How often do directors, partners, fee earners, or business development professionals evaluate their existing and prospective relationships to identify where future revenue will come from?
This article aims to get you thinking more deeply about the relationships you have – or want to have.
One of the things that always surprises me in our work in complex sales is the response to this question – ‘have you ever been taught a commercial questioning tool?’
Are you REALLY listening to your clients, or just waiting to speak? After all, you are going to be valued as an adviser for your knowledge and expertise in your specialist area of complex sales, aren’t you? Yes…but no!
If you’re worrying about delivery, keeping your team together, retaining talent then you’re probably adding to the stress levels of all your resources: your team, your board and yourself.
Knowing about the phases of the buying journey is key. Knowing where your customer is in the buying journey is even more critical.
In B2B complex sales we should focus on what matters most to the buyer and less on what matters to the salesperson or the seller’s organisation.
A rich picture on its own won’t solve any problems. But use it as a mechanism to understand what the issues and solutions are, and a rich picture opens up conversations.
Lots of salespeople, be they junior or very senior, shy away from engaging with procurement. Maybe they view them as some sort of ogre. They aren’t, they are human beings. However, their agenda is very different to that of the salesperson. You need to get ready for the right conversation.
There are a number of steps we follow to ensure a great virtual coaching session. Here are our 5 top tips.