“Makes Sense to Me”

Problem:   Krista had been making a lot of sales calls, seeing many people, and enthusiastically presenting proposals during the past few months.  She was pleased that her pipeline was full because she had so many proposals on the street.  Her prospects, however, seemed to take a lot of time to make buying decisions, and sales were just not materializing.  Krista did not believe her colleagues when they told her that her prospects were not being totally honest with her and to expect only 10-15% of her proposals to turn into business.  Krista believed that it made sense for her prospects to mull over their decision because she sold a complicated high tech solution.

Analysis:  Krista has what we refer to as a non-supportive buying process.    This refers to the process by which a salesperson makes purchases for themselves.  In this case Krista’s method of buying typically involved going to several vendors, collecting lots of information, and spending a great deal of time evaluating which option to choose.  Krista used this process for virtually every purchase over one hundred dollars.   As a result, she tolerated behavior from her prospects that were similar to her own.   She often commented that she “understood” why they needed to take their time to evaluate her proposals, but as a result she was vulnerable to stalls, put offs, lies, excuses, sob stories, and other forms of “think it over’s” from her prospects.  It’s called buyer empathy, and it has no place if you’re in sales.

Solution:  The only answer to this problem is to change the way Krista makes her purchasing decisions.  When her buying process begins to support her selling process, the stalls and put offs that used to derail her will begin to disappear.  Instead of being “understanding” when her prospects want to take a lot of time to make a decision, she would begin to question why and would become more comfortable asking them to make a timely decision.  Once this self-limiting belief system is addressed, Krista will be able to shorten her selling cycle since she will expect quicker decisions from her prospects.

Get rid of your buyer empathy and watch your sales increase.