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:

1. Over at CopyBlogger.com James Chartrand from Men With Pens expands on my previous post on Trigger Events and selective perception
2. 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

Related posts:

1. #1 Way To Sell More Using Social Media This is my last post in a series on the...
2. Four Ways To Sell More Using LinkedIn In my last post, The #2 Way to Sell More...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In previous posts – Back on Track … Finally! & What’s The Big Deal About Trigger Events – I described how to increase close ratios, shorten sales cycles, and increase margins by getting to buyers when they are in the ‘Window of Dissatisfaction’ and the three types of Trigger Event’s that put buyers into the Window of Dissatisfaction.

In this post I will describe how to identify specific Trigger Events for the products/services that you sell. This can be done by doing a specific form of sales analysis.

Use Google to search for the term sales analysis – by using quotes around the words “sales analysis” when you search – and you’ll find around 3,000,000 pages on sales analysis. If you believe that when you lose the business you don’t want to lose the lesson and you use Google to search for the term “lost sales analysis” you will find around 1,750 pages on lost sales analysis.

I am looking to replicate my successes, therefore I want to better understand what it is that makes me win business. To do this I conduct a Won Sales Analysis. Here is what I find amazing, if you use Google to search for the term “won sales analysis” you’ll find, on last check, only around 50 pages that talk about how to capture more customers by analyzing the business that you have already won.

The Trigger Event method of Won Sales Analysis identifies the Trigger Events that resulted in getting new customers, when these Trigger Events happened, what made the customer choose you over your competition, and how you can close more sales in the future.

If you want to use the Trigger Event method of Won Sales Analysis you’ll find the Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) version of this tool at http://www.wonsalesanalysis.com.

Contact me if you want an explanation any of the aspects of the tool so you can use it to enhance your selling efforts.

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 a blog post by Don Dodge called “Is your product a vitamin or painkiller?“. In this post Don shares his thoughts on what catalyst or event causes your prospects to actively seek your product or solution”

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 1,500 entrepreneurs, business leaders, and sales and marketing professionals who subscribe to this blog.

Have an eventful week!

Craig

Related posts:

1. #4 Way To Sell More Using Social Media One of the keys to selling is reaching decision makers...
2. #1 Way To Sell More Using Social Media This is my last post in a series on the...
3. Four Ways To Sell More Using LinkedIn In my last post, The #2 Way to Sell More...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Each week I endeavour to combine my own expertise about trigger events with other ideas, resource, and success stories I learn of. Since this is the first week for almost 800 new readers I will cover the basics about Buying Modes, Trigger Events, the impact of Trigger Events and a share a resource I became aware of this past week over at Sales2.com.

Research shows that the average sales person is five times more likely to make a sale when they have the right timing.

Buying Modes
To master timing you need to understand that, no matter what you sell or to whom, buyers are always in one of three Buying Modes:

1. Status Quo: Status Quo is when a buyer perceives the product or service they are currently using meets, or exceeds, their needs.
2. Window of Dissatisfaction: A Window of Dissatisfaction occurs after a buyer realizes that their current solution no longer meets their needs but before they start the process of searching for alternative solutions.
3. Searching for Alternatives: Searching for Alternatives is when a buyer realizes their current solution no longer meets their needs and is actively searching for alternative solutions.

Timing – getting in front of the right buyers at exactly the right time – is getting in front of buyers in the Window of Dissatisfaction before your competition. By being first with these motivated buyers you will sell more, sell sooner, and sell at a higher price.

Trigger Events
Buyers typically move from the buying mode of Status Quo into the Window of Dissatisfaction because of a trigger event, or a series of trigger events – aka selling triggers. Knowing when trigger events happen is one way to make timing happen.

Trigger events that shift buyers from Status Quo into the Window of Dissatisfaction fall into one of three different categories:

1. Bad Experience: A buyer has a bad experience with their current supplier, e.g. the company, its products/services, or its people.
2. Transition: A change or transition within a buyer’s environment, e.g. a change in legislation, management’s priorities, or the buyer who purchases your products or services.
3. Awareness: Buyers, through word of mouth, become aware there is a better way.

Trigger Events and Prices
It is important to understand the impact that trigger events have on prices. As a rule, buyers pay for perceived value and a buyer’s perception of value shifts as trigger events move them from one buying mode to another.

When a buyer is in the Status Quo mode, their perception of value is the difference between their current solution and your proposed solution. Because their perception of their current solution is so high, their perception of the difference in value between their current solution and your proposed solution is not enough to motivate them to buy from you. By trying to sell to buyers in Status Quo you are likely to spend a lot of time selling with little or no chance of actually making a sale.

When a trigger event happens that causes a buyer to believe that their current solution no longer meets their needs, they move into the Window of Dissatisfaction, and their perception of the value of their current solution is reduced. Now their perception of the difference between the value of their current solution and your proposed solution increases to the point where you are much more likely to make a sale. By selling to buyers who are in the Window of Dissatisfaction, not only are you more likely to make a sale, you are also likely to have a shorter sales cycle, and when you win the business it’s likely to be at a much higher price.

If they are not intercepted by a savvy sales person, another trigger event or a series of trigger events will cause a buyer to become so dissatisfied with their current solution that they pass through the Window of Dissatisfaction and start Searching for Alternatives. Now a buyer’s perception of the value of your proposed solution is reduced to the difference between your proposed solution and the solution proposed by your nearest competitor. By trying to sell to buyers who are Searching for Alternatives you are less likely to make the sale and IF you win the business, you are likely to have a much longer sales cycle and a much lower price.

Other resources to consider

• http://www.sales2.com/salesblog/2007/08/b2b_leaders_pulling_trigger.html

Please contact me when you have any ideas, resources, or success stories on how to leverage trigger events – aka selling triggers – you want to share.

Have an EVENTFUL week!

Craig

Related posts:

1. #4 Way To Sell More Using Social Media One of the keys to selling is reaching decision makers...
2. Trigger Event Resources Here is the link to download the first of the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.