In this article we examine why leading an agile sales team is key to succeeding in this disruptive, technology-driven landscape. We explain what changes you can make now, including the importance of a common and effective sales strategy. Agility has become something of a buzz word in recent years. Increased disruption, spurred on by technology, stronger competition and cost cutting, is driving the need for organisations to become agile in all areas in order to succeed in this changing landscape. Against this backdrop agile sales may seem like a new and trendy concept. It’s not the case.

Why agile sales is the cornerstone of successful sales leadership

In reality, effective sales professionals have always been more agile than their less successful peers especially when it comes to winning complex sales. The correlation between sales success and agility has been around for decades.

Why? Fundamentally because no two customers are alike. Customers’ needs are wide and varied, influenced by their own goals and those of their department as well as their contemporaries within the decision-making unit and the organisation at large. And the product or service requirements a customer started out with can morph and change as they journey through the Buying Cycle.

To be persuasive and engaging from customer to customer, to be able to create and articulate value not just for the person in front of you but for everyone involved in the decision-making unit, while all the time keeping tabs on shifting ground, needs skill. And that skill is agility.

Below are 8 key attributes of agile sales. When used in combination they unlock a deeper customer intelligence and a clearer understanding of what’s needed to win the business without compromising margin, or undermining the integrity of the product or business behind it.

1. Active listening

Every customer’s perception of what agile sales looks like can be different.

Finding out what this means in each case is essential if the salesperson is to respond effectively. It’s not something that can be asked. And it’s not something most customers would think about in depth either, so may find hard to explain. The sales person has to work it out. The first essential skill in agile sales is therefore listening. That means really digesting the words the customer uses and how they choose to communicate their thoughts.

Years ago a not-for-profit organisation had problems with their fund-raising team. When asked by a specialist at Huthwaite to describe their organisation they talked about having poor performers, average performers and prima-donnas. They used a pejorative term to describe the high performers but not the other two groups. When this was pointed out it started to become clear that the charity had no culture of working with commercially successful people, so had difficulty communicating with their own high performers. That one piece of active listening and the insight it gave was all it took to find the right solution.

Key point: Are your salespeople actively listening to their customers and working out what agility means for each one?

2. Flexible verbal behaviour

As well as deeply understanding how the customer is using language, skilled salespeople are equally careful when choosing the words they use.

It’s often unconscious. Many effective salespeople can’t tell you what it is that makes their approach successful, or they ascribe their success to something that, on closer inspection, isn’t actually what they do. It’s what we call the perception gap or unconscious competence and it’s the reason why Huthwaite’s models are based on observational research – not just the consultative approach taken by many of our contemporaries. Research shows us that perception gaps are much narrower for skilled sales people as they are fully aware of the language they use.

The good news is you can train people to become more aware of their language and narrow that gap themselves. Even better, as people become more self-aware, they can make choices and adapt their verbal behaviours to become more effective. We call that flexible verbal behaviour and it’s the key to success in every verbal business interaction.

Key point: Train your sales teams to be aware of their verbal behaviour and flexible in how they use it.

3. Questioning skills

Of course, in order to actively listen and demonstrate verbal behavioural flexibility the customer has to start talking. And that requires the next skill on our list – questioning.

Salespeople cannot be agile in meeting their customer’s precise needs, priorities, concerns and desired outcomes without an in-depth and complete understanding of what they are. Gaining that understanding needs rigour. When it comes to questioning a seller must develop a systematic, consistent, structured approach. Huthwaite’s SPIN® Selling model is one of the best examples of a questioning methodology; and that’s why it’s used by sales teams around the world including many of the Fortune 100.

Value and risk are important considerations in the decision to buy but they are perceptions first and foremost. The customer’s perception is what counts. They have to work it out and know it for themselves but the seller can help them reach a conclusion by asking insightful questions about the problems they face, the consequences of not solving them, and the benefits of using your solution. That enables the customer to communicate the value of the product or service to the rest of the decision-making unit in a much more compelling way. There’s a huge difference between “the sales person told me we’ll save…” and “I’ve worked out we’ll save…”.

Key point: In agile sales, sellers use a systematic, consistent and structured questioning approach to create value for their product or service.

4. Knowledge

Before a sales professional starts asking more questions it’s crucial to know what questions to ask.

No matter how well developed their listening and questioning skills are, if they bombard the customer with questions that are irrelevant nothing will move forward.

Knowing the right background information on the customer will help. Information such as the problems the customer may be experiencing that your product can solve, and particularly where you know you can solve it better than the competition, is useful. As are any industry developments or general trends that may be driving the purchase decision.

Key point:Background knowledge is vital to asking the right questions and progressing the sale.

5. Confidence

One of the most powerful tools in the sales person’s repertoire is their confidence.

There is little that impresses potential customers more than the calm, assured demeanour of a genuinely confident sales person.

A confident seller develops trust, provides reassurance and enhances their and their company’s reputation as well as the customer’s experience. Confidence enables the sales person to explore the customer’s needs and offer ideas in the most persuasive manner possible. Confidence cannot be learned, it has to be gained, and there is no better way of gaining it than by being fluent in a sales methodology that works. Investing in high quality sales training can be a wise move for any organisation.

Key point: There is little that impresses a customer more than a seller who is calm, assuring and confident. Being fluent in a sales strategy that works is a powerful confidence builder.

6. Understanding the customer’s business strategy

Sometimes even the most well-honed sales skills are not enough.

Customer organisations can be complicated things, with any number of challenges that need addressing and almost certainly not enough resources to do it all. Prioritisation is crucial. Doing the important before the urgent is sometimes hard, but it’s an ability all great leaders have.

Whatever is closest to the customer’s strategic direction is what matters most. If the client company has a defined and universally accepted business strategy that lies at the heart of every decision they make – and all good companies do – it’s vital sellers understand it too. They must have the skills and knowledge to uncover and understand their customer’s business strategy. By aligning solutions to strategy, sellers will maximise the chances of their project being prioritised and being allocated the resources to close the deal.

Key point:Sellers who understand and align their solution to their customers’ business strategy have the potential for maximum attention.

7. Consider the whole customer decision-making unit

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more complicated there’s the customer’s decision-making team to consider.

It’s a fact of life that corporate buying decisions are rarely made by one single individual. It always involves a team. It may be through a formal buying committee or simply asking for a second opinion over the coffee machine. But be aware that somewhere there is someone influencing the buying decision who you will probably never meet and may never hear of.

Current research suggests, on average, there are 6.8 individuals involved in a B2B buying decision. That’s at least six people, all with different needs, alternate, and possibly conflicting decision criteria and varying degrees of enthusiasm (or apathy) about the project, as well as each of the potential suppliers. How does the sales person manage that? In theory, they just get all the key players to the decision point at the same time and with all of them favouring their solution. In practice agile sales require a deep understanding of the role each person has in making the decision (which incidentally may have nothing to do with their job title) and a clear sales strategy to address each one.

Key point: Purchase decisions are rarely made by one person. The seller must navigate the customer decision-making unit and address each of their issues and criteria.

8. Negotiation

So, you invest in sales training, develop your team’s skills, strategies and confidence and give them the knowledge they need to do an outstanding job. And they do; they accurately assess the customer’s view of agility, build both value and clear competitive differentiation, present a persuasive case for your solution and effectively manage the complexities of the buying organisation. You’ve ticked all the boxes - the users love your proposal and your company has signed it off. So that’s it, the deal’s yours, right?

Wrong. Now you have to go and see Procurement – the professional buyer. It’s time to negotiate. It’s Procurement’s job to tell you they like your proposal but they can get the same thing 20% cheaper elsewhere, and what can you do. Of course, what they’ve told you isn’t always true. If they can really get it 20% cheaper, and it really is the same thing, they’d have bought it from someone else. They want to do a deal with you but they want better terms. They claim it’s a buyer’s market and they have all the power but that’s not true either. Unless it’s an entirely frivolous purchase they have to buy from someone. (The clue is in their job title.) But that won’t stop them doing everything they can even to the point of undermining your confidence and devaluing your proposition.

There’s one thing you can be sure of. They are experienced negotiators. Are your sellers equally familiar with the process? If not, they should be. Negotiation skills are the last piece of the jigsaw, the final weapon in the ultimate sales person’s armoury. And don’t think you can cut corners by just training the sales managers to negotiate and sending in the ‘big guns’ at the close. Buyers love it – because the only thing a manager can do that a sales person can’t, is give more concessions.

Key point: Train your entire sales team to negotiate to protect your margin.

Adopting an agile sales strategy will help sales professionals to fully understand what's needed to win the business. And to win it without compromising margin, or undermining the integrity of the product or business behind it.