WHAT we developed…
III) WHAT we developed.
Of all our findings and developments, there is a model that we consider can produce results faster, will be the easiest to implement, fills most obvious gaps in current complex sale methods and techniques including the most recent ones; and which, in the most generic way, may become their effective complement.
Conscious Complex Sales
This is a model for business interaction (held through meetings, calls, emails, events, documents, conferences, online communications, …) from the perspective of mental processes of the influenced party, i.e. from the perspective of any actor in purchasing / procurement, whether they be deciders, domestic influencers, users, consultants, … or they are internal or external contacts who can give their support to a business deal. Focusing on improving interactions is to strike at the very heart of performance in sales. It is here where a good strategy can die because it is out-of-sync. Finally, this interaction that exists between influencer and influenced, constitutes the essence of daily activity undertaken by sales professionals, according to their own personal style when they are on their own in the field.
To better understand what we mean, we describe below a pair of characteristics of the model that have reacquired unusual importance today, and that summarize respective situations for opportunity:
1. The TIME FACTOR.–
When, due to a natural tendency, we see only the complexity of the details in our interactions with clients, our experience leads us almost automatically to make decisions like, when and how to listen or ask questions, when and how to make persuasive presentations, to create constructive tensions, to try to change the way they see their own challenges, to use preformatted speeches, to offer solutions, or how and when to apply many techniques we have learned. When any of these actions are out-of-sync, the effects can negative and, sometimes, even disastrous, and these consequences may, indeed, be so far from the causes that generated them that we would never notice where they all started.
Only when we understand dynamic complexity, where simple instruments can help in the midst of complexity, we can anticipate when and how these techniques, can produce a breakthrough in business or, rather, when they will lift barriers in the client and produce setbacks or failures in businesses. In short, during our research into dynamic complexity and the introduction of the time factor, we discovered that everything we have learned about sales, albeit empirical or theoretical, is not right or wrong per se as is stated in many popular articles, but rather it all depends on the moment (time factor) and the context in which we apply it.
2. SYSTEMIC STRUCTURES.–
In a world that follows reductionist scientific methods and where our thinking is so linear, the way we grow in sales has given us today a specialized but fragmented knowledge of soft sell disciplines (solutions, negotiation, consultative sales, knowledge, purchasing, emotional Intelligence, neuro-linguistic programming, relationships at any level, …, which can be added to complex methodologies to assess, qualify, forecast, plan and strategize …), and also very low levels of productive application of what has been learned.
The model we have developed simplifies complexities, stimulates a more systemic view, and invites us to place it as the most basic building-block of our knowledge in order to connect both everything we already know about sales and what we will continue to learn in the future, to a simple and centered systemic structure focused on clients’ or any other target of my influence’s decision-making mental processes. This will enable us to know where and how to leverage the progress of a business deal with greater awareness despite pressure, and will also provide a unique instrument for sales managers to enhance their coaching work and verify the accuracy of forecasting.
To be more specific, in terms of benefits, studies carried out with hundreds of complex sale professionals showed an “out-of-sync,” which impairs communication with clients and prevents business advances in 6 out of 10 interactions with clients. Just by thinking about reducing this to a figure of 3 out of 10 client interactions, it is easy to anticipate what this synchrony might represent in terms of productivity, by making use of a simple tool to synchronize our individual sales processes with the thought processes of the influenced party.
A development that cannot fail to be mentioned was a novel learning methodology; it was developed to to raise the level of productive application of learning which is extremely low in sales trainings. Called “Knowledge Construction”, it is intended to help neutralizing experienced sales professionals’ resistance to change, and has the distinction of building on the very personal truth of every professional or manager.
Reaching the end of this document, for a profession such as sales in B2B which most of our learning have been empirical (the reason why we developed a very personal selling style), those who know and apply the complementary HPBD Model (High Performance Business Development) claim that the model has the potential to create a common language for complex sales, integrate this disconnected knowledge, and give complex sales more of a touch of SCIENCE rather than ART.
If you have a few minutes more, we would like to ask you to send us any feedback to: jrodriguez@transk.mx
Thank you very much.
Click here for Javier Rodriguez Barroso’s Resume
Javier Rodriguez
Mexico City, September 2014