Selling is influence stop telling. In this episode Judith Germain speaks to Greg Nutter about the common mistakes B2B sales people and companies make.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t spend too much time talking about your product – focus on solving the customer’s problems and opportunities
- Influence through asking questions, not telling – get the customer thinking
- Plan and strategise around the customer’s buying process, not just your selling process
- Ensure management understands and adopts the sales methodology
- Marketing should create content aligned with the customer’s buying stage
- AI may displace sellers who only pitch products, but not those who understand the buying process
Topics
Mistakes B2B Sellers Make
- Talking too much about their product instead of the customer’s problems/opportunities
- Telling instead of asking questions to influence the customer’s thinking
- Lack of planning and strategising for sales interactions and pipeline management
Mistakes Companies Make
- Following a rigid selling process instead of aligning to the customer’s buying process
- Lack of management involvement and adoption of the sales methodology
- Disconnect between marketing content and what sellers need for each buying stage
The P3 Selling Model
- Focus on influencing perspectives around Problems, People, and Process
- Understand the customer’s buying decision process, not just your selling process
- Ask questions to increase awareness of current state and suggest new perspectives
Navigating Sales Complexity
- More decision makers, risk aversion, and access to information means longer buying cycles
- Influence through good questioning tailored to the buyer’s current stage
- Integrate marketing and sales by creating content for each buying stage
AI’s Impact on Sales
- AI may replace sellers who only pitch products and company info
- Sellers who understand buying processes and can influence thinking will remain valuable
- Intuition, empathy and understanding the buyer’s situation gives an edge over AI
In this conversation Judith Germain and Greg Nutter discusses two key challenges companies face in sales: 1) Lack of management involvement and adoption of sales methodologies, and 2) Misalignment between the company’s sales process and the customer’s buying process.
Greg Nutter is a management consultant where he helps business owners and senior sales executives solve revenue growth problems through direct, indirect, or multi-channel sales models. He is also the author of the Amazon Best Selling Book, ‘P3 Selling: The essentials of B2B Sales Success’.
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Greg Nutter can be found on LinkedIn here. Their website is here.
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