If only we were as smart as… Baseball players?!?

You know your market. You know your prospects and their challenges. You know what they need to hear and what dynamic creates a good selling environment. What you are probably not doing, is articulating this formula for success in a way that allows your team to duplicate it. Imagine a major league baseball pitcher on the mound in a playoff game. The count is 2-2 and there is a runner on third with two outs. In the history of baseball has this scenario ever occurred? Has it ever occurred for this hitter, this pitcher and these teams? Of course! The pitch selection will not be based on what the pitcher feels like throwing. Instead, it will be based on statistical analysis of the hitter’s tendencies. Before he got to the plate, the pitcher, the catcher, and the manager already know what is most likely to get him out based on his past at bats. Business should operate this intelligently as well.

In order to elevate your sales game, you must build a system that is designed to engage your market. Hiring prospectors that can probe for information while qualifying prospects will allow you to tailor each sales pitch for specific dynamics. As your reps receive escalated leads from the sales machine, they also receive the kind of details that will tell them exactly how to close each lead. For example, I am sure that you are aware of how your competitors sell against you and how they sell to clients. That would mean that you also know where they fall short of your company. So therefore, knowing if your competitor has spoken to a client or if a prospect is using a competitor will allow you to pitch solely based on the advantages you bring to the table. This kind of comparative selling can be very effective given the right dynamic. However, if your reps are not aware of these details and they walk in to sell based on advantages, your client is now informed that there are other companies that not only do what you do, but that are obviously competitive. That is a very surface level example, but one that I know sales reps deal with all of the time.

Here is a better example that requires the tools that we use at Defiant Sales. If you are in a competitive selling process with a client, chances are good that your reps are trained to go in and sell predicated on “raw” product or service advantages. The problem with that can be illustrated by you spending five minutes online. Look at the articulated sales arguments that your company puts out. Now go visit your competitor’s web sites. See anything similar. Let me take a guess; better service, better quality, accreditations, number of years in business, client referrals, fast delivery or implementation, etc… These are all “me too” statements. While they may vary from industry to industry, the premise is still the same. Everyone is selling on the things that your industry perceives to matter to the prospects in that market. Now ask yourself this question; “How old is your industry?” Is there a chance that newer concerns may have surfaced in the last 30 years? How about 20 years? How about 5 years? It’s time to start doing your homework. What if the number one concern is the transition process itself? What kind of advantage would that be to your reps if they were the only company addressing what actually matters to the people you aim to do business with? Imagine four other companies talking about the “me too” statements put out by the entire industry. In walks your rep, addressing the real concerns and they are the only one even talking about them. Who has the upper hand? That’s right, you do! Delving into market dynamics and extrapolating meaningful data is a tool that we bring to the table.

Now imagine building your company’s market positioning around the actual things that matter to your prospects. Imagine plugging that into a sales machine that contacts hundreds of prospects a week and escalates the leads that are “warm” to your sales staff. The sales process you will have built cannot be touched by your competitors because they have no idea what you are doing! By the time they catch on, the market will have cycled and new elements of your industry will be the concerns of the day. Again, you will know, they will not! These are the kinds of advantages you must have to dominate your industry. Elevating to number one does not happen by blending in with your competition! It only happens when you are smarter, and more aggressive.