Compelled to Buy

Written by Jeremy Miller

Selling to Compelling Events

In January 2007 Blue Mountain Resorts laid off 1,300 workers. For the first time in the resort's history it did not have enough snow to keep open one ski run. Reporting on Blue Mountain's woes, the Globe and Mail stated, "temperatures are expected to be warmer than normal across the country all the way to March." This is a compelling event that has taken Ontario skiers by surprise.

Up until now the environment has been a tough sell. Why? There hasn't been enough tangible impact on the public to motivate change. Everyone knows the dangers of acid rain, global warming, depleting fresh water supplies and the like – environmentalists have been hammering on these issues for years. The public's interest in the environment is changing, because they are being directly impacted: no skiing in Ontario, crippling snow storms in the Northwest coast, Hurricane Katrina and massive sections of the arctic ice shelf breaking free. These events are motivating action. The environment is now the number one political topic on Canadian's minds surpassing even healthcare.

Today the environment is easy to sell – the public is being compelled to focus on it. Compelling events are the beacons or situations that drive people to act. Now the environment sells because the threat is finally real and tangible. Compelling events are very powerful marketing tools. They provide insight for product development, marketing, sales and customer support. By focusing on what drives their market, companies can target real business issues and provide service offers that solve these problems.

Selling business software solutions requires some of the most advanced sales techniques. The products are intangible, require extensive professional services and are expensive. A buyer should be facing significant compelling events to invest hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in these solutions. When the software supplier overlooks the compelling events driving its market, it creates an exceedingly difficult sales strategy. The product presentations seem too technical, discounts are too high and sales performance is spotty.

Sales people can't force someone to buy. A highly discounted solution might shorten the sales cycle, but it delegates all responsibility for the purchaser to solve his own problem. In this situation the sales person is simply a liaison that offers little to no value to the buying process. If the objective is to deliver value and solve real business challenges, price is not the motivator. Yet many companies are forced into discounting, because they do not understand the compelling events that motivate change. This results in bland products that look like everyone else, or worse, products that are developed with very limited market potential.

Let's look at a corporate example. rL Solutions is a rapidly growing company that develops software applications for hospitals. Their applications improve hospital efficiency, improve nurses' jobs, improve patient care and even save lives. The software has an impressive feature set, but that is not what is compelling hospitals to invest in their solutions. The compelling events driving hospitals can be very broad. They range from investing in a brand position to responding to competitive threats.

The Mayo Clinic invests in products that fulfill its brand promise. It is one of the most prestigious and recognized hospitals in the world with a reputation for quality of care. The Mayo Clinic's web site proudly proclaims, "You will see as many doctors, specialists and other health care professionals as needed to provide comprehensive diagnosis, understandable answers and effective treatment." They hold a very specific brand position as a premium service provider with the best specialists, tools and operations available. They invest in themselves to treat the most complex of illnesses.

Many hospitals invest in software based on reactionary compelling events. The American healthcare sector is very competitive. Excessive insurance premiums and patient attrition can cripple a hospital. A major lawsuit that reaches the media or the visibility of poor quality of care are compelling events that motivate the hospital to act. By investing in a new system, the hospital administration is attempting to mitigate the risks or perceived risks they face today.

A clear understanding of what motivates and drives the buyer to act is a competitive advantage for market development. Its impact is felt across the organization. Product development is charged with a set of challenges it needs to solve. Marketing must address situations its ideal customers are facing, and how they go to market to solve these problems. Customer service must transform itself to solve the problem impacting its customers, and to keep their customers operational. The sales force is provided a roadmap for the unique situations their products solve, where the customers exist in their territory and the strategy to help buyers select their solution.

"Solution" is a dramatically over used word. Sales people use it to describe anything they sell. Typically it represents the mix of product and value-add services. In reality a solution should be an answer to the compelling events a buyer faces. Compelling events are powerful marketing tools, because they force sales methods to shift. Sales reps at rL Solutions don't "close," they solve tangible issues of risk management and customer service faced by hospitals. Their sales reps are very proud of the solutions they bring hospitals and the knowledge that their products actually save lives.

Compelling events provide direction and energy for companies to sell tangible solutions. Michael Porter, author of Competitive Advantage, demonstrated in his theories of strategy that focus is a clear source of competitive advantage. But focus for the sake of focus does not benefit anyone. The compelling events that motivate buyers to action are the drivers. Ask any environmentalist what it has been like persuading the public to curb its wasteful ways over the past twenty years – an uphill battle. The environmental changes and extreme weather are compelling events that have opened up plenty of opportunities for companies to deliver products and services to make the world a better place.

Jeremy Miller -
	Jeremy Miller is a Partner with LEAPJob, a sales recruiting firm in Toronto, Canada. LEAPJob recruits sales professionals and sales leaders for many of Canada's most recognized companies. Their clients range from the Top 50 Employers to smaller organizations building their first sales force. For more information visit http://www.LEAPJob.com . You can reach Jeremy at 905.281.3090 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Read More >>
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