Selling at the edge of chaos
(5 minutes read)
B2B Sales is not rocket science. It is not a science at all. It is not binary, and there are no universal laws guaranteeing the same result each time. Success in sales depends on the combination of many variables which makes it chaotic. Although we like to pretend to do so (through the dashboards we generate from our CRMs), calculating the odds when facing a customer is very difficult. It is mainly because the customer’s buying journey is much more complex than we think.
You can find below a “simple” illustration of B2B buying:
It looks chaotic, right? It also demonstrates that each customer interaction is unique. So, how to deal with this chaos? Here are a couple of ideas:
- Accept the chaos
Your CRM dashboard can provide all kinds of efficiency ratios. But only once you close or lose the deal. Yet, it cannot tell you the odds before your first meeting with the customer. It means that every first meeting is entering into an uncharted territory, a new adventure. The same thing is valid for cold calling as well.
That is why you should not expect it to “get better” along the time. You will undoubtedly get better, but the customer’s buying process remains chaotic.
And let’s agree… selling is not a kind of Newtonian science. It is more quantum-like interaction. Accepting it as a chaotic process and embracing this chaos is a good starting point.
2. Enjoy the chaos
The best way to use this chaos to your advantage is to enjoy it. Enjoying chaos means actively looking for the change, not only accepting it. It requires constant questioning of everything you know or everything you think you know. In selling, this helps you to improve your effectiveness and impact.
Most businesses fail not because they do the wrong thing. They fail because they keep doing the right thing for too long time.
3. Trust your learning capabilities
The day you think you know how to sell, you are dead. Remember, you are operating at the edge of the chaos. And the only thing you can trust is your own learning capabilities. Learn from the chaos. Many salespeople underestimate this part and become reluctant to try new approaches to get better.
In France, they say, “You do not change a winning team.” I agree, but you make the team change if you want to keep winning. Learning is the only way. And the best thing about learning is it entirely depends on you. It does not depend on some external factors that are beyond control. So, no excuses.
4. Play the infinite game
Playing the infinite game in selling means focusing on what matters the most to the customer. You act as your customer’s decision-making coach rather than a salesy salesperson. As Simon Sinek says, playing the infinite game is the only way to reach sustainable success. Of course, we all have quarterly, yearly quotas to hit. But, this should not be our only focus point. The selling environment is already chaotic, and focusing only on short-term targets will worsen it. We can have ups and downs, and we will undoubtedly have. What counts in the long run is incremental progress and consistency. It will not make you close every deal, but it will make you a better salesperson each time.
5. Don’t try
Trying to sell is the worst. Because when you try to sell, you are not really selling. It is like trying to sleep. When you try to sleep, you are not actually sleeping. Again you are operating at the edge of the chaos, just like your customers. So, why make it worse for your customers? You can check another blog post I wrote on this topic for more details.
Please note that there is one prerequisite for the abovementioned points: believing in what you are doing. When you believe in your solutions, you can be authentic. And being authentic opens the door of a trust-based customer relationship.
Of course the list is not exhaustive. And if you consider that your sales environment is not that chaotic, maybe you already integrated those points into your daily practice.