Timing is Everything
You have all heard this adage before, and never is it more true than in sales.
There is no sales without a customer, and customers, rather prospects are in one of three categories at any given time.
Satisifed: Buyer believes that all of their needs are currently being met, they are not shopping or actively looking for alternatives.
Seeking: Buyer is actively looking for a better mousetrap, there are certain needs that are not being met, and the buyer believes there is a better alternative, they just need to find it.
Sedentary: Buyer knows that their needs are no longer being met, but they have not yet decided to take action and start looking for another option. They are the easiest target.
These types of prospects are five times more likely than the others to buy. When connecting with these prospects it is rare to be in a competitive sales position. You are the one that has the solution and have made it very easy on them, no shopping around, no dealing with pushy salespeople, they are able to move forward with a solution that has sought them out.
So how do you find those in the Sedentary mode? Teach your network, your strategic alliances and your current customers how to identify the early signs of dissatisfaction. Getting to these prospects early ensures that they have not started ‘Seeking’ for an alternative – and you will be able to make it easy on them.
The other way to find the Sedentary prospects is to connect with those that believe they are Satisfied and provide them with additional information on quality, service levels or additional products that there current solution is not providing. Your efforts will result in shifting those that thought they were previously Satisfied into the Sedentary category, and since you have connected with them emotionally, you are the natural choice when they realize their needs are not being met.
And finally, when allocating your time to prospects, you should spend about 50% of your time with those that are Sedentary as they are most likely to buy from you because of the relationship, and split the balance of your time between the Satisfied and the Seeking.
YOUR CHALLENGE: Look at the prospects in your pipeline and make sure that you are spending your time appropriately with those that are Sedentary.
If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:
