The multi-step process of building a winning proposal starts and ends with the customer’s input. The biggest mistake salespeople can make is not listening to customers. The more you listen to their issues, the deeper you will understand both their challenge and their vision of a solution. As you lay the foundation of each customer relationship and begin to tailor your presentation to suit each potential buying opportunity, remember these three imperatives for getting better information to tailor your solution:
Create a conversation – This should be a two-way dialog. Salespeople often unwittingly overwhelm clients by animatedly describing features of products and services. Unfortunately, clients may view this as a “data dump” of information. A better strategy: Ask questions that encourage customers to share details about their challenge and what they want the solution to achieve. Even if you think you already understand their issues, some facts may have changed since the meeting was arranged. Salespeople who master the art of listening – and really hearing what the customer says – consistently win more business.
Confirm – As you begin to develop the unique proposal designed to address this customer’s current challenge, check back in with the key Buying Influences on the details. Asking good questions to confirm each step of the process builds your credibility and shows the customer that you really want to understand their world and the challenges they face day today. Plus, it can help you the gain incremental commitments that build mutual understanding. As a result, you’re more likely to be aligned with the customer’s vision and your credibility increases as you show you care about the details.
Collaborate – Delivering a comprehensive solution involves numerous functions within your company – from products to shipping to customer support. Draw on resources within your own organization to ensure your proposal is as rich and well rounded as possible – and to ensure that key departments can deliver on each element of your proposal, before you present the final proposal to the customer. Selling your own people on your solution can be just as important – and just as challenging – as selling the customer on it.
Create a conversation – This should be a two-way dialog. Salespeople often unwittingly overwhelm clients by animatedly describing features of products and services. Unfortunately, clients may view this as a “data dump” of information. A better strategy: Ask questions that encourage customers to share details about their challenge and what they want the solution to achieve. Even if you think you already understand their issues, some facts may have changed since the meeting was arranged. Salespeople who master the art of listening – and really hearing what the customer says – consistently win more business.
Confirm – As you begin to develop the unique proposal designed to address this customer’s current challenge, check back in with the key Buying Influences on the details. Asking good questions to confirm each step of the process builds your credibility and shows the customer that you really want to understand their world and the challenges they face day today. Plus, it can help you the gain incremental commitments that build mutual understanding. As a result, you’re more likely to be aligned with the customer’s vision and your credibility increases as you show you care about the details.
Collaborate – Delivering a comprehensive solution involves numerous functions within your company – from products to shipping to customer support. Draw on resources within your own organization to ensure your proposal is as rich and well rounded as possible – and to ensure that key departments can deliver on each element of your proposal, before you present the final proposal to the customer. Selling your own people on your solution can be just as important – and just as challenging – as selling the customer on it.
Successfully addressing these three areas can be the key differentiator that elevates your solution from a proposal to a Win.
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