Sales Training Article: Accelerating Buying Decisions

By John Holland, Chief Content Officer, CustomerCentric Selling® – The Sales Training Company

We’re getting to that time of year when salespeople take a hard look at where they’ll end up for the year. Their focus shifts to opportunities they believe are closeable prior to year-end. With commissions and careers at stake it can be a stressful time. Unfortunately, there will be instances of sellers transferring their stress to buyers with hard closes that pressure people to buy. This is especially true when sellers with thin pipelines map a path to achieving quota with opportunities that aren’t qualified. Pardon the analogy, but it may be similar to Donald Trump seeking a way to 270 electoral votes. For Donald or sellers without ample pipelines, there are razor thin margins for error.

For years, CCS® has espoused viewing sales cycles as buying cycles to provide better buying experiences. It sounds trite but buying decisions should be a win for sellers (orders) as well as buyers (value/payback). One of the best ways to accelerate decisions is for sellers to look at opportunities they want to close before year-end and try to work with clients to establish the potential value that can be realized. A major benefit to sellers is that buyers start to understand that there is a cost associated with delaying decisions. For example, if there is the potential for saving $40,000 per month they can see that making a decision December 31st rather than February 14th will result in a $60,000 benefit!

By establishing value, buyers and sellers are more likely to move at a brisk pace to finalize decisions. It makes sense for both parties to do so. Establishing value also reduces the chances of “no decision” outcomes.

Take a look at the sales training workshops available to you.