A Complex Salesperson Does Not Sell, Buyers Buy

What is a complex salesperson’s job? Ask most people and they will tell you it’s to sell products or services. It’s their responsibility to make these products or services seem valuable enough to justify a purchase.

This theory isn’t incorrect, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find a good salesperson in complex sales will do more than that. Complex salespeople should first listen or un-earth the pain points of the potential customer and explain how their products or services can work to resolve those pain points. This strategy will provide an environment for buyers to not only speak candidly about their bottlenecks, but also to encourage the complex salesperson to truly understand their business. 

This article will discuss a complex salesperson’s role in the buying process and how they can focus less on over-selling and more on listening.

Complex Sales Challenges

The Product May Not Solve the Buyer’s Problem: It’s possible that the buyer may not be the best match because of a poor evaluation of the potential customer’s needs. Without this effective evaluation, the complex salesperson may not be able to discover problems and identify fit. If this is the case, the buyer is not likely to purchase the product. Or if they do purchase it, they may not buy it again due to lack of value. Forcing the sale is wasted energy and it could make your company look bad. 

They are Not in the Room for 90% of the Sale: Most of the complex sales process is done internally. In order for a deal to be successful, many stakeholders are involved in the decision process. The rep is typically only involved in meetings/demos, leaving them little control over the buyer's decision making team. This gap results in the internal champs not being properly aligned. This lack of alignment can jeopardize the opportunity and stall the deal. 

Modern Effective Complex Sales Process

An effective complex sales process will require taking a consultative approach that encompasses the following steps:

Explore & Ask Questions:  Facilitate an open conversation with the buyer to determine possible pain points they may be currently facing as well as those they may face in the future. Gaining a deeper understanding of their goals will identify alignment opportunities.

Demonstrate Benefit: Based on what you learned above, create a story that demonstrates how your product or service solves their problems or how it will help them get ahead. Note, that buyers usually make purchasing decisions based on pain or gain, i.e. how the product will relieve their pain or how it will help them advance and grow. 

Continue to Engage: Research shows that it takes an average of 8 touchpoints to get an initial meeting or conversion with a customer, then 10 more to close. Therefore, reps must continue to engage with the buyer to demonstrate value and build trust. This will give them an environment to mull over their purchasing decision and seeing your product as a solution. 

How Engage Can Help

Engage is a prospect facing workspace tool that makes a complex salesperson's job more effective and engaging. 

It can be used to share Mutual Action Plans, alignment elements, agreements, proposals, and other documents that support a complex salesperson’s pitch. It keeps businesses engaged with their customers so they stay in their periphery, without being overbearing. It serves as a platform for the sharing of information and question-answering that allows decision groups to make informed buying decisions. 

A complex salesperson’s job is not easy. But taking a problem solver approach will increase your chances of hitting your quota. Engage can be a valuable tool in the process as it allows you to un-earth needs and provide customers with the information they need for alignment.