Art or Science?
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Most people have heard the term "it's more of an art than science". Technology and Software Sales for all of its complexity certainly can follow this saying as well. If you've ever been in sales before it will not be foreign to say that in some cases, it takes a few meetings or lunches, a handshake or two, and your deal is done. On the other hand however, in many cases the time frame may last months, or even years; dozens of meetings as well.

Why can't we apply a process, or a "science" to selling? In short - every deal is different (except for one factor).

Yes, technology has made amazing strides in solving problems around security or automation or processes, but the selling motion hasn’t seemed to change at all. Mission statements, your awesome tech, your company’s market cap, your slide showing the many customers you’ve sold your product to, or how many widgets you’ve already sold. Your account manager and systems engineer grab their PowerPoint slides and head off to see a prospect.

Familiar Topics

‍Today’s technology (let’s be honest) is not un-complex. It is very complex. Many organizations have a stake and ownership in producing their own assets as well as which technology is chosen to help them do their jobs. Customers don’t buy technology for the same reasons we may as individual consumers. We may buy the new iPhone or Apple Watch because we want the newest tech but possibly also because it’s cool and want to be accepted into the club of new technology owners. Customers on the other hand aren’t buying our products because they're cool or the latest fad. They buy to solve a problem; to make their lives easier; to be more productive.

Who’s pitch sounds something like this: “Our cloud automation software provides AI driven insights and real-time performance management analytics to improve delivery efficiencies and risk management.” What does that mean? Which pain point does it solve for the customer? It sounds great, but do you really understand what it means? It makes the solution to a complex issue even more complex. And you risk losing your potential customer because you’re not answering the unspoken question of - "how do you help me at my job and take the pain away?”

Let’s look at the diagram below. As a participant in a session by the author of “The JOLT Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision” this is a very familiar occurrence in the sales process. It may be familiar to you as well.

If you think about the amount of times account managers and systems engineers ‘go back to start’ it’s quite a lot. And it fails 84% of the time. We must understand why this happens.

Some of the reasons encountered include:
- Being ‘transactional’ in a ‘complex sale’.
- Customers are risk averse. (Caring more about avoiding loss, than achieving gain).
- Many stakeholders in the decision-making process. (Many have to say “Yes” but anyone can say “No”).
- Poorly accomplished Discovery or Business Validation stages. (So we try it over again).

When selling a complex and technical solution, we must endeavor to make our customers “look good”. And to do that we must ‘Sell the Problem You Solve; Not the Product You Sell”. You must be authentic and detail oriented.

- There can be 15 companies within one company.
- You need to understand what each of these cares about.
- Be aware of “how you deliver the message’.
- Your customer has personal goals too, not just you.
- Your discussions must be conversational with your customer(s).
- Be the Quarterback – your team is looking to you to be the lead.
- Confidence

Never is there only one user and decision maker. And there are lots of people who get side benefits out of your solution. Some intrude on others (their job, or their way of doing things). How many times have you said to your prospect - “Let me talk to the decision maker”. – that doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because there’s two dozen of them.

Prepare for meetings!

‍Prepare your Systems Engineer. If you don’t, don’t be surprised if your SE tells you they won’t be joining the next meeting. Everyone prepares. Think about the world of sports. Whether a professional or not, showing up at the golf course and heading to the first tee without hitting balls on the range probably isn’t going to help you shoot a lower score. Baseball players take infield and ground balls on the field or batting practice before a baseball game.

Everyone prepares.

No one who cares goes in cold.The more you talk about you and your product, the less impact it will have, and the less likely you are to sell. The more you talk about your customer, what they’re doing and what struggles they're facing, the more you'll sell.

The Sole Reason

‍The sole reason anyone will buy something is that it solves a real problem they have. That really is the only reason. No exceptions.

But there's more. When you interact with a prospect in any manner, they need to clearly understand what problem you solve right away, or they will remember nothing you say. Not your name, not your company name, not your product or your awesome tech. That's because humans mentally organize information based on problem. Not technology, your slides, downloads, customer logos, or the awards you’ve won.

Everyone in the company must align on the problem; sales, marketing, renewals, support, customer success, management... everyone. Client Executives and Sales Engineers, especially when prospecting (pipeline generation), are taught to ask a lot of questions - much of it is focused on qualification. Prospects hate that (and yes, you must do it anyway).

Ask questions that validate that they have the problem and that they want that problem gone. Then you can focus on their budget, org, insertion, etc.

One of the best examples that solved a problem and was very easily seen in this way was the Hypervisor. Buying 1000 servers? What if you only needed to buy 100?

Companies try to create a sense of buzz around their solutions. That's great if you do it by harping on how horrible the problem you solve is, and express joy in helping customers through it. Anything else is about you.

It’s not personal but the customer doesn’t care about your process.