The number one factor that influences buyers

Selling is helping.

As a seller, you compete for the privilege of helping your buyers.

Helping your buyers solve problems.

Eliminate their pain.

Achieve their goals.

However, there’s a catch. (There’s always a catch.)

Here it is. Ready?

The catch: You can’t help your buyers if you can’t win their business.

It’s that simple.

You can’t help your buyers if they don’t choose you to help them achieve their goals.

You can’t help your buyers if they choose the other guys instead of you.

You could have the greatest product in the world.

You could have the greatest of intentions to help your buyer.

Yet, none of that matters, if you can’t learn how to win their business.

As a seller, you compete for the privilege of helping your buyers.

That competition produces one winner.

Winning provides that seller the opportunity to help their buyers achieve the things that are most important to them.

Winning => Helping.

So, what’s the best thing you can do as a seller to help your buyers?

Learn how to win their business.

Having a thorough understanding of your product is important.

Having a thorough understanding of the customer’s business is important.

More than anything else, winning stems from the value the buyer derives from the experience of working with you.

Study results recently published by Gartner, based on interviews with enterprise buyers, listed in order the nine most important factors that influenced the buyer’s choice of a vendor.

Guess which two factors weren’t on the buyer’s list?

Product and price. Neither one was listed by buyers as being a major influence on their decision.

Of course, having a competitive product at a competitive price is important. But that’s just table stakes for sellers. It gets you in the game.

Number one on the list of factors that influence buyers? Trustworthiness.

Trustworthiness. (That means You, in case I wasn’t clear enough on this point.)

In fact, winning is predominantly about…YOU. And the value of the buying experience you create.

For instance, take trustworthiness. That starts with establishing a connection with your buyer.

If you can’t connect with your buyer on a human level, well, that’s a problem. Because your ability to become the buyer’s choice is built on the foundation of that connection.

Without that human connection you can’t build your credibility. Or demonstrate your trustworthiness.

In the absence of trust and credibility, well, you’re just another annoying salesperson.

With trust you earn the right to ask the tough questions that uncover the buyer’s biggest challenges.

With the answers to those questions, you can develop the in-depth understanding of the buyer and the things that are truly most important to them.

Without that level of trust and understanding (and it’s immediately transparent to the buyer whether you have that understanding or not) it is nearly impossible to have a positive influence on the trade-offs, choices and decisions buyers make.

As a seller, you constantly have to answer this question: How is the buyer experiencing me?

Do they feel that I’m helping them? Or just selling to them?

Am I providing value in every sales interaction that helps them make progress toward making their decision?

Or just pushing them to move to the next stage of my selling process? (Which has no value for them at all.)

Learning how to win is about learning how to create a buying experience that differentiates you from your competitors.

It’s about how you sell.

How you sell is how you win.