How to Shift Your Sales Force to a Buyer-Centric Selling System

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How to Shift Your Sales Force to
a Buyer-Centric Selling System
Mike Kunkle
VP, Sales Enablement Services

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What
• Sales Transformation Straight Talk webinar series
Why
• Provide the latest thinking and actionable ideas to transform
your sales results
How
• Solo webinars, guest speakers, panels, Q&A
- Always taking requests
When & Where
• Usually mid-month, usually mid-week, usually 2 pm Eastern,
usually every month, right here on SMM Connect
- Always check www.smmconnect.com for details

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AGENDA
• Buyer-Centric Selling: Why It’s Time
• Buyer-Centric Selling: What It Is
• Buyer-Centric Selling: How to Shift
• Your Questions
Our Plan for Today
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Buyer-Centric Selling: Why It’s Time

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Buying is evolving – Sales, not so much:
• The percentage of salespeople making quota dropped from 63% to 53% over a 5-year period. (CSO Insights)
• In 2007 it took 3.68 cold call attempts to reach a prospect. Today it takes 8 attempts.
• 85% of prospects and customers are dissatisfied with their on-the-phone experience
• 58% of buyers report that sales reps are unable to answer their questions effectively. (Spotio)
• 67% of the buyer’s journey is now done digitally (Sirius Decisions)
• 94% of B2B buyers will research online before finalizing a purchase
• In a typical firm with 100-500 employees, an average of 7 people are involved in buying decisions (Gartner)
• 88% of executive buyers want a conversation not a presentation. (Acquire B2B).
Learn more…
• https://learn.g2.com/sales-statistics
• https://spotio.com/blog/sales-statistics/
• https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-statistics

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1 2 3 4
Understand my
business / Know me
Demonstrate excellent
communication skills
Focus on post-sale Provide insights and
perspective
What Buyers Expect…
https://www.csoinsights.com/the-growing-buyer-seller-gap-results-of-the-2018-buyer-preferences-study/

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33% 27% 25% 60%
Feel that sellers are
well-informed
Say salespeople are
able to translate
business data into
insights
Of sales reps are
effective at engaging
with influencers
Question their sales
rep’s integrity
https://www.valueselling.com/press-release/study-finds-most-b2b-buyers-question-sales-reps-integrity
What Buyers Are Getting (and Think About Sellers)…

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Wait until after they have fully defined needs70%
Wait until they have
identified their solutions
44%
https://www.csoinsights.com/the-growing-buyer-seller-gap-results-of-the-2018-buyer-preferences-study/
20%
Only lock down
the details
When Buyers Contact Sellers…
Identify &
Clarify Needs
Identify
Solutions
Evaluate
Solutions
Resolve
Concerns
Negotiate
Implement

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Buyer-Centric Selling: What It Is

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• It’s the best of the past:
consultative, value-based,
client-centric approaches…
• … molded to work with modern
buyers, in our current business
climate…
• …to help buyers buy, in an
informed way, to achieve the
desired outcomes that matter to
them.

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Qualify the opportunity:
• Funding
• Alternatives
• Committee
• Timing / Urgency
• Need & Solution Alignment
Understand your buyers/decision makers:
• Roles & Goals
• Challenges | Opportunities | Impacts |
Needs | Objectives | Priorities
• Buying process
• Buying process exit criteria
• Metrics that matter most
Flip the script to buyer-centric messaging:
• Focus on problems not products
• Discuss solutions to their problems
• Focus on resolving impacts and enabling outcomes
• Address both business and personal needs
• Tailor by persona/person
Do exceptional discovery:
• Situation assessment
• Current state
• Future state
• Gap analysis
• Impact analysis
• Outcomes
Co-create solutions:
• Build to solve problems
• Build to deliver outcomes
• Communicate value
• Message by persona/person
Manage the process:
• Uncover/meet exit criteria per stage
• Confirm acceptance of your support
• Gain commitments to move forward
• Keep your commitments/build trust
• Communicate regularly with clarity
• Manage both people and process
© Transforming Sales Results, LLC & SPASIGMA
It’s an Outside-In Way of Thinking and Working

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COIN-OP
Personas
Challenges
Opportunities
Impacts
Needs
Objectives
Priorities
Metrics / How
they are
measured
Value
messaging to
capture
interest based
on 
Targeted
discovery
questions /
approach
How to
demo/present
based on 
How to build
solutions to
address
COIN-OP
Common
concerns and
how to resolve
Competitors
and how to
position
against
Outcomes and
value they
want and how
you enable
both
Role 1
Role 2
Role 3
etc.
It’s Preparing for Better Business Conversations
© Transforming Sales Results, LLC

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It’s Meeting Your Buyers Where They Are
• When prospecting, learn where your buyer is ASAP and adapt and align accordingly – bring insights to create opportunity
• Don’t STOP selling; sell DIFFERENTLY (find or create awareness of problems you solve)
• Digital selling and social nurturing make sense but do not forgo outbound selling (observe and respond to trigger events and sales signals)
• Even when in a Buying Process, recognize that the process may not be linear. Different decision makers/influencers may be in different stages
at different times; shepherd and guide them appropriately
• Remember that Objectives and Exit Criteria may vary by buyer
• Don’t push; maintain forward momentum through trust, value, compelling outcomes, meeting exit criteria and HAM/BAM (have a meeting, book
a meeting)
• New entrants (decision makers or influencers), Objectives, or Exit Criteria, can change things; don’t get complacent.

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Buying Process Exit Criteria: What each decision maker needs to see, hear, feel, understand
and believe, in each stage of their buying process/purchase decision, to be comfortable moving
forward to the next stage with you.
Selling by
Superstition
It’s a Laser Focus on Buying Process Exit Criteria
• Uncover
• Clarify
• Validate
• Meet
• Confirm Acceptance

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Learn more…
• https://www.amazon.com/Beat-Bots-Humanity-Future-Proof-Career/dp/1544503458
• https://www.mikekunkle.com/2019/05/15/implications-for-b2b-selling-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/
• http://closingbigger.net/2017/08/the-right-brained-sales-revolution-podcast/
Why?
Human
Value-added
Trust-building
Buyer-centric
Often Missing
Highly Effective
Competitive Differentiation
Connecting Dots
Data to Insight
Decision-Making
Problem-Solving Critical Thinking
Consulting
Judgment
Listening
Empathy
It’s a Focus on “Human Differentiators”

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Current State
(Before)
Desired Future
State (After)
Gap Analysis
Impact Analysis
© SPASIGMA, from “Modern Sales Foundations”
Reminders:
• It’s about them (human-centric), not you. Meet your buyers where they are (adapt)
• Be problem-centric, not product-centric
- Strike a POSE: Use personalized Problem, Outcome, Solution, Explore messaging for prospecting
• Diagnose first, before prescribing
- You can’t launch without NASA: Need And Solution Alignment
• Qualification still matters:
- Get your FACTs straight: Funding, Alternatives, Committee, Timing
• Paint a compelling story of Before / After with impacts and outcomes
• Engage them in co-creating solutions with you
• Focus on Buying Process Exit Criteria
• Stop “overcoming objections” and use a process and good communication to resolve buyer’s concerns
• No “closing techniques” – just summarize and ask for commitment to move forward.

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Buyer-Centric Selling: How To Shift

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Create the right environment
PatientCollaborative
Well-informed
Service-oriented
Tech-savvy
Data-driven &
Insightful
Business-savvy
Communication
Skills
Consultative
Interpersonal Skills
Value Based
Outcome
Buyer Centric
Outcome Oriented

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Sales Effectiveness Acumens
• The building blocks of sales
effectiveness
• Includes but moves beyond
“selling skills” and Sales
Acumen toward business
advisor
[More detail in Appendix]

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• How/where you apply the Sales
Effectiveness Acumens to daily
workflow
- This is the higher-level, supported
by the deeper Acumens
• Think “Pareto Principle:”
- The foundations are the 20% of
what sales reps do that will drive
80% of their results.
[More detail in Appendix]
Foundations of Sales Effectiveness

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Learning
Design
Manager
Engagement
Knowledge
Acquisition
Knowledge
Sustainment
Skill
Development
Skill
Transfer
Coaching to
Mastery
Measures
Change
Management
Performance
Management
1
5
4 3
2
Training
Content
The 5 Stages of
Sales Mastery &
Behavior Change
Do to all of this…
You’ll need a Sales Training System, or a way to:
• Prepare your sales force for the adoption of new
skills and the necessary mindset and behavior
changes
• Guide those changes and help them develop
and use the new skills
• Cement the change in place and make it part of
your sales culture

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Prepare for Change
• Ensure that your training content will get results
• Design a great learning experience
• Engage, enable, and empower frontline sales managers
Learning
Design
Manager
Engagement
Knowledge
Acquisition
Knowledge
Sustainment
Skill
Development
Skill
Transfer
Coaching to
Mastery
Measures
Change
Management
Performance
Management
Training
Content
The 5 Stages of
Sales Mastery &
Behavior Change
1
5
4 3
2

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Prepare for Change
Guide the Change (The 5 Stages)
• Teach the content, validate learning occurred
• Sustain the knowledge
• Develop skills (practice with expert feedback loops)
• Transfer and apply skills on the job
• Coach to mastery over time
Learning
Design
Manager
Engagement
Knowledge
Acquisition
Knowledge
Sustainment
Skill
Transfer
Skill
Development
Coaching to
Mastery
Measures
Change
Management
Performance
Management
Training
Content
The 5 Stages of
Sales Mastery &
Behavior Change
1
5
4 3
2

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Stage 1:
Knowledge
Acquisition
Stage 2:
Knowledge
Sustainment
Stage 3:
Skill
Development
Stage 4:
Skill
Transfer
Stage 5:
Skill
Mastery
STAGE
Recorded webinar on the 5 Stages: http://bit.ly/STSTonSMM-11142017
Acquire the knowledge
behind the skill with
examples and
assessments/tests to
validate learning.
eLearning, Classroom
Instruction (FTF or
Virtual), Assessments
WHAT
HOW
WHY
Sustain the knowledge;
reverse the “forgetting
curve.”
Q&A, Check-Ins,
Assessments, Learning
Reinforcement
Systems
Develop and practice
skills. Convert
knowledge into
behavior.
Flipped Classrooms,
Role Playing, Live
Simulations, Virtual
Coaching Tools
Apply the newly-
acquired and practiced
skills in the workplace.
Mentoring and
Preparation to Use
Skills, Forms/Job
Aids/Performance
Support
Guide and coach reps
to skill mastery and
performance outcomes,
over time.
Sales Analytics, Field
Training and Coaching,
Coaching Forms and
Tools
Learn something new.
Known to work.
What, Why, & How.
Don’t forget.
Just because they learned
something, doesn’t mean
they’ll retain it.
Develop skills.
Just because they know
and remember, doesn’t
mean they can do it.
Apply skills.
Just because they can
do it, doesn’t mean they
will. (Skill/Will Matrix)
Achieve mastery.
Just because they tried
it, doesn’t mean they did
it well or will continue.

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Learning
Design
Manager
Engagement
Knowledge
Acquisition
Knowledge
Sustainment
Skill
Development
Skill
Transfer
Coaching to
Mastery
Measures
Change
Management
Performance
Management
Training
Content
The 5 Stages of
Sales Mastery &
Behavior Change
Prepare for Change
Guide the Change
Cement the Change
• Get metrics and measures in place
• Manage to behavior and performance expectations
• Lead and manage the change until it cements in the
culture
1
5
4 3
2

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Learning
Design
Manager
Engagement
Knowledge
Acquisition
Knowledge
Sustainment
Skill
Development
Skill
Transfer
Coaching to
Mastery
Measures
Change
Management
Performance
Management
Training
Content
The 5 Stages of
Sales Mastery &
Behavior Change
1
5
4 3
2
Prepare for Change
Guide the Change
Cement the Change
• Get metrics and measures in place
• Manage to behavior and performance expectations
• Lead and manage the change until it cements in the
culture

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Transfer4
Job Aids/Systems
Manager Toolkits
Sales Playbooks
Workflow Support
Use Sales Enablement Tools/Services to Support The 5 Stages
Stage 1:
Knowledge
Acquisition
Stage 2:
Knowledge
Sustainment
Stage 3:
Skill
Development
Stage 4:
Skill
Transfer
Stage 5:
Skill
Mastery
Virtual Practice
Environments
3 Skill
Learning
Reinforcement
Systems
2 Sustainment
Conversation
Intelligence
Coaching
5 Mastery
Learning
Platforms
1 Knowledge
START
Training
Content
Must Get Results
When Used

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Mike Kunkle is a respected sales transformation architect and
internationally-recognized sales training and sales enablement expert.
He’s spent 34 years in the sales profession and 24 years as a corporate leader or consultant,
helping companies drive dramatic revenue growth through best-in-class learning strategies and his
proven-effective sales transformation methodologies. Today, Mike is the Vice President of Sales
Enablement Services for SPA and SPASIGMA, where he advises clients, writes, speaks, leads
webinars, publishes sales training courses, and designs sales learning systems that get results.
Connect with Mike & Follow His Content
Transforming Sales Results Blog https://www.mikekunkle.com/blog
SMM Connect Webinars http://bit.ly/STSTonSMM
BrightTALK Webinars http://bit.ly/TheSalesExpertsChannel
LinkedIn Publisher http://bit.ly/MikeKunkleLIPublisher
LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle
SlideShare https://www.slideshare.net/mikekunkle
Twitter https://twitter.com/mike_kunkle
216.455.1558
mike.kunkle@spasigma.com
https://spasigma.com
Mike Kunkle
VP, Sales Enablement Services

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Sales Effectiveness Acumens (Detail)
Sales Acumen
Includes sales research, sales call planning, prospecting/lead generation, digital selling practices, opportunity qualification, consultative selling using
an adaptive sales methodology (including discovery/situation assessment, solution development/co-creating solutions, developing proposals,
conducting demos and/or presenting solutions/solution dialogue, resolving concerns, and gaining commitment), sales meeting management, multi-
threading to message appropriately to buyers with different interests, storytelling, insight selling, negotiating, influence skills, consulting skills, general
dialogue and communication skills, team selling, and strategic account management.
Customer Acumen
Understanding general buyer personas and buyers’ journey or buying processes, including Challenges, Opportunities, Impacts, Needs, Objectives,
Priorities (COIN-OP), decision process, decision criteria, decision roles, desired outcomes with metrics/measures, and consideration of both the
decision makers’ business and personal needs.
Solution Acumen
Understanding of products and services and how they solve customer problems, critical thinking and problem solving, forcefield analysis, how
solutions tie to Industry Acumen, Financial Acumen, Customer Acumen, and Ecosystem Acumen. This is the culmination of acumens, used to create
value for customers (and differentiation for the company) to achieve customers’ desired outcomes. Includes an understanding of competitive
offerings and how to position against them, as well as against DIY and the status quo.
Business Acumen
Understanding business models, financial acumen, operational metrics/outcomes such as key performance indicators and critical success factors,
pricing, how customer organizations make money, and how to build a business case and calculate ROI.
Industry Acumen
Domain Expertise: Understanding the industry challenges, opportunities, technologies, regulations and legislation, business practices, current
events/news, and the general state of the profession.
Ecosystem Acumen
As applicable, understanding of vendor and channel partners and how to most effectively build relationships and engage with them to uncover,
manage, and win opportunities through the effective co-creation of solutions for customers.
Organizational
Acumen
How to plan and organize effectively. Includes territory planning, account planning, sales call planning, leading sales meetings, task management,
using CRM, sales enablement tools, other technology tools and performance support, action planning, calendaring, project management, change
management, and personal productivity practices.
Operational Acumen
How to get things done: how to make things happen in your own organization and in others – includes an understanding of processes, political
savvy, culture, collaboration, consensus-building, and the ability to execute on all the above plans effectively.

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Foundations of Sales Effectiveness (Detail)
Value Creation
Value creation is your ability to understand what each buyer values and co-create solutions to deliver value and communicate the outcomes of your
solution to articulate the value you deliver. Value includes Business Value, Experiential Value, Aspirational Value, and Personal Value.
Buyer Centric
Being buyer centric is an outside-in mindset that considers everything you do from the buyers’ perspective and influences your behavior to act in your
buyers’ best interest, to achieve your success by supporting their success.
Prospecting
Prospecting is the act of researching, planning, and approaching decision maker contacts in target accounts, in such a way to successfully generate
interest in exploring how you might help them achieve their goals, and setting an appointment to do so.
Discovery
Discovery is the act of understanding you buyers’ situation and what matters most to the decision makers and key influencers – their current state
and related impacts, their desired future state and related outcomes, and the size of the gap and the urgency to close it.
Opportunity
Qualification
Opportunity qualification is analyzing various factors of the situation that typically indicate that there is an opportunity (a problem you can solve that is
compelling enough to spur action) and that you have a reasonably enough likelihood of winning the business to commit the time, energy, resources
and money to pursue it.
Opportunity
Management
Opportunity management is the act of purposefully uncovering and satisfying each buyers’ decision criteria and buying process exit criteria, to
successful shepherd the opportunity through the stages of the buying and sales process to a final win decision.
Strategic Account
Management
SAM is the act of analyzing account potential, setting account objectives, considering relationships and other factors to build an account plan that will
achieve the pre-set objective, and executing that plan to achieve the objective (usually: grow, maintain, recover).
Territory
Management
Territory management is the act of analyzing the accounts and potential within your territory, however it is structured, to ensure proper account
coverage and to optimize the potential of your territory.
Account Planning Account planning is the act of setting account objectives and creating a plan to achieve them. Part of Strategic Account Management.
Sales Call Planning Sales call planning is the act of setting sales call objectives and then creating a plan to achieve them.
Resolving Concerns
Buyers and customers may express various concerns at any stage of the buying process or customer lifecycle. Resolving concerns is the act of
following a buyer-centric process to acknowledge and clarify their issues to identify the type of concerns they have, so you can offer relevant
perspectives and recommendations to effectively address them.

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http://www.strategicpricing.com
https://spasigma.com
SPA is a leading provider of profit-maximizing analytics and skills training.
SPA integrates pricing, sales, and purchasing analytics with
sister-company SPASIGMA’s virtual sales training and
platforms to drive and monetize customer value.
Together, they have helped over 600 businesses
boost profitability and competitive advantage.

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How to Shift Your Sales Force to a Buyer-Centric Selling System

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How to Shift Your Sales Force to a Buyer-Centric Selling System