Smarter Selling: Next generation sales strategies to meet your buyer’s needs – every time

6.3. Surface (the facts)

‘There is a big difference between listening and waiting your turn to speak.’ (Anon.)

Too many meetings between sellers and buyers begin with an assumption on the part of the seller that there is a problem that they are there to solve. A consequence of this assumption is that meetings move too quickly into potentially negative areas, i.e. talking about problems. The seller then falls into the trap of promoting their offering too early.

A spectacular failure A firm of business consultants was requested to bid for a piece of work with a large Chinese enterprise. In order to show their serious intent, the advisors decided ...