Matthew Parker

Before you discuss the “solution” part of “solution selling” you MUST identify the PROBLEM that needs to be solved. This cannot be overstated. What is the REAL problem your customer is facing? Once your prospect agrees that they have a problem that needs to be solved, and learns that you understand this problem in full, THEN they will trust the solution you present to them.

Sometimes, it is as easy as asking "How did we do?" Don't send a long survey with many questions. Send one simple question. Another great question is "How likely are you to recommend our services to a friend or coworker." This is the question used to derive the Net Promoter Score (NPS).

'Crucial Conversations' by Kerry Patterson is a great book that introduces the idea of a "shared pool of meaning". Both parties should be allowed to share their ideas. It is important to be aware if the other party feels like they are not being heard. They will react similarly to being attacked, fight, flight, or freeze. They will get aggressive and defensive, physically turn away from you and or leave the room, or freeze and become quiet. This does NOT mean that you won the conversation! This means that you overstepped, and did not listen to what they were trying to say. You need to go to them and apologize and invite them to share.

You might not be the person of authority. But you know that person. Therefore, you are a gatekeeper. In enterprise software sales, it is important to leverage this to advance your sales cycle. Use this to gain access to the "Power" or authority at your customer's organization. Say "our next step is usually to hold an executive demo for your leadership team. We will also invite our CTO to answer any roadmap questions. Who from your side should we invite to the call?" Similarly, use access to power to get information such as buying timelines. The car salesman says "That's a big discount, but for you, let me go ask my manager. I will need to convince him, so, if we can go that low, are you ready to buy today?"

Now that you know your audience, you can persuade them by providing examples that you know relate to their role. For example, when trying to convince a prospect to buy an AI sales tool, rather than just saying "I think our AI chat solution would help you save time and money. Would you like to hear more?" provide an example: "I work with many other sales organizations and have found that on average, their teams waste 50% of their time answering repetitive questions. After implementing our AI chat tool, teams are able to focus on more strategic discussions with their customers. The result of our solution is reclaimed time, and increased qualified sales opportunities. Would you like to schedule a call to learn more?"