Limp-along sales growth and a salesforce that’s stuck in a mink-lined rut are symptomatic of ‘Sameness Selling.’ And it may be more common than you imagine.
Just consider for a moment some of the main B2B sales problems today. Think about how issues like these can disrupt well-intended investments of time and resources in your sales call activity:
4 Issues Impacting Sales Call Effectiveness Right Now
- Companies use low price points to win sales because the salesforce doesn’t know how to differentiate product value and sell at higher prices.
- Buyers can’t stand most salespeople. They don’t want to see them, and why should they? The majority of salespeople can’t quantify their value effectively, can’t defend value in the face of price pushback, and they offer nothing in the way of new insights that can actually benefit the buyer’s decision-making process. The number one complaint from decision-makers is that salespeople waste their time.
- Salespeople are failing. A number of recent studies point to the fact that 1 out of 2 sales reps don’t hit their sales numbers annually, win rates are still going down across industries and less than 1 out of 10 customers believe that sales reps present clearly differentiated value messaging.
- Sales managers have high expectations. Most sales managers expect their salespeople to differentiate the company’s value effectively, make sales at higher prices and hit their numbers consistently. However, most companies have underinvested in sales training especially the type of training and tools needed to be successful in an environment where products or services are commoditized by customers.
All we have to do is look back a few years and we should recognize how B2B selling has been in a “Low Differentiation Era” for some time. The commoditization of products and services and supplier parity is prevalent. This gives salespeople little influence with decision-makers, especially if they aren’t equipped to communicate a compelling value message and differentiate from competitors in relevant, convincing ways.
“When salespeople communicate with a sameness solution message, the buyer won’t see what the salesperson assumes are obvious advantages.”
Is it any wonder why customers often choose to buy from low-priced providers? Or, they stick with the same status quo solution they’ve relied on for eons. When sameness selling is what they get from salespeople, customers stick with cheaper, customary options.
Many, if not most sales leaders don’t know how to solve this problem. As a result, the demand for highly effective sales training and consulting is significant. Wide-scale sameness among competitors has never been this prevalent and many-a-salesforce is trying to catch up with the times.
Revamping sales training can help but only if it is strongly focused on value-differentiated selling concepts that produce behavior change. Don’t waste your money on a one or two-day conventional seminar! Unless it involves learning that’s tailor fit to specific needs and selling scenarios, and it includes several months of repeat, sequential learning and follow-up coaching – it will produce mediocre results. Save your money, talk to me first.
Here Are 3 Ideas To Think About…
Good idea: Get boned up on how to handle the customer conversation about value.
Better idea: Learn how to create the value discussion with any buyer.
Best idea: Develop the ability to communicate a compelling value message that’s tailored to your customer’s value drivers while differentiating from competitors effectively.
“The Five Rules of Megavalue Selling,” is a roadmap to making sales by differentiating and articulating a convincing value message. Mark trains salespeople and advises sales managers and leaders on improving sales growth, customer experience and strategic account management.