A critical factor underlying any buying process is the customer’s sense of urgency. Most salespeople will have a sense of whether or not a customer wants to act now. If the sense of urgency in sales, what’s primarily driving and motivating the customer’s decision to act and act NOW, is obvious, all you have to do is work to influence the decision in your favor vs. elsewhere.

But there are many times when the customer’s sense of urgency is either unclear or unknown. They might realize they have a problem, but not the extent of its importance or why addressing it should surpass other problems they might also be facing. And therefore, it falls on the salesperson to ask the right questions and facilitate discussions that will create and clarify that urgency.

In other words, if there’s no clear, burning platform, it is up to the salesperson to light that fire.

Why The Sense of Urgency in Sales Isn’t Always Apparent

A salesperson can often find the sales process moving forward rapidly, with approval coming for a beta or trial run. It can be easy to assume the sale is a done deal…

But the sales rep might also find themselves suddenly struggling to get access to the key influencer and other decision makers. They may stall on timelines or go quiet entirely. Have they lost interest? Very often not. What they are struggling with, though, is having a clear urgency to move forward RIGHT NOW. Customers are always juggling multiple priorities; your solution is just one of many things on their plate. Your urgency is not inherently the same as theirs.

This can be understandably confusing. How could a buying committee put a project on hold after recently displaying such enthusiasm to evaluate a new solution? Sometimes the organization may have just hired a new CEO, CFO, or COO, and naturally, added scrutiny (especially in their first 100 days) is going to be applied by those senior executives for every pending spending decision. As a new hire, they want to make the right spending decisions from the start.

Re-energizing Urgency in Your Customers

The desire for change is often fluid and not linear. A slowdown in decision-making does not indicate a lack of interest; it can indicate merely uncertainty or a lack of clarity in what problems specifically will be solved and how quickly (in comparison, again, to other priorities they are juggling).

So, what now? Wait passively until the customer feels ready to re-engage? You may know with certainty that your supporters prefer your solution over the competition. However, a highly motivated top sales performer would find a way to create a sense of urgency to get the customer to take action now.

A top sales performer will find or create a sense of urgency to get the deal back on track. They would schedule a meeting with the new CXO, for example, using their advocate(s) inside the company to arrange an introduction. They would listen to the new executive’s plans and objectives related to things like profitability, cost control, or revenue growth. Then, they would demonstrate how their company’s track record aligned with the customer’s objectives, specifically demonstrating the link between their solution’s key strengths and those key metrics that were important to that CXO.

Doing this creates credibility and trust and shows that the salesperson is genuinely interested in far more than closing a deal as quickly as possible. They’re indicating a sincere desire to help their client achieve the business outcomes they’re striving for now. This builds a mutually beneficial and lasting partnership with the customer that adds clear value.

A salesperson can mistakenly assume that just because she knew the middle managers prefer her solution over the competitor’s, it would only be a matter of time before the deal closes. This mindset will eventually lead to losing the opportunity because that same competitor can find a way to light a fire and create that sense of urgency instead.

Average performers might assume that because a customer had high urgency previously to fix the problem that the decision will be made quickly and in the simplest way. Assuming that because one person in the organization expresses a high sense of urgency that the feeling is mutual for everyone else in the organization is a big mistake; that most often is not the case.

Questions That Will Help Create a Greater Sense of Urgency in Sales

Some questions that will help you determine your customer’s sense of urgency include:

— What’s driving your customer’s decision to act?

— Is there a driving force in the market forcing them to act now?

— What are the top 2 or 3 business metrics the customer is striving to improve (short and longer-term)?

— Does each influencer have the same sense of urgency? Whose influence matters most?

It would be great if your opportunity were the one and only one on the customer’s radar. Unfortunately, that’s only true in our sales fantasies. Many other projects are competing for the attention, to say nothing of the time and money of customers.

Moreover, we are not the only ones buzzing in our customers’ ears. Sometimes, these decisions represent a zero-sum game; when one wins approval, other solutions or other projects altogether are immediately put on the back burner. Part of the challenge is keeping the customer’s focus on us and convincing them that our product is the most important current priority to their overall success.

Why (and How) Salespeople Must Build Consensus With Customers

Identifying all the potential influencers directly AND indirectly involved in a buying decision is a big step in understanding the customer’s willingness to buy. Some stakeholders have direct “yes/no” authority, while others are influencers who may not have the power to say yes. But any concerns they raise (especially if they are either financial ratifiers or end users) will carry significant influence. Similarly, procurement department members can be notorious for raising skepticism and slowing down decision-making.

Too often salespeople believe that a stakeholder title equals their level of influence in the decision. This dangerous assumption often leads to disappointment in the end. The ability of a salesperson to both identify all relevant stakeholders and then facilitate internal dialogues to raise concerns, reassure any perceived risks, and gain consensus about desired outcomes is critical.

Facilitate discussions that get answers to questions like:

  • What are their roles involved in the decision process? What departments (or other stakeholders) do they represent?
  • What are their individual points of view about what’s important and needs solving or improving? Where is there disagreement or a lack of clarity?
  • How much influence does each person have in the final decision?
  • Which of those influencers support your solutions and which ones currently do not (or are even apathetic)?
  • How do each of the influencers measure a successful outcome?

While being able to identify the key influencers involved in a buying decision is critical, merely knowing “who’s who in the zoo” isn’t enough. The critical best practice, of course, is actually building a consensus around the decision. Building consensus requires being able to answer two key questions.

1. How does the array of decision makers and influencers collectively define the problem?

2. How do the decision makers and influencers define the value of the solution?

As a salesperson, you must have clarity regarding how everyone involved defines the problem. AND you need clarity about how the multiple buyers clearly define value in the solution.

Selling in today’s competitive environment requires a strategic mind, disciplined approach, and knowing how to partner with your customer to solve their most urgent problems in ways that build consensus with them, trust and confidence in you, and enthusiasm for the outcomes you can deliver. As a salesperson, the sense of urgency in sales is yours to bring forward.

You can connect with Steve Gielda on LinkedIn.