Sales Training Article: 3 Steps to Understanding Buying Behavior, Continued

By John Kenney, Sales Benchmark Index (SBI)

(This article is a continuation from Monday's post, "3 Steps to Understanding Buying Behavior")

Question: What did the buyer already know when they formally engaged with your sales team?

Focus on the buyer's use of web resources - white papers, blogs, on-line demos, videos, product specifications, ROI calculators, etc. Inventory your own on-line resources and your competitor's. Provide the buyer with a checklist to remind them of their journey.

Include other Marketing resources - events, newsletters, outbound messaging, advertising, etc. Inventory these resources and create a checklist. Be sure to ask which resources had the most significant impact or value in the discovery process.

Ask where your sales team was able to add value or help to advance the buyer's discovery that could not be learned by the other resources. What knowledge gaps did the sales team fill?

If the buyer used a documented evaluation process (spreadsheet or matrix), ask them to share it with you. For each decision criterion, what evidence or resource did they use? How were the factors weighted?

2. Interview non-customers of lost opportunities

This can be a bit more challenging, since you normally do not have a strong relationship with non-customers. Their insights are especially valuable because they can pinpoint an essential ingredient that your sales process may be missing.

The questions are similar to those asked of new customers, but the focus is on closing the gap between you and your competitors.

Focus on the non-customer's use of web resources. What resources did the winning competitor provide that aided their discovery journey? Using your inventory checklist, ask what was missing from your online resources.

Ask questions to spot where your sales team failed to advance the buyer's discovery process. What was redundant and time-wasting? What knowledge gaps did the sales team fail to fill?

3. Construct a Buyer's Discovery Map

Synthesize your findings by using a flowchart to build a discovery timeline. The end result will be a buyer's discovery map that will enable your sales and marketing team to understand how to intersect with the buyer and immediately add value.

Identify general patterns in the discovery process of your sample population. Note the sequence that the resources are engaged.

Use the discovery map to train your salespeople on the buyer's process. This will save time during sales calls and build credibility. Your sales team should let buyers know that they will not waste their time because they understand the buying process.

Provide your sales team with stories about how other buyers have approached the discovery. These help to build rapport with buyers who are currently making the same journey.

Avoid unproductive and potentially damaging sales calls. The steps outlined above require time and resources, but the investment will pay big dividends. Knowing your buyer's discovery process - their buying behavior - will put your sales team ahead of the competition and enable your sales process to deliver world-class performance.

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