Customer Centric Selling

MAY 14, 2018

During a workshop I taught, a CEO had an epiphany he shared with his team: Most of his salespeople had an annoying habit of losing slowly. The worst possible outcome of sales cycles is going the distance and losing, whether it be to another vendor or to no decision. By its nature selling is a winner take all proposition.

Epiphany 56

Epiphany Vendor Proposal Salary 56

Sales Hacker

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

Technical selling of SaaS, on-premise software, and hardware solutions has relied on sales proofs of concept (POCs) that require pre-sales professionals to lead, manage, and drive to a ‘technical win” outcome so that account executives can close the deal. Sales Profile: SMB to Commercial. Duration: 15 to 30 Days.

Top of Funnel 73

Top of Funnel Revenue Engineering Funnel 73

The Pipeline

AUGUST 5, 2011

Stored in CRM , Communication , Guest Post , Review , Sales 2.0 , Sales Success , Sales Tool , Sell Better , execution. Because of this, vendors have worked to develop the best apps that can bring all the necessary business functionality to an individual on the go. Sales Bloggers Union. Sales Compensation.

Pipeline 275

Pipeline Hiring Travel Top of Funnel 275

Customer Centric Selling

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

If a salesperson were to come in second on every transaction he or she competed for, it would mean having to live on their base salary until a sales manager decides to replace them. I’ve said for years the worst possible outcome is to go the distance (an entire sales cycle) and lose, either to another vendor or to no decision.

Salary 40

Salary Sales Cycle Vendor Groups 40

Customer Centric Selling

APRIL 6, 2016

Pre-Internet, it was common for mid-level managers to work with a seller from a vendor to get far enough into the sales cycle to generate a bid or proposal. Competitors were invited to bid very late in the process, primarily to provide pricing leverage in negotiating with their vendor of choice, Column A.

Benefit 40

Benefit Inbound Vendor Buying Cycle 40

The Pipeline

MARCH 31, 2011

Events can include change in personnel in an account, a competing vendor; change in regulation; mergers and acquisitions; regulatory; economic and more. About the classes: Classes are designed for all levels of sales professionals (reps-execs). Sales Bloggers Union. Sales Compensation. Sales Cycle.

Social Selling 216

Social Selling Webinar Metrics Pipeline Social Media 216

PandaDoc

OCTOBER 3, 2023

Conducting an unbiased audit ensures you capture the true challenges faced across the sales team. Start by conducting a thorough audit of your sales process. Run workshops or surveys to understand the daily challenges of your team members. Attend vendor demos to view options in action.

Lead Rank 52

Lead Rank Sales Process Lead Scoring Outsourcing Services 52

Customer Centric Selling

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Register for one of our public sales training workshops to learn the selling skills you need to improve sales performance. As with opportunities initiated by salespeople, entry points with "lookers" mean longer sales cycles that require getting access to higher levels.

Motivation 49

Motivation Top of Funnel Training Inbound 49

Customer Centric Selling

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

The second is the phrase “sales cycle.” ” My suggested substitute is “buying cycle.” Sales cycles are more about the vendor with the buyer being another notch in the belt. Sales cycles are more about the vendor with the buyer being another notch in the belt.

Hiring 74

Hiring Face-to-face Buying Cycle Sales Cycle 74

Customer Centric Selling

MARCH 2, 2016

Much later in the sales cycle there may be attempts to call higher levels, but most sellers will struggle in their efforts to establish value during these calls. It means all the time and effort buyers and vendors have spent has been wasted. If value isn’t uncovered, the sales cycle will come to an abrupt end, as it should.

Vendor 40

Vendor How To Enterprise Enterprise 40

Smart Calling

MARCH 22, 2018

Repeated messages with no value position you as a vendor…a salesperson whose goal is to sell them something. I’ve found that it’s always best to let the prospect tell you their perception of the progression of the sales cycle and what the next steps should be. Here’s why: 1.

Follow-up 91

Follow-up Closing Prospecting How To 91

Customer Centric Selling

JULY 17, 2013

Displace an incumbent that suddenly will do anything to save the account In Business Development Workshops we define prospecting as getting Key Players that weren''t looking (people with latent needs) to share goals that can be achieved through the use of the seller''s offering. Need some help with your sales performance?

Training 53

Training Prospecting Customer Vendor 53

Hubspot Sales

MARCH 19, 2019

Sales training is a big investment. Not only are you paying for the training itself and related expenses, but your sales team is also losing prime selling hours to attend workshops and sessions. Nonetheless, this investment can reap significant benefits and set your sales teams up for success.

Training 84

Training Hiring Discount Hotels 84

Customer Centric Selling

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

In the same way vendors worry about cost of sales (time/effort/money spent on losses or no decisions), many employees waste time as self-appointed "buying committees" lacking business vision or acumen. In other word empowering sellers to execute business outcome rather than product sales.

Training 49

Training Vendor Buyer Lead Rank 49

Customer Centric Selling

MAY 6, 2015

When managing buying cycles with committees, sellers are often guilty of starting and staying with one person too long. During this part of the buying cycle, product evaluations, implementation issues, cost vs. benefit, vendor evaluations, etc. Seats are filling FAST in the July 21 Sales Process Management™ Workshop in D.C.

Buying Cycle 40

Buying Cycle How To Negotiation Proposal 40

Customer Centric Selling

AUGUST 17, 2016

Sales Tips: Knowing When to Walk. The worst possible outcome for sellers and vendors is to go through entire sales cycles and lose. Many have cast blind eyes to signals buyers give throughout sales cycles. Need some help to increase sales? One is to choose not to fight if a situation isn’t winnable.

Sales Cycle 40

Sales Cycle Travel Vendor Pipeline 40

Customer Centric Selling

OCTOBER 2, 2013

I suggest organizations step back and consider that buying cycles start in one of two ways: 1. Reactively when prospects contact a vendor or a seller. Pre-Internet it was likely that another vendor (Column A) had gotten traction and the buyer would leverage Columns B, C, D, etc. Need some help with your sales performance?

Top of Funnel 61

Top of Funnel Training Lead Rank Lead Scoring 61

Customer Centric Selling

DECEMBER 20, 2016

These “no decision” outcomes waste vendors’ as well as prospects’ time and resources. It makes little sense for non-Key Players to go to great lengths to evaluate offerings of multiple vendors having no idea if the potential value will justify the expenditure. Beyond that it is unlikely other vendors will be evaluated concurrently.

Buying Cycle 40

Buying Cycle Sage Inbound Vendor 40

Customer Centric Selling

MAY 4, 2016

Sales Tips: WHY Do Sellers Lose? Often times after a painful loss (large transaction/long sales cycle), sellers will be asked to find out why they lost in hopes of getting smarter about things to do or avoid. While usually unaware, it’s as though all eliminated vendors wind up in a 3-way tie.

Vendor 40

Vendor Fashion Face-to-face Report 40

Customer Centric Selling

DECEMBER 26, 2013

View our updated calendar of 2014 sales training workshops. Use the term buying (rather than sales) cycle. Refrain from negotiating unless you are the vendor of choice. Need some help with your sales performance? Take a look at the sales training workshops available to you and improve sales performance.

Collateral 55

Collateral Negotiation Proposal Vendor 55

Customer Centric Selling

JANUARY 4, 2015

Buyers may be drifting toward ‘no decision’ or have already awarded the business to other vendors but haven’t told you. You can assume another vendor was awarded the business or no decision was made. A Sales Benchmark Index study found 52% of sales cycles end in “no decision”. Shouldn’t you find out?

Proposal 40

Proposal How To Face-to-face Vendor 40

Customer Centric Selling

JULY 22, 2015

At a high level, one of the primary responsibilities of first level sales managers is ensuring that sellers work on opportunities that have a high probability of closing. Statistics show about half of sales cycles end with prospects making no decision. A seller may want to ask if budget has been approved.

Vendor 40

Vendor How To Inbound Sales Qualified Lead 40

MEDDIC

JULY 8, 2021

The move from the full sales cycle model to the SDR/AE is no exception; we wanted to reduce the CAC (customer acquisition cost) and thought we would improve specialized skills, but we lost in customer centricity, people centricity and didn’t always observe that promised profit. The trend is exaggerated. Let’s analyze the reasons.

Lead Rank 52

Lead Rank Hiring Outsourcing Services Sales Qualified Lead 52

Customer Centric Selling

DECEMBER 28, 2015

While more B2B transactions then ever are being initiated by researchers/buyers, sellers/vendors cling to the term sales cycles. It would seem a better term to apply to all would be buying cycles. Do your sellers have the necessary "Sales DNA" to succeed? Need some help to increase sales?

B2C 40

B2C Margin Buying Cycle Proposal 40

Product Management University

JULY 26, 2021

These are easy-come, easy-go prospects that have merely been tasked to go create a candidate list of vendors to be evaluated. Contact us about a demo workshop where you’ll learn how to deliver outcome-based value demos that shorten sales cycles and create a greater urgency to buy. The 70/30 Demo Script.

Top of Funnel 52

Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Lead Proposal Decision Maker 52

Customer Centric Selling

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

B2B vendor actions/reactions crawl at a glacial pace. It’s not clear to me how many vendors refuse to recognize changes (denial), just don’t know how to respond or both. For vendors selling complex big ticket items, website leads remind me of the bingo cards from trade shows. from vendors. It’s nothing personal.

Top of Funnel 40

Top of Funnel Sales Qualified Lead Trade Show Telecommunications 40

Customer Centric Selling

MAY 7, 2014

Sign-up for a sales training workshop to learn how to better navigate sales cycles and improve sales performance. Instinctively I took the check from his hand and told him as the vendor it was mine to pay. Need some help with your sales performance? During the meal, the pros and cons were considered.

Training 45

Training Insurance Insurance Vendor 45

The Pipeline

JANUARY 16, 2012

More importantly, the mere fact that you are willing to (professionally) challenge the notion of “being different” will make you seem different from the other vendors, who will play the game of chasing the unattainable, especially if they have not isolated the difference, and placed context around it. Sales Bloggers Union.

Pipeline 214

Pipeline Hiring Cold Calling Lead Rank 214

Babette Ten Haken

MAY 21, 2018

Lengthy sales cycles and subsequent product and service contract lifecycles create a false sense of product-fit security. Customers anticipate that any vendor’s products, services and people will become better and better over the duration of their relationship with an organization. Click To Tweet. innovation?

Customer 51

Customer Pivotal Retention How To 51

Customer Centric Selling

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

In past blogs I’ve shared my opinion that it’s unlikely that people doing extensive research on offerings via vendor Websites are executives. A Sales Benchmark Index (SBI) study showed over 50% of sales cycles that end with sellers involved, result in buyers making “no decision.”

Enterprise 65

Enterprise Enterprise Benefit Proposal 65

Customer Centric Selling

MAY 18, 2016

I was surprised to realize it’s probably okay but vendors should consider incorporating steps from customer buying processes into their sales processes. When you step back, a company’s sales process is a roadmap representing the most efficient way to lead to buying decisions. Need some help to increase sales?

Sales Process 40

Sales Process CRM Vendor Enterprise 40

Customer Centric Selling

AUGUST 3, 2016

Sales Tips: Do Your Buyers Have a Sense of Urgency? When trying to get to the end of sales cycles, sellers always seem to be in a hurry. The vendor offers a platform to integrate all operational aspects and allow IT to provide real-time dashboard views of the business. Need some help to increase sales?

Buyer 40

Buyer Vendor Software Software 40

Customer Centric Selling

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

Sales Tips: How to Avoid Pitfalls When Navigating Upward. By John Holland, Chief Content Officer, CustomerCentric Selling® - The Sales Training Company. During sales cycles with new accounts sellers that win the business usually gain access to Key Players within organizations that are involved early and late in buying cycles.

How To 40

How To Buying Cycle Vendor Sales Cycle 40

Chorus.ai

JULY 28, 2020

Early on in the sales cycle, ask your prospect for feedback by saying, “Does our solution meet all of the requirements you have? Rather than tell you “this isn’t a priority” or “my team is not understanding how we’ll drive ROI/value,” the prospect hedges and the sales cycle drags on. Do you have any concerns?”

Objections 104

Objections Case Study ROI Lead Rank 104

Customer Centric Selling

MARCH 7, 2016

At a high level, one of the primary responsibilities of first level sales managers is ensuring that sellers work on opportunities with a strong probability of closing. Statistics show about half of sales cycles end with prospects making no decision. Absent strong payback, it’s unlikely a sale will happen further down the road.

Vendor 40

Vendor Inbound Buying Cycle Buyer 40

Customer Centric Selling

JULY 3, 2013

Studies show that buyers are anywhere from 50-80% through their buying cycles before contacting sellers. B2B vendors closely monitor website activity and it proceeds at a healthy clip. A survey by Sales Benchmark Index showed 52% of sales cycles driven by sellers result in no decision.

Training 45

Training Buying Cycle Hiring Vendor 45

Customer Centric Selling

MARCH 20, 2013

A recent study by Marketing Leadership Research concluded that buyers on average are 57% of the way through buying cycles before contacting vendors. Despite all this buying activity, I can’t help but wonder how many of these buying cycles wind up in “no decision.” It is likely many do before vendors are contacted.

Buying Cycle 45

Buying Cycle Training Lead Rank Lead Scoring 45