Selling Change

In my last company I was apart of a sales team, and one of the keys that we taught in the sales process was the “3 Stages of Selling Change”

1. WHY Change

2. Why Change to US

3. Why Change NOW

Each of these stages represent a series of different obstacles to overcome throughout the conversation.

Stage #1:

Here’s a quote from Seth Godin on change:

“Yes to change is risky, and when we are close to approving anything that feels significant, our heart rate goes up, our stress goes up and we often avoid moving forward.”

Prospects ‘stuck’ at this stage of the sales cycle are often risk averse due to having a high level of comfort and confident with their current tech stack.

Stage #2:

The important part here was outlining key differentiators between us and the competitors and then tying it back to why that’s important to them and the impact it could have. A competitive matrix can help, but by and large, this is where expertize on your product knowledge becomes crucial.

Stage #3:

This one is the kicker. At this stage you’ve climbed the ladder and you’re standing at the end of the diving board… but getting them to jump is no easy task. They don’t want to stuff it up and make a poor decision in front of their colleagues, or maybe they’ve just never done it before. Building trust and confidence is paramount here. Referrals, testimonies, case studies etc.

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Using this method to break down a sales conversation helped me to know how to approach each conversation appropriately. When looking at your pipeline, think to yourself which one of these stages are my prospects stuck in, and how can I help move them along?

Thanks for reading,

Matt T