Overview

In previous chapters, we've emphasized the importance of getting to the point where a buyer has either shared a goal or admitted a problem that the Customer-Focused salesperson's offering can help them address. This is a watershed event, in that it starts a buying cycle. Buying cycles end in one of two ways:

• A decision is made to buy—either from you or from another sales organization.

• Buyers decide not to buy. The most common reasons buyers don't buy are that they conclude the proposed offering is too risky or complicated, it can't be cost-justified, or their priorities shift. The phenomenon of "no decision" is more common with mainstream-market than with early-market buyers.

The sharing of a goal makes a salesperson's job significantly easier, because the buyer now sees potential value in improving one or more business variables. This can create a sense of urgency, depending on how much potential improvement can be achieved. Sellers are usually trying to push sales cycles ahead. Now, there may be a sense of a cost of delay. While the buyer is deciding what to do—change or not change—the buyer may realize the enterprise is losing money. Once a goal has been shared, the seller is positioned to start developing the buyer's vision by using Sales-Primed Communications.