I’ve been very busy recently and haven’t written much. So this post focuses on a critical topic: how to know whether or not there’s a force that the prospect doesn’t control that gets them to solve the problem within a certain timescale. Which will prevent the deals slipping. What I call: a dragon
A what?
Yes. A dragon. Let me explain. First, a little perspective.
Allow me to elaborate. I don’t need to stress the fact that selling in B2B (or in any other case, very often) is based on the need to understand your prospects’ problems. And that means asking questions. That much is clear.
To do this, and although it may seem obvious, it’s always best to prepare the meeting in advance. And have a clear view of what you want to decide during the meeting. Tip: visualisation helps. Or even better, have a sheet detailing all the qualification criteria you want to validate with your prospect, the questions you’re going to ask, the ones they’re likely to ask you, etc… How many salespeople turn up for an appointment without detailed preparation, under the impression that they “know their stuff”, and fail due to a lack of preparation? A preparation time of 50% of the forthcoming meeting will guarantee your chances of being the most successful.
I proposed a structure of questions in this post to explore the prospect’s situation, so I won’t go back over it again. Many of my clients tell me about a recurring frustration: processes that take too long. To solve this problem, it’s important to find out whether there’s any internal or external pressure that’s making your prospect need your solution or product. This also enables you to avoid the “next step” approach that many salespeople use.
Prospects buy backwards, sellers buy forwards.
You surely don’t want to receive another newsletter, do you?
What’s that?
Yes, once the prospect has made a decision or is considering making a decision, he or she projects into the future, imagining the go live date for your solution and the different stages that need to happen to arrive on time at that date with your service in place and their problem solved. To avoid falling into endless processes, you need to find that date. And the pressing reason for that date.
In fact, there is something that the prospect has no control over, either internal or external, which creates a certain urgency and which will drive him or her to bring the process to a conclusion. This is what I call “a dragon”.
And how does finding a dragon in the sales process help?
There are many reasons why identifying a dragon is useful. Here are two examples.
- Avoid ending up in a “maybe”: A no is not as pleasant to hear as a yes, but it’s 100 times better than a maybe. Otherwise, you end up with lots of pseudo opportunities in your pipeline. And you end up hiding from the reality rather than looking at it as it really is. Worse still, you run the risk of telling yourself that prospecting is unnecessary because your pipeline is full. It is therefore important to clarify with a prospect whether there is or is not a real possibility of working together, and as soon as possible. One approach is to ask “if you find the ideal solution to your problem x, when would you like to see it implemented”. By asking this question, you get a date, but it may be a date that is not linked to specific dynamics taking place in the prospect’s company. It may simply be a personal aspiration of the prospect? It could even be our prospect manipulating us (and yes, prospects don’t always tell the truth!).
So we need to dig deeper. How do you do that?
With a question, of course: “Interesting context. And just so I understand, why this specific date? Why this date rather than, say, a few months later?
This helps us to understand the context in which our prospect finds himself, to see his world through his eyes. If there is no reason beyond your prospect’s control that is putting pressure on them, the opportunity is probably less qualified than if there was. A dragon could be a project that has to happen and depends on what you’re selling. Or an objective that the company’s CEO has set.
The prospect’s sense of urgency is a determining factor in moving towards the famous close. If you don’t find a dragon, you risk finding yourself in a “maybe” zone for a long time. Because the prospect’s attention will be focused on the problems where there are dragons….
- Increase empathy and enable you to identify all the activities needed to finalise the contract: Once I’ve identified the presence of a dragon, you can mentally project yourself into the prospect’s shoes. This helps you to approach the conversation with a new dynamic: an understanding/analysis of the prospect’s situation until the project is delivered. Once again, see their world through their eyes.
If you know of any other advantages to this dragon hunt, don’t hesitate to share in the comments.
