b2b sales superstar

Are You Helping Your Buyer to See, Hear or Feel Your Solution?

Well, Are you helping your buyer to see, hear or fell your solutions? For that matter, are you truly communicating with your buyers or customers – the way they want to be communicating?

I have found most b2b sales people have no idea what I’m talking about when I discuss the importance of See, Hear or Feel. The technical terms for these are Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic.

These items are critically important if you want to fully engage your customers during interviews, presentations and any other points of interaction. The key is to understand that everyone has a preferred method or language they use when communicating or just thinking about things in general.

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Four Types of Real Competition

Seems like everyday I’m working with a b2b sales person I get this question…

Who are My Competitors?

The first type of competitor is usually the easiest to figure out. Usually it entails a list of your major competitors within the industry or supplier types. Since this is the most common answer, it is a key bit of knowledge to have and use. In fact, I would suggest you create a matrix of competitors with the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor. This will assist you in developing a strategy to defeat an external competitor.

However there are three other types of competition for your funding. These three are usually not at the top of mind for the b2b sales person and thus little to no time is used to win against these menacing competitors who cause us to come in second on many projects or sales opportunities.

Here are other three competitors…

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Five Self Made Destructive Mindsets

Often I am asked by a sales manager to coach a sales person who is not meeting their performance goals or standards. Sometimes I’m told straight out that the sales person has lose their motivation or drive to be successful.

After assessing the individual and reviewing all the data and information provided by the sales manager, I begin the coaching process. Using questions to open up dialogue and trust, an interesting pattern begins to unfold, the sales person has the skill set and knowledge to be successful, yet their results indicate another issue.

A majority of the time I find three major factors in play…

  1. The Sales Person is Missing a Key Skill which can be developed.
  2. The Sales Person is a total Mismatch to the Sales Position thus a lack of performance.
  3. The Sales Person has a set of beliefs or a pattern of destructive mindsets which need special coaching. ( refer to Winning Mindset for Sales )

When working with sales people in the third group, I have found five self made destructive mindsets causing the majority of the poor performance. Here are the five most common self-made mindsets…

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