On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald talks with Greg Nutter about three critical pillars of effective selling. Greg has been a consultant for 17 years and is the author of his book P3 Selling. Three areas that B2B salespeople need to understand Problem Understand the problem, influence the perception of those problems, and message back to those problems about how well their solution addresses it. Greg sees salespeople constantly talking about the product. Without the context of the problem, a customer wanting to solve any discussion around product features makes no sense. Businesses don’t buy products, they buy solutions to problems. How can you identify the problem? Ask questions to your customers. People Understand who is impacted by those problems, their perspective, and their decision influence. Over the last 10 years, we have gone from 3 or 4 people involved in a B2B purchase, to 10 to 15. Try to understand everyone's perspective so that you can message them. “The race doesn’t always go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s how you bet.” If you cover more people you are more likely to win. Process Understand what the buying process looks like, where the prospect is in the process, and how you are positioned in that buying process. What matters most is what the prospect is doing. Are they looking for information? Do they understand the importance of making a change? An individual process is where they go through their own steps to determine if they want to buy your product. The compliance process is when the subject matter experts are brought in to weigh in on whether or not it is a good decision. Understand what the process is and where the individuals are because that determines what you need to do to go to the next stage. Become an expert on the buying process to guide your customers and be a consultant. Last piece of advice from Greg Become a problem solver, not a product pusher. To hear more from Greg, buy his book and connect with him on LinkedIn This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn. The sales landscape is totally changing. The way that we are selling is out of line with the way our prospects are buying. You need to adapt to succeed. Imagine if you could use data that could give you insights into when somebody is ready and the challenges they are facing so you can fine-tune your message specifically toward them. Deep Sales, a part of the next generation of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, can help you do just that. Check it out yourself and get a 60-day free trial at Linkedin.com/TSE. This episode is brought to you in part by Scratchpad. Are you tired of a digital workspace cluttered with notes, folders, files, and half-filled spreadsheets? (Not that we’re speaking from personal experience.) Luckily, we’ve found the solution. Scratchpad is the...

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