Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 37. Selling through the Eye of the Buyer

Steve Maul

InfoMentis

Business-to-business selling has changed. However, contrary to what one might believe, the change wasn't a result of someone discovering the secret sauce for better selling or the discovery of some mystical power of persuasion and influence or some archeologist unearthing a set of "best practice sales process" scrolls. It has changed primarily through the introduction, proliferation, and adoption of new technology that has empowered the customer, giving them the ability to do what they've long yearned for—to manage their buying process the way they want. For too long they've felt as though selling was something that was done "to them" rather than "with them." They've been subjected to vendors hoarding information, doling it out in whatever fashion best suited the vendor, as well as vendors presenting them with plan letters, telling them how to best "manage the evaluation"—methods that were designed for vendors to gain leverage over their customers and competitors.

Today, customers expect more from you than they have in the past, and they have most of the leverage now, and can demand your adherence to their processes. If you and your company are not seeing the process through the "eye of the buyer," and prepare yourselves to interact this way, you risk greater difficulty in your sales efforts and in competitive positions.

Certainly the degree to which each of your customers has adopted some of the techniques discussed ...