It’s always a bummer to show up late to the party. The best drinks are gone, all that’s left is the cheap beer. One is left with picking a few crumbs of potato chips from the bottom a the bowl, all the good food has been eaten. And the most interesting people and most interesting conversation are all gone. The people that remain are exhausted, not interested in talking more, they just want to escape. Desperately, we try to find someone to talk to, something interesting to talk about, but……
It seems so much of “modern” selling looks like this. But we don’t understand what has happened. Customers are involving us later and later in the buying process. The “ideal” customer is the one that calls, saying, “Show us your product…..” Just what we’ve been waiting for! All we really want to do is present our product, our pricing, and hope that we get an order. And, I’m thinking, what we really want is to skip all of that and just take the order. It’s so much simpler that way.
But, by being late to the party, by preferring to be late to the party, we miss all the cool stuff and the important conversations. We miss being able to shape the customer requirements, understanding what they are thinking, getting them to think differently. We don’t understand how/why they have gotten to the point that they have. And, by the time they talk to us, there is very little we can do to shape their thinking.
And by the time they get to this point, the customers are exhausted. They’ve done all the hard work had the tough/interesting conversations. They want to just get this effort finished so they can go back to their jobs.
There are those that we might want to talk to, and should because we can offer great value, but never reach out because they went a different direction, or tabled their project. We might have engaged them, if we showed up earlier.
And perhaps, being late to the party is one of the reasons win-rates have plummeted to 15-20%. We’re what’s left in the potato chip bowl.
The most important stuff happens much earlier in the buying process! But if we aren’t there, we can’t participate, help the customer, and maximize our ability to create value with the customer.
We know customers don’t know how to buy! We know we can provide in helping them navigate the process. But when we structure our engagement strategies to focus on “seeing the product,” we have missed all the opportunity to work with them on those parts of their buying process that are most difficult.
Again, the data shows us the problem with being late to the customer buying process. Win rates plummet to 15-20%, 60% end in no decision made, buying cycles stretch on and on. buyers are reluctant to engage us….
And the data for showing up early to the party, or throwing the party ourselves (inciting the customer to change) is completely different. Win rates, at a minimum, double, no decision made reduces by at least 20%, sales cycles reduce by 30-40%.
Just something to ponder……
Can I pass you a bowl of stale potato chips?
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