Salespeople have been told for a long time that selling is a numbers game. The more people you talk to, the more people you present to, the more people you give proposals to, the more business you’ll get.
Sales and Marketing play the numbers game when they are given little control over which buyers they will target, little understanding of the buyer’s journey in their market, little ability to know when a buyer is ready to move to the next stage in the buying process, and little knowledge of what constitutes a qualified buyer.
The numbers game leads to massive inefficiencies. Marketing generates too many poor leads and Sales chases too many unqualified opportunities.
It’s as if a bicycle manufacturer bought materials from the first name in the yellow pages, told their production staff to assemble bicycles from the parts, and when only a few of them came out right, shrugged and said it’s a numbers game.
Yet we are working in a time when forces outside our control – competition, globalization, and technology – are forcing companies to get a better return on their investment in Marketing and Sales.
What is the alternative to the numbers game, a game where you have little control over your work or your results?
The alternative is to focus on the buyer and the buying process.
- Segment your market carefully and define your ideal prospect.
- Understand the buyer’s journey in your particular market. Buyers move from being unaware of a problem to awareness to doing something to solve the problem. Map the buyer’s needs and how you create value for the buyer at each stage of the buying process.
- Create value for the buyer at each stage by answering questions and solving problems. Enable the buyer to move forward.
- Know how to recognize when a buyer is ready to move to the next stage, particularly when the buyer is far enough along that the situation warrants bringing in a salesperson.
In this environment, salespeople are specialists who only get brought in when the buyer is qualified and ready to talk to a salesperson.
Marketing defines the market, finds potential buyers, and nurtures them on their journey. Sales works with qualified opportunities, facilitates the buyer through the range of organizational decisions it must make, and helps the buyer’s team determine the best solution and the best solutions partner.
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