Think winning is acknowledging a prospect's pain? Think winning is focusing on a prospect's desired outcome and then demonstrating how your solution gets results they can bank on? That's not winning. That's just playing the game—the same game every other salesperson is playing.
Prospects are bored, and salespeople have become a commodity. We all look the same to our buyers, and that's a problem. If they can't distinguish one company from the next, they won't choose any of us. The status quo looks really good in comparison.
How do we win? By sharing a vision of the future and clearly articulating a prospect's unconsidered needs.
What are prospects not doing well? What problems do they not know they have, and what opportunities do they not realize they're missing? Answer those questions, and you've created the buyer's vision for the future. According to research by Corporate Visions, salespeople who create that buying vision win deals 76 percent of the time.
Sales teams who adopt referral selling have an advantage: Their referral sources generate enough value for prospects to agree to a meeting. Then it's up to the referred sales reps to create the buying vision.