Sales Thinking Self Test

Here’s the Sales Growth quote of the day:“To think is not enough; you must think of something.” Jules RenardRenard’s quote is right on the money. It’s not enough for sellers to think; they must think of something.Many people believe sellers today are too scripted and formulaic in their selling. In other words, unthinking.Certainly some sellers fall into that pattern.We see evidence of this in studies that show declining close rates and increasing "No-Decision” rates in B2B sales. However, I believe the issue for most sellers is not that they don’t think. It's that they are not being educated to think about the right things.I frequently experience this in my conversations with sellers. Those who experience low win rates and high rates of "No Decision” decisions typically have a weakness in core sales skills like discovery and qualification. Which mean they're spending sales time they can’t afford to waste with prospects that aren’t prepared to buy from them.There’s a simple way for sellers to do a Sales Thinking Self Test; to determine if they are thinking of the right things. It’s a single question they must be able to answer about every opportunity in their pipelines:“What value does the buyer need from me right now in order to move closer to making a decision?"If sellers want to think of something, it should be that. What value does your buyer need from you now to make progress in their buying process?If you don’t know the answer to that question for every opportunity in your pipeline, then you’re not paying attention and not thinking enough about what the buyer needs from you to make their decision.It also means that you don’t have a qualified prospect. Yet. You have some work to do.- Andy Paul