Seller Ignorance Is Not Bliss
percentage of buying cycles are initiated by potential buyers, a stark contrast to when most sales cycles were initiated by sellers and vendors.
It's unclear whether vendors view changes in buying behavior as an elephant in the room or are aware of the shift but have concluded nothing can be done. I see few enterprise-wide best practice responses by vendors. Rather, it is left to each seller to decide how best to interact and align with knowledgeable buyers. When vendors fail to act, their claims of being customer-centric ring hollow.
Cisco CEO John Chambers recently predicted that two of the five biggest technology companies would be irrelevant in as little as five years. The biggest indicators are stagnation of revenue growth and inability to change. It would seem the vendors that can better align with evolving buying behavior will have a better chance of weathering the coming turmoil Chambers believes is coming.
When contacted, most traditional sellers either fail to discover buyer requirements or make premature attempts to change them. These actions disrespect buyer research and reinforce buyers' decisions to avoid sellers because they don't listen and are manipulative. It's time for vendors to realize:
- A seller's role is not that of educator. Executives don't have the time for it. Others who handle buying at various levels in a company (marketing, IT, etc.) don't want to deal with salespeople and will opt to self-educate.
- Sellers can help executives and lower level teams by introducing business issues and value into evaluations. Some of the self-education is being done without the support of executives and little or no understanding of the potential value offerings can provide.
- Inbound leads should be developed in a way that allows sellers to gain access to executives to quantify enterprise benefits and qualify opportunities.
- Establishing potential value early is in the mutual interest of buyers and sellers. Insufficient payback means unlikely buying decisions.
Top-line revenue is the lifeblood of organizations. A significant upside exists for vendors that align with buying behavior. Superior buying experiences can become a sustainable competitive advantage. When things are relatively equal, the better salesperson usually wins.
Frank Visgatis is the president and COO of CustomerCentric Selling.
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