Sales Reps: Avoid the 20 Questions Approach to Business Innovation

Sales reps: when it comes to business innovation, those executives you are meeting with don’t have time to play 20 questions. Far too often, sales representatives fall flat in prospect meetings because of this approach – but sometimes all it takes to fix this issue is a new, fresh approach.

What? What are we even talking about? When you walk into that office, intent on selling your product/service to an executive, are you telling them anything new? Probably not. The “I can help you ease what keeps you up at night” speech, followed by the standard needs analysis, doesn’t help that person – and they’ve likely heard it all before. Assuming that you are offering them the best thing since sliced bread actually works against you, since it assumes that they don’t already know about what you’ve got to offer – and it fails to respect the fact that they know what their problems are, and have likely already thought about the solutions available – hence the reason for your meeting. They’ve been to your website or your competitor has already been in to see them. In fact, chances are, the reason you’re in to see that executive in the first place is because a competitor has opened the door.

Remember: these people are people, human beings, who make good decisions for a living, that’s their job, and chances are they do it well.

So how can you remedy this? By nurturing the business innovation relationship and presenting a solid understanding of the prospect’s situation – this means doing your homework. Simply stating that your problem can solve a problem doesn’t actually solve a problem – but understanding that doing nothing will result in negative gains, and causing the prospect to ask themselves some difficult questions, the answers to which point in only one direction (you!), provides a solution. They want someone to bring a fresh perspective that forces them to consider new ideas and strategies to grow their business.

When it comes right down to it, B2B selling, and business innovation in general, is tough – and the competition is fierce. This is why establishing differentiation and creating a new approach can make the most difference. Treat that prospect the way they want to be treated. Respect their knowledge, and instead of showing them what is wrong with their business, make them understand that your product/service can help them, but only after you’ve reached an understanding and they’ve recognized the problem at hand.

In the end, you’ll sell your goods to them when you’ve explained and proven to them that it will fit into their organization and it will do the things that they expect it to do AND they believe you.

For more about innovative business ideas and how to make yourself more successful, call Innovators Alliance today at 905-332-0340 or visit us online at www.innovators.org.