The age old saying, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game” is not quite accurate when it comes to sales. When you play the game better than your competitor, you should and will win the game of sales.
In today’s competitive environment, rarely is there a product or service that is so clearly differentiated from their competitors that the win doesn’t come down to the actions of the sales person driving the winning pursuit. The primary reason that a sales person loses a sale is because they are outsold.
Let’s take a few moments to test this theory. If you are outselling your competitors, you are consistently doing the following:
- Connecting with all members of your client’s decision making team, and validating your solution with each of them.
- Confirming that the initiative is a high priority, has a compelling reason to buy and a clarified buying timeframe.
- Aligning your solution correctly in terms of scope, schedule and cost.
- Complying with all legal and procurement terms and conditions.
- Understanding who you are competing with and aligning your solution to be the best “fit” for your client.
- Developing a business case that clearly exhibits return on investment in terms that are important to your client.
- Planning presentations that include executive sponsorship from both parties.
Competency in working through the above steps will result in you winning your fair share. In fact you will win more than 70% of the time.
And that’s how the sales game is played and won…
