Turning buyers’ easy access to information from a threat into a competitive advantage
The ability of buyers to access information on potential suppliers is easier than ever, a trend that is directly correlated with a decrease in their desire to engage with sellers, particularly early in a purchasing process. While marketers and sellers also have additional channels to reach prospective customers, buyers are less reliant on them to learn about their offerings. Worse yet, alternative sources of information on products or services can range from positive to neutral to downright hostile-with the information itself often being incomplete or inaccurate. Sellers need to accept this reality and adjust the manner in which they interact with prospects.
The Starting Point
Public Relations, Marketing, and even Sales Enablement teams should proactively monitor what is being said about their company and its products/services, amplifying positive information and strategically combatting negative information. As resources and competency levels can vary dramatically in those functions, sellers should not rely on them. In addition to doing their own research, sellers should assume that all inbound leads and many prospects whom they’ve proactively contacted are coming to the table with pre-formed opinions-almost always about their company/product-and sometimes even about them as individuals.
While it’s important to acknowledge that an educated (or miseducated) buyer is the norm, sellers should not assume that they know specifically what the buyer’s opinion is. Uncovering initial opinions and biases should simply become a more important component of the initial engagement and discovery process.
The Salesperson’s Role in the Current Environment
Beyond merely acknowledging that buyers will come to discussions armed with more information than in the past, sellers need to resist the temptation to appear critical or defensive when confronted with opinions or information with which they don’t agree and/or is inaccurate. Modern buyers expect that sellers learn about them and their company/industry before contacting/meeting with them. Conversely, given that sellers don’t have the right to expect that buyers come to meetings fully prepared, they certainly don’t have the right to be annoyed when a buyer puts in the effort to do so. Instead, they should view their role as to learn about a buyer’s challenges and objectives and collaboratively working with them to determine what the best solution is for them-whether it be theirs, a competitor’s, or an internal one.
How to Get (most of) the Unfiltered Truth and Adjust Accordingly
Once a buyer understands that the seller is placing their needs first, the seller is then positioned to uncover a buyer’s predisposition in a constructive manner. When it comes to the tactical component, there is no need to overcomplicate things. A “less is more” approach is often the most effective. Start by acknowledging the degree to which and nature of what information is available to buyers. Depending on how established or well-known your company is, this will naturally vary.
Reinforcing the “I am here to help” ethos, sellers can begin with questions such as “I realize that there is a lot of information out there about my company, which can be confusing for our customers. To make best use of your time, what do you already know about us?”. Subsequent questions can include “Is there anything in particular that prompted you to take a meeting with me today?” and “Do you have any initial questions or concerns that I can help address for you?”.
While buyers won’t always show all of their cards, establishing a foundation of trust and asking questions in a manner that places the buyer’s interests first can go a long way towards successfully navigating the modern information-saturated buying environment. As many salespeople fail to do so, it presents the opportunity to establish a competitive advantage with limited effort required.
