The market within complex B2B sales is changing and ever higher demands are placed on sales organizations and their salespeople. The difference between the top salesperson and the average one is increasing - their sales behaviors have an increasingly differentiating effect.
The requirements to succeed as a salesperson are increasing at the same time as product differentiation is decreasing. You can no longer rely on your product to provide benefits.
In order to survive, the seller must go from being a " value communicator " to being a " value creator " in the conversation with the customer.
The classic "order-taker" salesperson will disappear within complex B2B sales.
The winner is the company that develops its sales organization within value-based sales.
The best sales organizations have understood the requirements for developing consultative salespeople, above all through coaching and sales training
This becomes clear when examining differences between best-in-class versus mediocre sales organizations.
Three important parts can be examined
Understand the customer's business challenges
Demonstrate product knowledge
Link the offer to the customer's business challenge
1. Understanding the customer's challenges Understanding the customer's business challenges is crucial to building customer trust. When you examine this, you see a difference of 16% units between "best-in-class" and average (74% vs 58%).
In order to understand the customer's business challenges, salespeople need to be more than just an "order-taker". The salesperson needs prior knowledge of the company, the industry, but also the ability to conduct a consultative dialogue with the customer.
The ability to ask relevant questions and develop these becomes absolutely decisive in the sales meeting. The difference is both in how the meeting/conversation is conducted, but there is also an important difference in the planning of the meeting. The preparation before the meeting differs both in quantity and quality.
Successful organizations invest in their salespeople to increase the ability to dig into the customer's problem and its implications.
2. Demonstrate product knowledge Is there a difference between these two groups in how they present their product/service? No. The differences are only 2% units between the groups (74 vs 72%). In other words, you cannot distinguish between a "best-in-class" seller and an average seller based on how they present their product/service.
The conclusion that can be drawn is that the product knowledge is delivered at a comparable level.
3. Linking the offer to the customer's business challenge The biggest difference between the groups is found in how you link your customer offer to the customer's business challenge. Here there is a difference of 27% units (72% vs 45%).
It is not just about understanding the customer's problem and presenting a solution.
Understanding the customer's problem is not enough to then present a solution!
The seller needs to conduct a more consultative dialogue regarding the customer's business challenges, where the problems are developed and the specific needs of the customer are matched.
After that, you need to be clear about linking your offer to the customer's specific needs. Most people in sales agree with this, but the difference is not knowing WHAT to do, but actually knowing HOW to do it.
To really build in the HOW, higher demands are placed on the sales manager. Here, the sales manager's skill in sales coaching in the HOW is put to the test.
Average organizations often have a greater proportion of "value communicators" while top performing organizations have more "value creators".
Successful sales organizations have understood this and are developing consultative salespeople to meet the customer's higher demands to create value beyond a product presentation. Combined with this, they invest in their line managers so that they become efficient in their business coaching.
To be able to make this happen in an entire sales organization, a common sales methodology, sales training and active coaching of the managers are needed, among other things.
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