Buying Is About Losing The Status Quo but how to move them along the buyer journey?
There are three situations in any sale:
- Situation A: The customer buys from your competitor
- Situation B: The customer buys from you
- Situation C: The customer does nothing, so basically stays with their current option
You won’t believe it but 60% of all high ticket B2B opportunities remain in situation C. Customer does nothing or become quiet. Why? It’s mainly because changing the status quo is just not that important for them.
“Importance” consists of 2 main components: Value and Relevance
Your offer might be valuable and would do good to their business. “With our solution you can save 12% of your mobile phone bills. I can even calculate the ROI for you.”
Depending on the industry or vertical this type of value proposition might not be that relevant for them as you think it is.
While value is something we are all aware of and we build that into our sales messages, relevance is something we typically do not have on our radar.
To be clear: if your technical buyer does not have “cost cutting on communication expenses” on this year’s agenda, score card, goal sheet or bonus plan he WILL NOT have a serious discussion with you about your mobile phone bill cost saver offer. It would be a distraction and simply not relevant enough for him at the moment.
6 STEPS GO-TO-MARKET CHECKLIST FOR "B2B GERMANY"
Applicable For Software And Services Companies That Want To Successfully Work The German Speaking Market.
How can you become more relevant to your buyer?
Realistically there are only 3 ways:
- Change your target market. Some industries, verticals, geographies, company sizes might feel the pain you are trying to solve as more relevant than others.
- Identify windows of opportunity in your target market. Sales triggering events like legislative changes, labor market changes, mergers and acquisitions, etc. often lead to changes in priorities.
- Link your solution to one of their most severe pain points. Find out what “keeps them up at night” and articulate how your offer can easy one of their biggest pains.
What to do if none of the above seems to be a proper option?
Honestly? Nothing – or change your business direction.
There’s a reason why there are no “square bananas for more efficient logistics”.
