Wait until you see the massive research project I am working on now, involving comprehensive strategies for improving B2B sales performance. Right now, it involves reading, research, and data analysis to understand the implications of different strategies. But for now, our purpose here is to measure the impact on sales and understand why sales organizations and their teams lose deals they could have won if they had performed better in the sales conversation.
Transforming Prospecting in B2B Sales: The Evolutionary Shift
This morning, I received an email asking if I was experiencing a common problem in B2B sales engagement strategies. The first sentence was followed by a description of three product features. It ended, like many InMails, with an offer for a software demo. This is a result of the traditional approach to sales, which involves identifying a problem and proposing a solution.
This is a transactional approach to selling, which is not a problem if you are selling something your client sees as a commodity. The salesperson I described here sells SAAS, which is not a commodity. This means their client will need a different sales conversation.
Innovating Prospecting in B2B Sales: A Contemporary Strategy
In a modern prospecting attempt, you would have already done the reading and research, making the call easier because you are not a needs-something salesperson, but rather, a knows-something salesperson.
What differentiates the traditional approach from the modern one is that the salesperson offers value in exchange for the time they are requesting. In our case, we offer an executive briefing and two risk reversals, a 25-minute meeting and a copy of the presentation so they can share it with their team.
Rethinking the First Meeting in B2B Sales: Traditional vs. Modern
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Let me tell you about my company and our charming and charismatic CEO. One time, he climbed Mt. Everest. Moving on to the next step to win the deal, the salesperson shows a slide with a constellation of logos that outnumber the stars in the Milky Way. The salesperson points out the largest, suggesting that having such important clients should instill faith in the sales organization. Finally, the salesperson asks the contact about a problem. They hope this makes it safe to introduce their solution.
Second meetings are rare, and ghosts are frequent, in the traditional approach to B2B sales.
The First Meeting in B2B Sales: A Progressive Approach
The first meeting is a proving ground, where the salesperson demonstrates that they have something valuable to offer in exchange for the client's time. They use an executive briefing to discuss the trends and forces that are currently or will soon cause problems. The contact looks like a child on Christmas morning, as no previous salesperson has ever proven that they know things the client finds helpful.
The modern salesperson feels like a good consultant, an expert, and an authority in their field. Second meetings come easy, as the client has the experience of a salesperson helping them make an important—and rare—change.
Examining Deeper Discovery in B2B Sales: Old vs. New Methods
Sigh. The legacy salesperson is comfortable with transactional approaches, asking a set of self-serving questions about their opportunity. Most legacy folks believe the meeting is their opportunity to win the client’s business. You will not be surprised that the salesperson asks about what they need, a start date, a budget, and so on.
The client answers the questions while deciding to look for another salesperson, one who can help them to change and succeed in improving their results.
Deeper Discovery in B2B Sales: The Consultative Approach
Okay, here we go. The modern sales approach has a truly deep discovery, and yes, they might ask a few questions, but for the most part, the discovery is being done to help the client with their opportunity. The modern approach is consultative, helping the client to acquire the information and insight to be able to make a smart, educated decision.
The questions a modern salesperson uses are to help the client make the decision the salesperson would make if they were in the client’s situation. See Elite Sales Strategies for more on these types of questions.
Client Leadership in B2B Sales: Past vs. Present Strategies
There is no concept of leading the client in the legacy approach. It is likely the salesperson will follow a linear sales process, the kind that suggests that passing through the outcomes of each stage will end with the salesperson winning.
With the salesperson not being helpful enough or facilitating the buyer’s journey, the client takes a call from another sales rep, seeking someone with the ability to help them with the confidence and certainty the client needs.
A modern salesperson recognizes that the client and their team need help understanding the change and how to consider different ways they might go about improving some important result or strategic outcome. This is the help buyers need, as it is rare that they take this journey, and the salesperson helps their clients every day, allowing them to sit next to their client and work through the conversations and commitments. See The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the 10 Commitments That Win Deals.
Envisioning the Future of the Modern Sales Approach
The future is bleak for the legacy approach, as it is already failing sales organizations and sales teams in the evolving B2B sales landscape. Even though the change is slow, eventually, sales leaders will have to let go of the approach they used several decades ago. Eventually, one will capitulate if they want net new revenue.
You should prepare to sell differently. In some ways, the modern approach requires more from the salesperson in terms of innovative sales strategies and client engagement. At the same time, the modern approach makes it easier to win the deals you need to succeed in B2B sales, by focusing on value-driven client interactions and strategic sales planning.
