Going back to basics and having focus on what made you successful in the start of your career (learning, learning, and learning) becomes vital in selling in 21st century. In fact, one of the rewards of a successful sales career is the stimulating learning process - it’s never dull unless that’s how you make it.
SBA Business Planning Center research shows that 19 of 20 sales people are not investing time or effort to develop their skills further.
Discovering customer’s needs in today’s world is a very valuable tool and it makes a huge difference with your customers, showing them that you understand them and you are qualified to get their business.
If you understand customers better than anyone else, you will be able to find the way to show them value when dealing with you.
As a sales professional you know that many times you must create a specialized situation and find out buying motives to satisfy them. Throughout your career you have learned about visible and invisible market; how to put customers on the market even when they feel they are not buying anything at the moment; and I am sure you know how to explain to customers how much money they are losing by postponing their buying decision.
When you learn about trigger events and how to recognize them, you are starting the process of fact-finding, which is a fundamental part of sales. Actually, I would say that fact-finding IS sales.
This is where you are looking at the three main keys of every sale:
1. first comes researching and qualifying your customers
2. the second part is being in front of them (face to face, or closing them over the phone if you are in telemarketing),
3. third, it’s a most important key of every sale: be in front of them at the exactly precise time when they are ready to buy!
How will you know when they are ready to buy or when they have a need? How to recognize customers with needs? How to uncover their hidden needs? How to make them realize that they are on the market?
Learn about Trigger Events and it will bring you a step ahead of your competition, which are most definitely not spending enough time to learn about the customers before any sales call is made.
A trigger is a need to buy, an event that pushes you to buy the product right now. Not 6 months or a year down the road, but now.
This is true for the biggest corporations in the world and the small businesses oriented locally (70% of all U.S. businesses are so called mom-and-pop shops). Advantage of dealing with small businesses is that they are faster in reacting when an event is triggered and changes that create a need have happened.
Many businesses are putting the cart before the horse, creating the product or service for which there is no market. They fail as suppliers because they take their customers wants and needs for granted, not surveying the market and not taking the necessary steps to understand why somebody is buying and who is on the market today.
To start the sales process you need to find out who could be in the market today, and then recognize your selected customer’s wants and needs. You need to have 360 degree view of your prospects.
What is their business situation, what are their business issues and challenges, pain problems, internal issues, changes, motivations? And then add yourself to the equation - how can I put customers in the market? How can I make customers realize that they are on the market with trigger events happening?
Sales people with many years of experience loose focus because very often their experience overshadows facts. Facts are changing and they are dynamic, especially in 21st century. Your customers are better informed and prepared, they know more about you and your products then you will expect. This is mainly so because information is only one or two mouse-clicks away.
Your first step is to develop the customer’s perception of your value. Build a relationship through understanding the customer’s business environment, processes, and issues.
Get back to basics and back to a fact-finding part of your sales process, which means back to understand customer’s needs.
Trigger events can certainly help you with research and qualification process.
It can’t hurt being reminded about basics of sales and I am sure that even if you are seasoned sales professional, you will find this information very useful to find your next customer.
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