Best Practices for Aligning to Your Buyer

There’s no better way to close a great deal than to be tightly aligned with your buyer. You’ve heard it in the deal reviews. “How aligned are we to the buyer?” You know when you’re not aligned. The key is knowing how to get in sync. That starts with understanding the critical steps you need to make in order to sure you’re aligning to your buyer throughout the deal.  Here are some best practices.

1. Focus on Problem Solving 

Before you can show your value, you need to find a specific problem with business impact. Make sure you’re taking the time to understand their business and the specific problems that matter most to them. Too many sellers front load their sales conversations with product features and services. No matter how great your technology is, taking this approach will likely put you in one of two groups – First, you’re going to not be able to charge a premium for the business value of your solutions. Second, you will seem like you are more than the buyer needs. Showing features and functions that aren’t aligned to a  business need is a trap you want to avoid.  (See this article on Seller Deficit Disorder)

2. Use the Essential Questions 

The Essential Questions can help you as an individual salesperson stay focused on what you do and how it aligns to your buyer. Keep these questions and the answers handy: 

• What customer problems do I solve? 
• How do I solve these problems? 
• How do I do it better than the competition? 
• What relevant proof points can I use to show where I’ve done this before? 

Stay focused on the answers to these critical questions in every sales conversation, particularly as you broaden out your deal. Keep your conversations aligned to the key challenges facing your buyer. These critical focus areas can help keep your buyer focused too.  (See this article for more on the Essential Questions)

3. Improve Your Qualification 

How are you ensuring that you are aligned on the key business challenges for your buyer and what’s going to be required to get them to the positive business outcomes they need to achieve? How many times have you been in the middle of a sales process thinking the deal is a sure thing, only to find out the buyer had a different perception? Being a voracious qualifier can help you avoid this pitfall and stay in sync with your buyer. MEDDICC is a great way to make sure you are qualifying your deals in a way that ensures alignment with your buyer throughout the sales process. Great sellers hold a mirror up to the customer to help him truly see the situation for what it is and then guide him through to his desired future state, gaining trust and establishing a long-term business partnership along the way.  

Every customer loves to be led, if you take them to a place they can’t get to on their own. Aligning to their critical outcomes and their current business pain, throughout the sales process, will help you stay focused on what matters most.