6 Reasons Salespeople Win or Lose a Sale Page 1 of 6

SALES

6 Reasons Salespeople Win

or Lose a Sale
by Steve W. Martin
JUNE 23, 2017

STEVEN MOORE FOR HBR

Why does a salesperson lose a sale?

It’s a question I’ve studied for years, as part of the win-loss analysis research I
conduct.

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There’s a tendency to assume that the salesperson lost because their product was
inferior in some way. However, in the majority of interviews buyers rank all the
feature sets of the competing products as being roughly equal. This suggests that
other factors separate the winner from the losers.

In order to identify these hidden decision-making factors, more than 230 buyers
completed a 76-part survey. The research project goals were to understand how
customers perceive the salespeople they meet with, explore the circumstances that
determine which vendor is selected, and learn how different company
departments and vertical industries make buying decisions. We had six key
research findings:

#1: Some Customers Want to be Challenged

What selling style do prospective buyers prefer? The survey shows 40% of study
participants prefer a salesperson who listens, understands, and then matches their
solution to solve a specific problem. Another 30% prefer a salesperson who earns
their trust by making them feel comfortable, because they will take care of the
customer’s long-term needs. Another 30% want a salesperson who challenges their
thoughts and perceptions and then prescribes a solution that they may not have
known about.

From a departmental perspective, under 20% of accounting and IT staffers want to

be challenged, while 43% of the engineering department does. Over 50% of
marketing and IT prefer a salesperson who will listen and match a solution to solve
their specific needs. The sales department equally preferred having a salesperson
listen and solve their needs and being challenged; HR was equally split across all
three selling styles.

There’s an interesting explanation for selling styles preferences, which is based on

whether the buyer is comfortable with conflict. Seventy-eight percent of
participants who preferred a salesperson who would listen and solve their specific

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needs agreed with the statement: “I try to avoid conflict as much as I can.”
Conversely, 64% of participants who preferred a salesperson who challenges their
thoughts disagreed with the statement and are comfortable with conflict.

#2: It’s Really a Committee of One

Whenever a company makes a purchase decision that involves a team of people,
factors including self-interests, politics, and group dynamics will influence the
final decision. Tension, drama, and conflict are normal parts of group dynamics,
because purchase decisions typically are not made unanimously.

One critical research finding is that 90% of study participants confirmed that there
is always or usually one member of the evaluation committee who tries to
influence and bully the decision their way. Moreover, this person is successful in
getting the vendor they want selected 89% of the time. In practicality, it can be
said that a salesperson doesn’t have to win over the entire selection committee,
only the individual who dominates it.

#3: Market Leaders Have an Edge

In most industries a single company controls the market. Compared with their
competitors, they have a much larger market share, top-of-the-line products,
greater marketing budget and reach, and more company cachet. For salespeople
who have to compete against these industry giants, life can be very intimidating
indeed.

However, the study results provide some good news in this regard. Buyers aren’t
necessarily fixated on the market leader and are more than willing to select
second-tier competitors than one might expect. In fact, only 33% of participants
indicated they prefer the most prestigious, best-known brand with the highest
functionality and cost. Conversely, 63% said they would select a fairly well-known
brand with 85% of the functionality at 80% of the cost. However, only 5% would
select a relatively unknown brand with 75% of the functionality at 60% of the cost
of the best-known brand.

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Not surprisingly, the answer to this question differed by industry. The fashion and
finance verticals had the highest propensity to select the best-known, top-of-the-
line product, while manufacturing and health care had the lowest.

#4: Some Buyers Are “Price Immune”

Price plays an important role in every sales cycle. Since it is a frequent topic during
buyer conversations, salespeople can become fixated on the price of their product
and believe they have to be lowest. However, decision makers have different
propensities to buy, and the importance of price falls into three categories. For
“price conscious” buyers, product price is a top decision-making factor. For “price
sensitive” buyers, product price is secondary to other decision-making factors such
as functionality and vendor capability. For “price immune” buyers, price becomes
an issue only when the solution they want is priced far more than the others being
considered.

Study participants were asked to respond to different pricing scenarios, and their
responses were analyzed to categorize their pricing tendency. From a
departmental perspective, engineering would be classified as price immune;
marketing and sales as price sensitive; and manufacturing, information
technology, human resources, and accounting as price conscious. From an
industry perspective, only the government sector would be classified as price
immune. Banking, technology, and consulting would be price sensitive, while
manufacturing, health care, real estate, and fashion are price conscious.

#5: It’s Possible to Cut Through Bureaucracy

The most feared enemy of salespeople today isn’t solely their archrivals; it’s
buyers’ failure to make any decision. This is because every initiative and its
associated expenditure is competing against all the other projects that are
requesting funds. Do the departments have different abilities to push through their
purchases and defeat their company’s bureaucratic tendency not to buy?

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The answer is yes. Based on the research results, sales, IT, and engineering have
more internal clout to push through their projects as opposed to accounting,
human resources, and marketing. Therefore they’re better departments to sell into
from the salesperson’s perspective.

#6: Charisma Sells in Certain Industries

Imagine three salespeople who’ve pitched products that are very similar in
functionality and price. Which would you rather do business with:

• A) A professional salesperson who knows their product inside and out but is not
necessarily someone you would consider befriending
• B) A friendly salesperson who is likable and proficient in explaining their
product
• C) A charismatic salesperson who you truly enjoyed being with but is not the
most knowledgeable about their product

While top selection in every industry was the friendly salesperson, the media and
fashion industries selected “charismatic salesperson” more than most, and the
manufacturing and health care industries had the highest percentage of
“professional salesperson” responses.

Many salespeople behave as if buyers are rational decision makers. In reality,

human nature is complicated, and a mix of factors — some rational, some not
— determine how buyers evaluate sales reps and who they select. Ultimately, it is
the mastery of the intangible, intuitive human element of the sales process that
separates the winner from losers.

Steve W. Martin teaches sales strategy at the University of Southern California Marshall
School of Business. His new book is titled Heavy Hitter I.T. Sales Strategy: Competitive Insights from
Interviews with 1,000+ Key Information Technology Decision Makers.

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6 COMMENTS

Amit Sharma a month ago

The trick of any sale is to read the mind of customer and then wrap ones product around his
needs & aspiration

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