Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 2 I recently finished a book called Dirty Little Secrets by Sharon Drew Morgan. Fascinating. Read it. It emphasizes the need to understand and empathize with the buyer’s crazy internal system that accepts or does not accept any change to their status quo. The premise is: until the buying team can obtain buy-in to changing the status quo…they won’t. It’s that simple. When you insert a new system—a new way of doing things—resistance is everywhere. You can show them all day long how your solution makes things better. But until you get conformation—or a true confession from all interested parties, you’ll waste lots of time in the selling cycle wondering what’s going on inside the buying decision cycle. Until you get all interested people to the table and discuss all the options: internal solutions, existing vendors, and workarounds, you really won’t make much progress. The key is to be a problem facilitator, not a solution peddler. They’ll go through this process anyway—they have to. So don’t fight it. Leverage it. We have been really successful with buying facilitation. It’s now part of our selling culture. And it’s changed everything. We don’t talk about our solutions—we talk about the buyer’s situation, and the change obstacles they are facing. We encourage looking at internal solutions, other existing vendor solutions, and possible workarounds. If they pass that test, and still have a problem, then you have a qualified buyer. It helps you and the buying team quickly get to your solution. How to use buying facilitation questions to maximum advantage Ask the right questions early—don’t peddle products. “So, have you looked at ways to solve the problems without bringing in an external solution?” “Are there existing solutions in place that could be enhanced to address the issues?” “Who needs to be involved to get a change like this accepted?” “What are the main obstacles you see in making this change?” Become the buying facilitator—the trusted advisor After helping your buying team understand how to consider the possible alternatives and workarounds, then you can start to show how your solutions can bring greater value. You’ll have inside knowledge and competitive position, making your job much easier. You can demonstrate value with confidence that your buyers are ready to change. It makes so much sense. And best of all… it works. It dramatically shortens your sales cycles, because you’re expediting the inevitable. Hope you have your best year ever. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on Accent Technologies' Blog and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Author: Connor Brooke Connor is a Scottish financial expert, specialising in wealth management and equity investing. Based in Glasgow, Connor writes full-time for a wide selection of financial websites, whilst also providing startup consulting to small businesses. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master’s degree in Investment Fund Management, Connor has … View full profile ›More by this author:ACH Crypto Price Prediction 2022 – Is it a Buy?Lucky Block Partners with Dillian Whyte ahead of Heavyweight Showdown with Tyson FuryNFT Pixel Art – The Best NFT Collections for 2022