Buyer-Based Selling with Josh Braun #258

You can be the greatest salesman in the world. But if the buyer isn’t struggling with a problem you can solve, you’re not going to make the sale. More than 70 percent of B2B buyers fully define their needs before contacting a sales rep. According to a new report from CSO Insights, almost half the buyers identify specific solutions before reaching out. They know what they want and they’re informed. The internet has vastly changed the landscape towards buyer-based selling. In 2019, this is the reality – buyers dictate the sales process.

In this sales podcast episode we meet Josh Braun the founder of Sales DNA, a company that helps CEO’s and VP’s of Sales who want to increase cold outreach response rates and set more meetings. Josh shares his beliefs in buyer-based selling and shares concrete examples you can increase your response rates and set more meetings.

Don’t Study Selling

Business students should stop studying selling and instead study buying. Although we are all buyers, too often we don’t look at the situation from the buyers point of view. How often has this happened to you?

During the conversation the buyer sounds positive, they “get” what you’re talking about
When you follow up as promised, you can’t get them to respond.
You follow up and follow up, but no luck.
You thought they wanted to move forward, but the deal never happens.

This is the problem: we’re not taught how people buy, why people buy and why they don’t buy . As sellers our goal is to have someone take a call, schedule a meeting, sign an order form or pay an invoice. But in the end those goals have nothing to do with the buyers intent. The buyer is not interested. They don’t need us.

This is the harsh truth: the prospect is probably doing fine without you.

Struggle-O-Meter

Josh has a mental model he calls the struggle-o-meter. He uses it to measure the severity of the problem a buyer experiences. Instead of assuming everything you sell has value, Josh recommends asking open ended questions to better understand the problem, then gauging whether to go forward.

Problem is an opportunity to sell, but often the problem isn’t that bad. The problem must be in the red zone before they switch. If you think like a buyer, you can gauge if they are on the low end of the struggle-o-meter, or the high end. Don’t pitch until they are on the high end.
If they are not ready to buy, put them into an email campaign. Drip out useful emails that slowly keeps you top of mind. Over time the pain will rise and when it does , it’s time to reach out again.

Take Action

By questioning with finesse, you can dig into their motivation and better understand. Your solution has no value without a struggle.

How to Connect with Josh Braun

His website at Sales DNA

His BadAss Growth Guide

Josh on LinkedIn

Cold Calling Tips

Work on your cold calling today by listening the Sales Babble Sales Podcast!