Hot day... Hot take 🔥

I've noticed that sales starts to feel hard when it becomes too reactive

An enquiry arrives. An RFP lands. A customer asks a question

"Excellent! They like us. We're in here."

And off we go

Responding. Presenting. Quoting. Following up

But if we're honest we're often reacting to thinking that's already happened

The customer has been working things out before we arrived

They've been considering stuff like

- What's the problem?
- How important is it?
- Who needs to be involved?
- What are the risks?
- What does good look like?

The more of that thinking that happens without us the harder it becomes to influence

Which is why I've become increasingly interested in buying processes rather than sales processes

Sales processes tell us what WE want to happen

Buying processes tell us what the CUSTOMER is actually doing

That's a useful distinction

(Whether you like it or not... and some people just don't want to hear it)

How you structure your activity helps keep some semblance of control

The VALUE Framework at the heart of good collaborative selling provides this

🔸 Validate = right opportunities

Recognise what triggers the need in the first place

🔸 Align = right research

Understand how they're making sense of the situation

🔸 Leverage = right conversations

Engage the people helping shape the decision

🔸 Underpin = right solutions

Connect solutions to the thinking that's already taking place

🔸 Evolve = right outcomes

Help build confidence in the path forward.

When you see selling through the lens of buying things tend to change

You can engage earlier

You can have better conversations

You can become more relevant

And you waste a lot less time reacting to decisions that have already been made

(Is this a 'hot take'? The photo was)