Introduction
In a recent Customer Value Community webinar we hosted with Jen Allen-Knuth, Founder of DemandJen, we discussed ways to combat the status quo in B2B sales by helping prospects understand the cost of inaction (you can find a full overview of the webinar here).
Jen mentions that many sales deals are lost not due to price or competition but because of a 'no decision' outcome. To address this, Jen recommends that sales professionals calculate the 'cost of inaction,' demonstrating to prospects the financial implications of not solving the problem. This approach helps prospects understand the true value of a solution and motivates them to make a decision.
Understanding the concept of the cost of inaction is important; but unless you have a plan to integrate this approach into your sales process, the concept isn’t worth much. This article will take Jen’s advice one step further and discuss ways you can use the cost of inaction calculations in your discovery calls. Discovery calls are the linchpin of the sales process. It's where you move beyond surface-level interactions and dive deep into your prospect's world. It’s the perfect time to highlight the cost of inaction, setting you up for success later in the deal.
We'll explore how to leverage the cost of inaction to transform your discovery calls. You'll learn how to foster trust, uncover high-priority issues, and guide your prospects toward realizing the urgency of their situation. By the end, you'll have a powerful three-step approach, backed by insightful questions, that will improve your discovery calls and sales results.
Setting Yourself Up for Success in Discovery
Here’s a three-step approach for bringing the cost of inaction to your prospects:
- Be flexible: During discovery, you should have a point of view that is specific but loosely held. You want your prospect to perceive you as an expert in your space. But you also want them to know you are listening and flexible in your beliefs and understandings. This builds trust, which is crucial in sales.
- Identify high-priority problems: In a great discovery call, you shouldn’t be talking at all about your solution. If you only talk about why your product or solution is so great, your prospect is never going to feel invested in the process or feel that you truly care about their needs.
Instead, focus on their problems. And help them determine how big of a problem they are currently facing. This is the perfect time to alert them to hidden costs they may not realize they are experiencing and help them calculate the cost of inaction.
Then, determine if their problem aligns with what your product or solution does really well.
- Know when to reframe, find someone else, or disqualify:
- First, we need to help them reframe, which is about getting them to think differently about their problems. This is also a way we can get prospects to think about the cost of inaction. But remember, the best way to reframe isn’t by telling your prospects what their problems are; rather, you should prompt them with questions like “Is this a problem for you?” It is much more effective to put a mirror in front of them so they see for themselves.
- Second, we need to involve more than one person. Not all problems are the same across the buying committee. Leverage your champion to make introductions to others across the buying committee to better understand their most pressing problems to make sure they align with your product or solution. Which brings us to our last point:
- Disqualify early in the sales process. No-decision deals are costly. This is because we spend a lot of time and resources on prospects that don’t realize the cost of the status quo. No amount of time or resources is going to move the needle when a prospect doesn’t realize how costly doing nothing can be.
At the same time, you need to be honest with yourself. Your product or solution doesn’t solve all problems. If you’ve followed our previous advice, then you likely have a really good sense of the highest priority problems your prospect’s organization faces. If those problems don’t align with what your product or solution solves, disqualify early. You’ll free up your time to spend on more likely-to-win deals that align better with your solution.
Four Questions to Answer Early in the Sales Process
To help you get started, we put together four questions you should be answering by the end of the discovery call. You might not be asking these questions verbatim to your prospect but you should find a way to answer them nonetheless:
- What’s the relevant business objective we are addressing?
- How do they appear to be solving it today?
- What beliefs/assumptions MIGHT be causing them to believe this approach is “good enough”?
- What new information about their beliefs or assumptions MIGHT cause the buyer to reconsider their OWN thinking?
In addition to these four questions, you should also use the interactive Value Validation Framework. Combined with the four questions on the cost of inaction, the Value Validation Framework will allow your key stakeholders to not only align on your solution but also to align amongst themselves.
Conclusion
Remember, successful discovery calls hinge on building trust, reframing problems through thoughtful questions, and aligning your solution with the prospect's most pressing needs. When you can demonstrate the tangible, negative impact of doing nothing, you create a compelling reason for prospects to act.
And if you want to continue enhancing your discovery call skills, check out 5 Top Tips for Conducting Discovery.
