Understanding the prospect’s problem

You should never go into a sales situation with a ready answer before taking the time to listen to and understand the prospect’s problem area. Understanding what he’s trying to achieve, why he’s trying to achieve it, what impact not having a solution has, and the impact a successful implementation will deliver provides you with the information you need to structure the presentation of your solution both in his terms and in a way that focuses on alleviating the key pain points.

If you go into a new sales situation with your solution already in mind, you’re likely to miss any key buying signals that would point you in a different direction. Don’t assume that you know better than your prospect does about what his business needs are. Maintain an open mind and be solution oriented rather than product oriented as you begin a new sales cycle.

In the early discussions with your prospect, active listening provides you with reams of useful information, not only about the specific problem area but also about how it affects his business and the benefits he expects to achieve from a successful purchase. You also find out what success means in his terms. These are all vital pieces of information that you’ll return to time and again during the sales cycle. Active listening, which I cover in Chapter 2, is a real key to coming to grips with what your prospect is really trying to achieve.

Always accept that the prospect’s problems are real, even if in absolute terms your solution considers them to be side issues to a greater big picture. I cover this in detail in Chapter 7.

You need to be objective in your approach to understanding your prospect’s problem areas and ask open questions to delve deeper into any key areas or areas that aren’t obvious to you. For example, ask “Why does that … ?” and “How does that … ?” type of questions, and above all, get the prospect to open up to you, and demonstrate that you’re interested. I was once discussing outsourced new business with a prospect, and although he seemed to have a real need, he was reluctant to accept that outsourcing was for him. I attempted to discover the real issue by asking questions around previous experience and discovered that he had in fact tried it before but with mixed results. After I got the objection into the open, it was much easier to deal with.

You need a degree of flexibility in the early stages because you don’t know where the discussions will lead. Right from the beginning, you need to demonstrate that you’re on the prospect’s side and can provide a level of support necessary not only to solve the problems but also to ensure that he’s going to be successful with your solution. Time invested here pays for itself many times over as the sales cycle develops.

In the preceding example, I was able to show the prospect that we could be flexible in our approach and build in sufficient checks and balances to ensure that he always felt in control of where our new business effort was going to be invested. I offered to give him access to our voice recordings so that he could understand for himself how we positioned him, and although this would be an inconvenience to set up, it gave him the assurance that he needed. In fact, he never asked for any recordings and was satisfied that I was confident enough in our solution to make the offer.

Of course, you’re also qualifying while listening, and as you understand the prospect’s problem areas, you’ll also have a very good understanding of how well suited your solution is and be able to qualify the sales opportunity accordingly. (Find out more about qualifying in Chapters 9 and 19.)

Thinking outside the box

Sometimes, the answer to a problem area is not immediately obvious and may not be what you consider to be your solution’s key selling point. It may be that success in the prospect’s terms means implementing only part of what your solution is capable of and maybe utilizing some elements of his existing systems or processes. This is not necessarily a bad thing for you; it just requires you to be able to think outside the box and not try to pigeonhole everything into your terms.

Nothing the prospect wants to do is “wrong,” even if it seems strange to you. Challenging assumptions is fine, and you should do so but in a positive and constructive way. For example, a client once wanted all of our call notes to be provided in electronic format so that he could incorporate them into his own CRM system. We did this for many years, and I know from firsthand experience that he never referred to them.

Don’t be afraid to think the unthinkable — for example, that maybe your off-the-shelf solution isn’t the right one. Be prepared to walk away from a sale if you see that you’re unable to deliver the necessary solution but not before exploring all the potential avenues, including working in partnership with others to provide a sum-of-the-parts solution. In Chapter 10, I provide more information on walking away from a deal.

Understanding the prospect’s view of risk

Anything that your prospect does involves inherent risks — a risk of not solving existing problems if he takes no action, a risk of making the wrong buying decision regardless of which solution he goes for, a risk of being seen as indecisive by colleagues, and a risk of being perceived as a failure if the chosen solution doesn’t deliver the promised benefits, just to name a few. Rarely is a risk-free option available. Even the do-nothing approach involves risk. Your prospect likely has a degree of exposure by virtue of the fact that he’s leading the search for a solution, which makes him either a hero or a villain in his business, depending on the outcome of his buying decision.

The prospect’s attitude toward risk and the risk-to-reward ratio are important considerations. One of your jobs is to discover what his attitude to risk is, which will give you some pointers toward what level of solution you should be proposing. If you understand the element of risk that he’s exposed to, you can use this information by focusing some of your presentation attributes to directly addressing the risk.

Risk is always a potential barrier to closing a sale, and understanding both the prospect’s exposure to and attitude toward risk becomes important for you in driving a sale. Is risk a perception, or is it real? Ultimately, the answer to this doesn’t matter. What matters is how you approach it with your prospect and how you help him to minimize his exposure by being onside with your solution.

You need to tailor your solution to match the level of risk your prospect is prepared to take, so don’t go for an all-guns-blazing solution if you’re dealing with a risk-averse prospect, because a mismatch will lead to the sale being lost in the vast majority of cases. For example, if he is risk-averse, then be wary of proposing a brand-new solution where he would be a pioneer.

A prospect who has a rather gung-ho attitude to risk is almost as bad as one who is extremely risk-averse, and you have to steer a careful path toward presenting a solution that delivers against the requirements at what your company perceives as the lowest level of acceptable risk. Just because your key contact may throw caution to the wind doesn’t mean that you can, or that his colleagues share his view. You need to be professional in your approach and be seen to be doing the right thing. For example, don’t be tempted to introduce a brand-new, untested solution because you think it may suit the needs. Never lose sight of your professional approach to winning new business and your fundamental need to ensure that you do the right thing for your prospect, even when he cannot see it for himself. (I provide more information on risk and managing its perception in Chapter 18.)

Some prospects will require more support than others as they come to terms with a decision that carries an element of risk. Show them that risk is inherent in everything, including the do-nothing option, and assure them by words and actions that your role is to support them and to see that the solution is implemented successfully. I talk about building trust in Chapter 3, and this is a clear example of that requirement. If you’ve established trust in your prospect’s eyes, then overcoming the inertia of risk will be much easier.

Mitigating the perception of risk

As I note in the preceding section, risk is inherent in everything, so acknowledge it and move on. If you discover that your prospect is overly risk-averse, you may want to revisit your qualification of the opportunity because sometimes the time investment required is disproportionate to the reward and it’s better to move on.

Assuming that isn’t the case, how do you mitigate the perception of risk? In this section, I explore a number of ways to do so.

The bottom line in mitigating the perception of risk is to accept that it’s real and use a combination of the following techniques to find the optimal way of making your prospect comfortable in dealing with you.

Structuring your solution in the prospect’s terms

Any sales cycle is also a buying cycle for your prospect. Understand that it’s your prospect’s needs that are being met and it’s the solution to his problem, so you should seek to structure the solution in terms that he’s familiar with. Don’t assume that your prospect is an expert in your field. You have to guide him through the attributes of your solution and how it’s going to fit within his business, meeting his buying objectives. Simple things like using his industry’s terminology and avoiding product-speak go a long way here. Be sure to speak in his terms, and avoid the temptation to use your industry terms and acronyms, assuming that he understands. One of the roles of a new business salesperson is that of a communicator, so use your communication skills to speak in business terms and try to fit this into his language wherever possible.

If you have to quote metrics, use ones that apply to him and not to your solution. During your discussions, you’ll have picked up many clues about the style of person you’re dealing with, so use this information to structure your proposal in a way that will be both meaningful and understandable to him.

In Chapter 7, I discuss using your prospect’s terminology as well as some of the potential pitfalls of not doing it correctly. If your prospect is driven by metrics, for example, then careful use of metrics can be an aid to him understanding the impact of your solution.

Don’t assume that you understand language that he’s using if it’s specific to his business or industry. If you’re in any doubt, then check and clarify because this is a sure way to store up future problems if not addressed at the time.

Changing the rules

Have you considered your competitive standing with respect to the potential sale? Assuming that most solutions on a prospect’s shortlist will be able to deliver the fundamentals, what have you discovered about the real need that enables you to present something a little different, which also covers the bases?

Don’t be afraid to change the rules in a sales cycle, especially in cases where you’re not in pole position to win. If your solution fits all the buyer’s criteria but you’re still not winning the deal, look for some other key hooks. Re-examine the needs analysis for clues (I discuss covering the prospect’s needs in Chapter 7). What can your solution offer that, while not fundamental to the main objectives, can provide an attractive additional or alternative benefit?

Find this key hook and bring it to the forefront of your solutions pitch, taking the major areas as already covered. Play the gorilla against the mainstream challenger by going for the additional benefits as a game changer. You may discover that the final solution isn’t necessarily the same as the initial problem.

If your prospect has a choice of two solutions that both address the fundamental needs, but your solution also helps in some peripheral areas, then switch his attention, and that of any relevant member of the decision-making unit, to focus on delivering added value as a by-product of your solution. Change the rules of the sale in order to play to your strengths.

Focusing on the real problem

A prospect’s real motivations in exploring potential solutions aren’t always immediately obvious. Sometimes the real needs — and therefore the real benefits — in a buying scenario aren’t the obvious ones, and sometimes they’re well hidden. Take the time to explore under the surface of the obvious and see what you can discover. To provide the best advice and deliver the optimal solution, you need to discover the key drivers, and if they’re not clear, don’t be afraid to ask for the prospect’s help in uncovering them.

Your prospect may ask for a 2-inch drill bit when what he actually wants is to be able to drill a series of 2-inch holes in order to install a new window. By asking what he is setting out to achieve, you may be able to steer him in a better direction and focus on the actual need and not the perceived means of getting to it.

Keeping your prospect on board and engaged with you is important, so don’t dismiss what he tells you about problem areas, even if they seem weak to you. Keep digging and exploring how the current operations work and where shortcomings occur, and eventually you’ll uncover what you need to know to present a winning solution.

Unfortunately, and for reasons best known to themselves, you’ll occasionally come across prospects who have no intention of buying from you. Your qualification should weed them out before you spend too much time or resources on them (see Chapters 9 and 19 for more information), but you do need to be aware that this happens. Bear this in mind if you’re having trouble focusing on the real problem. You should be seen as an expert in your field and one who can help, so if you’re being kept at arm’s length from discovering the real motivation, then revisit the qualification before spending too much time on it.

Don’t be prepared to accept confidentiality as a reason for not giving you the information. If you’re going to propose a winning solution, then you need the real facts, and you should be prepared to sign (and even suggest) a nondisclosure agreement. I’ve done that many times, and it should, at a stroke, remove any barriers to being given the real story.

Using existing resources

Sometimes part of the solution lies with the prospect himself and his existing resources. It’s not always necessary to drop something that he has working to some degree and maybe just needs augmenting or enhancing. Good business can still be won in these cases.

For example, your prospect may want to focus on specific demographic targets and may have already invested in data sets of prospects. Offer to use this data as part of your solution so that the investment isn’t a wasted effort on his behalf.

Equally, you may have implemented a similar solution with another client and may be able to reuse some of the work from that project. You don’t necessarily have to start from scratch each time, so consider what existing resources can play a part. Can you learn lessons from previous implementations?

Be aware of blatant copying, however, as no two solutions should really be identical. Position yourself as an expert who can guide your prospect through a solution based on past experience and lessons.