sales methodology
Here are the top 9 Membrain posts of 2017
As we enter the New Year, I wanted to share with you our top posts from 2017, based on the number of views. It’s always interesting to compile these lists and try to understand why some pieces were more popular than others, and uncover any common themes.
Why your buyers are focusing on the wrong things
It’s a tale as old as time. A sales team is closing in on a deal when, at the last minute, a competitor takes home the win. Being the good salespeople that they are, the team checks in with the customer to find out why they lost the deal, and the answer frustrates them. The buyer made the decision based on utterly meaningless criteria.
Why having a budget isn’t always a positive qualifier
John Holland of CustomerCentric Selling® makes an interesting point in a blog article. Many sales people who have been brought up on an over-literal interpretation of BANT may believe that the absence of a budget for a project should be a reason to disqualify an opportunity.
Revisiting the Buyers Journey
I can still remember the powerful inspiration I gained from my first reading of Hugh Macfarlane’s “The Leaky Funnel” – the 2003 book that first drew the B2B sales and marketing community’s attention to the concept of the buyer’s journey.
Drilling into the need beyond the need
Theodore Levitt was the first to introduce us to the idea that “people don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole” - and this observation has surely now become one of today’s most relevant and widely quoted sales aphorisms.
Is your prime contact a budget maker, a budget shaper or a budget taker?
Most sales methodologies stress the importance of identifying whether a budget exists, and a naïve interpretation of the BANT qualification framework [Budget, Authority, Need, Timeframe] might imply that unless a current and adequate budget exists, it’s not worth trying to sell the prospect anything.
