We spend a lot of time discussing the inner working of our teams and breaking down silos between everyone. We will all admit that it requires work, and most of us will even say maybe some outside help or facilitation. When we start working with others, we might even if we are real progressive, invite vendors into the mix. The next step is inviting customers into the mix. These are somewhat common, at least the discussion about them are, and progressive steps to be taking. However, how often do we train our sales force on selling to this environment?
Most organizations are looking to sell to the decision maker. That is the pot of gold we are always striving for and narrowing down the magical sales funnel to the very fine point of closing a sale. The problem that exists is that today’s purchase decisions don’t fit the sales funnel. For example:
- Purchase decisions are being made with an average of 5.4 people needing to sign off.
- Gartner says that 56% of the purchase decision (B2B) is completed before a sales person is invited to the table.,
- The Sales Acceleration Formula author and HubSpot VP says that you must first create an internal user base before reaching out to executives for purchase decisions.
With these simple facts alone, is you sales team ready to combat these obstacles? My instincts say no. Do a quick search for a book on “selling to teams on Amazon” and what do you get?
How prepared are your sales people to quickly recognize:
- Is there a common language within the organization on this purchase or change needed to implement it?
- Can they map the informal networks that exist?
- Can they identify and prioritize informal groups?
- Does their approach match the culture and behavior of this organization?
- Do you understand the individual roles within the group?
- Can you identify the points of resistance?
Many of you that understand, coach and facilitate team dynamics, these may seem like simple characteristics to address. Now, fast forward your last team engagement and take the time spent in creating that successful outcome and ask yourself if you could have done it in less than 10% of the time that you did? Or, could you have done it with a group you had no previous relationship with? Or, could you have done it with a group that was not being required to collaborate with you? That is just a few of the barriers that exist for the sales person.
How should these be addressed?
How are your sales people presently handling the situation?
Is there an App for this?
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