The sales cycle is a simple progression to get the client to the point of purchase. We have established rapport and trust. We have asked intelligent questions to understand how we can help them. We have come up with a great solution to solve their issues. We may have pre-empted all of their objections, but that doesn’t mean they are going to give us a “yes”. Before we get to the point of asking for their agreement for the deal to go ahead, we need to set up the request.
We have to remember that while the sales cycle may be important to us, as sales professionals, they are not focused on the process. They are concentrated solely on the outcomes. We can tell them the solution in very simple terms. This may satisfy some degree of their logical mind requirements, but it may not be enough. We need to be moving up into high persuasion mode and this is where word pictures can play a powerful role. We can outline a future state of supreme satisfaction, a bright future which resonates with the buyer.
We want to have them see in their mind’s eye, the future situation in the company, as they begin to enjoy our solution. That word picture has to engage the emotions. Previously they had told us the main reason why they needed a solution in the first place. We need to wrap our solution up in those same terms. They also told us what it means to them personally.
We have to loop back and create word picture about how happy they will be personally when the deal delivers the solution outcomes which they told us were important to them. The word picture is to paint the scene of all the benefits the solution brings. It also has to describe the emotional engagement of everyone who is going to be touched by the solution. Especially the person we are talking to.
For example, “Imagine this scene. You are in the office and your boss is smiling at you and shaking your hand and your colleagues are all surrounding you patting you on the back. Everyone is smiling and they are really appreciating your contribution to securing the team goals. Times have been tough and everyone has been suffering. However, your decision to ramp up the marketing effort by using more video and in the process creating a video hit, has exploded the lead flow for the team. The product has now become top of mind for the buyers and the sales team are witnessing their job become so much easier. The offers are flowing in, the phones are ringing and the whole operation is buzzing with activity. Your boss is able to report stellar results to the senior directors in the company and she is appreciating your marketing efforts which made that possible. You mentioned to me your hope for a big bonus and now that is becoming a reality, as the company rewards your efforts to grow revenues. A promotion is in the offing”.
This is not the type of construction you want to be engineering on the spot. This word picture needs to be built piece by piece, based on what you have been told to date. Before you get to the point of making the solution explanation, you need to have this whole scene in your mind. Usually, in Japan, there is a break between hearing the needs of the buyer and then coming back with your solution proposal. This gives you the time to work on crafting this word picture for when you offer the solution part of the sales cycle.
The word picture explanation needs to be practiced, so that is comes it as smooth as silk with no mumbling, hesitations or stumbling over the words. That requires rehearsal and repetition. It will seem effortless to the buyer but it takes a lot of effort to polish the word picture to a point of perfection ready for the delivery.
The impact of the word picture will be in direct correlation to the strength of the questioning component of the sales cycle. If you didn’t dig deep enough on what success means for the buyer, especially personally, then the word picture can fall a bit flat. We don’t want to be talking at a high level here. We want to be as granular as possible based on what we have previously heard from the buyer. If we can feed back some of their own words and means of expression, all the better. It will make it that much easier for them to relate to what they are hearing.
We want them to take action and that means either stopping what they are doing now or doing something new. Neither of these items are easy to get a buyer to embrace. The better composed our word picture of their future satisfaction with our solution, the easier it is for them to say “yes” and to say “yes” right now.
