What will have the biggest impact on your sales results?

How to stay focused on delivering results for your customers

I’m assuming you’d like to improve your sales results. 😃

What’s the one thing that will have the biggest impact on your sales results? 

I’m sure you won’t be surprised when I recommend:

You'll achieve your best sales results by staying focused on delivering results for your customers.

However, I know that in the real world, it can be really hard to focus on prioritising customer outcomes in every selling conversation.

This week. I’ll explain why this is so tough and what you can do to stay focused on what your products and services can do for your customers.

Why is it so hard to prioritise customer outcomes?

Conventional sales training and sales processes

Conventional sales training prioritises winning the order. The advice of so many influencers here on LinkedIn and on YouTube focuses on how to get customers to buy from you. It’s all about how to persuade customers to give you the order using a range of “sales tips and tricks”.

The most glaring example is when salespeople are trained and practice “how to overcome objections”.

Our priorities are different

At Sales Reset, our priorities are different. We’re convinced the best priority is to focus on delivering customer outcomes.

We know that when we prioritise the outcomes that our products and services will deliver for our customers, it’s much more likely we’ll retain their business in the long term. And it’s much more likely they’ll recommend us to other people.

But with so many people prioritising “winning the order,” it can be hard to stay focused on the success your customer will achieve using what you sell. It can be tough to remember that delivering customer outcomes comes first.

Incentives and commissions

Even the way that most salespeople are rewarded emphasises the importance of “winning the order”.

How many salespeople do you know whose commission structure is based on their customers achieving the outcomes they need?

Currently, the vast majority of salespeople are incentivised based on when the order is confirmed, not on when customers achieve the outcomes they need.

Sales reporting

It’s very likely that all your sales reporting is about the value of the business in your pipeline and what you’ve won, not about evidence of customer outcomes identified and delivered.

All too often, deal and pipeline conversations with managers are about “what’s going to close this week”?

For all these reasons and more, most salespeople are currently under constant pressure to prioritise “winning the business”.

At Sales Reset, we’re convinced this will change in the years ahead. The evidence is clear. The future of selling belongs to customers!!

To improve your sales results, how can you get ahead and prioritise delivering customer outcomes today?

How to stay focused on delivering customer results

I know what I’m about to say sounds kind of obvious, but…

The best way to stay focused on delivering customer outcomes is, well, staying focused on delivering customer outcomes!

What is the focus of your conversations with customers and your sales proposals?

Are your conversations and proposals all about what you’re selling and the quality of your products and services? Or are your conversations and proposals primarily about the outcomes your customers need?

Have a look through some of your recent emails, meeting notes and proposals. 

How much of the content of your proposals is about what you’re selling? And how much of your proposal content is about the outcomes your customers need from your products and services?

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What are your comments?

I'd love to hear your observations and suggestions.

Thanks for reading!