Product-driving selling is an incredible annoyance to buyers, but appears to be alive and well.
That is, at least judging from several recent vendor experiences.
At Winalytics, like so many of you, we have been doubling-down on our outbound and demand generation activities to drive more qualified pipeline quicker.
Wow, what a shocker to experience the mindset many vendors bring to their work.
Here are a few recent experiences of fixed mindsets around product-driven selling:
- One vendor insisted we needed seven new subscriptions to make any progress in our outbound prospecting. It turned out that to meet our goals, we needed just two
- Another vendor ignored several requests to NOT use the word “random” in our outbound LinkedIn outreach because “they knew better what we needed”
- A third vendor asked me to do an expensive website “overhaul” before starting SEO campaigns even though we had several options for quick, cost-effective keyword campaigns
In all of these cases, the vendors were stuck in an old way of doing things.
That old way is product-driven selling that focuses on the vendor, the vendor’s product, and the vendor “knows best” based on their successes to date.
However, to be successful in the new buyer environment, vendors need to shift their mindset to focus on authentic conversations.
Authentic conversations put the buyer at the center, focus on the buyer’s why, and help the buyer to see a more successful future that is personalized to their individual needs.
Here are 5 key skill shifts from the old to the new way:
✔️ Rather than prospecting buyers, invite a conversation
✔️ Rather than shallow discovery, do deep discovery to find a buyer success statement
✔️ Rather than pitching your product, map your product to your buyer’s success
✔️ Rather than celebrating your company success, celebrate your customers’ successes
✔️ Rather than closing deals, build a path to partnership
The right mix of authentic conversation skills vary for BDR/SDR, sales, account management, and customer success teams. But, it all starts by putting your buyer or customer at the center.
Learn more and download a content pathway here: https://winalytics.com/from-product-to-buyer-value/