The Elusive Compelling Event

I've seen many sales reps in different companies, geographies, and industries struggle to define the compelling event for an opportunity. I've struggled with it too, so please know that you're not alone.?

However, it isn't complicated to understand, but it does require discovery meetings with your customer. Of course, getting to the right person who can have those types of conversations is often one of the most difficult tasks.?

To be succinct, a compelling event is a time-bound (when) response to internal or external factors (why), with a clear business impact (measurable). This is important to define for an opportunity, because without it, your deal may never close, there might not be a defining reason to purchase, and the value of making a change may be unclear. Put another way, there is no measurable reason to buy now.

What do others have to say about it??

Saleshood has a good article, "What Are Compelling Events?" where they suggest getting very specific:

If your compelling event is more than fifteen words, then you don’t have a compelling event.

Andrew Chapman wrote a good article, "Sales Bible: What is the compelling event?"?where he had a great line:?

The compelling event defines the reason for the economic owner to act.

And Sandler Training nicely summarizes the need in "Finding That Compelling Reason – Part Two" by saying:

Until the prospect realizes and admits there is a problem there won’t be any need for your product or service, no matter how much you say or do.

And as a fun example, the caption for the photo is: My dogs (customer) want that neighbor cat immediately (when), because it's there (why) and more fun to chase than a toy (measurable).

I have no incentive to sell to my dogs though!

Please leave a comment if you have any helpful suggestions regarding compelling events.