Your Test Results – Selling with the Buyer’s Perspective
by Ton Verleg
Hundreds of loyal ‘the salesadvice.com’ followers have done the selling with the Buyer’s Perspective test. Thank you. Now you are, of course, curious how well you did. Below you see once more the 25 statements that you were asked to score yourself against from 1 to 5.
1=Never True; 2=Rarely True; 3=Sometimes True; 4= Mostly True; 5=Always True
In the header of each statement, you see what the ideal score is. Then by clicking on the header, you will find further elaboration and suggestions on how to improve your score. I make this introduction short because there is already a lot to read. Good luck!
1. In conversations with customers, I am focused on making a sale and closing the deal (1).
2. In my preparation, I focus on learning about the customer’s business challenges, industry trends, economic pressures and how I can help mitigate risk and capture opportunities (5).
3. On a regular basis, I check in with the customer, asking if they need something right now, if something has changed or if they have time to meet with me (1).
4. To discover what the customer needs, I lead the conversation by asking many situational questions (1)
5. To close deals, I focus on finding and speaking to the decision-maker as soon as possible (1)
6. During conversations with prospects, I often focus on finding pain points and dissatisfaction with the incumbent competitor. Then I can link these needs to the solution I sell (1)
7. To influence the customer to make a change, I often lead with ‘competitor battle cards’ (to differentiate from the main competitor) (1)
8. In conversations with customers and prospects, my focus is on how I can contribute to new growth and better profits for the customer (5)
9. In my preparation, I focus on learning what the customer does as a business. Often that is enough for me to start the meeting (1)
10. To get an appointment, I share valuable information that justifies the stakeholders’ time to meet with me. I have an agenda worthwhile I share before the meeting (5)
11. To get an insight across to my stakeholders, I often share a story (5)
12. I often lead meetings with who we are and the products, services and solutions I sell (1)
13. Depending on where stakeholders are in their buying process, I share relevant insights and help them with identifying reasons to change from their current situation (5)
14. More often than not, to differentiate from the competitors, I need to sell on price (1)
15. My conversations with customers are a lot on how we can do things different operationally (1)
16. My real competitor is within the customer’s organization. (5)
17. I often meet only with one or two stakeholders before I prepare a proposal. (1)
18. When discussing a proposal I talk mainly about features, advantages and benefits and why we are different from the competitor (1)
19. In each stage of the buying process, I know what I would like the stakeholder to discover, how to go about that and what commitments I would like to hear from them. (5)
20. In my meetings with the customer’s middle and senior managers, I share ideas and insights on how the customer can advance strategically over their competitors. (5)
21. I often share with my prospects that sticking with their status quo will not deliver the results they are looking for. (5)
22. I meet with multiple stakeholders to understand where they are in the buying process and how I can influence their perspectives. (5)
23. My sales acumen drives the majority of the meetings I have with customers about change. (1)
24. I never sell on price. I know that gaining consensus is the new closing. (5)
25. My business acumen drives the majority of the meetings I have with customers about change (5)
The closer you score to 73 means you have adapted well to the new way of selling. If your score is far away from that, spend time reviewing where you scored not so well and how you can improve. Changing habits is difficult. Not changing is risky. Discuss your score with your manager and discuss your action plan. I hope you have found this helpful in your transformation to become a Trusted Advisor and Sell with the Buyer’s Perspective.
Author: CROAdmin
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