We used to think it was good news. “Hey, I got a call-in!,” we’d say excitedly to our boss/co-workers, and we’d eagerly schedule the appointment. And why not? After putting in hours of prospecting each week to set our appointments, a decent call-in felt like pennies from heaven. They didn’t all result in a sale, but they were a higher percentage than prospected opportunities.
Nowadays, however, call-ins sometimes produce more fear in salespeople than prospecting, and this is due to an oft-quoted statistic that “these days, 57% of the buyer’s process is done before they ever call you.” The stat comes from a survey of 1,400 B2B purchasing executives, and was conducted by a company who markets a ‘radical new sales approach’ – so it might be just a tad bit skewed. Still, I think we can agree that when a customer calls you, at least some of their buying process has been done without you – and in today’s internet driven environment, more of that process might have been completed than in yesteryear. So, as salespeople, what do we do to succeed in this environment?
Before we dive into this, let’s review the customer’s buying process for a moment:
Motivation: Something prompts the customer to realize that they have an unmet need that could be met by making a purchase.
Investigation: The needs are defined and product/service solutions are measured against the needs.
Evaluation: Price and terms are defined and measured for value, affordability, and timeliness.
Decision: The customer buys or doesn’t.
In most B2B environments, the call-in used to come after the Motivation step, which left us free to complete the biggest parts of the buying process. The bad news today is that, with product and service information so readily available via the Internet, your customer has probably completed all or part of the Investigation and perhaps the Evaluation steps. The good news is that you’re still part of the process.
This, however, is the moment that too many salespeople lose the sale. They do so by going to one of two extremes. Either they assume that the customer has done no research and treat the customers as unintelligent, or they expect tha the customer has done all their own research and attempt to move the process forward faster than the customer wants to. In both cases the customer is annoyed and likely buys elsewhere. Here’s what you must do when the customer approaches you:
Find out what parts of the process the customer has completed. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Simple questions like, “What research have you done so for,” or even “how did you find us,” can get you a long way toward a common understanding with your customer. They show that you respect the customer’s intelligence and are willing to move forward with the customer and not against the customer.
Find out what gaps exist in the customer’s knowledge. By “gaps,” I mean that in many cases, the customer thinks that they have completed knowledge in a particular topic area, but thye have not. This isn’t uncommon, especially when the research is Internet driven. Understanding what the customer knows and what the customer doesn’t know is improtant. It’s also important to be diplomatic when filling these gaps.
Find out what the customer knows that is wrong. If it’s on the Internet, it has to be true, right? I’m laughing right now. As you probably know, there’s a site called “Snopes.com” that exists to debunk urban legends. Sometimes I think we need a “Sales Snopes” to debunk false claims in selling. This is where your diplomatic skills really come into play, because the customer may be married to a piece of knowledge that is incorrect.
Pick your battles carefully. If there are gaps, or if the customer has an incorrect piece of knowledge, you have to quickly assess for yourself how important these issues are. For instance, if the customer has discovered a ‘fact’ on the Internet that isn’t a fact, BUT is inconsequential to the customer getting the result that they want and is inconsequential to the sale you need to make, you may want to let it go. There’s no need to provoke a contest that doesn’t matter in the end result.
Be efficient with the customer’s time. Your customer has done their own research in an effort to be efficient and effective with their time. When you cover ground that your customer has already covered on their own, you become repetitive and the customer gets bored. Remember, Comfortable Customers Buy. Bored customers aren’t comfortable. Simply pick up from where your customer left off.
Never be afraid of your customer. Fear is the enemy of all good things in selling. Few things can be scarier to some salesperson than an educated customer. Your customer hasn’t educated themselves in an effort to be your opponent – they simply want a higher level of participation in the buying process. Allow them that, and you’re going to win.
By the way, while call-ins will happen, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be expending significant efforts on a good prospecting effort. The earlier you get your customer, the better. If the customer sees YOU as a reference instead of the Internet, you’re going to be in great shape.
