(For Sales Only) Are you a Problem Solver or Product Pusher?

What am I telling you?

In B2B sales the ones who win are the ones who solve the client’s problems

Why am I telling you this?

Because B2B Sales Reps are still being trained to spend all day pushing their product when they need to just respect the ratio and listen for the problem.

The Ratio: Two Ears, One Mouth. Listen 2x more than you speak. Actually it’s more like 5x. No one wants to interact with the Alligator Sales Rep. (You know…. huge mouth, itty-bitty ears.)

Yet the predominant thought most people have when picturing a Sales guy is a ‘smooth talker’. I guess it’s understandable. The problem started in the B2C space. For so long the profession was dominated by silver-tongued snake oil pushers who would roll into town with their miracle pills and broadcast a pre-packaged message about the wonders of their product w/o ever speaking to any of the people to whom they hoped to sell.

The criteria for entry was eloquence and the ability to spin. While eloquence can certainly help from a presentation standpoint & seeing through a client’s objections to the underlying issue is important; the way Sales works in B2B is different. Fundamentally so.

It’s not about how well you can spin your product; it’s about how effectively you can solve for the problem.

The majority of the requests I’ve received from Sales leaders in regards to tweaking Sales training over the years has been around product knowledge and their desire to see the reps graduate with a better understanding of the product. The general thought is that if reps can just know the product they’re selling better it’ll result in revenue. I believe the lowest area of ROI in Sales Training is the Product piece. The greatest area for improvement, and one that everyone pays lip service to, is around understanding your clients and their business models before you ever pick up the phone or knock on that door.

Ok.... now what do I want you to do about it?

When Sales professionals are trained with a ‘Product-First’ bias we often unintentionally create product pushers. You know the type. Listening just long enough to hear that one buzz phrase they see on their cue card and then jumping in to dominate the conversation about features and functions leaving the client half-baked. If they’d just shut up for more than 5 minutes the client will tell them everything they needed to know. However, they can't be quiet. Do you know why? From the beginning of their experience with your company they’ve had product shoved down their throats and so naturally they’re going to shove it down the throats of everyone they come into contact with. They're just following the pattern they were taught...

To my fellow Sales Trainers: Don’t create product pushers. They stink. For every one client they close, another 5 have been repulsed in the meantime.

To my fellow Sales Professionals: Respect the Ratio: Listen more than you speak. Also, when you do speak be sure that it follows the format below.

>>> What follows is the Problem Solver's Manifesto: The P4 Approach <<<

1 - Program

For this first piece I’ll need to you break out of your company’s bubble for a minute. Step away from your process, your product, your lingo and get into the mindset of the client. Learn the language of the industry into which you are selling but also understand what drives that language. Underneath the jargon are trends and factors that are the tectonic plates of the industry. For instance: I’m currently building world-class Sales teams in the E-commerce space. It’s not enough for reps going through my program to know how our products can help merchandisers and marketers. They have to know the environmental forces at work pushing on the roles they sell to. For example: they have to understand the basics of Product Information Management (PIM), Content Management Systems (CMS), A/B Testing, SEO, Content-Driven Commerce, Social-Driven Commerce, Streamlined Checkout, Personalization, Distributed Order Management System (DOMS) Integration, etc. Even more fundamental to that: They have to understand broader consumer trends like Omnichannel, unifying the Offline & Online shopper, cross-enterprise inventory visibility, etc. These core components of a successful eCommerce program are like stones in an archway: remove one and you’ll have catastrophic effects. Training reps to see things this way FIRST means they’ll know what they’re looking for when they hit the field and start conducting discovery. Before you mess around with those nasty old PPT’s with screenshots in them that you like to call training decks please step the heck back and teach the framework of a healthy program.

2 - Personas

Once you understand the core components of a successful eCommerce (or whatever) program you can then jump to the beloved and needed buyer personas. Knowing how the concepts come together should naturally lead the reps you’re training to ask: ‘Who does all this in a company?’. The buyer personas answer this question. What are these persona’s responsibilities? What makes them tick? What are the common criteria upon which these people will be considered successful at the end of the year or season? How do THEY think about the aforementioned program components? Knowing all of this before going into the call is crucial to success b/c it allows you to spot the gaps. Once you see what’s missing you know where to direct the discovery discussion.

3 - Pain

The flip side of buyer personas is understanding the frustration they experience when they encounter barriers to fulfilling their responsibilities. This results in pain. An important thing to understand about pain: It stems from reasons and impacts others. This is critical. Anyone who’s been through Solution Selling knows this. (PS: Much of the Solution Selling Methodology is public domain so I’m not giving away trade secrets) There are reasons behind the pain. Don’t just accept ‘oh, yea, that’s frustrating and I’d like to do something about that….’ from the client like it’s the end of the story. Ask ‘what do you think is causing you that pain?’ It’ll be up to your active listening skills to deduce from there the core reason(s) behind the pain. The impact is real as well. Piggybacking on the above question, if you already know what causes it, you can say ‘Really? Who else is impacted by this?’ Let me tell you, pain is not isolated. They may think it is but you have to understand that pain resonates throughout the org.

Think of it like this: A man comes into the doctor’s office b/c of severe abdominal pain. After expert diagnosis the doctor concludes it is b/c the man’s appendix has ruptured and in the short time the patient has been in the clinic he’s picked up a fever. This is a great example of pain (abdominal pain) stemming from a reason (burst appendix) leading to immediate impact (fever) and eventually long term, permanent impact (death) if not treated immediately. It’s morbid I know but toughen up… Sales isn’t for wimps.

Three more things about pain though:

Pain is opportunity. How are you going to align your product to this issue?

Pain is necessary: Sometimes, through either ignorance or complacency, buyers have come to accept their pain as normal. Before you can sell them on your product you have to sell them on the pain.

Pain is sneaky: Sometimes the client may not be aware of pain. You may need to help them connect the dots. See above point.

4 - Product

Now you are poised to understand why your product is powerful. Everything up to here is foundation. Only once you understand the framework and components of a great program can you understand the responsibilities of those who work in and around those programs. And only after wrapping your head around those responsibilities can you fully grasp the pain that results from the inability to fulfill them. With all this in place: You’re now ready for Product.

Here’s a big tip on product knowledge: It’s not the end, it’s the means to the end. Sales professionals need product knowledge only to the extent that it enables them align functionality to client need. The way they align that functionality is through Benefit-Enriched presentations. Let me explain: The Sales professional should not feature dump all over the client. They ought to succinctly present select functionality not as features, but as benefits. Look to the actions your client will be able to perform using your product. What impact will those actions have on their business? What advantage will they gain in the marketplace as a result? In essence: What benefit does this bring their business?

I’ve written on this concept in greater detail in the past, check it out if you’d like to understand more!

To Summarize:

Presenting materials in this sequence forces your Sales professionals to think first about how they will relate to and empathize with their clients. Creating professionals who can empathize with clients and understand the challenges they face really means you’re creating and sending Problem Solvers to your hiring managers.

Bonus nugget: This fundamental switch in the way a Sales professional thinks and addresses the marketplace will have the added benefit of injecting Dollars & Cents into the conversation with their clients. Any discussion around business impact needs to introduce value & ROI to the conversation. When this occurs the caliber of the interactions will improve drastically and you either move into ‘Column A’ or solidify your position there. Trust me, you want this.

Now, go close some business!

------

If you value this article, please hit the 'Like' button and/or 'Share' it to your network here on LinkedIn. I wholeheartedly encourage you to join the conversation or ask questions so feel free to add a comment to this post. These are my thoughts; I want to hear yours. Cheers