The perspective from which we look at our world dictates our expectations and our behavior. As our points of view change, so too will our attitudes and our actions. As the great philosopher (and comedian) George Carlin once said, “Some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be.”
Buyers and sellers obviously have different perspectives, and they see the buying/selling process very differently. In fact, according to HubSpot’s Q1 2016 Sales Perspective Survey (see chart below), there is a significant gap between how each group views salespeople. Salespeople like to think we’re not pushy, we listen to our prospects, we provide value, and we help our prospects succeed. Unfortunately, our buyers don’t always agree.
These gaps are a symptom of our misaligned perspectives. Your prospects don’t necessarily view themselves as buyers or engaged in a sales process – or even a buying process. In their minds, they aren’t someone’s prospect; they are simply exploring potential solutions to their business problems. They don’t care about your Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) qualification criteria or what the next step in your sales process is. They’re only concerned with what’s the next best step for them.
Your sales process may call for scheduling a face-to-face meeting to present all the “bells and whistles” of your solution, but your prospect may want to read case studies of how your firm helped companies with similar business challenges. It’s when you try to squeeze the square peg of a prospect into the round hole of your sales process that tension rises. This is when your prospect feels that you are pushy and you aren’t listening. Is it any wonder why our prospects avoid sales calls and ignore our emails?
The buyer/prospect isn’t the only one to feel this tension. Any salesperson who has dialed the phone for hours on end only to have conversations with multiple voicemail systems, or who has seen good prospects get stuck in a pipeline for months, also feels this tension. Most veteran salespeople will tell you that their jobs have never been harder. They’re making more dials to have fewer conversations. It takes more effort to get fewer first appointments, and then, deals seem to take longer and longer to close.
The tension that buyers and sellers feel is often exacerbated when the sales team uses the same sales tactics and tools that they used 10 years ago. It’s time to take a fresh look at how we engage our prospects. Here are a few ideas:
The most important step, though, is that you need to change your perspective. Look at your business through the eyes of the prospects. How can you help them solve their problems? How can you provide value throughout the buying process?