Become Better at Selling Strategic

Become Better At Selling Strategic,
Complex Solutions
Today selling is more complex. There are more people involved in the sale, they take longer to
decide, and their decision making process seems to be a blurry fog. It used to be that sales
people
could make a single call on a single buyer and that person would make the decision. This is no
longer true. Our businesses have become full of people who want to collaborate and get buy-in
from
others and people who don’t want to be held responsible for making a single solitary decision
that
others will have to live with.
A few years ago, it took an average of five to six calls on a prospect before they would make a
decision. Today, according to statistics it takes an average of eight to nine calls before a
decision is
reached. When you think about this, how many calls are you making on the account? Here is
more
food for thought. Where it took only one person to make a decision, a few years ago the
average
number of people involved in the sale was three to five. Today, that number is now six to eight
people involved in the decision. When you think about this, how many of the people do you
know
who are involved in the sale – let alone meet with them?
When you think about this, it’s not difficult to realize that much of the sale takes place when you
are
not there. The people talk to each other and make decisions we are not even aware of that
contradict
what we were told before. And sometimes the person we are told is the decision maker is no
longer
the decision maker because of internal power struggles, a realignment of priorities, delegation
and
committee empowerment. A lot of times, we never even meet the final decision maker who
signs the
check. And we all know and have experienced that it is not unusual for a sale to be derailed at
the
last minute by something completely unforeseen.
One of the biggest factors to lost sales, is that average performing sales people do not meet
with the
multiple people involved in the sale. They meet with one person typically and rely on that one
person
to be their surrogate. Does this sound familiar? The big excuse is, “I don’t know how to go
around
this person without offending them.”
Joe Murphy 180 TIP SHEET

Copyright©2006 www.JosephBMurphy.com 770-662-5700 Joe Murphy 180
PAGE 2 of 2
We must learn to deal with multiple decision makers in an organization, each of whom can
influence
the purchase. We need to understand their role and as importantly, understand what their
expertise is
that others will acquiesce to or not argue against because of that expertise.
Now with the global economy, we have competitors from India, China, Europe and other
countries,
who are hungrier, faster, and less expensive than we are. And they are making things even
more
confusing for the prospective client which entails getting more people involved from their side, or
the
hiring of consultants to advise them how to procure, which all leads to an even longer sales
cycle.
So not only have we gone above beyond features and benefits of a solution, the client wants to
know
what quality standards are in place, service levels, guarantees, warrantees and free support
beyond
the sale. There are too few of them (prospective clients) and too many of us (providers of
services
and solutions). So with that being said, we can ill afford to not plan out every step of the
strategic
complex sale. Here several critical pieces of advice to help you and your team to become better
positioned with the prospective client;
1. Learn to deal with multiple decision makers in an organization, each of whom can influence
the
purchase. You need to understand their role and as importantly, understand what their expertise
is that others will acquiesce to or not argue against because of that expertise.
2. Become excellent at questioning, building rapport, and demonstrating our expertise
throughout
the sales cycle.
3. A common selling approach is needed so the members of your sales pursuit team can speak
the
same the language and quickly grasp the strategy evolution.
4. Forego the feeling to sell – and instead try to educate the prospective client as to all the
options
and the advantages and disadvantages of each option.
5. Try to identify the economic buyer immediately. Look for someone who is responsible for the
P&L,
but not the CEO, unless you are in mergers and acquisitions. Then you need to identify the
economic buyer’s “go to” person and work through them.
6. When you meet with various people in the account we need to provide a brief recap with the
economic buyer and the “go to” person, if possible, in person.
7. Perform account mapping - that is, an alignment with of their execs with your execs.
8. Begin developing a win theme and deal strategy on paper as soon as possible and convey
that to
all the members of the team.
9. The pursuit team needs to meet in person regularly and use visual tools such as whiteboards
to
build a win-strategy among the team.

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Become Better At Selling Strategic,

Joe Murphy 180 TIP SHEET

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