Why Buyers Buy
Why Buyers Buy
Fine tuning our sales process to understand why buyers buy
Buyers are liars…
A former sales manager of mine used to tell me this. She quoted it all the time. I've thought about that quote consistently over the last 20+ years in my career in sales.
I came to this conclusion: She's not wrong.
But she’s not entirely correct either.
It's not like buyers are consistently out to get us in sales. They're not TRYING to deceive or misdirect.
In fact, I think most of the time buyers have the best intentions and are speaking in partial truths to let us down easy. It’s uncomfortable to tell someone you went with a competing vendor, or just don’t have the preconceived budget.
That’s why truly understanding why buyers buy is so important.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
5 Strategic Steps to Shorten the Sales Cycle with Dan Martell
Rob Jeppsen and Spencer Dent of Clozd talking about Win/Loss Analysis and learning why customers buy.
Devin Reed, Sheena Badani talk with David Priemer on how we can close more deals by selling the way we buy.
Plus a grab bag of snippets to help us fine-tune our sales process to help us understand why buyers buy.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
Close More Deals By Selling the Way You Buy
Absolutely loved this podcast with Devin Reed, Sheena Badani as they talked with David Priemer on how we can close more deals by selling the way we like to buy.
Highlights:
Why don’t we like talking with salespeople? What can we do to build trust?
Simple reasoning phrase: “CONTENTIOUS QUESTION HERE, the reason I ask is because…” Breaks down barriers with science to establish trust.
Remove “Abstraction” with video calls, face to face, images in signatures, personal stories etc.
Sales tactics and passion should be “undetectable”.
*bonus: David Priemer’s book Sell the Way You Buy has mad endorsements. Adding it to my queue now. Check it out.
5 Strategic Steps to Shorten the Sales Cycle
If you don't know Dan Martell - you should start. In this quick, highly valuable video, he goes into how to shorten your sales cycles and things to measure as a sales leader.
Highlights for me:
Audit 3VC. Volume (pipeline added), Value (Deal size), Velocity (how fast are they converting), Conversion: % rates.
Clarify Market. Know who you are selling to. Understand your ICP and what fits with your product. "Uncomfortably Narrow"
Map the sales process. Start to finish. "Process is where the opportunity lies".
How do we compress these steps?
How is this working? What do we need to change?
Install Automation. Are you promoting the value with automation?
Advance the sale. (Next steps on calendar, compliance reviews, multi-threading, POC etc.)
The Truth: Learn Why Customers Buy
Really enjoyed this episode from Rob Jeppsen of Xvoyant and Spencer Dent of Clozd talking about Win/Loss Analysis and learning why customers buy...or don't! Definitely inspired me to put a bit more focus and emphasis on implementing a more systematic process to seeking the truth behind why our customers buy.
Highlights:
Let's go understand what happened. Get the buyer to get feedback.
Why a win/loss reports from the rep often falls short... (price, product, competitor, buyer bias)
Sometimes the rep/buyer relationship is to blame and the deal can be salvaged.
A systematic process to understand opportunity management is crucial.
*Bonus: check out the Definitive guide to win-loss analysis from Clozd.
STRETCH SNIPPETS
🛍 Competitors are ALWAYS in deals IMO, so solving for buyer is KEY. Carl Ferreira reflects on how solving for the buyer and being patient helped closed a competitive deal.
🔚 Tom Williams explains why the deal does not end at "sold" and how to alert prospects to problems they might not even know they have. [podcast]
👀 Sometimes, your prospects aren’t interested in you because you’re legitimately not interesting via Kyle Coleman
↩️. Which function is most likely to reply? Sales. Which function is least likely to reply? IT & Engineering. via Jeremey Donovan
🔝 Top Performers put buyers first, said James Burnette in THIS LIST of 5 characteristics of top performing salespeople.
🛣 Lauren Hintz asked “What Is the Buyer's Journey?” And why understanding this as a seller is key!
🗣 “Big buyers are less concerned with budgets”…and other sales myths from Chorus in this 4 Commons Sales Cycle Myths.
🖐 Pat Cris details 5 reasons why your prospect hates your proposal. Hint: we didn’t do our homework and we didn’t care.
🧠 Mindset Matters
Great leaders give everyone something to believe in, not something to do. - Simon Sinek
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
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