In the world of sales, majority salespeople work with inaccurate or partial client information, however the Heavy Hitters, or elite tech sales people, employ strategic Triangulation.
What is Triangulation?
It is a process of choosing a position and asking questions to discover a reality. It is at the main stage of ongoing sales calls, where salespeople have the opportunity to ask questions and get as much accurate information from the clients or the market. A tech sales professional’s top priority is to qualify whether the opportunity is a win-win or is it wasting precious time. Heavy Hitters constantly try to triangulate their position by focusing on three or more data points, such as
Is there a deal?
Am I creating a winning proposition for me and my prospect?
Whom do I have to watch out for, and what can ruin this deal?
This diagram shows the Triangulation process that keeps the sales people focused on the strategy.
1. The “WHAT” Base
What language does the prospect use when speaking?
What do these terms actually mean?
What do the consumers actually mean when they talk?
The ultimate goal is simple, the clients need to expose their internal dialog. They need to honestly explain what they are trying to accomplish and why they are doing it from a business and personal standpoint. The following questions are pertinent to figuring out this base:
What are the goals?
What is the business problem to be solved?
What are the technical problems related to this goal?
The sales representatives attempt to translate the clients’ high level requirements into extremely precise focused demands when they respond to these queries. If they are a financial application tech salesperson and are dealing with prospects who are dissatisfied with their company’s accounting system, they need to assist them to pinpoint the specific problem. Is it useful? Or perhaps functionality, usability, adaptability, or something else? Then they need to get even more specific and ask questions about the problem once it is discovered. For example, if the problem is with functionality, then the questions asked will be about its integration, human resource or is it with accounts receivable or payable etc.
2. The “HOW” base
This base is used to understand how the customers will take action. By precisely asking the customer how they plan to complete the specified job, sales representatives may determine as much as possible about the sales process. The questions asked here also provide the salesperson an opportunity to demonstrate their technical proficiency and show the customers that they understand how their business operates. This stage also builds the foundation of trust and respect. Questions asked in this base mostly include:
How will a decision be made?
How will a solution get implemented?
How will it be determined if the solution is successful?
The assessment criteria for the prospect, the procedure for evaluating the prospect, and the method for determining if the evaluation was effective should all be understood. The sales team’s members should collect data from their contacts, consolidate it, and integrate the findings. This activity will highlight the product’s advantages, disadvantages, and information gaps. Ultimately, you want the consumer to provide clear responses to your inquiries.
3. The “WHY” base
Now that the big players know exactly what the clients are intending and how they expect to achieve their objectives, they need to know why they are pursuing this project. The questions at this base can be based on their motives or on actions, or people employed. The attention to detail is most comprehensive as it addresses the end goal of the customer’s undertaking and is used to determine whether the opportunity is mutually beneficial. The questions arising from the organization’s viewpoint are as follows:
Why is their product a better fit than the competitor’s?
Why would the company select their product?
Why do they need a new product in the first place and why can they not carry on with their existing systems?
The personal objectives of those participating in the effort make up the second reason. These items are referred to as benefactions, or personal advantages resulting from certain actions. A person’s behavior during the sales cycle might be affected by benefits that contribute to their welfare, such as happiness, esteem, power, or income. The following questions must be asked at a personal level about each participant in the selection process:
Why was this person chosen to be on the evaluation team?
Why would this person endorse our product/service?
Why would they oppose the product/service?’
4. The “WHEN” base
If the consumer doesn’t have a window of time to consider, decide, and buy, then the best salesperson’s efforts are for naught. The time period is crucial to determine the duration of the sales cycle and to let both parties decide whether to really sell the goods as opposed to endlessly debating it. Naturally, the questions that arise in this base are as follows:
When will the evaluation start and finish?
When will a decision be finalized?
When will the customer purchase after initiating the sales process?
It is important for salespeople to pace themselves throughout the given time frame and not employ all their sales tactics in a hurry but go about finalizing the sale in phases systematically. This gives them ample opportunity to discuss each phase of sale in detail and prepare their resources accordingly instead of making a quick close and going back and forth with amendments.
5. The ultimate “WHO” base
The “who” base is in the center. To ascertain who agreed on the requirements, who determined the schedule, who will do the review, and who will ultimately decide to purchase anything, this basis may be applied to any other base. Elite salespeople likely make hundreds of sales calls each year. When dealing with several customers, the mind starts to generalize the experience. They frequently just do the account qualifying procedures out of habit or muscle memory. They make false assumptions, fail to pay attention to crucial details, and misinterpret vital variables. They occasionally experience a shocking loss that knocks them back to reality. Before the sales calls, a brief review of the triangulation diamond will serve as a reminder to not take any sales scenario for granted and to remind themselves of their own mission as well as their objective of learning about the reality of the client.
CONCLUSION
Triangulation is a process of discovering the reality of the customers as well as focusing a sales person’s attention to the most relevant matters of discussion during a sales call or meeting. It helps the people come up with strategies and ascertain the best way forward to move the sale by finding out complete and accurate information that may otherwise get overlooked. It is a tool to overcome complacency and help direct energies into asking pertinent questions that also help product positioning. It does this by showing the client that this sales person is serious about solving their business problem and is asking the hard questions to get the best solutions. A sale occurs if the prospect believes that your product/service will be able to solve their business problem and triangulation helps you to achieve just that.
