Sales: the Magic Formula.

The number of testimonies from Entrepreneurs on LinkedIn who complain about spending too much time with prospects who eventually stay with their current vendors or do not make any decision is massive. Surprisingly enough, the situation is not different with our customers. Sales executives, and not only junior reps who learn the ropes of the business, are reluctant to run away from opportunities which are dead from Day one.

In our article “ Solution selling is NOT dead”, we stressed that Selling is neither an Art nor a Science. Selling is common sense where discipline and data play a key role. Frameworks and models can therefore be built and adapted to structure your own sales process. Hence the success of MEDDIC.

However, the bigger and the more complex the deals, the more you may find something is missing in the evaluation of your sales opportunities. Something beyond pain qualification and metrics assessment. Something well beyond spotting and engaging with the key stakeholders or knowing and aligning with their buying process or decision criteria. Something irrefutable. Not only a method to execute a sales process but some kind of magical formula to ensure success.

The common denominator of successful deals or what turned out to be missing when conducting a postmortem of lost opportunities is Vision + ?Value . A shared vision, a sort of emotional projection of customers into the future solution. Plus, a mutually agreed value perceived about the product and services offered. Not distinct elements that needs to be addressed separately but intertwined ingredients were Vision factors heavily.

Because Sales Eagles do not need a sales process and to be reminded of the steps and activities that need to be completed at each stage to move deals forward, coaching them on Vision + Value works well. Yet, not every sales organization consists of Sales Eagles only. So, what is the Sales magic formula if any? What equation can be leveraged both to conduct the perfect sales process, forecast accurately and win every time?

To answer the question, let us come back to value selling. The classical formula is S2 = P2xV2xC, which means Success Sales equal (Pain x Power x Value x Vision x Control). Now let us tweak the formula and add 2 “Ps”, one for Phase and one for Profile and discover what is in our new formula: S2= P4*V2*(C).

Phase: this component of the formula is too often ignored by sales reps. It includes the stage of the customer buying process. This qualification criteria is fundamental since it should influence the decision to engage or qualify out, and how to engage. Sales plays , game plans and activities to be completed should vary depending on whether customers reach out to your sales organization after completing their due diligence or your lead generation team has detected a latent opportunity.

We recommend you try this: the total score of the Phase should be one. Give a score of 1 for a latent opportunity you can influence from scratch, 0.5 for prospects at consideration stage and 0.1 for prospects at decision stage. Do not move the needle till you get unambiguous evidence that you can compete, and you can win, which means tell tales signs on prospect willingness to embrace your sales process or restart their buying process with you from step one.

Profile: this is the customer buying profile. Selling to visionaries or early adopters has nothing to do with selling to skeptics or pragmatists. Especially in you sell software, the former will make average sellers brilliant. For the latter, which are mainstream or post chasm buyers, your leading-edge solution will sound like the bleeding edge. For these customers, the proof of the pudding is the eating. Expect to be challenged on everything. Can your company become a long-term partner? How does your solution stand out from competition beyond your marketing crap ? Is the insight your deliver worth their time and trust?

Your sales strategy and the steps to complete should be adapted to the buying Profile. So is your probability to win. You will have to assign a 1 to tech enthusiasts, 0,9 to visionaries and so on down to conservatives and skeptics. To move the needle to 1, you need to complete specific activities aiming at addressing the fears, doubts, and expectations inherent to each profile.

Pain: no need to spend much time on it. Let us just keep in mind that the ultimate goal is not to detect a pain but to understand whether it is strong enough for customers to make a decision.

Our suggestion is to always start with a value of 0.1, move to 0.25 once the pain is admitted and then allocate 0.25 to each of the following criteria: alignment with corporate strategy and initiatives, proven pain chain involving each stakeholder, and identification of personal reasons to buy for each stakeholder.

Power: the point here is not only to identify and engage with the Economic buyer. It is rather to gauge first how the ultimate decision maker made similar calls in the past. Is consensus the norm or do top executives overrule lower ranking managers? Depending on your judgment, you should rate your access to Power and the interactions that go along with it between 0.1 and 0.25.

Another 0.5 should be distributed among other sources of Power, i.e. People. They include other power sponsors and stakeholders: business, finance, users, and implementers. The score depends on how individual interactions translate into evidence that they support your offer. The remaining 0.25 should be attributed to your understanding of informal decision circles and politics.

Value: let us clarify first: you do not deliver value until your product or services are implemented and the value is measured through the resolution of a personal or collective problem on the one hand, and quantifiable and mutually agreed financial metrics. Everything else is a promise. So, the score of this section depends mainly on how good you are at getting value confirmed.

Metrics matter of course. Value should mirror the Pains and the initial pain chain should be turned into a Value Pain Chain. It means that you should be able to quantify the pains and benefits for each stakeholder. This section should count for 0.5. We recommend you start at 0.1 and give a 0.5 to this section once you get your ROI approach and solution enablers fingerprinted by each stakeholder up to the ultimate decision maker.

The other 0.5 should be given according to your complete understanding of the personal issues you solve for each stakeholder. This is where you gauge the emotional reason to buy. This is where you start understanding that Value is in the eye of the beholder and Value and Vision are twisted together.

Vision: the answer should be straightforward. Option 1: the buyer has no vision. The customer is unaware of the problem you can solve. Although you have the opportunity to shape the vision towards your offer, this is typically a neutral situation. Allocate 0.5 and add 0.1 up to 1 as you make progress on Pain, Power, Value and Control. Unless it was not clear enough, all the components of the equation are interlaced.

Option 2: the buyer has a vision of how the problem should be solved, this problem requires immediate attention and action, and your offer matches the vision. You jump directly to Luck Square, and you get a 0.75.

Option 3: anything between a vision shaped by other vendors or an undifferentiated value vision that would lead to a discussion based on pricing only. While it is up to you to decide to engage or run away , your aim should be to get to 0.5, meaning you set the Vision back to neutral by making yourself equal before making yourself different and developing a shared vision.

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Control: as odd as it may seem, this component is optional. While completing the activities listed in your sales process makes reassure you, Control is sales 101. Simply put, the Sales Success Formula is not about ticking the boxes of your MEDDIC or MEDPICC. The scoring of Phase, Profile, Pain, Power, Value and Vision will testify whether you are in control or not.

Should you decide to keep Control in the equation, it should be assessed against a combination of positive outcomes and evidence that you have the upper hand against your competitors, including the no decision trap. Focus only on outcomes that are value based, auditable events that serve as unquestionable proof that your customer is moving in the right direction. Evidence include more elusive components: the momentum of the deal, the impact of your competitive strategy on customer decision deadlines or criteria, or adoption by the stakeholders of your sales jargon are one of them.

We hope you found this article helpful. Of course, we are not sharing all the details of the Sales magic formula and our tips and tricks. This formula has implications on your sales process, your forecast, your management style and eventually your success as a sales leader.

Feel free to contact us on Bold & Sharp website to tell us about your needs. We will come back to you to share additional insight on how we score each component and how we combine them to predict success for leads, sales opportunities, and customer relationships.

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