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#40: Increase your sales by helping your prospect make a decision

#40: Increase your sales by helping your prospect make a decision

Increase sales by helping your prospect avoid "no decision"

May 13, 2022

Reading time: ~2 min.

Enjoy this week’s email….because who doesn’t want a bluebird every week

Helping your prospects avoid "no decision" will dramatically impact your closing rate!

Let's face it, it's hard getting your prospect from status quo to change. In this article I'm going to tell you how to make it easier for them.

Depending on who you ask, 40% to 75% of opportunities end up with a 'no' decision. You know...The org decided not to buy or change anything, etc. If we want to change that narrative, it comes down to this...we have to learn how to help buyers make a decision. Let's dive in and review some common mistakes sellers make that don't help prospects make decisions

Common misunder

Sometimes we believe that the prospect will just see how wonderful our software is and it will be an obvious decision to make the change.

When we don't help prospects see the wide gap between where they are now and where they could be in the future, we...

don't help prospects realize they are worse off than they think they are
don't have a shared vision of the big business impacts they would realize if they made a change
don't help the prospect understand how the risk of making a change is more than outweighed by the business outcomes they will get
don't help their champion build consensus internally to support the change

However, it is possible to learn how to do all of this and dramatically transform your results!

3 ways to avoid "no decision" and improve your close rate

1. Help our prospect to understand the gap between the current state and the ideal future

This is where the value is! A big gap = big deals

People spend big money to make big transformations that have big impacts

But to do this means asking great questions about the impact of today's problems to shine a light on them for you and the prospect. And then ask questions to shape your prospect's mind about what an ideal future will look like.

Most are operating in a state of mild dissatisfaction and it is by asking these questions that you will create the gap needed that is at the heart of your deal.

2. Create a plan, with your prospect, that mitigates the risk of change for the transformation

Any big change is risky. Risky to the cyber security team. Risky to operations and risky for job security for those leading the change.

Most sellers don't take the time with the prospects team to work on this.

It feels like something that should be ironed out post-sale and therefore not the salesperson's responsibility. But this thinking is flawed.

When you jointly create a plan with your prospect it helps them feel comfortable that the transformation has a high chance of success.

3. Think three steps head of your prospect about who needs to be involved

One advantage we have is that we have been through multiple buying processes with our type of technology. We KNOW where the pitfalls are. Who is potentially going to torpedo our deal. Which teams will likely hold the power.

Trouble is that our prospects often don't have our perspective and paranoia! We need to work with our champion to identify all the key stakeholders and proactively bring them into the deal. Make sure they are involved. That they feel heard. That we have made them comfortable with what this transformation means for them.Weak sales people cross their fingers that other teams/people don't sideline our opportunities.

Strong sales people proactively engage with other teams, especially when they might be detractors.

Tackling these steps directly and with confidence is going to increase the likelihood that your prospect will make a decision to change.

Time for a dad joke break...

I once got fired from a canned juice factory. Apparently I couldn’t concentrate.

Shit we've got to stop saying...

Rooting for you,

Andrew MonaghanChief [email protected]