Sales Prospecting Training | How to Validate Your Sales Opportunity with Prospects
Many salespeople trust their instincts about whether or not they have a real, qualified sales opportunity. As helpful as “gut” feelings are, the best information must come from the key source—the customer. As logical as this sounds, it is surprising how many times salespeople guide their deals by making assumptions and using information they’ve gotten primarily from themselves.
There are critical, tough questions that must be answered by customers: “What is the customer’s most compelling need?” “What is driving the opportunity?” “What is the time frame?” “Is there a compelling event?” “What budget has been allocated to the initiative?” “What is the decision criterion?” “Who are the competitors?” “How do I rank?” “What value do I bring?” “What is my relationship?” “What is my level of access to the decision makers?” “How does the customer perceive my value and differentiation compared to my competitors?”
Salespeople make three classic mistakes in qualifying and assessing opportunities:
They assume that they know the answers to vital questions.
They forget that deals change daily based on internal customer changes and the competitive landscape and they don’t change their message and strategy.
They validate, they do it one time with one person.
Some salespeople mislead themselves into thinking there is an opportunity when there is none. Others may assume they don’t have a chance when, in fact, they could win. Without validation, it is all guesswork.
Validation is a perfect blending of six critical sales skills: presence, relating, questioning, listening, positioning, and—most important— checking. When you are validating, your goal is to understand how customers think and, more important, to drill to a deeper level and find out why they feel as they do.
So, for example, you may ask, “Who are the competitors?” but then you may back away from asking the tougher questions about how the customer and each of his or her colleagues feel about your competitors and then how that compares with what the customers think of you.
The answers to validating questions provide an understanding of needs and also the criteria and politics involved in the process of making the decision. Validating gives you the information you need to help you differentiate your message to create a winning solution.
The next time you are in sales dialogue, really take note of how many times you validate to drill down and confirm information.
Find out more about our Public Training on Sales Prospecting! CLICK HERE
For more information on Sales Prospecting Training, please CLICK HERE
