8 Dos and Donts of selling "large projects"

Many of my readers from B2B business seemed to like the blog post I wrote a few days ago about how you should not fall into the trap of customers who really want some free consulting but dangle the bait of asking you to quote for their business.  So I am quickly following up with this post on the type of selling that is needed when you are selling projects. It is also called as professional selling, high value B2B selling, business development etc. 

Irrespective of the name, the fact is that this type of selling involves

• Complex, Customized, High-Value products (meaning services and solutions also). 
• Selling situations require extensive group-to-group interactions at all stages of buying, using, upgrading and migrating. 
• Customer behavior is characterized by the clients "coming to market" via ITP (Invitation to Pitch), or RFP (Request for Proposal) or EOI ( Expression of Interest). 

The dos and donts

1. Do not start with the traditional sales approach : talking about products, features, prices or terms because none of these will make sense to the customer who himself does not fully understand what is his need in the first place; leave alone knowing what is the product that will satisfy his need. 
2. Do not assume the client knows what product he needs even if he has an RFP (Request for Proposal) or EOI (Expression of Interest). The client may not admit it due to his vanity but the good point is that the clients are many times open to hearing what they themselves put into the RFP. However you may assume the client knows his “pain points”. 
3. Do realize that the customers will first accept you before he accepts what you recommend. In the first stage they are looking for signs of professionalism in your team : you need to sell yourself as being a trustworthy expert. You need to demonstrate this by showing willingness to work in a partnership mode to stimulate the customer’s thinking by asking the right questions and creating solutions that the customer himself does not have the time or expertise or inclination for. The selling model here is not the traditional selling model but the diagnostic selling model : DDDD : Discover, Diagnose, Design and Deliver. The people who succeed in project selling therefore are the ones who diagnose client needs by asking many questions, offering to investigate and survey to come to a conclusion, and then let the client realize his cost and pain without hurrying him and finally arrive at a solution.
4. The right sales process here is actually opposite to what is taught in conventional selling. In conventional selling a salesperson starts with a product which is already designed for a known target market and his task is to present the product in the light of the need of the customer  so that an order can be obtained. In short, the emphasis of the traditional selling is on salesmanship. On the other hand, a sale of the kind we are talking about is a combination of marketing and sales put together : it is first understanding the need of the customer, figure out what he wants, configure it for him and only then  begin selling it.
5. Do avoid premature presentations : why should you present a solution to customers’ problems before they themselves clearly understand what those problems are—and, more to the point, before a customer fully comprehends the problem and recognizes that you do too? While most salespeople devote the majority of their face-to-face time presenting and handling objections, the most successful salespeople spend the majority of their time collaborating with customers, diagnosing their situation, designing or creating a desired solution, and building their resolve to actively solve the problem.
6. Let customer take the ownership : Don’t lead him. The traditional sales or marketing representative draws conclusions for the customer—often prematurely—and presents them to the customer before the customer is prepared to hear them. It is important that the customer discover and take ownership of the problem before deciding to seek a solution. If the rep moves ahead of the customer, the customer is likely to interpret the rep’s actions as pushy or manipulative. This leads to a lack of trust and creates a confrontational rather than cooperative atmosphere.
7. Motivate the customer to change. No pain, no change, no sale. Dissatisfaction is the most basic human motivator for change. It is the natural defence mechanism that tells people that if they don’t change and deal with a problem, they will face consequences. Change itself is painful. As a result, change will not occur until an individual or company recognizes that it would be more painful not to change. This is why it’s critical that your reps conduct a thorough diagnosis that uncovers the pain of the current situation and the lack of the future outcome. As you know, nothing less will motivate the customer to change.
8. Quickly ascertain if the prospect has an immediate reason and resources to make a change. Only 20% - 30% prospects have both; for the rest  get ready to accept “No” and move on. The traditional mindset is that a good salesman does not take “no” for an answer and they think that “no” equates to personal failure. For the kind of sale we are talking about, coach your reps in asking “Is there someplace better I could be instead of a customer who neither has reason nor resources?” It is not bad to go for the “no.” One advantage of a thorough diagnosis is that it allows the salesperson to quickly identify the 20-30% of prospects who have the immediate reason and resources to make a change. A thorough diagnosis is the difference between an intellectual conversation about a desirable future and an objective observation and measurement of real indicators of an unacceptable present.