Why Most of What B2B Sellers do is Wrong.

Late last year a Gartner survey found that 75% of B2B Buyers prefer a salesperson-free buying experience, and 68% had already bought without a salesperson.

Combine that with the fact that at least 50% of buying journeys these days result in no decision and you must conclude that something isn’t right with selling.

If that doesn’t convince you something is amiss, consider the reputation of sellers. ‘S/he’s a typical Seller’ is hardly meant as a compliment.? And in regular surveys of trusted professions (Google them), Sellers consistently rank near the bottom.

...keeping company with politiciians!

Seller Perceptions

Now, I’m sure you are honest and trustworthy, but how do you feel about being tarred with the 'untrustworthy' brush, by association, if nothing else??

Could there be a correlation between how Sellers are perceived and their general lack of success (depending on which stats you believe, 80% of Sellers win just 20-30% of their sales)?

It’s not a stretch to suggest there is.

If there is a correlation, we should expect Sellers who are well-regarded to be more successful than those who aren’t. There is ample evidence for that (DM me for citations), as if we need it.

We hardly need a study to conclude that Buyers prefer to buy from Sellers they trust and think well of than those they distrust and/or dislike. You need only reflect on your own experience as a Buyer.

What do you prefer?

Exactly.

And so, why are the majority of Buyers missing out on that?

It’s not, of course, that Sellers are inherently dishonest or without value. No, it’s not who they are that’s the problem. It’s what they do or more accurately, how they behave.

Consider the behaviors stereotypically associated with Sellers. They’re not endearing.

For the most part, we are seen as pushy, self-interested, and often worse, manipulative, and disingenuous. In short, not to be trusted.

If you trusted a person and thought them of value, you’d return their calls, wouldn’t you?

Why is it so?

Most Sellers, albeit well-intended, are using methods evolved over millennia and codified in the 20th Century. They are now well past their use-by date.[1] The 21st Century precipitated a tectonic shift in Buyer habits as the power of knowledge shifted from Sellers to Buyers, and Sellers simply haven’t adapted.

In a nutshell, traditional methods are oriented to the self-interested needs of sales organizations to sell something rather than to help Buyers make the best decision for them.

If you think that harsh, again, take a moment to reflect upon your own experience as a Buyer.

The desired skills and behaviors aren't rocket science. They’re defined in The Seller Code, which is no more than a list of the right (ethical and moral) things to do when engaging with Buyers.

Doing those things is more about mindset and behaviors than it is about skills. They are quite simple and mostly common sense (albeit I get that that isn't necessarily common!).

Becoming Buyer-Centric

Becoming Buyer-centric is a matter of learning to behave ‘naturally,’ ethically, authentically, and putting Buyers first as opposed to being ‘salesy’ (self-interested and pushy).

It is ironic that we need to learn how to be natural. Aren’t we naturally natural?

Well, no. We’re not buyer-centric naturals.

In sales situations, we instinctively become ‘salesy;’ we can’t help ourselves,.

...as I discussed in my artiticle Selling is in our DNA….Unfortunately’. And if we’ve had sales training that has likely made it worse!

Being natural sounds simple, and it is it’s just not easy because it’s not intuitive, which is true of lots of things. Once walking wasn’t natural for us, nor was bike riding. Those skills quickly became intuitive and thus natural because we kept practicing and there wasn’t really a wrong way to do it. You did it the right way or you fell over/fell off.

However, that’s not true of selling. The intuitive way is the wrong way. You don't fall off anything, you just don't win as many sales as you should!

It is like snow skiing. Newbies intuitively lean back when we should lean forward. That feels challenging at first, but with practice, it becomes easier. Similarly, when learning:

…golf, we intuitively hit the ball hard. However, less force makes it easier.

…tennis, we intuitively grip too tight. Relax, and it becomes easier.

...rock climbing, we intuitively rely on arms. Use your legs, and it is easier.

and so on.

You get the picture.

So when we first sell, be it as kids on a lemonade stand, at a garage sale on the front lawn, or in business, we intuitively extol the virtues of our product. We are ‘salesy’. And the more we do it, the more embedded that behavior becomes.

And so countering that intuition is hard. Not talking about yourself or your product, not asking leading questions, not pitching and so on, is hard because we’re so used to doing it. It’s intuitive. It’s natural!

Being a Buyer-Centric 'Natural'

Because we humans are creatures of habit and buyer-centric behavior is not intuitive, it takes repetitive practice to acquire those habits.

The reason most Sellers fail most of the time is that they have NEVER learned to overcome their instincts. Attending training courses doesn't count. That isn't learning; it is attending. And so, they fail for the same reasons, over and over again.

There is just one way to become ‘natural.’ Like acquiring any new skill or behaviour, it takes repetitive practice.

Buyer-centric behaviors must become embedded in our brain. Like muscle memory.

Again, we intuitively know that. And yet Sellers rarely practice their craft. I often ask the question ‘would you fly in an airplane where the pilot had practised his/her craft as much as the average Seller practices theirs?’ I’ve bever had a ‘yes!’

Why is that? I do have some thoughts, which I’ll save for another article. For now, though, I will make a call on how much I believe Sellers should practice: a minimum of two hours per week (just 5% of 40 hours), either in mock Buyer conversations (roleplay) or in preparing/rehearsing real calls. That is based my experience of creating a number of elite sales teams.

And that is a minimum. It's not that much.

Do you know of any elite performer e.g., sports person, performance artist etc, who spends just 5-10% of their time practicing?

?? ?? ??

Found this post useful and want to see more?

1. Ring the ?? on my Profile

2. Follow me

3. Connect with me

#thesalesnatural

#salestips

#valuselling

#saleseffectiveness

hashtag#thesellercode

[1] If indeed those methods ever did work. Sellers were more successful then, but not because of their methods. It was that Buyers were less well-informed and thus more dependent on them.