A mentor of mine, Chuck Reaves, a godly man and one of the best speakers and sales trainers in the business summed up successful sales in three words, "best story wins". He also knows the most powerful question in sales, but you'll have to ask him what that is.
Delivering the best story in today's market requires a level of creativity not seen (or practiced) in many years. Creativity results when business knowledge intersects with product knowledge. The more you have of both, the more creative your solutions will be and the more successful your sales efforts. When combined with identifying pain, creativity will find both budget and a quicker decision.
Gone are the days when you can take a prospect's time to tell you "about their business". Unless they are a very private company there is plenty of information available on the internet to become intimately aware of their challenges and opportunities. To quote Chuck once more, "if the information is public, you are expected to know it when you walk in the door".
When budgets are tight and careers are hanging in the balance, decision makers can come up with hundreds of reasons not to buy right now and sleep perfectly well at night. Creativity finds pain and pain finds and spends budget today. When you take the time to really learn your product and to really learn your prospect's business, you will be amazed at how creative you can be and stack the odds in your favor for making the sale.
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