The end of the quarter is approaching. All the deals you’ve been chasing, all the months of meetings and follow-up have all led to this moment — getting a thumbs up or down from your buyer.
As a sales professional, I know all too well the relationship-building it takes to really connect with your buyer and land the deal. Having worked closely with marketers for the past decade, I can attest that these buyers are exceptionally tech savvy, meticulous in their research, and know how to get what they want. If you are going to dust off the old slide deck, do a show-and-tell demonstration, and treat them like a stereotypical buyer, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Image via Forrester
As potential customers, your buyers deserve the respect of your best effort and a real human connection. When you’re on a sales call or demo, here are five ways to connect with the buyer so that you are both aligned for success.
1) Compassion and Empathy
Last month, Forbes published an interesting interview with marketing consultant John Jantsch titled Why Sales Teams Must Have A Marketing Mindset. In the interview, Jantsch outlined what sales people can learn from marketing colleagues, how the sales process has changed, and what sales professionals need to do to keep up with disruption. The interview is worth reading in its entirety, but one of Jantsch’s main points is that successful sales people know how to operate on the same level as marketers by thinking like they think.
This is one of the most challenging feats on a call – trying to understand your buyer’s pains, what keeps her from hitting goals, and how you can establish respect early by becoming the trusted advisor. Why is it challenging? Because most sales people don’t actually care! They are more interested in making their own numbers than helping clients overcome their challenges. The success of your deal hinges on being able to connect with your buyer and genuinely speak to her pain points. If you fail at making the connection on the very first call, your likelihood of closing that deal is significantly diminished, so bring compassion to the buyer relationship from the start.
2) Research: Know Your Buyer
Most sales people will Google the person they are going to meet, and maybe check out LinkedIn to learn about potential connections. But your level of awareness needs to be much higher.
Most marketers I’ve worked with have a blog or a large presence on social media channels. Dig deeper into what they talk about on their personal blog to see if you have common interests that aren’t work-related. You need to find something that ties you personally beyond the usual topics of conversation on a call. Do you both do community service? Do you both enjoy traveling to similar places? Find ways to create a sticking point that is genuine and connects the two of you on a personal level.
3) Buyer Personas: Why Do People Buy?
People buy for very different reasons. Marketing managers want to automate manual processes, while VPs and execs want tools to better track the performance of efforts and campaigns. Both camps may be using the same technology, but they are leveraging the functionality and getting value from the product in very different ways.
When you approach a buyer for the first time, you need to keep in mind the different challenges and goals for each person in the room. As Brian Burns’ book, The Maverick Selling Method, teaches us, salespeople need to “divide and concur,” rather than divide and conquer. Have meetings to discuss the challenges, goals, and measures of success for each person on the team, lead them to your solution by connecting what they want with what you have, and diligently follow up with each of these people separately so that you gain their trust. It’s not about just checking boxes. You need to understand that each buyer has something different to gain and addressing their wants and needs up front helps you become a trusted advisor to each individual, rather than offering a “one-size-fits all” solution.
4) Listen!
This one may seem obvious, but, having managed sales people before and participated in countless calls and meetings, I can tell you this is one of my biggest pet peeves and one of the quickest ways to lose a deal. Salespeople love to talk about themselves, their product, and their company. But remember – the meeting isn’t about you. You are there to listen, diagnose their ailment, and prescribe a cure.
Closing the deal depends on your ability to understand not just what they struggle with day-to-day, but what they think about when they drive home or what keeps them up at night. What is the root cause of their inability to achieve their goals? What effect does missing targets have on their relationship with colleagues or bosses? How does success or failure impact them beyond a financial incentive? Asking these tough questions builds a level of empathy that few salespeople achieve. The buyer begins confiding things that their coworker, boss, or spouse may never even hear. If you successfully listen, show compassion, and build rapport, you will create a connection that exists beyond the first meeting in the boardroom.
5) Measures of Success: “What does success look like for you?”
Remember that during the sales cycle, people don’t buy because of what you show them, or because of a certain product’s functionality. They buy because they can see themselves being successful using your product or service.
A few years ago, I began closing the end of every call or meeting with the following question: “Twelve months from now, you are celebrating the best year you’ve ever had at your company. What does success look like to you, and what do you have to show for it?” The question allows your buyer to paint a picture of not just his own measure of success, but what it will take to get there. In turn, it also allows you to conveniently tie back your solution to their pain and need. It allows you to lead to – not with – your offering.
Image via KISSmetrics
Bottom Line:
If you successfully listen to your buyers’ problems, understand their pain points, address their challenges, and provide them with a vision of their own success, you can sustain and elevate the connection you develop throughout the sales cycle. Developing this level of trust means that the buyer is willing to share personal updates about their frustrations and goals, allowing you to be a part of their solution. Ultimately, this makes your process and approach radically different from the impersonal approach of your competitors, and in turn, allows you to turn a buyer into a customer who is fully-prepared for success.
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