission the best military operators will have a debrief meeting to discuss what went well and what could be done better the next time. The more we practice and review the more efficient we get. Take time to review spots that slowed us down and then fix those areas so that way we can move forward faster next time.
The last step in the sales process is crucial. Again 99% of sales professionals do not do this. This is the most crucial step in gaining influence with customers. It’s the next 90 days after the sale that really makes the customer’s purchase a success, or a failure. That’s right, after the installation and quick run through, the customer is going to have issues. The faster we communicate how to resolve those issues the better the customer will feel. That is why organizations have had support lines waiting for customer to call, but the sales professional has an opportunity to take this one step further.
This is the sales process step in my trainings that most organizations ask a great deal of questions on how they can get better. It’s actually simple and to do once the content is created. That’s right, what content do you have available for the customer once they have purchased your product / service? Do you have a 10-steps to self-diagnose an issue? 15 best quick recipes for that blender? Youtube videos walking the customers through a new way to use the product / service? How about a Facebook group for other customers to share success stories and resolve issues together?
What do you have ready for your customers so that they can consistently win with your product / service? That is the question that we need to answer and if we do this well, we will be rewarded with greater levels of influence. With more influence comes greater growth in sales and increased revenue. At a certain point you become such an influencer that people stop focusing on price. Wouldn’t that be amazing to take the pricing discussion off the table?
We are in the service business no matter what we sell. Serve the customer well and reap the rewards. Underserve and stay a commodity in the customer’s eyes.
It’s okay to have a little celebration, but then get to work rolling up your sleeves and help serve the customer!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
Buying Decision 3...The One Most Sales People Get Wrong!
Buying Decision 3 is the part in my trainings where the sales professionals believe they need zero help. It’s at this time that I have to ask participants for examples to show me how they work on this buying decision.
Most attendees start with firing features and benefits in rapid fire, their elevator pitch, or how their product is so revolutionary like they are in one of those late-night infomercials. Unfortunately, this is an incorrect process in selling your product / service. The reason I know this is because I started out selling my products this way which drove my lack of sales. The customer does not care about how many features and benefits we have.
What the customer does care about is how this product / service will meet “their needs”. That’s right! How does what we offer help them? That is the question our customers are asking. Each customer is different and has different needs which means we need to be smart about how we approach them. We can not simply rain features and benefits all over them. We need to sell by answering their needs.
To effectively answer the customer’s needs, the salesperson needs to do the work in the first buying decision by asking great questions to uncover the customer’s needs. By asking questions we are finally able to understand the customer, what they are looking to achieve, and why they are looking to achieve it with this purchase. If we assume that we know exactly what the customer needs we typically miss the mark in sales.
You’re probably asking yourself how do I avoid this mistake? The answer is simple. By making sure that the question I am asking aligns with my features and benefits. That’s right I use the features and benefits of my product / service to roadmap questions for the customer. If the customer is saying yes to those questions, then we know that we are on the right track to help the customer. Simple right!
Below is a simple graphic I use to create the questions:
One more point here and this is a big point!
If the answer is no to most of my questions about my product / service. I quickly understand that what the customer is looking for is not what I offer and I point them in the right direction to meet their needs. That is right, if my product / service will not help the customer I am going to do everything in my power to help them find what they need. Most sales people are shaking their heads in disbelief and they are wrong. See I am playing the long game with selling that builds influence.
If my current product / service does not help the customer and I help them find something that does, I have just solidified my value and gained tremendous influence with the customer. Even if they do not buy this product / service today, they will tell their friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, etc. about the service that I have provided and how I helped them. They will tell those people that they need to come talk to me. It has helped me time and time again with references and grow my sales in the long run.
Yes, this is an internal decision to focus on helping more than just selling our products / service. I chose this early in my career which helped me gain more sales than I could have ever thought possible. Customers have come to me years later telling me that someone referred them to me because I was the best and helped in such a way that they needed to see me first.
Isn’t that where we want to be? To be the person everyone wants to come to for a solution to meet their needs?
To find out how to apply the total Sales Process Uncovered training with your team, follow click here and get moving forward to reaching your sales goals!
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”
Ready, Set, Stop Jumping Into Your Pitch
Customers buy to satisfy needs, not features and benefits. It’s a simple concept, but hard to practice sometimes.
When I train sales professionals, I have to make sure that I highlight this fact each time I start the training. We as sales professionals need to stop launching right into a sales pitch too early.
Too many sales people get through the introductions and then jump into pitching their products or service. They use the shotgun blast approach and hope somethings sticks to where the customer will leap towards them with a hug saying thank you for answering all my worries. Unfortunately, the customer is actually put off by this practice of selling. Then the customers immediately decide they are not going to buy from this salesperson.
Meanwhile the salesperson is still shooting off more and more benefits and features while the customer is thinking…“How do I get out of here?”
Most customers will wait for the presentation to end and then thank the sales person for their time before making a way to the exit as fast as possible. People want to feel heard and understood. Too many times sales people leap into action and sell something because we are looking for that next kill. Most sales people think of sales just like hunting for something.
I started selling like this, but quickly learned that sales is actually like farming. We start small and grow our influence with the customer over time. We as sales professionals are not all knowing and understanding of the customer’s needs. We need to stop ourselves and ask questions, a great deal of questions. This starts building influence with the customer because we are showing that we care. We need the customer to buy off on us before they will ever think about buying our product or service. Here’s another point that I need to make, the larger the sale, the longer it takes to understand the customer’s needs.
I have structured multi-million, multi-year contracts and every one of these deals took years to come together. Not one of these customers has ever stopped on my doorstep and said please help me, I need you to sell me your product without growing the influence with them first. I had to grow influence before they would look at me as an option to help them with their larger investments. They gave me opportunities for smaller deals and then as they grew to trust me and trust that I understood them well enough they gave me larger opportunities. Apple has done a great job of getting people to line up for their new products, but back when they started, hardly anyone wanted their products. It took years of the correct leadership, marketing, and sales strategies to get to where they are today.
Each day there are new strategies on how to sell to a new sophisticated type of customer, but most of these new sales strategies are trying to do the same drill of growing influence with the customer. Shortcuts may work for the short term, but long term they fizzle out and influence erodes. I have used the same process for well over a decade to sell to different industries, and in different parts of the world. It’s a simple process and it helps the sales professionals walk through the customer’s five buying decisions that they must answer before they will purchase our products or services.
We have to meet the customer’s needs and then we will be rewarded with their business and grow influence with them.
Have a great weekend.
Sincerely,
Kevin Sidebottom
“Businesses wonder why the majority of their sales teams struggle at winning profitable business. I teach your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate more sales with high margins!”