Meet your biggest competitor: status quo.
The end goal of marketing and sales is generating business. Ideally, not just qualified leads or even sales-opportunities, but signed contracts. Turning leads into deals is a matter of switching 2 letters, if you’re playing Scrabble. However, in real-life there’s much more to it! Especially if you are unaware of your biggest competitor: status quo.
According to The Sales Benchmark Index, 58 percent of deals in the sales pipeline end in ‘no decision’. Basically, this represents 3 out of 5 opportunities previously qualified as ‘of interest’ to the company. Did the qualification go wrong and are Sales reps spending valuable time on less relevant leads? Perhaps… Or are the Sales rep just not demonstrating enough value, or creating enough urgency to break the status quo? Possibly…
The truth is that ‘Sales equals Change’. It means a new product/solution, different vendor, possibly even a different way of working… and by nature, people don’t like change. It’s scary, unknown and with an outcome that might be worse than your current situation. This creates doubt about whether to change at all, no matter how appealing a new solution might be. Add to this the complexity of the growing number of people involved in the Buying Process, currently 6.8 according to Gartner / CEB. Therefore, 7 unique views, 7 separate opinions, 7 different objectives – each one with influence over the deal. Consequently, the only way to get it signed is to help your customer reach an internal consensus.
While most marketing and sales approaches are still focused on ‘Why work with us’, you need to first make sure that your prospect is willing to change at all. Why else would they spend time with you, whether it be reading your valuable (digital) content or speaking with a Sales rep in person? If you are not able to answer the ‘Why Change’ and ‘Why Now’ questions, don’t bother spending time on pitching your solution and company.
No one said that marketing and sales would be, or become, easier. Today the complexity is higher than ever before due to everything mentioned above, and many other factors too. However, if you can improve your sales effectiveness and efficiency – even just a notch -, you will be able to increase your overall sales productivity. Feel free to reach out to have a chat about this intriguing topic. We have some inspirational ideas and services that will help you reach that end goal (to drive more business), and beat the status quo!
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