BOOK SUMMARY 105 SNAP Selling
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Summary written by: Peter Nakamura
- SNAP Selling, page 4
SNAP
Selling is a fantastic wake-up call for sellers
to step up their game to win more business in an increasingly complex world.
The author, Jill Konrath, cut her teeth at Xerox and continued her amazing
sales career as a sales strategist for some of the biggest companies in the
world. Konrath’s book will make anybody who sells anything a little bit
uncomfortable. Her “SNAP” Selling approach makes it very simple to understand
how to speak to today’s frazzled customers. However, it requires sellers to
step up their game and be even more relevant to their customers and prospects
than ever before. Konrath’s approach to understanding your customers may be the
only way that sellers will be able to keep up with the ever busy, ever
confused, and ever risk-averse customers that we speak to today.
The Golden Egg
SNAP Factors
"Your
ability to stay in the Go Zone - where you’re still a player and have a chance
of getting the customer’s business – is highly contingent on your ability to
successfully leverage the SNAP factors."- SNAP Selling, page 23
SNAP is the framework that Konrath uses to
describe how sellers can stay in front of today’s frazzled customers. It stands
for:
Simple
iNvaluable
Aligned
Priority
iNvaluable
Aligned
Priority
Let’s start with Simple.
People
simply can’t stand to add more complexity to their lives. Management is
fighting fires and managers are simply trying to stay afloat with all the
projects they’ve been assigned. Even a small perceived complexity can scare
away a customer. Keeping the messages simple without the fluffy marketing lingo
will help keep things crystal clear in the eyes of the customers. Today’s
buyers have no time for sellers that only have a “skin deep” understanding of
the issues that their customers face. Buyers are expecting sellers to know
their issues better than ever before and only those who can bringi
Nvaluable insights
to the conversation. A seller that also waits for direction from the buyer will
be written off as someone who does not have the experience or expertise.
Aligned is
the most important of the SNAP factors. In the customer’s mind, you’re either
aligned or not. If your vision is not aligned to the company or individual’s
mission, you’re not going to get in the door. Buyers will also be turned off
immediately if the seller goes straight into explaining their offerings or
shares customer case stories/studies that do not directly relate to them.
Finally, let’s talk about
Priority. Frazzled customers have no
bandwidth for new projects that are not urgent. If it’s not a priority, then
it’ll be tabled.
I admit it’s a bit daunting to have to meet
these factors consistently with every customer that sellers speak to. Besides,
it takes time and research to understand what a customer’s priorities look like
and what they see as relevant or irrelevant. (The challenge is exasperated when
it is a prospect.) But the framework is a valuable start in understanding how
to sell to your customers and stay relevant in their world.
Gem #1
SNAP Rules
"When
you do figure out how to deal with frazzled customers, everything changes. They
want to work with you. Sales cycles speed up. You have less competition…all at
the same time."- SNAP Selling, page 31
So let’s go deeper into the framework.
Keeping your message simple means that you’re
eliminating as many (if not all) the complexity in the language and process
that you have when dealing with your customers. Find confusing language and
throw it out along with complex steps in your sales process which might slow it
down. For example, if your sales process requires a demonstration or sample,
keep it as simple as possible. Don’t overwhelm the customer with all the
features and functionalities. Stick to the ones that will help resolve the
business challenges that you can help solve.
Being iNvaluable is about continuously
finding ways to be valuable to your customers. Learn about the top challenges
that executives you speak with are dealing with or find stories of similar
companies that you’ve been able to help. With more knowledge and expertise, you
can position yourself to become an expert.
To ensure alignment, make sure you are asking
these questions:
1. How does my offering impact
my customer’s primary issues and objectives?
2. What criteria are important
to them as they make their decision?
3. What do they value in their
working relationships?
Staying aligned during a sales cycle means
making sure you’re asking the right questions throughout to test the interest
and commitment they have with your proposal. Finally, when it comes to
alignment, it is important to know what other projects the customer is working
on so you can uncover new opportunities and make sure you’re raising your
priority ahead of others.
Gem #2
The 3 Decisions
"Your
prospects make three very different and distinct decisions in relationship to
working with you."- SNAP Selling, page 51
The sales process involves three major
decisions.
The first decision is overwhether you will be allowed access.
This requires the seller to convert the oblivious customer to a curious
customer. Your simple focus is to have them agree to a conversation. Being able
to get to a conversation requires understanding the customer’s challenges,
having a solid value proposition, and piquing their interest just enough.
The second
decision is about initiative change.
You’re trying to help the
customer go from complacent to committed. When customers are complacent they’re
willing to listen to ideas but they’re not committed to making a change… yet.
At this decision stage, the seller’s role is not to understand the needs of the
customer better or to impress them with the products and services. The goal is
to get them to understand what is possible if they work with
you and your company. Don’t get this wrong with “visioning” – it’s much more
real than that. You need to show that you understand their business and sharing
with them impact that you’ve been able to make with other companies that
directly relate with their own priorities.
The third decision is about selecting
resources.
At this stage, you’ve gotten your customer to open up to the
possibilities and the status quo is no longer acceptable. Make sure to coach
your champion and guide him/her through the process. You’ll also need to make
sure that you’re also doing your best to influence the decision-making criteria
to help your solution standout. The 3 Decisions are a great way to break down
your sales process and making sure you check off your list at each stage will
be crucial to your success.
SNAP Selling is another great addition
to sales “how to” books out there. The book is very clear with its steps and
provides real scripts and talk tracks that you can start implementing
immediately. I really liked Konrath’s approach because now more than ever
people are crunched for time and the buying process is much more complex.
Helping to cut the clutter for customers will make their lives easier and help
you sell more.
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