How can “supplier-agnostic” selling build true customer decision confidence?

Why are complex B2B buying decisions stalling your sales pipeline?

Discover why B2B buyers are overwhelmed by internal decision-making. Learn Brent Adamson’s strategy to shift from supplier-centric selling to building “decision confidence” that closes complex deals. Stop pitching features and start leading the conversation—read the full summary to master the stakeholder alignment framework that turns hesitant prospects into confident buyers.

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In an ever-evolving B2B landscape, the stakes for making complex purchasing decisions have never been higher. April Dunford, host of the Positioning podcast, sits down with sales and marketing advisor Brent Adamson to discuss how to equip salespeople for success. Adamson, co-author of the highly regarded books The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer, goes beyond traditional sales approaches by focusing on customers and their decision-making process. He details how you can redefine your conversations with prospects to establish lasting client relationships.

Take-Aways

• The Challenger Sale strategy focuses on customers and their needs.
• In-house decision-making overwhelms B2B customers.
• Collaborate with customers to help them reach a point of “decision confidence.”
• Sales and marketing professionals need to shift from being “supplier-centric” to being “supplier-agnostic.”

Summary

“The Challenger Sale” strategy focuses on customers and their needs.

Brent Adamson’s data-based, widely accepted Challenger Sale concept, outlined in his book, The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation (2011), explains the unique way B2B salespeople should approach potential clients. Instead of hyper-focusing on their product and its features, salespeople should offer insights to help customers change the way they think about their businesses, particularly by supplying information that can save money for them or increase their earnings.

In-house decision-making overwhelms B2B customers.

According to Gartner research, the average B2B deal now involves 11 people, already a cumbersome number and likely to rise.

“The deciding context…has become so much more difficult and [it is] so much more complex for customer stakeholders to make these large scale decisions on behalf of their company.”

For example, Adamson has been working with an international tech company to manage a deal involving 80 stakeholders, all of whom are contributing to the decision-making process. Stakeholders each have to make decisions across countries and departments while wrestling with high financial stakes and being aware of the impact of their choices on their overall organization.

Collaborate with customers to help them reach a point of “decision confidence.”

You can help your B2B customers deal with the stress of this overwhelming decision-making process and navigate all their available options even while nurturing the choices you want them to make. First, help your customers establish a “frame-making” procedure. A framework reduces unwieldy processes to a function that clients can manage using “scalable and repeatable” procedures.

Adamson likes to cite “social proof” in his conversations with prospects. For example, he uses statements like, “In working with other customers like you, here are the kinds of questions we find are most helpful or most urgently in need of an answer.” Podcast host April Dunford uses a similar approach to positioning with her clients by giving them a rubric that shows all the potential paths for solving their problem.

To imbue customers with “decision confidence,” Adamson and Dunford advise developing something akin to a guidebook, which they call a “stakeholder alignment coaching guide” or even holding a “stakeholder alignment workshop.”

“Here are the five people in your company that need to be involved. Here are the questions they’re likely to ask, here are the objections they’re likely to have. Here’s the spreadsheet or the data or the PowerPoint slides that you need to go have that conversation.”

Don’t dwell on selling. Instead, help facilitate a discussion within your customers’ organization to align their stakeholders in pursuit of a common solution — your offering. Build up their confidence that buying from you is the best decision they could make.

Sales and marketing professionals must shift from being “supplier-centric” to being “supplier-agnostic.”

The traditional customer-centric approach is actually supplier-centric – it’s often centered on you as a seller and supplier, on your values and your thought leadership.

“The single biggest driver of customers making a large scale purchase decision by far was the degree to which they were confident. Not in you or your brand or your product, but they were confident in themselves and the decision they were making on behalf of their company.”

Instead, adopt a “supplier-agnostic” mindset that focuses on your customers’ challenges and how your product or service can solve their problems. Assist potential clients by targeting their concerns so they can make an assured decision. Help them answer these queries: “Did we ask the right questions? Have we done enough research? Have we thoroughly explored our alternatives?” Work with them to reach answers that build their confidence so they will join your portfolio.

About the Podcast

Brent Adamson of the CEB consultancy co-authored The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation and The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results with Matthew Dixon. He contributes to the Harvard Business Review’s blog. Consultant April Dunford, who hosts the Positioning podcast, is the author of Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It and Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win.