We often find fulfillment in situations where three things are simultaneously true:
1. We like what we are doing,
2. We feel safe, and
3. The dollars — the income derived from the activity or the cost to participate in the activity — are acceptable.
We stay in jobs, for example, when these three things are true. We tend to leave jobs when one or more sides of the triangle are broken.
So, other than helping us understand why we stay in some sales jobs and quit others, how does this help us win more business?
Your customers and clients have fulfillment triangles. They use them, whether they realize it or not, to decide if they want to buy from us.
Our buyers have to like our offering. It must solve their business problem. If our offering doesn't meet all of their requirements or our offering is perceived to be difficult to consume or adopt, our buyers probably won't like it.
Our buyers have to feel safe buying from us. Suppose we are bringing something new to market and we don't yet have references. Perhaps we aren't fully funded yet. Maybe we are an established company, but had a recent and visible financial, product or service setback. In these scenarios, our buyers may be uncomfortable with our offering if they are risk averse. They may not feel safe putting their careers on the line to select us.
Our buyers must believe the dollars involved - the investments required - are a fair exchange of value. When they don't, they typically don't buy from us.
Most sales process methodologies encourage us to think of buyers as positive, neutral or negative toward our offering as we assess buyer engagement during a sales cycle. A much better way to assess their engagement is to assess the three sides of their fulfillment triangles and map a plan to address any concerns.
Happy selling!
(Image Credit: Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash.)