Home / Posts tagged "Trigger Events"

What if you could defeat the Status Quo0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

All this week I have posted clips from a recent interview with Ago Cluytens, for his Coaching Masters Series. We dealt with a number of issues around selling to buyers who are traditionally referred to as being Status Quo. Being the weekend, I thought it a good time to post the whole interview for your weekend lounging pleasure.

Always interested in what you think, and whether you are more prepared to go forth and sell where many sellers and pundits fear to go. Take a look, and let me know.

If you enjoy this there are more on Ago’s site.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Apr 27th, 2013 Ability, Accountability, Action, Attitude, Business Acumen, Buying Process, Change Management, Client Life Cycle, Communication Strategy, Don't Wait, EDGE Sales Process, Emotion, Emotional Intelligence(EQ), Events, execution, Gap Selling, Interactive Selling, Interview, Leadership, Listening, Next Steps, Planning, Play to Win, Proactive Triggers, Sales Interview, Sales Leadership, Sales Process, Sell Better, Selling to Executives, Status Quo, Trigger Events, Triggers, Video

Accountability, Attitude, Change Management, Client Life Cycle, Commitment, Communication, Don't Wait, EDGE Sales Process, execution, how to sell better, Interview, Listening, Planning, Play to Win, Proactivity, Renbor Sales Solutions Inc., Sales Process, Sales Success, sell better, Selling to Executives, Trigger Event Selling, Trigger Events, Triggers, Video

Emotion + Risk in Getting Buyers to React and Act! (#video)0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Today I feature the third excerpt from my discussion with Ago Cluytens, for one his Coaching Masters Series interviews. Today we look at the roles played risk and emotion in getting buyers to not only react, but act.

In Monday’s clip, I talked about the fact that you don’t need to waste time in waiting for an event to engage with a potential buyer, what you are looking for is the reaction, not the event. Two things that get reactions every time are risk and emotion.

But while it is true that buyers buy on emotion and the rationalize that decision, it is also true that there are other factors such as risk, stories, sounds, and other factors a seller can leverage to get a buyer to react and more importantly to act. It is easy to get a ready buyer to react and act, but you need to use many things to get a complacent buyer to engage, react and act.

Take a look:

If you would like to see the entire discussion you can either visit my You Tube channel, or go the Ago’ site by clicking here. Always open to comments and views.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Be Provocative in Demonstrating Results (#video)0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Monday I shared a clip from a discussion with Ago Cluytens, for one his Coaching Masters Series. Today’s second clip looks at the need to be provocative in gaining traction with entrenched potential buyers.

The challenge many of in sales face is the entrenched buyer who is reluctant to look at new or alternative means of achieving his/her goals. This is usually due to the fact that they are entrenched in how they are doing things now, feels there are too many resources needed to make a change, and a host of other reasons. In order to get engagement, we need to demonstrate the results we can deliver and the positive and measurable impact we will directly deliver to their business and attaining their goals. In a WIIFM world it is about the What, not how of how they get there.

Here is more:

If you would like to see the entire discussion you can either visit my You Tube channel, or go the Ago’ site by clicking here. Always open to comments and views.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Why Waste Time Waiting for Events – Trigger The Reaction – Sales eXchange 197 (#video)0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to sit down with Ago Cluytens, for one his Coaching Masters Series interviews. All this week, the posts will feature snippets of the interview, below we will also tell you where you can find the whole interview, but now let’s go to the first extract.

Trigger Events are fine, but there is no escaping that you have to wait for the “event”. But here’s the deal, what you are leveraging is not the event, but the buyer’s reaction to the event. So why not take the training wheels off, forget the “event”, and learn to trigger the reaction without having to wait, with the others looking for the same sign.

Take a look at what I mean.

If you would like to see the entire discussion you can either visit my You Tube channel, or go the Ago’ site by clicking here. Always open to comments and views.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

One common objection sales people face when making prospecting calls, is when the potentially prospect says “now is not the right time”. While timing is important, and understanding how specific triggers can help improve your timing, the fact remains that perfecting your timing will only help you in a very (very very) small way, in a very narrow part of you potential prospect segment. Here is why.

Timing is only important with two buyer groups, Passive, those who have realized the Status Quo no longer meets their requirements, and have decided to learn or check out “what’s out there”. Not actively looking, but getting feelers out, looking at some web sites, information, getting acclimatized, hence Passive. The other group are those Active buyers who have decided to buy, even what to buy, is now just down to where and from whom; this is where the order takers thrive. But together these two groups are a small part of the market, maybe 30%, but the remaining 70%, the Status Quo, timing, will by definition always be off. As a result, you have two choices, the popular choice for many whose business cards say Sales Representative, is to avoid prospecting and fully engaging with these potential buyers; taking the advice of some questionable experts who will encourage them to “nurture”. “After some nurturing, when they are ready, they will call you, since you stuck with them.” OK

So if you want to really change the outcome, read make more sales and generate more revenue, you need to work on the Status Quo, the 70% where you will always be too early, the 70% where other fear to tread.

The reality of timing is it will ALWAYS be either too Late or too Soon. If they are Passive or Active buyers, it will always be too late, and if they are in Status Quo, it will always be too early, because they do not perceive a “need”, until something changes and it needs to be NOW.

That being said, it is not as difficult to overcome the challenge as some will make you believe. First resolve to engage the entire market, including those currently removed from the market. Because you not only know that their circumstance will change, and what may seem too early becomes, “I need it now”, but given your experience you know what is likely to be the catalyst for that change, the challenges they will face and the solution they will need to resolve it.

How? By studying and understanding what led to that moment in the past with existing clients, prospects, and deals that did not go your way. Once you know this, by tracking deals you’ve won, lost and those that ended in no decision. You will understand what events led up to and caused the change, with that you can prepare, position and act. It takes work, sometimes boring work, but with the right tools, and right approach, you can take timing and turn it your way.

By studying past outcomes and inputs, you can take proactive steps to ensure that you don’t enter the fray too late, and always capitalize on opportunities other sales people and prospects will say is too soon.

It is never the right time if you relinquish control, and always the right time if you are willing to put in the work, and ask, “is it ever the right time?”

Next Step

Call everyone, not just the easy targets
Understand where they may be based on experience
You dictate the time

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Just before the holidays I was invited to sit down with David Wojcik of “In Business” to talk about sales, specifically about the content of the book I co-authored on trigger events. I found it interesting in a number of ways, especially since David is not in sales. He focused on different areas than some sales people do when discussing the book.

httpvh://youtu.be/Dm-QS7C_iWk

I was also able to relate to a musician friend who always finds it difficult talking about his last CD. While the CD discussed in interviews may be the most current available in the market, he is usually focused on his current project, which is the next release. Being more than half way in my current book, it was interesting going back to concepts that were current two years ago; also interesting to see how ones thinking on sales progresses. It was rewarding for me, you be the judge when the book is released.

What’s in our Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Turn Trigger Events Into Exceptional Buyer Experiences34

The Pipeline Guest Post – Tony Zambito

When trigger events occur, they represent a unique moment in time for you and the buyer to establish a trusted relationship. This unique moment in time may be one that may never occur again. The question is: are you ready when this moment in time actually happens?

There is a high degree of importance in being ready for trigger events. These events, as articulated by Craig Elias and Tibor Shanto, not only offer sales opportunities but offer the opportunity to create buyer experiences that can result in long-term loyalty. Ultimately, while the end goal in responding to a trigger event is a sale, the ability to establish a long-term relationship will hinge largely on the experiences a buyer has during the response. There are several ways you can be ready to turn trigger events into buyer experiences that keep buyers calling you when trigger events occur:

Buyer Intelligence

How much do you really know about your potential buyer’s organization when a trigger event occurs? Buyers today have high expectations and one of those is the expectation that you are already grounded in knowing something about them. If they are on your target list, are you keeping up with alerts on the events that are occurring with this buyer’s organization? More importantly, are you aware of the events leading up to a trigger event? Demonstrating intelligence about their organization translates into exceptional buyer experiences. Why? Because trigger events are fraught with emotions and one thing a buyer is seeking is confidence that the situation is going to end in a resolution. Knowledge breeds confidence.

Buyer Persona

How well do you know your buyer persona? A buyer persona is an archetypal representation of your buyers that is derived from qualitative research. Buyer personas are a means for encapsulating a deep understanding of buyer goals that directly influence purchase decisions. As a sale executive, have you supported your teams with a fundamental understanding of who your buyers are and what goals drive their responses and decisions? The ability to address buyer goals responsively during a trigger event is paramount to the buyer having an exceptional buyer experience.

Buyer Learning

There is a good bet that a buyer and his team may be facing a trigger event situation for the first time or it has been a good length of time since a previous event had occurred. Sharing knowledge and providing a learning opportunity for buyers gets you a seat at the table of trusted advisors. How prepared are you to share how similar customers have resolved similar situations? What type of content and documents do you have prepared to share that are specific to trigger events? A trigger event is time to go “off messaging” and to demonstrate your role as a trusted advisor with substance. Enable an exceptional buyer experience by providing your buyers with learning opportunities that they will want to share with their peers.

Buyer Stakeholders

In most circumstances, a buyer is the focal point that represents various stakeholder groups within an organization. You can be sure that the buyer has these groups on his or her mind during a trigger event. How much are they on your mind? All eyes are on the buyer by these various stakeholder groups during a trigger event. And all eyes are on you as well. They are looking for a solution to what may be a very challenging situation or perhaps are in crisis mode. Are you prepared to address how your role and your solution address various stakeholder groups? Are you gaining access to such groups to understanding the impact of the trigger event in their area? Understanding and addressing stakeholder concerns provides opportunities for exceptional buyer experiences to be shared enterprise-wide.

To succeed with trigger events requires a high degree of readiness. It is the degree of readiness that plays a pivotal role in turning trigger events into exceptional buyer experiences. As mentioned at the start of this article, trigger events represents a unique moment in time that perhaps may never occur again. You may have only one opportunity to demonstrate your ability to be seen as a trusted advisor and to provide an exceptional buyer experience. Are you ready?

About Tony Zambito

Tony Zambito is Founder and Principal of Goal Centric, a buyer strategy consulting firm. Goal Centric is also the originator of the buyer persona methodology. Tony is launching BUYEROLOGY™ as a new means of understanding buyer behavior. Tony also served in the role of Vice President in Sales and Marketing capacities for TRW, Knight-Ridder, and Compaq (HP). He holds a B.S. in Business and an M.B.A. in Marketing Management. Read Tony’s blog Buyerology Now for insightful commentary on changing buyer behavior.

Dec 30th, 2011 Attitude, execution, Guest Post, Planning, Proactive Triggers, Sales Strategy, Sales Success, Sales Technique, Trigger Events, Triggers

execution, Guest Post, how to sell better, Renbor Sales Solutions Inc., Sales Skills, Sales Success, Sales Technique, Trigger Events, Triggers

What’s in Your Pipeline? – Attitude10

What’s In Your Pipeline? A question I have been asking of sales types of all sorts for years, a question that most should be able to answer with relative ease and conviction. Sadly this is not always the case, and I get almost as many different types of answers as there are people who respond to it.

Recently someone turned the table on me asked me why I ask that question and what my view is on what should be in your pipeline. Today is the first of a few videos where I answer the above.

As usual, I invite you to have your two cents, and view all our videos at Renbor’s You Tube channel Sell Better.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Over the last few weeks the video posts have dealt with some of the challenges around prospecting by phone and reaching potential prospects. We looked at the role of voice mail, e-mail, and alternative means of communication we can use to proactively reach people we want to engage. The goal is to avoid waiting for external events to trigger engagement, to connect with buyers ahead of other sellers and before a specific event puts them in the market. Taking a proactive approach in triggering engagement.

Today we look at what you need to do when you do in fact connect with the target of your call. How to initiate the conversation, what to avoid, and how to deal with the inevitable objections.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWKtqKdZ2n0

As always, I encourage you to be proactive, not wait for events, and manage your own success.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

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Last week I was involved in two on line events that looked at selling today and reconfirmed a basic fact of sales that does separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to professional B2B selling. At its core, the discussion comes down to being Proactive vs. Reactive and passive, the latter describing the efforts of the majority of sales people today.

On Wednesday, I had the privilege of participating in a Top Sales World Roundtable, answering whether Selling is Getting Soft. The answer was that indeed sales was, but it was interesting to see how the real question and discussion turned to whether sellers were being to passive, reactive and readily abdicating part of their mandate, letting the buyer dictate the outcome good or bad, because relationships are more important than sales. Becoming the client’s “favourite”, these days being more important than being a value based resource, proactively delivering that value through a proper sale and execution, thus putting the seller in waiting mode based on the buyers’ travels and whims.

On Thursday I presented the second in a series of webinars for Social Selling University; in March we did part 1, Triggers 101 – Events, and this week, Advanced Triggers – A Proactive Approach to Client Acquisition. The second presentation built out on the core lessons learned in leveraging events, now extending them in a way that does not limit you to waiting for an event to dictate your fate and success, or having to spend time making oneself “a favourite” while waiting for something to happen that is out of your control.

In both events, the key take away for sales professionals is that “you are in charge of your success”. You can take steps and make the effort to not only benefit from arbitrary events, but that the same actions that help you leverage events when they eventually take place, can and should be used in a proactive way to help buyers take action based on the impact rather than the cause. Get buyers to be motivated by the opportunity to be better, the impact of their actions; achieve the same responses that an event may cause, but we in advance of the event. Motivate buyers using the solution not an event. Done right, this will leave you to act and execute well in advance of all the other sellers who are all waiting for the same event.

Once empowered with the understanding that it is the reaction not the event that counts, you can focus on creating the reaction rather than suffering the softness caused by inaction and waiting.

As Anthony Iannarino pointed out during the Roundtable, “There is no sales metric for waiting!”

Initiate – Don’t Wait!
Tibor Shanto

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1 2 Next »

What's In Your Pipeline?

What if you could defeat the Status Quo0

Emotion + Risk in Getting Buyers to React and Act! (#video)0

Be Provocative in Demonstrating Results (#video)0

Why Waste Time Waiting for Events – Trigger The Reaction – Sales eXchange 197 (#video)0

Is It Ever A Good Time? – Sales eXchange – 14957

In Business Interview22

Turn Trigger Events Into Exceptional Buyer Experiences34

What’s in Your Pipeline? – Attitude10

Contact – Now What?11

Don’t Wait – Initiate! – Sales eXchange – 9411