Strategic Discipline Blog

What's the biggest obstacle to making a sale today?  Answer:  Your prospect doesn't believe he has a problem, and if he does, he doesn't believe he has the capability to change.  In fact 40% of all sales don't close, not because your competition won the opportunity, but because your prospect didn't see the problem or didn't believe they could change.  That's right 40% of your opportunities are lost simply because your prospect didn't see the problem or wasn't convinced they could change. 

Jeff Thull, author of Mastering the Complex Sale started the Las Vegas Sales & Marketing Growth Summit.  My earlier blog, Brand Promise Advice from Jerry Garcia - Fortune Growth Summit provided insight into Jeff's presentation.

Do you or your sales team feel pressure during your sales process?  If so, Jeff indicates you're doing something wrong.  Professionals don't feel pressure.  The reason you feel pressure is because you don't know what's going to happen.  It means you don't have a system in place, and you are most likely following the prospects system.  If you believe the ball is red, and your prospect believes the ball is blue, one of you is wrong. 

What's wrong with this picture?  When you don't have a system you are constantly being dragged into the prospect's system.  If you don't have the conviction to follow your system you will always be following the prospects.    

As discussed in the Jerry Garcia blog, your purpose is not to understand, rather it's to help the customer understand their problem.  In fact utilizing Jeff Thull's Diagnostic Business Development Sale Process methodology you'll actually reduce the sales process to about half the time it's currently requiring.  It usually requires about ten minutes to diagnosis; the rest of your time is spent helping them realize they have a problem.

Most businesses today are operating on a faulty sales process system.  An outdated traditional process built on unstable relationships.  The result?  Your product or services become a commodity in the eyes of the purchaser. 

Jeff offered a Diagnostic Business Development Process that's built on harnessing the value of your solution to the consequence of the buyer's problem.  With present sales methods Jeff theorizes that buyers only perceive about 24% of your solution, which if true makes it understandable why they don't wish to pay full price.  The problem becomes, most of us cut our price yet still provide the full solution

What does the Diagnostic Business Development Sale Process look like and how will it help increase the customer's perceived value of your solution?  We'll explore this next blog.