More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Andy Whyte
Read between
January 27 - February 21, 2025
Ron Willingham did in his book ‘Integrity Selling for the 21st Century’: “The art of persuasion is a paradox. The more we attempt to persuade people, the more they tend to resist us. But the more we attempt to understand and create value for them, the more they tend to persuade themselves.”
“People rarely argue with their own conclusions.”
By causing the customer to consider this negative scenario, we were forcing them to feel Implicated by the pain, which is the final step of the Three I's transition: Identify pain> Indicate pain> Implicate pain. This was an example of a thorough two-sided discovery process, of which you can learn more about in the upcoming Discovery chapter. The key takeaway from this part is to recollect how important it was that we identified a differentiator and that we were able to Indicate the pain it causes and to Implicate that pain for the customer.
Truly listen to what your customer is saying. Don’t just be looking for angles to sell against. Play back what you have heard. Whether you paraphrase or use your own words depends on your style and the situation.
Their Existing Tech Stack - If you are selling a technical solution such as software, you can find a lot of useful information by analyzing what technology they already use. Plugins for your web browser, such as BuiltWith, will allow you to see what technology is running on a website. It will often state when the technology was implemented or when the website stopped using it.
Switching from Pain Mode to Qualification Mode Sellers frequently make the mistake of switching too quickly. They hunt around trying to find the pain and the moment they uncover it, they switch to trying to sell against it. Metaphorically speaking the pain they have discovered is just the smoke rising from a more profound fire. The Seller is so intent on getting the chance to do their pitch that they ignore the potential signs of a more significant fire to uncover and instead, switch into selling their ‘smoke removal solution’. If they had stayed in discovery mode, they would have found the
...more
We have to uncover why the problem is urgent, revealing what is causing it, and what has made the customer want to solve it. If we are following our competition into the deal, then it is likely that they have heavily influenced the Decision Criteria.
Trap-Setting Questions are questions that you ask your customer to uncover or highlight a point of differentiation around your solution that, by proxy, goes on to highlight a shortfall of your competition.
Trap-Setting Question is to focus on a unique differentiator that you have. Once you have this in mind, ask yourself, “So what if the customer doesn’t have it?” Once you know the answer to that question, think about what questions you would ask your customer to get them to consider it.
It is important to remember that Trap-Setting Questions are not intended to trap your customer; they are intended to trap your competition. They are called Traps because, like a trap, you set them up for your competition to fall into.
You can define the Decision Criteria into three different types: Technical - Does your solution technically meet the requirements to make it feasible for the requirements outlined? Economic - Matters relating to how viable your solution is from a perspective of finance, Risk, and efficiency. Relationship - How closely do the values and direction of the two organizations align?
Financial Pain: This relates to where the organization is either missing out on revenue or has higher costs relating to the pain.
Efficiency Pain: This relates to a Pain that is occurring because something prohibits the organization from being efficient or effective.
When you uncover pain from your customer, note how they describe the pain and be sure to use the same language.
Show a glimpse into the future Utopian state that your solution can provide.
Building credibility concerning pain comes from referencing other similar organizations that have had the same pain and how you have solved it for them.
Transfer Ownership of the Pain - By moving from Indicating the Pain to Implicating the Pain, you transfer ownership of the Pain from your hands to the customers. This is the single most significant activity you can undertake to inspire your customer to take action in your deal.
That said, generally, most deals tend to have one primary Champion. Who the primary Champion is may shift through the deal as you uncover new stakeholders and values and priorities change.
“A Champion without Power and Influence is just a Coach.”
Power and Influence doesn’t necessarily mean seniority
The Private Champion Sell The most critical selling your Champion can do for you is when you are not there. When your value gets challenged in private, your Champion must step up to defend you. Their defense has to be credible. The best way to enable your Champion to be credible in selling for you is to arm them with the I and the M from MEDDICC - Pain, and Metrics.
A Champions have a vested interest in your success
There will likely come a time in your deal where you will rely on your Champion to stick their neck out or go the extra mile for you. Having strong alignment with their win will help encourage this when you need it.
Build their Documentation - Have you ever seen when a customer builds their documentation about your solution? It is rarely good, and as much as it is useful as a test to see how they are articulating your solution, it is much better to give them the documentation they need to build the solution.
If All Else Fails Lean on your References - If you are struggling to make progress with your Champion, then falling back to your references is a reliable backup tactic. To do this link, the pain you have implicated to another customer who had a similar pain for which you solved. Use your reference customers Metrics to illustrate and quantify the value you delivered to your reference customer.
Build Credibility with your Champion via Networking Another way to build credibility is by Networking. Introducing your Champion to other people in your network is an excellent way of creating some social proofing around yourself.
Trust is a critical element in building a Champion. A Champion who trusts the Seller will always work harder for you. They’ll go into bat harder for you and be happier to give you information, good, bad, or ugly.
Champion Building Event - These events can take many shapes, from smaller, more intimate events such as a tasting experience at a restaurant through to a VIP experience at an industry event like an awards show.
It has to be a relatively exclusive event to give your Champion that VIP feeling.
A crucial part of your relationship with your Champion is their role in selling internally for you.
“What happens if we don’t win?”
A Champion should share confidential information, good, bad, and ugly. Useful areas of information they can share is how you are scoring against the Decision Criteria, and critically how you compare to your competitors.
At a high level, you should be looking to uncover the following information within the early stages:
The Levels of Risk There are three levels of Risk in which we measure the severity in the form of a RAG Status (Red, Amber, or Green).
