Countering: The Customer Isn't Always Right
Sales and marketing alignment is critical for middle-market companies to either expand into enterprise territory or increase revenue for long-lasting company success. In today’s episode of Aligned, our host Sean is joined by the Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly, to discuss the centricity model and how limiting bad customer behaviors can help generate more sales for your organization.
RFPs: a bad (but well-intentioned) customer behavior:
- The centricity model, discussed in prior podcast episodes, helps frame a seller’s mindset to better understand buyer behavior (especially bad buyer behavior.)
- RFPs, or requests for proposals, are standard for many B2B organizations, espeically those connected with governments.
- While well-intentioned, these can quickly become a systemic problem where the buying organization opts for the cheapest option rather than the one that provides the most value.
Don’t invent on the fly; build a plan and a model to produce more revenue.
- Building relationships with the individuals in purchasing companies helps you understand the reasoning behind the RFP instead of piggybacking off of an existing deal.
- Remember why a company might want to create an RFP: to create the best deal. As a seller and provider of a service, asking practical questions is the key to understanding the actual value an organization needs.
- If an organization is focused on utilizing the RFP, create options that aren’t dependent on a large-scale implementation, like a department or select area of use.
RFPs are done with good intent, but why don’t they get the best results?
- Would you hire your lawyer or accountant based on the lowest bid?
- In the process of generating bids, the best client is typically never the one willing to undercut every other competitor to win the bid.
Overcoming the RFP through countering:
- Countering is a technical term for substituting an improper path the buyer is currently on with a better one. (If someone is trying to quit smoking, a counter would be to enjoy a lollipop.)
- The behavior a buyer is in is the very reason they’re seeking a solution. So even if we understand a habit is wrong, it’s still a habit and takes effort to correct it.
- Countering isn’t about ending the bad habit but instead replacing the bad habit with a more constructive one.
Centricity informs you where the buyer is.
- One of the most common mistakes is a lack of trust. Because sales and marketing are focused on the end objective, we offer end solutions too quickly.
- As soon as someone doesn’t listen or demonstrate listening before offering a solution, the solution likely won’t be accepted.
- In the middle-stage sales cycle, sellers should restate the problem. Especially if the buyer seems hesitant about further pursuing a solution, reminding them about the problem (and mentioning issues they stated experiencing three weeks prior) is a great way to put them back on track.
Tune in to our past episode with Donald discussing reward behaviors on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and connect with Donald on LinkedIn or at thesalesevaneglist.com for more information and content.
This episode is sponsored in part by FitzMartin’s Sales and Marketing Alignment:
Why does proper sales and marketing alignment result in a 32% average lift in revenue? Because a unified company centered around its prospects can’t help but thrive.
FitzMartin’s Sales and Marketing Alignment program will analyze your current sales and marketing structure to deliver a plan based on the needs of your prospects, bringing you increased revenue, expansion opportunities, and (above all) a unified front when communicating with prospects.
To set your company up for success, visit fitzmartin.com/solutions to discover how to unify your sales and marketing for the best results.
This episode is sponsored in part by Fitzmartin’s Organization and Culture Alignment:
Company culture and retention are directly connected. After all, if you fail to build good company culture, you fail to retain top talent. At FitzMartin, we help leaders like you raise their NPS scores from the low 60s to the high 80s (and, more importantly, present a plan to help you do the same.)
Create your company culture based on a shared mission to attract and retain top talent. Visit fitzmartin.com/solutions to learn more.