Your team is under constant pressure to talk about what they're selling

Hello Sales Reset Leader

Your team members are constantly being influenced by messages based on conventional and outdated ways of selling.

Many LinkedIn and YouTube posts and videos offer “tips and tricks” for “overcoming objections” and “persuading people to buy.”

These adversarial selling approaches actively undermine the collaborative processes of coaching and value co-creation we recommend at Sales Reset.

In this week’s companion Weekly Sales Reset email for front-line salespeople, we focus on prioritising the delivery of customer outcomes.

We explain a range of reasons why it can be hard to prioritise delivering customer outcomes.

The rest of this email newsletter assumes you have read this week’s Weekly Sales Reset“:

• Title: What will have the biggest impact on your sales results?

• Subtitle: How to stay focused on delivering results for your customers

Let’s look together at what you can do this week to help your team members with active support and coaching to prioritise delivering customer outcomes.

How to improve your team's results this week

• Evidence of Prioritising Customer Results

  • YES: Customer outcomes were prioritised

  • NO: Customer outcomes were NOT prioritised

  • When you look at the evidence from your team, what …

• Recommended coaching session agenda for prioritisi …

• Expected pushback about prioritising customer outc …

• Customer outcome role-play recommendations

• Leadership Reflective Practice

Evidence of Prioritising Customer Results

What is the evidence of how effectively your team members prioritise delivering customer outcomes in all their conversations with customers?

The fastest and easiest places to look for evidence are in your team members’ CRM notes, emails, and proposals to customers.

When you look through a selection of notes, emails and proposals, how much evidence do you see that conversations with customers have primarily been about the outcomes they’re seeking with your products and services?

YES: Customer outcomes were prioritised

Here’s what you’re hoping to see:

• A significant proportion of the written material should be about the outcomes the customer hopes to achieve using your products and services.

• Extensive reference to outcomes that are specific to each customer.

• Using customer-specific words and priorities.

NO: Customer outcomes were NOT prioritised

Here’s what you’re hoping NOT to see:

• The majority of the written material is about the products and services being sold.

• Generic, copy and paste re-use of the same phrases, sentences, paragraphs and sections in many situations.

• The same priorities and phrases are being used in a wide range of customers and opportunities, regardless of unique needs and priorities.

When you look at the evidence from your team, what do you see?

Are your team members prioritising how their products and services can deliver bespoke customer outcomes?

Or are they having very similar conversations with every customer and trying to persuade them to buy?

Recommended coaching session agenda for prioritising customer outcomes

Before leading your coaching sessions on prioritising the delivery of customer outcomes, ask your team members to review the current edition of Weekly Sales Reset.

Give yourself time to reflect on WIIFM, “What’s in for me,” and empathise with your team members about how they might be sufficiently motivated to put customer outcomes at the centre of every selling conversation.

Here’s this week’s recommended coaching session agenda:

1. Start with a brief review of their experience and results from their previous coaching session.

2. Ask this team member for their observations about prioritising the delivery of customer outcomes.

3. Together, review the evidence you found in your preparation with each team member.

4. Identify and prioritise a small range of specific practical things that this team member can do differently and better.

5. Spend some time role-playing (working with these guidelines).

6. Finish the coaching session with agreed and specific action conclusions.

Expected pushback about prioritising customer outcomes

So you know what to expect and can be prepared, here are three areas of possible pushback from your team members on the theme of prioritising the delivery of customer outcomes.

1. We DID speak about outcomes, but I didn’t include these outcomes in emails and proposals.

   • What other evidence can you seek to validate this claim? How often does this happen? Why did they fail to include outcomes in their emails and proposals?

2. My customers just want to talk about our products and services.

   • For lots of reasons, many customers are not expecting a conversation about outcomes with your team members. What can you do to coach your team member in the skills they need to coach their customers about outcomes?

3. I don’t know enough about their business:

   • How much effort are your team members making to understand each customer's unique circumstances, aspirations, and priorities? What can you do to help your team members prioritise the need for this awareness?

Now that you’re aware of these areas of potential pushback, what are your best responses?

Customer outcome role-play recommendations

1. Current best opportunity: Role-play the conversation with one or more key stakeholders about a current significant opportunity. Help your team members practice coaching their customers to define more effectively the outcomes the customer hopes to achieve.

2. Recent significant loss: Review a recent significant loss. Look at the proposals and emails. Identify how a greater focus on more well-defined customer outcomes could have helped. Role-play the conversations that could have taken place.

3. Internal conversation within a customer: Choose another opportunity and identify both the principal contact and another significant stakeholder. Role-play the conversation between them about the range of outcomes they need from an investment in your products and services.

(You may find these recommendations about using role-play helpful.)

Leadership Reflective Practice

At the end of this week, ask yourself these key questions:

We hope you’ve found this edition of Sales Reset Leaders valuable.

Have a great week!

The Sales Reset Team

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Community of Practice

Ask Questions, Share Your Experience

If you have any questions or experience to share:

• LinkedIn Group - Join our World-Class Customer Success Selling Group on LinkedIn to ask questions or comment.

• Sales Reset Together Community - Click here to learn more about our private community of members committed to achieving and maintaining their Sales Reset.

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