In a dynamic, high-value B2B sales environment, involving purchases related to expansion projects and renewals of existing relationships, consolidating one’s vendor base to a few, exclusive trusted partners is often the approach taken, over exploring what is “new” and “different” – an option that allows businesses to beat the current status quo. It is a risk seldom taken, as the influencers, motivators, and inhibitors that drive customer buying decisions are tough to decode even for the most seasoned of sales professionals.
Needless to say, a lost opportunity, or a customer deciding not to change or add a partner after a long evaluation and negotiation process is one of the most frustrating experiences for a sales professional. Many a times the provider is left wondering what better or more effective could have been offered to see the deal home, especially in the competitive world we live in today – when clients actively buying are probably lesser in most sectors, when competition is willing to cut prices just to win business, and when technology aided solutions are not viewed as an add on but considered a given.
Here are some emerging buying influencers that can help tilt the scales of conversion in your favour, learnt through the years and fortified through the challenges we all face in winning a client:
- Collective decision-making – If there is one lesson that the pandemic has reinforced for organizations, it is the power of collective decision making, when it comes to choosing the right partner for procuring the right fit services. Pre-Covid, departments like Procurement, HR / Admin, and Business stakeholders would take a chain flow approach, and pass on the baton to the next link in the chain, once their role in the evaluation and buying cycle was completed; towards the final authority, designated to take the decisive call.
Now, however, each function owner comes to the table with their reading glasses – Procurement to ensure cost effectiveness, User to ensure delivery within a cost framework, the CTO to determine a technology partner that can speak to and integrate with their tools, and business leaders to determine a partner who could scale along with their growth plans and partner them in their journey – each influencing the others and also the final outcome.
What does this translate into for the Sales rep or service provider aiming to gain a wallet share of the client?
- Your pitch, product, and solution need to have appeal at an organization level and not just department level
- Apart from showcasing the usual size, scale, stability, agility, etc. you should be able to effectively establish ease of doing business with your organization
- The solution you have to offer should have a positive and measurable impact on the productivity and efficiency at the client end, and one should be able to showcase how exactly this impact would be measured and evaluated over a period of time
- Technology integration – Needless to say, technology aided solutions even in the most routine of service offerings have an edge over solutions offered with minimal or no tech play.
So is digitizing or tech enabling your offerings enough to win a deal? The answer isn’t that simple.
- Your clients today not only evaluate your digital tools in terms of features, but also in terms of their source, sustainability and scalability. Clients want to be sure that once their teams, employees, and end-customers invest in the digital ecosystem you have to offer, the experience is going to be safe yet rewarding. Make sure to showcase the overall proposition and not just the feature-benefits of your digital offerings.
- A potential partner who can successfully demonstrate that their digital tools are integrated with the overall service delivery journey, and will simplify things on ground for both the client and partner, has a better chance of winning the deal than a partner who has added tech just as garnishing.
- Seamless customer experience across touch points – Covid-19 has completely altered customer experience and expectations in a way that is irreversible. Through the last year and a half, businesses across the board have faced and accepted the new reality of short staffed service providers, long wait times, low inventory and altered time windows of service. Therefore, service providers need to reflect on their learnings and relook how they want to knit their operations, delivery, account management and customer service into a seamless customer experience journey.
- Put your ear to the ground – listen to the client more than ever, understand the ecosystem in which they operate, the current and potential challenges they face and how your organization can help address the same, not just through what you are selling but what value-add you can bring to the table
- Customization is key – While we are all operating in a rapidly changing ecosystem with uncertainty playing in the back of our minds, clients seek a service provider that can make them feel safe and still be flexible and agile when the situation warrants
Therefore, in order to succeed, one’s pitch must no longer be about cost, features, benefits, or savings, rather, it is a comprehensive statement on how you are willing to understand what the client wants, their dynamics and concerns, and how you can ease the process through a proposition that showcases your expertise.
– By Nittin Nangia, Director Sales at Quess Corp Limited
