A continuation on the theme of selective perception, how Trigger Events change what we see, and how you can create a Trigger Event that will help you close more sales…
No matter what you sell or who you are selling to, buyers are always in one of three buying modes. Most salespeople are quite familiar with two of them:
- Status Quo – “We believe what we have is sufficient, and we see no reason to change, so we’ll keep buying from our current supplier.”
- Searching for Alternatives – “We know what we have is no longer sufficient and have started talking to several other suppliers.”
In between these two, however, lies the buying mode with the greatest opportunity, namely the …
- Window of Dissatisfaction: “We know what we have is no longer sufficient, and we’ve put doing something about it on our ‘to do’ list, but we haven’t found the time to start searching for alternatives.”
In other words … When you find a decision maker after they realize what they have is no longer sufficient but before they have started the process of searching for alternatives, you have found them in the Window of Dissatisfaction!
When you start ’seeing’ the Window of Dissatisfaction, you’ve got the beginnings of a competitive edge – an unfair advantage that will help you close more sales, shorten your sales cycles, and increase your average deal size.
One way to create a Trigger Event that will help you ‘see’ the Window of Dissatisfaction, is a simple form of customer analysis. Take a few moments to reflect on the new customers you acquired in the last year. Jot down their names. Now break your list down a little further by putting a check mark next to those names where you:
- Enjoyed a short sales cycle,
- Found it very easy to make the sale,
- Sold at a higher-than-average price, and
- Ended up with a core, loyal customer who really saw eye-to-eye with you – and was willing and eager to sing your praises to other people?
In all likelihood, you got to those with three or more check marks next to their names when they were in a Window of Dissatisfaction, your product or service resonated with the buyer’s selective perception, and they ’saw’ value in what you sell.
The Trigger Event of doing this customer analysis will put the Window of Dissatisfaction on your mental ‘radar screen’! Once you ‘see’ a Window of Dissatisfaction, and relate it to your own best customers, you will start noticing them everywhere.
So take a look at your new best customers … and soon you will close more sales by seeing the Window of Dissatisfaction everywhere.
Other Trigger Event Resources to Consider
I scour the Internet searching for ideas, resources, articles, and success stories about leveraging Trigger Events to outsell the competition. This time I want to share with you two resources:
- Over at CopyBlogger.com James Chartrand from Men With Pens expands on my previous post on Trigger Events and selective perception
- Joseph Provenzano expands on James’ article even more over at CanIHaveThatWith!
Funny how when you write a post on selective perception and how Trigger Events change what you ’see’, you start seeing similar posts show up everywhere!
I encourage you to get together with others and brainstorm on ways to capitalize on Trigger Events to outsell your competition. Contact me when you have ideas, resources, or success stories about leveraging Trigger Events that you want to share with the over 2,300 entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales and marketing professionals who subscribe to this blog.
Have an eventful week!
Craig
Craig,
This is a great idea. I am going to start staring at a stack of $100 in an effort to start seeing them everywhere! Your incite always leaves me with new things to examine.
Vote:Craig,
Great post! I know as a manager I often find myself in the window of dissatisfaction, but too busy to really do anything about it. Could you share some techniques that would help me identify the window of dissatisfaction in my clients when prospecting?
Vote:The “Window of Dissatisfaction” is valuable information, Craig. That is truly a window of opportunity that I believe many salespeople don’t see. Your post is a great reminder that we can still sell to prospects who aren’t actively searching for alternatives.
Vote:I like your analysis method Craig.
Good sales people always analyse their wins to look for patterns to apply as qualification criteria for future activity. But typically they look at the size of the customer, their industry, the type of problem/need, etc. - rather than at the event which triggered the need (the same event could trigger different needs in different clients). But it’s the event you have to be watching out for - and is probably much more detectable than the specific customer need.
Good thinking!
Ian
Vote:Craig,
Vote:I love the idea of finding customers that have just recently entered the “Window of Dissatisfaction”. No doubt, these folks are the least sensitive to price and will make a decision very quickly.
Don’t you think there could be another reason? It is human nature to become bored with people, places, relationships and even I hate to say suppliers. We have often switched suppliers to find the origional one was the best. We deal with literally every franchised dealer in the UK, thats 4,000 suppliers for units that are an average of $30000 dollars each, and a lot of things that can go wrong
Vote: