Succeeding with Compelling Issues


By Steven K. Haught, MBA

Success in fear-oriented selling, a problem that keeps the CEO up at nights, hinges on a single dialogue with a senior executive who can sponsor your company as an advocate and secure approval for the kind of sales commitment you’re seeking. 

When the day for that dialogue comes, your agenda should be to accomplish the following:

Make your case – the unique issue. Begin the meeting by raising a critical issue that the target company is under pressure to resolve, and do so in an original manner. You cannot afford to play it safe. If you aren’t clear and passionate about your message, the executive will think you are wasting his or her time.

Capture reaction to the presentation. If there is no reaction, retreat with dignity. If the reaction is negative, explore it for deeper understanding, seeking common ground. If the reaction is positive, move on.

Discuss past successes. Describe the experiences of similar companies that either have faced or are facing the problem. Such stories reinforce its importance and demonstrate that you are knowledgeable about it and are bringing a new solution to the table. They also make the executive feel safe in acknowledging that the problem exists in his or her organization.

Offer to conduct a short diagnostic study. If interest continues, request that the executive sponsor a study that will allow you to dig into the company’s challenges more deeply, deliver an analysis, and propose a solution.

This simple straight-forward approach is what companies most value from vendors.  

In a globalized world of proliferating products, what customers least want is another feature-rich offering to evaluate, delivered by a boring PowerPoint presentation that pontificates more about your company and its track record, than their unique need.

As we languish for some months to come in the aftermath of the pandemic, budget cutting will be the norm, projects will be deferred, and customers will do everything possible not to buy. 

When they are worried about addressing their most acute pain points, messages about wonderful opportunities they might exploit fall on deaf ears. By framing a fear-driven message that concisely outlines their prime issue, you will create a readiness to listen and then you can use your diagnostic study to convert the dialogue into an immediate reallocation of funds for your “sold” project.

As America opens, every business is facing some level that equates to a severe downturn in revenue> Fear-based selling may be the only way to move past the “buy nothing” mandate emanating from the executive suite. In sunnier economic times it can lend power and urgency to products or services that are non-disruptive or relatively undifferentiated in their markets.
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