Mr. Customer—Help Me, Help You

Too often in Sales, this is the approach many sellers take when working with customers—help me navigate your company and processes, and that in turn will help me better sell to you.

Unfortunately, customers don’t want to interact with sellers who take this approach. It takes time, effort, and is plain boring. When customers have to do that multiple times in a day, there is no value in conversations with sellers.

Over the past year, SEC has found that the very best reps take a whole different approach when working with their customers. Not only do they teach customers, but they go one step further—they coach customers. Rather than trying to have the customer tell them how to sell to them, they take the approach of arming the customer with the information and knowledge to navigate the buying process.

As today’s solutions become more complex, so does the customers’ buying process. Often times they don’t know who needs to be involved, where the sign-off is, and how long it might take. Last year, we uncovered this in our work on customer stakeholders, when we found that there are seven customer stakeholder profiles, three of which are Mobilizers. They mobilize change and build consensus within organizations. Not surprisingly, the best sellers out there seek out and sell to Mobilizers.

But, it’s that critical next part of working with Mobilizers that further sets star performers apart. They arm Mobilizers with tools and information, and coach them on how to take an idea and build consensus around it in their organization. They help customers navigate the challenges of complex buying within their own organizations. We’ve termed this Commercial Coaching.

The critical part of commercial coaching is taking the best approach with each Mobilizer, as each has strengths and deficiencies in building consensus and driving change. We’ve mapped that out in a Commercial Coaching Roadmap designed to help sellers work effectively with identified Mobilizers.

Selling isn’t about working with the customer and getting them to help us, it’s about us coaching and helping them. This in turn, can help us drive the organizational change and consensus needed to win in today’s B2B marketplace.

SEC Members, learn more about Commercial Coaching and how your reps can use this approach with customers. Also, review the full study and its findings, Rewriting the Playbook.

Too often in Sales, this is the approach many sellers take when working with customers—help me navigate your company and processes, and that in turn will help me better sell to you.

Unfortunately, customers don’t want to interact with sellers who take this approach. It takes time, effort, and is plain boring. When customers have to do that multiple times in a day, there is no value in conversations with sellers.

Over the past year, SEC has found that the very best reps take a whole different approach when working with their customers. Not only do they teach customers, but they go one step further—they coach customers. Rather than trying to have the customer tell them how to sell to them, they take the approach of arming the customer with the information and knowledge to navigate the buying process.

As today’s solutions become more complex, so does the customers’ buying process. Often times they don’t know who needs to be involved, where the sign-off is, and how long it might take. Last year, we uncovered this in our work on customer stakeholders, when we found that there are seven customer stakeholder profiles, three of which are Mobilizers. They mobilize change and build consensus within organizations. Not surprisingly, the best sellers out there seek out and sell to Mobilizers.

But, it’s that critical next part of working with Mobilizers that further sets star performers apart. They arm Mobilizers with tools and information, and coach them on how to take an idea and build consensus around it in their organization. They help customers navigate the challenges of complex buying within their own organizations. We’ve termed this Commercial Coaching.

The critical part of commercial coaching is taking the best approach with each Mobilizer, as each has strengths and deficiencies in building consensus and driving change. We’ve mapped that out in a Commercial Coaching Roadmap designed to help sellers work effectively with identified Mobilizers. 

Selling isn’t about working with the customer and getting them to help us, it’s about us coaching and helping them. This in turn, can help us drive the organizational change and consensus needed to win in today’s B2B marketplace.

SEC Members, learn more about Commercial Coaching and how your reps can use this approach with customers. Also, review the full study and its findings, Rewriting the Playbook.