WIIFM to sell with the Buyer’s Perspective?

I was in the Netherlands a few weeks ago with a fantastic group of Salespeople. We had so much fun at one of the Energizer Activities that tears were rolling down my cheeks from laughing. It’s great to see that down-to-earth Dutch sense of humour again! 

After we picked ourselves up and put the tissues away, we asked the group: What Is In It For Me (WIIFM) for the Seller and the Customer during a meeting when Selling with the Buyer’s Perspective? Their answers were spot on and reminded us again from a motivational standpoint that although it isn’t easy to Sell with the Buyer’s Perspective (if it was easy, others would be doing it – and we know they don’t), it is very rewarding for both the Salesperson and the Customer.

Here is their list:

Salesperson’s benefits

• You are trusted
  • The Trusted Advisor’s mindset creates trust. The foundation of trust is caring. You show you are focused on them as opposed to focusing on closing the deal. You truly want to understand what is important for their business right now; you care and want to help.
• A more natural conversation
  • Stephen R. Covey said: “Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. Without trust, Stakeholders will be sceptical throughout the meeting. Selling is Helping, and when your Stakeholders understand your intention, they allow the conversation to be more natural.
• Change the Stakeholder’s perspective.
  • Buyers are looking for information that can help them progress in their buying process. Recognizing this, you provide stakeholders with research, trends related to their challenges, and white papers as a third-party opinion. And your own opinion on how you think you can help.
• Increase the probability of success.
  • Instead of driving your ‘selling’ agenda, Trusted Advisors drive the Customer’s agenda. With your business idea (how to grow their business), you Kick-Start the buying process. No one will buy anything if there is no solid business case to change. That drives the probability of success.
• Increase your own knowledge and personal development
  • The more you sell with the Buyer’s perspective, the greater knowledge you will build on how to help customers grow their businesses. You are not afraid to step out of your (selling) comfort zone. You help customers see that a change makes sense. And you become a strategic thinker.

Customer’s benefit

• A business conversation
  • Stakeholders who are overwhelmed and confused by information overload are not looking forward to another ‘sales’ call. They want to have a business conversation where insights are shared and stories are told about how other customers have overcome similar challenges.
• Feel helped to achieve their agenda.
  • Customers lean into the conversation when the topic is about them. They will open doors to other stakeholders because what was shared during these meetings changed their perspective and needs to be heard by others.
• Driving consensus
  • According to Brent Adamson (The Challenger Sale), the best way to build customer consensus isn’t to do a better job of connecting your solution to individual customer stakeholders but to connect stakeholders to one another by connecting your solution to what their common business goals are. Salespeople who can do this well are helping change champions to get the greater buying room on board.
• No time wasted
  • In a world where buyers are constantly bombarded by emails, sales pitches, and Social media messages, the last thing someone wants is to waste their time. Only 17% of the total buying process is spent with salespeople interactions. Considering the average deal involves multiple suppliers, any given sales rep has roughly 5% of a customer’s total purchase time. Luckily, they have just met a Trusted Advisor like you who is fully aware of this and has prepared for the meeting very effectively.

WIIFM Questionaire

The below challenge (8 questions) turns each of the WIIFM benefits into a question. If you like a challenge, rate yourself on a scale from 1-5 and see how well you have progressed to be that Trusted Advisor to your customers. And…what area of improvement do you need to focus on?