Your Real Competitor is The Status Quo: How to Structure Your Thinking to Avoid It

For sales teams engaged in complex sales, the most common reason for a “no deal” is not that the prospect chose another solution. It’s that they decided not to make a decision at all. These can be especially frustrating if they drag out and waste a lot of salesperson time chasing a decision that the buying organization never makes.

Furthermore, these status quo decisions are often worse for the customer than for the sales team. So, why do they happen, and what can we do about them?

Why The Status Quo Wins

From a systems thinking perspective, the reason that status quo so often wins is that the problem is part of a larger system, and systems work to preserve themselves. Every problem a company faces is part of a larger, interconnected network of processes, people, technology, and projects. As such, the problem itself is naturally reinforced by the existing systems, and therefore resistant to change. Even when change would be beneficial.

In complex sales, the many interacting parts of the larger system can work passively against change, simply due to inertia. But also, parts of it can be actively working against change. Stakeholders may not have the same goals in mind, or even see the problem in the same way.

Many interacting parts of a larger system work against change, making the status quo your biggest competitor.

Some stakeholders may fight against it actively, while some technologies may present interoperability challenges. The cognitive overload of trying to understand all of the implications of a decision on the total system can weigh on even the most avid champion of change and cause shutdown.

Structured Thinking Is The Way to Overcome Status Quo

In order to help a buyer make a decision, salespeople must first help them understand not only their problem, but also the interrelated systems that impact and are impacted by the problem and any changes they make. And they must do this in a way that avoids creating cognitive overload, but instead creates clarity and forward momentum.
This is no small task. Salespeople must be equipped with frameworks and structures that enable them to clearly discover, understand, and build alignment regarding the problem, its interrelated systems, and potential solutions.

The Cabrera Lab’s DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives) theory, which I’ve described elsewhere, provides the tools that enable us to break the system down into its critical components and gain clarity about what is working, what’s not working, and what conversations and changes are necessary in order to fix the problems within.

Distinctions help us understand and dismantle our assumptions about the customer’s needs and roles, as well as define who is and is not a relevant stakeholder, what is and is not part of the problem, and what other systems are and are not connected to the problem.

Systems tools help us zoom in and out to see both what larger systems the problem is a part of, and what smaller systems are operating inside the problem to maintain status quo.

Relationships help us understand the interdependencies within the organization that are impacting the decision. Relationships between stakeholders as well as between departments, technologies, and processes may all be relevant.

Perspectives help us view the problem through the lens of different stakeholders. How the problem affects the CEO is different from how it affects the user, and so on. Using perspectives tools, we can better understand how each relevant stakeholder is viewing the problem, and what a successful outcome would look like to each of them. Once we understand that, it becomes possible to build stakeholder alignment along with a solution.

Structured Thinking Creates Urgency Without Gimmicks

Almost every salesperson has, at some point, been taught to “create urgency” through different persuasion tactics. Whether it’s limited-time deals or artificial scarcity, these gimmicks can work on a naive buyer, but they’ll backfire with savvy buyers.

Structured thinking helps the buyer understand the authentic urgency of the situation and respond accordingly. DSRP enables the seller and the buyer to uncover the structure of the problem and its interrelated systems. This helps the buyer correctly understand the impacts of the problem more clearly, and therefore the urgency of solving it.
DSRP also helps the buying team to understand more fully the potential impacts of the proposed solution, including both risks and rewards. This clear understanding helps reduce uncertainty and provides the buying team with the confidence they need to make a decision and mitigate any risks they uncover. This can reduce fear, break through inertia, and drive faster, better sales.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Outcomes

The way you think impacts the way you sell. If you think that selling is about showing a customer that your product is better than a competitor, you will lose. If you think that selling to one enthusiastic champion for your product is enough, you will lose. If you think that buyers will buy just because the solution will solve their problem, well, you will probably lose.

Selling is not about convincing. It’s about helping clarify the problem and its solutions, and aligning stakeholders.

Selling is not about convincing a customer. It’s about helping them clarify the problem and its solutions for themselves, and then align stakeholders to make a decision. By structuring your thinking, you can help them structure theirs. And when you change the way they think about the problem, you’ll change the way they solve it.

And that is going to be a win.

How are you helping your sales teams to structure their thinking? Have you started experimenting with DSRP tools yet?