Two questions you should be able to answer for every deal in your pipeline

Your success with a prospect is not tied to the amount of time they give you.

It’s entirely about what you do with the time you are given.

You need to ignore the meaningless analyst reports that say when B2B buyers are considering a purchase, they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers. When buyers are comparing multiple suppliers, analysts report the amount of time spent with any one sales rep may be only 5% or 6%.

My first reaction when I heard that? “I seriously doubt sellers get even that much of a buyer’s time.”

But the point is, it just doesn’t matter.

Here’s a better way for you to look at this issue.

Research shows the average B2B win rates globally are roughly 17%. What that means is that more than 4 out of 5 of the average seller’s most qualified opportunities believed they didn’t receive much value, if any, from the time they invested with them.

So, in that scenario, do you think they’re going to give you more time?

Nope. Of course not.

So, let me repeat myself: your success with an account is not directly tied to the amount of time you get with the buyer.

It’s all about what you do with the time you are given.

And how you create the buying experience that influences the buyer to want to do business with you.

Here’s one simple tip to help you with this.

First, you have to understand that every interaction you have with a buyer, no matter how large or small, represents an exchange of the buyer’s time and attention for something of value from you.

That value has to be something that will help them make progress toward making their decision. It could be a question. A commercial insight. A challenge. A case study. A demo. A white paper.

You want more time with your buyers?

You have to make it worth their time. They have to earn an ROI on the time and attention they invest with you.

This means that you have to be intentional about being a source of value to help them make progress toward making their decision.

Here’s how to make sure you’re on the right track with this.

For every qualified opportunity in your pipeline you must be able to answer these two questions:

1. What (value) does the buyer need from us right now to move closer to making their decision?

2. In exchange for receiving this value, what steps will they commit to take?

You should know the answer to these questions for every qualified opportunity that you’re actively working on.

If you’re a manager, your sellers must know the answer to those questions for every opportunity in their pipeline.

If you can’t answer these questions, then you need to read Chapter 10 of my latest book: Sell Without Selling Out. I’ve written an entire chapter on the six types of questions you should ask your buyers to make sure you are always able to quickly answer the two key questions above.

In fact, the entire book is full of practical takeaways on how you can earn more quality time with your buyers.

And create the buying experiences for them that will result in a consistently higher win rate for you.

​Get your copy of Sell Without Selling Out here.