Why 87% of Sellers Are Pitching to Buyers Who Stopped Listening Weeks Ago

Your best deals are dying in ways you just can't see. You probably landed on a problem worth solving. There was probably genuine pain. The first call might have even been electric. And then something changed. Click here to find out more about how I can implement this system for your startup.

In this post, I'm going to outline how 87% of sellers are pitching solutions buyers stopped thinking about weeks ago, and how you can revalidate those deals and increase your win rates by up to 38%.

The Hidden Problem That's Killing Your Pipeline

This was outlined by Corporate Visions research. They found that for complex solutions, the problem statement changes 3.2 times during B2B deals. When sellers align on the current problem definition, win rates jump 38%. But only 13% of sellers are doing this throughout the process.

So this means you've landed on a problem. You've done the hard work. You've worked all the way through to proposal stage. But they've had internal meetings, and things have changed.

I'm sure you're thinking of some of your Q2 deals as you read this. Now think about the fact that those executives are speaking with other people. They're speaking with peers at other companies. They're speaking to other providers. This is what's going to cause them to potentially change their mind, to really pivot in how they think they're going to best solve that problem.

Your Buyer Isn't Standing Still

Your buyer isn't standing still while you're building a proposal, while you're building out that demo, while you're moving things forward.

They are gathering inputs from multiple different places.

Worst case scenario? A competitor is reshaping the solution to better suit what they can provide versus what you can provide. And you really need to be keen and listening out for that.

Every single conversation, prepare to validate, revalidate, and revalidate again.

• "What's changed since the last time we spoke?"
• "Is X still driving this solution?"

They're going to be reading LinkedIn articles. They're going to be having more conversations. There's also the possibility that one or two people might become disconnected from the project, and others might get pulled in. Everybody's going to have opinions. Everybody's going to have their say. Everyone's going to want to have their input.

So by the time you reach proposal, you really want to make sure you've validated the problem you're solving, and that the way you're doing it is still the best way for them to proceed in their view.

You can think you're 80% to the close. But you're actually 80% to no decision.

And that deal will die quietly if you're not revalidating the problem statement throughout the deal.

What This Tells Us

Discovery doesn't stop after the first call. Discovery is something we do all the way through.

It also tells us that, thinking logically, of course they're going to be looking at other ways to solve this. Of course they're going to be figuring that out.

The great sellers are the ones always revalidating, confirming, checking what's changed. The average sellers are the ones who follow the playbook, get to the proposal, get to delivery, and are left wondering why that deal didn't happen.

How to Use This Today

Have a look at your pipeline. Take the deal you're working on right now and:

1. Make sure you have a problem statement.
2. On the next opportunity you get, reconfirm that problem is still there and they're still looking to solve it the way you're proposing.

You were speaking with real people with real problems. They are not just going to stop thinking about that problem because they're talking to you. That problem is going to be there in the back of their mind. They're going to be listening out for other people and how they are solving it.

Catch the Words Verbatim

One thing I think you should really focus on is catching verbatim the words they are using to describe the problem, particularly early in the sales process. Then as the sales process evolves, ask:

• Is there a change?
• Is there a tweak?
• Is there a drift in that language?

That might give you a little bit of a warning signal.

And let's not forget that no matter how big or how complex a deal is, you'll have a 20% better chance of closing that deal if you speak with that deal week on week. That doesn't mean you have to have a calendared call every single week. But that does mean you probably want to have reasons to give them a call in those in-between weeks where you don't have anything scheduled. This gives you the impromptu way to really make sure that you're still on track.

The Simple Habit That Changes Everything

Have a look at the deals in your pipeline. Think about the problem statement you've landed on. On your next call, go and validate and revalidate that with them.

We are really starting every call with trying to figure out what's changed.

It is as simple as that. However, that doesn't make it easy.

Click here to find out more about how I can implement this system for your startup.