Confirming that solutions are being received well?

Ben Fleishman

With a focus on validating that you have proven that your solutions have solved a customer's current pains, do you get verbal confirmation from the buyer that you have solved them? Most reps I’ve seen don’t do this and I’m looking for examples or advice on how you approach that.

I have a big focus this year for my team on making sure we are spending a full call showing how we solve customer pain points. And it feels like we’re over explaining sometimes, but I don’t want to leave it luck for the customer to connect the dots.

Peter Hase

Hi Ben,

This type of verbal feedback from the customer is best directed at the Champion, and should only be taken on trust from them. A Coach may answer this question, but remember, they will likely give you good news and they may not have the power of influence…

If you do get your Champion to reply verbally as you suggest, the next steps for your team (avoiding leaving it to luck) could be to look at a reverse timeline and start to focus on when the value is being delivered, when the pain solved and the positive business outcomes are realised. This drives urgency and gives the attention to pain going away, savings or value being delivered, and should keep the competition at bay.

Ben Fleishman

This is really good. I hadn't thought about going with a reverse timeline, but it makes so much sense. Thank you!

Ralston McCracken

Hi Ben,

First off, I commend you for applying focus to obtaining detailed results for customers - this is an aspect of the sales cycle that is so often omitted. However, we should always measure the Positive Business Outcomes obtained by a customer and if necessary, get the support of our Champion to do so. Those outcomes should then be documented, shared with the Economic Buyer and then agreement obtained from the EB that the predicted PBOs have in fact been realized. This approach is better than oral verbal confirmation, since the latter is not recorded and could easily get lost or be forgotten, especially over time.

Having obtained confirmed positive results, we can then leverage those in future sales cycles with the same customer e.g. (paraphrasing) "These are our predicted PBOs for this proposed solution and based on our previous successful track record together on previous projects, we hope that you trust us to deliver success for you once more." In addition, the documented results can be used as Proof Points with other customers, provided that permission is obtained from the company that achieved the outcomes. Frequently, we hear from sales reps that their organizations lack Proof Points and when we explore, we find that the sales organization lost interest either at contract signature or upon successful implementation, but their job is NOT completed until the results have been determined, measured, recorded and agreed to by the customer.