The B2B complex sale is a marathon – don’t sprint
If you would try to sell B2B like a sprint, you will never achieve the marathon.
In consumer and retail business selling is like a sprint as people can decide within a few seconds as in many occasions the decisions are subjective. A salesman can even accelerate the buying process by giving advice or influencing the buyer.
Endurance for the B2B complex sale
In business to business it just takes longer: from problem definition, over presentation, over evaluation, over the last round, to the final decision. It is a much more rational buying decision.
You can try to move ahead for an intermediate step, but you will not be able to overhaul your competitors as a consensus by all the different people involved needs to be obtained.
They decide and control the speed of the buying process, not you.
Endurance is required to sustain the contacts and relations and keep the focus of closing the deal.
The fast competitor isn’t necessary winning
Of course a competitor can try to move or even move ahead faster; however as the purchase process takes more time they can or will become exhausted by the time the closing of the contract is in sight.
Or your fast competitor could just loose interest himself as it takes too long.
As the fast moving competitor might have been pushing too much a decision taker or an influencer the sales process this might just turn against them.
The B2B complex sale is not a sprint – it is a marathon.
If you try to run the B2B sales process like a sprint, you will never finish the marathon.
Are you a sprinter or a marathon runner?
I’m definitely more of a marathoner! However there are times when being a sprinter is required. So it’s more a matter of truly understanding your customer and leading them down the right path for success. Some take more time than others, just be sure to understand the requirements and act accordingly. Great post, thanks for sharing!
It is more about catching the prey then running the race, in fact I think alot of promoters tend to run arond in circles instead of being clear on the end result. Walk slowly to the resources that will help you hone the words that run the sales. Fast moving competitors ae only effective when they have done their homework and know the right words to say, that develops with experience not speed!
You have made some great points but for b2b complex sales especially in the technology industry.