Do your sales people talk about “convincing” their customer?

We often hear from sales people that they need to “convince” the customer to buy. The Oxford Dictionary defines “to convince” as “causing someone to believe firmly that something is true, to persuade someone to do something, to talk into, talk round, win over or cajole”. This all sounds very much like the old days of door to door double glazing selling and it makes you stop and wonder just how the buyer feels and what type of conversion rate this will generate.

The buying experience should be a rewarding one. The buyer should be able to clearly see how the solution helps them achieve their needs and if this is delivered in a compelling and relevant way by the seller there is significantly little “convincing” to be done. This takes less effort by the seller and leaves the buyer’s door open to having future conversations. Are your buyers’ doors being left partially open or closed?

Selling is at the heart of winning with customers and must become a way of thinking for all commercial teams rather than a baton handover between them. The role of all functions is to consistently and repeatedly create better value for their customers so that they chose your products and services over the alternatives.

Unless selling direct to the consumer, the customer is your gatekeeper to them and therefore all functions would benefit from being more customer focused. For example, marketers around the world believe that their brand/product is relevant for all customers and often say as much when talking with sales. The reality is often very different driven by the skill and will of customers towards that category for example. The organisation’s interaction with a high skill/will customer should therefore look very different to one with low will/skill but this is rarely understood beyond the sales function and sometimes not within it. In our experience, sales teams know more about brands than branded marketers know about customers and when this imbalance is redressed it can be great catalyst for growth.

If you need more information on selling capability, call Sonia Johnson at The Quantic Group on +44 1252 616100.