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February 2009, Issue 60 |
Who Holds the Purse? Who Has the Objections? Excerpt from Digital Body Language: Deciphering Customer Intentions in an Online World The behavior of buyers—the way they identify, understand, evaluate, and buy products—has fundamentally changed. In this excerpt from his new book, Digital Body Language: Deciphering Customer Intentions in an Online World, Steven Woods explains how the classic sales model has changed, and how marketing and sales professionals, increasingly "unaware who holds the purse, who has the objections, and who is an advocate," need to change their way of thinking. Chapter 1: A Transformed Buying Process
A true sales professional develops an innate ability to "read" the nuances of the buyer—an ability that often separates the top performers from the pack of "order-takers." Who is digging in their heels? Who's a motivated buyer? Who is interested in the product? Who is the ultimate economic buyer and what does he need to be convinced? The ability to "read the room" and identify the right influencers and coaches depends on the ability to identify and interpret body language—non-verbal communication such as crossed arms, head-nodding, a raised eyebrow, shared glances, and other dynamics. Even the most trivial gesture can reveal critical information that a sales professional can use to his advantage. Understanding the body language enables the salesperson to understand what message is appropriate—right there and then—and adjust on the fly. A buyer squinting in disbelief with a tilted head is asking for more proof points. A buyer who's reluctant to make eye contact may be worried that a new solution can have a negative personal impact and harbors objections that the salesperson must uncover and overcome. A buyer who's nodding his head is someone who wants to accelerate the presentation—and who may be a valuable coach in identifying other internal advocates. The Internet and the Complex Sale: New Dynamics Today, this classic model is changing. With the advent of the Internet, the behavior of buyers—the way they identify, understand, evaluate, and buy products—has fundamentally changed. The Vanishing Sales Rep? The sources of information available to buyers of complex products—that have traditionally required a consultative sales process—continue to grow in volume and quality. In the past decade, a buyer has achieved new capabilities to understand an industry’s trends, translate that into business pain/opportunity that can be addressed, assemble a list of potential vendors, and analyze the best solution for their specific needs. The point to note: not one of these new sources has required the involvement of a sales professional. Buyers are leveraging these new information sources, rendering the salesperson to a secondary role (or even a non-presence)—particularly early in the process. As the professional salesperson somewhat fades from view, so, too, does his ability to observe and understand the buyer. Because of his absence, he cannot read the room by carefully watching the buyer’s body language. He is unaware who holds the purse, who has the objections, and who is an advocate. Timing Is Everything? In this environment, it is far more challenging to align the prospect's buying process with the company's selling process—which are no longer synonymous. And that carries significant implications for lead qualification and hand-off. When a prospect appears on the corporate Web site—perhaps to download a white paper—he is most likely merely "kicking the tires" and is not ready to buy. As a result, the sales rep disqualifies the lead and ejects the prospect from the funnel. It's not that the prospect isn't going to buy—he's just not going to buy right now. This creates the "leaky funnel" with which most marketers are painfully familiar. They devote huge efforts to generating raw leads, but if those leads aren't in a perfectly synchronized phase of their buying process, the sales team will waste marketing's efforts by ignoring the lead. SiriusDecisions found that, of the leads passed over to sales, only a shockingly low 20 percent actually received follow-up from the rep. Of that 20 percent, the rep sets aside 70 percent of them as "disqualified"—even though subsequent objective analysis shows that 80 percent of them eventually buy a solution (usually from another company). They were good leads—just early leads. As this transition happens, marketers who understand, guide, and facilitate the buying process are able to have a real and measurable impact on both revenue and sales effectiveness. By ensuring that the message for each potential buyer maps to their interests and stage in the buying process, more inquiries can be generated. By focusing on passing leads to sales that are in an active buying stage, rather than tire kicking, the number of leads qualified by sales will increase, even as raw numbers of leads passed decreases. Excerpt from Digital Body Language: Deciphering Customer Intentions in an Online World.
Return to MWJ Home Steven Woods is author of the new book, Digital Body Language: Deciphering Customer Intentions in an Online World, and CTO of Eloqua. Marketing Watchdog Journal is a monthly newsletter from Bulldog Solutions, a lead optimization and lead management company dedicated to helping our clients generate more, better leads and turn them into revenue. We welcome your feedback on this newsletter's content and design, and encourage you to share your ideas for topics you would like us to cover in future issues. Please send your comments or questions about Bulldog Solutions to Amy Bills, Director of Field Marketing. |
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