What they want
Tiptoeing through negotiations, making offers, taking leads, playing the man, laying the cards.
All the game-playing, all the second guessing, all the questions, what ifs and maybes,…
It’s a rare customer who knows what they want.
Starting with a problem, not a solution – they might have an idea for the kind of thing, maybe they can name the category of product or service, sometimes even the date they want it, but all the answers? Not often.
From a standing start, they work out two sets of variables, and neither is particularly easy.
What is possible? – The less familiar the territory, the steeper the learning curve. What are the parameters, which are important, what do they mean, which are dependent, what’s on offer, how do they compare? Complex questions can suffer months of curve climbing as decision makers build knowledge and confidence.
What works for me? – Then there’s the plate-spinning of negotiation. What if we did this, would it affect that, what about the other way, how would we deal with it, who would be responsible, who could help, where would it fit, why and why not?
The result: decisions take longer than anyone likes – on both sides of the table.
For success in that market, selling is about closing the gap between problems and solutions.
Skippy Strategy: Support them up the learning curve, help them tune the choices to fit their world.
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Category:
Making Promises
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