A quick question before we begin.
How many of you reading this have sat through a boring sales presentation in the past day?
Week?
Month?
Probably quite a few.
Well, look at this chart.
It’s from Forrester research based on data from the Q4 2013.
It shows executive buyer responses to the question, “Are vendor salespeople frequently prepared for your meetings in the following ways?”
Before you roll your eyes and dismiss it as outdated stats, think about it.
It's 2021, but how much have these numbers changed?
When your salespeople are good enough / lucky enough to meet an executive-level buyer, you pat yourself on the back and think "home run, good to go".
Yet, executive buyers paint a different picture.
Let me give this to you as straight as I can.
Ready?
Brace for impact.
Salespeople suck.
And they suck a lot.
They fail to hit the mark with executives.
70 % aren’t prepared for the questions they ask.
76 % can't relate to their role and responsibilities.
75 % aren’t knowledgeable about their business.
77 % don’t understand the issues they're facing.
78 % don’t have examples or case studies that might provide context.
"70% of buyers want to speak with a rep but only 8% trust the rep they are working with." -Forrester
Do you get it?
Buyers want to work with reps who help them solve a business challenge, not reps who are there to sell them stuff.
If reps are leading with a product pitch, they’re doing it wrong.
In 2017, Forrester predicted “The Death of a (B2B) Salesman,” boldly claiming that one million B2B salespeople would be gone by 2020.
While I don't think salespeople will be truly replaced, Forrester brings up a valid point.
To survive, salespeople need to meet buyers where they are in their journey and focus on their specific needs.
They need to demonstrate they understand and care before buyers are going to consider purchasing. (Check this rant)
When they ditch boring PowerPoint pitch decks and flip the traditional sales funnel, they can go all-in on what matters. (Read this & this.)
Being relevant.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one shows how badly salespeople struggle to put out content that resonates with buyers.
Yup, crappy content continues to describe B2B environment.
By the way, the entire vocabulary of sales is a joke.
People love to talk about how they “closed” a deal.
You know what “close” means?
END.
A sale is supposed to start a relationship, not end a relationship.
What if we optimized our businesses and our cultures for relationships first and results second?
P.S. Like what you’re reading here? Well, you have three choices really.
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3. When you are ready to level up, hire me.
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