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The mission critical sale is when your offer\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>affect your customer\u2019s business or operations in some significant way.\u00a0Note the emphasis on “should” and \u201ccan\u201d; I\u2019ll get to that later on.<\/p>\n Examples might include:<\/p>\n Full disclosure: I\u2019ve been selling and consulting in \u201cthe complex sale\u201d (aka consensus selling) for decades. I understand it and am a huge fan.\u00a0 I\u2019m beyond \u201cdrinking the Kool-aid\u201d. I\u2019m marinated in it.<\/p>\n I also know what\u00a0consensus selling methodologies are and aren’t.<\/p>\n They are for organizing\u00a0opportunity pursuit strategy when a buying ecosystem — multiple personas \u2013 is making a group buying decision.\u00a0Usually, this ecosystem is made up of personas\u00a0somebody <\/em>thinks should be included.\u00a0Unfortunately, complex selling methodologies often assume that \u201csomebody\u201d defined the group properly.<\/p>\n Complex sales methodologies aren\u2019t for expanding a buying ecosystem strategically (methodologies accommodate expansion just fine, they just don\u2019t teach it). Typically, companies buy in organizational silos, applying a self-imposed set of blinders to their decision. Thus, they buy too narrowly, engaging prospective vendors constrained by their own narrow perspective. It\u2019s not your customers’ fault: they aren\u2019t experts in your offer\u2019s capabilities and don\u2019t understand all of its implications.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, selling organizations who blindly accept a predefined buying ecosystem almost always overlook potential stakeholders. This is for a variety of reasons, but the result is that sellers miss potential differentiation leaving value unrecognized. Consequently, opportunity strategy under-powered\u2026a potentially mission-critical sale is reduced to a run-of-the-mill complex sale.<\/p>\n Again, consensus selling methodologies help organize all\u00a0personas\u00a0you identify<\/em>.\u00a0Unfortunately, they don’t teach\u00a0anticipating and proactively adding new players to an ecosystem.\u00a0In contrast to methodology,\u00a0\u201cbuyer enablement\u201d: helps\u00a0customer organizations make better, more well-informed decisions.<\/p>\n Admittedly, expanding the buying ecosystem increases decision complexity. However, don’t make the\u00a0mistake of\u00a0thinking that’s always a bad thing.\u00a0\u00a0Adding the right people\u00a0<\/em>means adding allies\u2026packing the court in your favor.<\/p>\n As I said, I\u2019m marinated in complex selling methodology.\u00a0It does its job (organizing a given group decision dynamic) really well.\u00a0For the mission-critical sale, though, today\u2019s methodologies need a specific boost: understanding when, where, and how, and\u00a0why\u00a0<\/em>to change the decision dynamic — and to what.<\/p>\n In some ways, value-focused selling is easier. For example, coaching simplifies down to one question \u201cwhat\u2019s the value?\u201d (OK, sometimes asked over and over like a child asking “why?”) . If your sellers can articulate a complete value picture, they\u2019ve probably performed all of the selling methodology steps just fine. Focusing on value yields a deep understanding of the motivations behind <\/em>the consensus decision.<\/p>\n I could repeat for other methodologies, but the trend is clear. Salespeople capture groups, but not the\u00a0value that drives their decision<\/em>. Worse, they don’t build complete value\u00a0high and wide <\/em>in customer organizations.<\/p>\n What if, instead of switching to\u00a0a new methodology (when the ones out there are fine for organizing a group buying decision)\u2026what if you could just incorporate the missing value conversations into your existing process?\u00a0Wouldn\u2019t that be a high-value, low interruption, easy-adoption initiative?\u00a0In fact, this is the elite selling behavior most mission-critical salesforces are missing.<\/p>\n Separately, for those without a methodology in place, what if you start your team at the core\u00a0of sales–value<\/em>–then work outward to managing the customer\u2019s decision dynamic as needed?\u00a0Remember, customer value is<\/em> what moves all buying decisions \u2014 from transactional to mission-critical. Developing your sellers’ “nose for value” is the pivotal skill in any sales environment.<\/p>\n\n
The Mission-Critical Sale Moves Beyond Consensus Selling.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
When One Silo Has Budget, But Many Silos Benefit<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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It\u2019s Not Harder or More Complex. It\u2019s Just Value-Focused<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Not All Mission Critical Sellers Act Like It<\/strong><\/h3>\n