The 5 pillars of data-driven selling

What if buying wasn't a decision?

You read that right.

Buying is not a decision.

At least it's not a single decision, but a series of decisions.

More than decisions, these are answers to the questions that every prospect asks:

1. "Do I love this person?"
2. "Do I trust this person or this company?"
3. "Does its offer meet some of my needs?"
4. "Do his arguments apply to my situation?"
5. "Is it worth it financially?"

For each of these questions, the answer must be "yes".

Would you work with someone you didn't trust?

No.

Just like you, your prospect needs to know and feel certain things before buying your product or service.

So here are our 5 pillars of data-driven sales, to become a better salesperson.

Personal intuition, trust, desire, authority and social proof are complementary and essential.

Put a little of each product in your sales.

You will see the result.

Personal intuition

Customers don't just buy your product, they buy you.

Does a prospect like you? He'll be looking for reasons to buy.

Don't like the same prospect? He'll find reasons not to buy.

"At the beginning, your product doesn't exist or it's very incomplete, so it's very hard to sell. This will force you to innovate: instead of selling your product, sell your project, sell your vision, sell your team. At every one of your meetings, your prospect should ask you if he or she can invest"

Steve Abou Rjeily - Co-founder of Sales | Doctolib

This advice has influenced us a great deal at Modjo, and perfectly illustrates our point of view.

Every sale is influenced by what the prospect thinks of us.

Instead of focusing solely on selling your product or service, think about selling yourself.

For those of us who, reading this, feel like we're not learning anything and think we are.

There's only one way to check:

How many job offers have you received following a meeting with a prospect?

If you're in a young start-up, how many investment proposals do you receive?

"I've noticed that when I talk to strangers as if we've known each other for a long time, they tend to do the same."

Claude Whitacre - One-call closure.

One of the most effective ways to endear yourself to a prospect is to create a closeness with the person you're talking to by juggling informality and formality.

If possible, offer to call you by your first name and introduce yourself in a personal way.

You've obviously taken the time to prepare for your meeting, and you haven't overlooked any common relationships you might have with your contact.

His latest post on Linkedin or other topics you might find useful.

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"But my prospects, forget it, it's impossible to be on good terms with them or to create closeness..."

Yes, it's likely, although statistically, most of us have never really tried it...

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Building a social relationship means taking an interest in the other person rather than talking about yourself: the more you expose yourself, the more likely you are to give the other person reasons to dislike you or points of disagreement.

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Here are a few tips on what to avoid:

Saying too much about yourself, denigrating the competition, criticizing a choice made by the other person, feigning interest and interrupting an exchange are clearly counter-productive.

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Trust

Does your prospect not trust you or your company?

Good luck...

If I had to choose which of these 5 pillars is the most important, it would definitely be this one.

Fun fact: pay attention to the articles or books you read on this topic.

Trust-building methods are more or less similar in Europe (France, Germany, Spain, etc.), but very different in the UK and the USA.

A good French salesman, even with a good level of English, will not necessarily be a good salesman in the United States, and vice versa.

"In Anglo-Saxon markets, more than in the rest, it's essential to "start with the why", as selling by vision is a cultural strength. Trust must flow from these strong convictions, from the "why" and the vision we bring."

" This why and how can be enough to create a relationship of trust that will enable us to move forward quickly and make decisions. "

" In continental European markets, the "why" is also very important, but trust also relies on greater attention to detail.

"Teams think that what they see is what they get, so trust will come through a more in-depth presentation, a more solid pedagogy, sometimes even a proof of concept"

Johan Benoualid - Vice President Sales, Akeneo

In France or Europe, don't be conceptual. Don't oversell your technology; your prospects will ask you to demonstrate all your arguments technically.

In Europe, to win your prospects' trust, a well-placed "no" is better than an endless series of "yeses".

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Don't be afraid to say "no", to answer that you don't know, or to be sincere when something isn't possible.

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The desire

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Your prospect must want what you have to sell.

Be careful, if you try to apply the following, you may pass a certain point. Perhaps a point of no return...

How do we create desire?

When I ask this question, I regularly hear the same answer:

"I show them the main features"

"I explain all the benefits they'll get from using our service"

"I talk about the customers we work with"

Yes, why not... But there are better things.

One of the biggest challenges of being a salesperson is that... you're a salesperson.

No matter how nice your prospect thinks you are, he or she will always find it hard to trust you.

He knows the purpose of your work: to sell.

You may have Barack Obama's level of oratory and be extremely convincing, but...

"Wait a minute, he's a salesman, he's not going to tell us his product isn't good..."

Your prospect knows there's a risk you'll exaggerate to make your sale.

The only person present at the meeting whom the prospect trusts blindly is himself.

When your prospect says something, it's true. When you say it, there's doubt.

To create desire, the best of us use a technique that makes a lot of sense.

Commercial: "What do you like about our offer?"

If you like more difficult sales like outgoing sales, in addition to having my respect, I advise you to approach the question slightly differently to avoid the classic :

"Look, you're the one who came to us to present your product, we don't know your product..."

Instead :

"I know you know next to nothing about what we do, but to save you time and avoid me going into a long monologue, do you have any idea what you like about our product?"

Punchline.

In both cases, let your prospect answer this question and feed his long monologue with pertinent questions.

"What I like about your product is that it can save me time..."

"Oh yes, right, and why do you think it can save you time?"

" Well, for such and such a reason?"

"OK, that's very clear and you think our product could help you?"

"Yes, but well, I don't know any more..."

Imagine how difficult it will be for that same prospect to end the meeting by saying "I don't think your product will save me time".

Your prospect will make the sale himself.

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Ask your prospect how they intend to use your product or service, what they like best, why they might need it... Without ever interrupting, let them project themselves.

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The authority

Being kind and reassuring is good, but it's not enough to sell every time.

Convincing, trust, desire or intuitu personae have little value without authority in your market.

Humans naturally obey authority in the broadest sense of the word.

If you, your team or your company are perceived as experts in your field, if your words, actions and image indicate that you are important, then you have become an "authority".

Publishing quality content, taking part in webinars, being active on LinkedIn or communicating about the awards you've won are all ways of demonstrating your authority.

Few of us are extremely comfortable introducing ourselves and bragging about our achievements.

The best of us show subtlety in this exercise.

They impose their "authority" at the start of the meeting when they introduce themselves.

They worked on their presentations over and over again.

Average seller :

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Prospect: "How are you?"

Sales: "Fine

Qualified salesperson :

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Prospect: "How are you?"

Sales: "Listen, everything's fine, I've just phoned (name of acknowledged customer) who told me how extremely satisfied he was with our tool. It's so satisfying..."

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Social proof

As we said above: if everyone buys your products or services (or that's the impression you give), your prospects will be more likely to become customers too.

Attention, it's time for "societal reflection": what do we want?

• What everyone wants and what's popular
• What you can't have or think you can't have

To fit in, we imitate our social groups.

If all your friends have iPhones, you probably have one too.

You also need to show that you're just like your prospect, that you have things in common and that you're part of the same community. That your existing customers are like him and like you.

If you want to measure the relevance of this pillar and you're on a historical quarter in terms of performance: try telling your prospect that he'll be the very first in his category to use your product, you'll see how this argument won't reassure him.

Few of us would dare... and we understand.

Mentioning customers can work in your favor, especially if done correctly.

Classic method :

"We already work with Decathlon and Auchan.

More efficient method :

"I understand your problem very well, it's actually quite similar to what our customer Decathlon was offering before we started working with them. That's what was happening for them... and that's how we managed to solve this problem together."

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Make the most of social proof to convince, reassure and inspire action. Use it subtly.

The best of us use it almost 3 times more than the average salesperson.

Do as they do, sprinkle your sales pitch with the names of your customers who have achieved incredible results with your solution.

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Conclusion

Whatever your level, you can improve on these 5 pillars.

Look back at your last 10 failed sales and ask yourself, "Which of these 5 pillars of selling have you forgotten?"

Apply what you've just learned to the product or service you're selling.

Practice.

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Still not convinced that training makes a difference?

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I am available to discuss this.

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Good luck 💪

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Paul

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