Collaboration Selling – RAIN Group research report

Customer reactions to what we do will drive what they buy, and in many case also drive “if they buy”. So what is it that makes a customer want to buy something, as much as we want to sell it? What can we do differently – that is proven to work?

One factor is our level of “collaboration” in working with the customer – as revealed in a RAIN Group research report.  This research was discussed by Jill Konrath, Sales expert in Minneapolis, and Mike Schultz of the RAIN Group in Boston, in a very interesting Webinar. They discussed the RAIN Group research report “What Sales Winners do Differently”, which is a free download at:

http://www.rainsalestraining.com/sales-resources/sales-white-papers-ebooks/

In a nutshell, the top three factors identified by B2B buyers, for what separates winners from second place finishers, are:

– educated me with new ideas or perspectives

– collaborated with me

– persuaded me we would achieve results

This research is a welcome breath of fresh air, summarizing the results of 700 buyer interviews, since I’ve believed for years that selling “the Project” is more important that selling “the Product”. To do that, customers are actually open to letting us help them define or create a new project, and that puts us in a strong position to win that big order. In B2B sales with big ticket opportunities, and multiple decision influences, use Collaboration Selling to help the customer buy, and help you grab those big orders.
P.S. Here’s another post by MarketingProfs on the RAIN Group study.