7 Reasons Sales Reps Fail to Close Deals
Learn the “whys’” and see how to fix this so you bring in more viable opportunities and deals.
I’ve had the privilege of hiring, training, & selling with 1,000’s of sales reps.
It’s a mentally & emotionally demanding job.
From the eyes of technology B2B buyers, 2/3 of reps are below grade.
The present research shows 7 reasons why reps get poor grades; and includes ineffective executive conversations, being too assertive, weakness explaining their solutions value & trouble differentiating to “Buying groups”.
Understanding these shortfalls helps sales reps close.
Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of B2B tech buyers.
What grade do you give reps? Are they excellent, average, or wasting your time?
Industry stats support: 15% are excellent, 25% average, & 30% are below grade.
Most disturbing are the below-grade reps do not understand why B2B buyers feel this way.
Let’s look at the 7 most crucial reasons why this happens and address them.
1) REPS ARE NOT TRUSTED
B2B buyers are hyper-busy & want reps to think strategically and act in a trusted capacity.
WHAT WORKS. Pair reps with Marketing and support, knowing the account’s initiatives, priorities, & where they spend money on new tech.
2. INEFFECTIVE SELLING TO SR. EXECUTIVES
Most selling is bottom-up. It’s safer & easier to get meetings with mid-managers. But, CXOs directly influence winning or losing.
WHAT WORKS. Have reps read account 10Ks, earnings reports, or if private, learn how the account’s vertical is performing?
3. FAILURE TO PROVE VALUE
Your product’s strategic value supports the reasons & arguments B2B buyers sell senior management. Unfortunately, we see 90% of reps failing here.
WHAT WORKS. Have your CFO work with Marketing to give Reps an Executive Summary with revenue, costs, & risks how your solution benefits EACH account.
4. REPS ARE TOO ASSERTIVE
Monthly quota pressures & average rep tenures of 16 mos. are at fault.
WHAT WORKS. Take 15% of commissions & attribute it to selling to the customers’ strategic& financial goals. Use client-centric selling.
5. OVERSELLING
There are 1.3M global startups. B2B buyers are burning out dealing with volumes of reps & BDRs.
WHAT WORKS. Eliminate hard closes, replacing them with” executive offers of value.” Remove the coercion.
6. REMOVE BUYER RISK
B2B buying groups are very risk-averse. They block reps with stall tactics, RFPs, POCs, and even product bakeoffs. Risk tolerance fluctuates by function & by industry.
WHAT WORKS. Give reps playbook that map ICPs by risk, title, company leadership.
7. NOT BUILDING RAPPORT REMOTELY
Buyers know rep chemistry is complex. They are aggressive do not relate to senior exec’s position, age, etc.
WHAT WORKS. Map demeanors with tactics to build rapport using remote mannerisms.
For free insights on selling deals to the enteprise, please go to: http://revenueaccelerators.com/straight-talk-with-revenue-accelerators/
Image and excerpts from Harvard Busines Review, Sales and Marketing, Steve Martin, 8.2017
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