{"id":18341,"date":"2024-10-28T14:38:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T14:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sandler.com\/?p=18341"},"modified":"2024-10-28T14:38:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T14:38:17","slug":"team-selling-the-new-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/team-selling-the-new-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"TEAM SELLING: THE NEW REALITY"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEAM SELLING: THE NEW REALITY<\/strong><\/p>\n

David Mattson<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The game has changed.<\/p>\n

Team selling in the business-to-business environment used to be an occasional thing, a weapon we saved for special, complex, high-stakes situations. Now, if we expect our team to succeed, it\u2019s standard operating procedure.<\/p>\n

Why? Because today\u2019s B-to-B buyers are making most of their decisions collaboratively, as part of a flexible, data-sensitive, constantly-adapting team. Even in situations where one person is technically responsible for a purchase, that individual is connected to a network of communication platforms that enable internal players to affect how, when, and why any purchase is finalized. Think about it: Isn\u2019t that how we <\/em>decide what to buy for our <\/em>organization? By interacting with the various stakeholders, hearing what they have to say, and reviewing the best data available?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what our buyers are doing.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s connected B-to-B buyers are more cautious, which means selling cycles are often stretching out for longer than we might like. We know that. But what we may not have realized is that, as a practical matter, there is typically no longer any single \u201cdecision maker\u201d — which is how we may be used to thinking about selling. Instead, there\u2019s an ongoing internal conversation<\/em> involving lots of people, a conversation about the best possible buying decision.<\/p>\n

If we expect to be part of that conversation, we will want to start from the premise that today\u2019s B-to-B buyers buy in packs. And that means we need to sell in packs.<\/p>\n

This is a paradigm shift for many sellers. We may be more comfortable with the old paradigm: the one-on-one (me talking to a decision maker) or one-on-two model (me talking to a decision maker and an influencer). In this model, moving an opportunity through our sales process was kind of like a job interview. Sometimes we were being interviewed by one person. Sometimes we were being interviewed by two people. But however the interviews played out, those one or two people were the ones we needed to interact with if we wanted the job.<\/p>\n

Even though we got used to that dynamic, and made that paradigm work for a long time \u2026 that\u2019s not the game that\u2019s being played today.<\/p>\n

Recently, we finalized a project with a new client; the final contract required no fewer than thirteen signatures from the buying side. Meaning; Thirteen human beings had to sign off on the idea that we\u2019d be working together. That\u2019s not something we can make happen under the one-on-one or one-on-two paradigm.<\/p>\n

With that fact in mind, consider these three non-negotiable realities of business-to-business selling in the current environment, and the three adjustments we can make to thrive in that environment.<\/p>\n

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