"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win Championships." Michael Jordan
In enterprise sales we’re aiming to win championships, first with great teamwork, then with good data (intelligence). In article 1 of 2 I covered teamwork; specifically, the 7 actions you can take to create and develop a team that delivers great results:
Get to know your team members.
Start with culture and shared values.
Create a psychologically safe environment.
Build the strategy together.
Measure the right stuff.
Maintain your rhythm.
Role model the right behaviours.
Link to article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/successful-enterprise-selling-great-team-little-bit-gareth-robinson
Once you have the right team - assuming whatever you’re selling works - the next step is to understand your buyer’s needs and wants. In 20+ years playing and coaching in this game, I’ve learned that everything you need to know about fulfilling those needs and wants can be discovered using 4 frameworks:
Horizon Thinking
Audience Analysis from SecondNature International*
5 Universal Buying Influences
6 Principles of Persuasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini*
*Source links at the end of article.
Let’s jump in...
1. Horizon Thinking
This has nothing to do with Mckinsey’s 3 Horizon Model (a 3-step growth framework based on their research into how organisations successfully innovate and grow). Horizon Thinking is my way of quickly discovering what your buyer is interested in, and how to connect with them better, depending on their role within the organisation.
Horizon Thinking is particularly helpful when all you know about someone is their title. It’s based on the theory that people in similar roles have similar needs and wants - the 3 Horizons are:
HORIZON 1: Users and doers are more interested in the ‘here and now’, and how you can improve their day-to-day.
Questions to consider:
How is your product or service going to affect their day-to-day life at work? What else do they care about (see below)? What’s their decision-making process and criteria?
How is their success measured? Often by individual performance goals, sales growth, customer churn rate, and customer satisfaction.
How will you help them achieve some of that success?
What are their values?
HORIZON 2: Middle management are still interested in the day-to-day, but also look out a little further at the longer horizon and bigger picture.
Questions to consider:
How is your product or service going to affect their day-to-day, their team, and support them in achieving medium to long-term goals? What else do they care about (see below)? What’s their decision-making process and criteria?
How is their success measured? Often by team performance goals, revenue and profitability growth, lifetime value of customers, days sales outstanding, days payments outstanding , customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction.
How will you help them achieve some of that success?
What are their values?
HORIZON 3: Senior executives are often future focused; they love the big picture.
Questions to consider:
How is your product or service going to affect their leadership, the organisation, and support long-term growth? What else do they care about (see below)? What’s their decision-making process and criteria?
How is their success measured? Often by annual revenue and profitability growth, revenue per employee, operating expense ratio, cash flow, working capital, days sales outstanding, days payments outstanding, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction.
How will you help them achieve some of that success?
What are their values?
TIP: Ask questions to understand your buyer’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Their personal and professional goals. And I also recommend you include Horizon Thinking in your Buyer Persona model.
2. Audience Analysis from SecondNature International
Over the last 4 years, one of the roles I’ve had is as a Senior Coach Consultant with SescondNature International. SecondNature is Australia’s preeminent business presentation and pitch skills training organisation (I’m a little biased 😊). In my role, I’ve had the opportunity to improve over 1,500 participant’s presenting and pitching skills, from 60+ organisations. With all of those participants we start with one thing… The audience. Who are they? Where are they now? What info will they want/need? And why might they not follow you?
SecondNature’s Audience Analysis questions are below. It’s not a complete list but covers much of what you need to consider (feel free to add some questions of your own).
Where are they now?
How much knowledge/experience have they got of you?
What are their feelings about the subject/you/your organisation?
Who else will they be talking to?
What points of difference / elements of competitive advantage can you emphasize?
How will this benefit them?
What challenges exist in their world?
Do they understand/agree with the need for your information/ideas?
What motivates them?
What is their ideal solution?
What are their professional/personal motivators and intrinsic/extrinsic motivators?
What are their objectives and decision-making criteria (refer to Horizon Thinking)?
What information will they want/need?
Big picture and/or detailed technical information?
Rational and/or emotional arguments?
Company-wide/international or local/sector specific capabilities?
Why might they not follow you?
Why would they not accept your ideas?
What questions should you pre-empt?
Are there downsides to acknowledge?
Any competitive proposals, competing priorities, budget challenges, politics to be aware of?
Are there any pre-sell opportunities?
TIP: I recommend you always consider these questions (and any additional ones specific to you and your buyer’s world), when you are planning for an upcoming pitch, presentation, or important meeting.
3. 5 Universal Buying Influences
This framework is the one I use the most often because it’s so simple, and in 20+ years playing this game, I haven’t yet found anything else that a buyer cares about. Because when you boil it down, buyers only care about 5 things: Price, Value, Time, Risk, and People. Let’s unpack each Influence a little:
PRICE: How much does it cost?
Price is often important, however, it’ll depend on what your buyer values (see next Influence below), as to how much they’re prepared to pay for what you’re selling.
From an organisational point of view, it’s relatively easy to find out how important price is. Look at who their suppliers/vendors are - are they low-cost providers, or something else? What do they say on their website, in their published content, and within their financial reports when it comes to price/value?
When it comes to the individuals in the mix, how price sensitive are the buyers and key decision makers? If you need to make some assumptions, consider which Horizon they are at (refer Horizon Thinking above).
A few questions to consider:
What is the buying organisation’s pricing criteria?
How price sensitive are the decision makers? What features and benefits do they view as valuable, important, less necessary, expensive, or offering value for money?
Are there OPEX and CAPEX considerations to take into account?
VALUE: What value do they perceive your product or service will give them?
Different buyers value different things. Some are more price focused or risk adverse. Some see value in features, a brand, or services. For others still it’s all about the people. Understanding what your buyer values is critical. Value can also be thought of / visualised in terms of the future state that your product or service will deliver to the buyer.
A simple example is I’m not a car guy. I drive a Mazda 6 station wagon and don’t care too much about what car I drive. Even if I was banking $1m+ a year, you won’t ever see me driving around in a Porsche. I just don’t see the value in it. I have nothing against Porsche’s, it’s not a value judgment. It’s just that when it comes to car’s, I’m more a “it gets me from A to B” kind-of guy, rather than a Porsche Cayenne guy.
When your solution is more expensive than some of your competitors, figure out what the Total Economic Value (TEV) is. Using this technique is a great way to “sell value”.
For example: if a comparable product sells for $100 and yours sells for $115, is there additional value you can show the buyer, above and beyond the $15 gap? A simple example of how to pitch TEV is: “Ms Buyer, you are getting $35 dollars of additional value above and beyond what our competitors can provide. In a nutshell, you are getting $135 worth of value for only $115, that’s a saving of $20.”
TIP: Spend some time on TEV, it’s a valuable process to go through. And when it comes to what your buyer values, be careful not to overlay your own biases. Recognise that values are neutral, they’re neither good or bad (just like Porsches), just different depending on which seat you’re sitting in.
TIME: How much time will your product or service save or cost them?
Arguably time is everyone’s greatest asset. Once it’s gone, you can never get it back. After you’ve spent 7-10 min reading this article, those minutes are gone forever ⌛. Gone. So, best I make sure it delivers valuable insights you can apply!
Most of my clients are selling complex solutions, so at least in the short-term we’re asking a buyer for some of that precious asset time. There’s a transaction cost in time that the buyer has to pay. It could be a new supplier relationship to manage, new processes or ways of working to learn. Often, it’s installing a system or rolling out a new initiative. Or perhaps just getting used to using a new product. All of this takes time.
So, if you’re taking up some of your buyer and their team’s valuable time, you better make damn sure you’re paying it back in cost savings (Price), added Value, or Risk mitigation. Discover how you’re doing that, and you’ll sell more.
Speaking of risk, let’s move onto our 4th Buying Influence:
RISK: What do they feel is the risk if they buy what you’re selling?
Once you’ve figured out the first 3 Influences, it’s time to see where they sit on the Risk Spectrum. Which is like Price sensitivity - find out how sensitive to risk they are?
When considering Risk, think about the type of risk most businesspeople are concerned about, which can fall under any of these categories; individual, human, financial, operational, strategic, reputational, compliance, legal, security, and cybersecurity.
TIP: As an option, you can include Risk within Horizon Thinking, by noting down the common risks that Horizon 1, 2, and 3 Thinkers worry about.
PEOPLE: How well do they know and trust you?
The first 4 Universal Buying Influences can be tied back to whatever it is you’re selling. Whereas the final ‘People’, is all about relationships. Because as Cialdini tells us within his 6 Principles of Persuasion, people buy off people they like. No matter how well you cover off the first 4 Buying Influences, if your buyers do not trust you you won’t be successful in selling. It’s that simple.
So, how do we get people to know and trust us better? Answering that is a couple articles in and of itself, however, here’s 7 good places to start:
Be authentic and honest (they go hand-in-hand).
Learn how your buyer’s communicate so that you can speak in their language (remain genuine and authentic).
Listen more than talk (there’s an added benefit here, because you’ll find out what your buyer cares about, and be able to better match your offerings to their needs and wants).
Do what you say you’re going to do (don’t promise and under deliver, better to under promise and over deliver).
Create a few quick wins (much like no.4, quick wins build trust).
Over communicate (keeping it appropriate and using no. 2 as a guide).
Role model the right behaviour by trusting them first (if you don’t lead with trust, how can you expect them to trust you?).
TIP: Like Horizon Thinking, I recommend you include all 5 Universal Buying Influences in your Buyer Persona model.
4. Principles of Persuasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini.
Dr. Robert Cialdini wrote a book called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion over 20 years ago. Its lessons still apply today. At the time, he studied 1,000s of salespeople to understand why ‘salesperson A’ sold more than ‘salesperson B’? He discovered 6 Principles that successful salespeople applied better than the not-so-successful salespeople.
These principles of persuasion have been successfully applied to sales situations millions of times since, often helping to close the deal. Here are the principles as I’ve been using them (link to book at bottom of article).
1. LIKABILITY: People buy off people they like.
As above, people buy off people they like. Applying this principle isn’t about being best mates with everyone. It’s about understanding your buyer, what they like and dislike, and then authentically connecting with them. You’ve read plenty of ways to do that earlier in the article.
2. RECIPROCITY: The more you give, the more you get.
The principle of reciprocity is that when you do something nice for someone, they are more likely to reciprocate, or engage with you on a professional level. So, try to give your buyers something… Anything from a discount, added-value, special access, meaningful content, specialised advice, etc.
3. AUTHORITY: People trust experts and those in positions of authority.
People are persuaded by subject matter experts and people in authority. It’s why you always bring a subject matter expert to an important pitch (if you’re not one already). These days Authority blends in with influencers and brand ambassadors…
4. SOCIAL PROOF: Did someone say Kardashian?
Social proof refers to the effect that other people's behavior has on a buyer. This is where a buyer may not be convinced by the sales person or organisation, however, will be convinced by other purchasers / users of whatever it is you’re selling. In business, we use the principle of social proof through testimonials, case studies, brand ambassadors, and influencers.
I try to avoid using absolute language, however, for me Social Proof is a must. If you’re not applying it in your sales methodology, find a way how to.
5. SCARCITY: Don’t miss out!
We see the Principle of Scarcity applied everyday. It encourages people to make a decision by creating urgency due to some limiting factor. Often that limiting factor is time, availability of resources, or people.
It’s the classic retailer’s “Easter long weekend 50% Off Sale!”.
6. CONSISTENCY: Change can be scary.
Most people do not like change. So when you’re asking someone to change (which sellers almost always are), apply the principle of consistency. Let them know that whatever you’re selling is consistent with what they’re currently doing (no great change needed), it’s better but consistent with what they already have. If you use this principle well, the buyer will no longer fear the unknown, and their perceived risk of change will be minimised.
In wrapping up the 6 Principles, please note that you do not have to, and probably shouldn’t apply all 6 Principles at once. The way I use them is that once I’ve finished a pitch, presentation, or persuasive email (where I’m trying to persuade someone to think, feel, or do something). I sit back and consider whether or not I’ve applied any of the 6 principles. If I haven’t applied at least 2, I revisit my content and see what if anything I can add that applies another principle or two.
Hopefully you enjoyed the second article on Successful Enterprise Selling. There’s a fair amount in these frameworks. However, if you incorporate them into your pitching and selling methodology, I guarantee you will sell more.
Feel free to share your own ideas about ‘needs and wants’, and if you’re interested in having a chat about how to apply these frameworks in your business you know where to reach me 💻📱.
Cheers, Gareth
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