Maximising sales win rates with goal and trigger strategies

The current tech sales market is a challenging one, with organisations questioning the need for multiple tech solutions and cutting back on their tech spend. However, sales professionals shouldn't lose hope. Instead, they should view this as an opportunity to fine-tune their skills and improve their sales strategies to prepare for more favourable market conditions.

We recently spoke with Nick Butler, Enterprise Account Executive at Jiminny, for The Sales Syndicate Podcast, to discuss how he’s overcome the current market conditions using a goal and trigger sales strategy.

Nick shared several strategies to help navigate the tough tech sales market, including shifting from operational to more strategic sales strategies, utilising goal and trigger selling, and optimising conversations with prospects for effective discovery.

By implementing these strategies, sales professionals will be better equipped to adapt to changing customer needs, make a compelling case for their solutions, and ultimately close more deals.

In this article, we will cover

1. Navigating the tough tech sales market
2. Shifting from operational to strategic sales strategies in a recession
3. Maximising sales results with goal and trigger selling
4. Understanding trigger events in sales
5. How to approach conversations with prospects for effective discovery
6. Strategies for identifying prospects’ goals and triggers
7. The importance of hyper personalisation in sales outreach

Watch the full episode

Navigating the tough tech sales market

To succeed in a tough tech sales market, it's important for reps to stay on top of industry trends and be able to adapt to changing customer needs. This means developing a deep understanding of the customer's pain points, as well as the competitive landscape. Sales reps who can do this will be better equipped to make a compelling case for why their solution is the best fit for the customer's needs.

While the current market conditions may be challenging, it's important for sales professionals to remain positive and view this as an opportunity to hone their skills and develop a more effective sales strategy. By doing so, they will be better prepared for the inevitable market upswing and will be well-positioned to capitalise on the opportunities that arise. As Nick says, "If you can learn to sell now, you'll really reap the rewards when the market improves."

Shifting from operational to strategic sales strategies in a recession

In a downturn, customers are often more hesitant to spend money, which can make the sales process more challenging. However, by focusing on long term objectives and building trust with prospects, sales professionals can differentiate themselves from the competition and close more deals.

Rather than simply selling products or services to solve immediate operational challenges, sales teams must be able to understand and articulate how their solution fits into the prospect's larger strategic objectives. By taking a more tactical approach to sales, reps can better position their solutions as long-term investments rather than just quick fixes.

Ultimately, the shift from an operational to a strategic approach to sales requires a willingness to invest more time and resources into each sale.

Maximising sales results with goal and trigger selling

Let’s be honest, maximising sales performance is a top priority for any sales professional. One effective strategy for achieving this is through goal and trigger selling. This approach involves tying every stage of the sales process to the strategic objectives of the customer's business, with the aim of positioning the solution as a key driver of those objectives.

The key to successful goal and trigger selling is consistency. Sales professionals must constantly tie every stage of the sales process to the customer's strategic objectives, from the initial discovery call to the final negotiations. This ensures that the customer understands the strategic value of the solution and is more likely to make a purchase.

Nick notes, "That's really where the goal and trigger strategy comes into it. Nothing's ground-breaking here, it's just taking time to truly understand one or two strategic objectives of the business... and then you have to constantly tie every stage of the sales process into that."

Understanding trigger events in sales

Sales triggers refer to various events that occur and create an opportunity for a business to make changes. They can be called by different names, such as event triggers, market triggers, or sales trigger events.

These triggers can be potential opportunities for sales professionals to increase business, acquire new customers, or upsell to current ones. Additionally, they can provide valuable market intelligence for competition monitoring, allowing businesses to gain insights and stay up to date with industry trends.

Sales professionals often struggle with the challenge of determining the optimal timing for reaching out to a potential client. However, utilising sales triggers can significantly improve your success rate. By monitoring market trends, industry news, and specific company events, you can gain valuable business insights that give you a competitive advantage when reaching out to prospects. This information enables you to have informed conversations and make the right calls at the right time, which can greatly enhance your sales efforts.

How to approach conversations with prospects for effective discovery

Effective discovery calls are an important step in the sales process as they lay the foundation for building a strong relationship with potential clients. The importance of doing your due diligence on the business before the call and understanding their goals and objectives can’t be overstated. This can involve researching the company, their competitors, and their industry. By doing so, you will be able to better understand how your solution can benefit their strategic objectives rather than just focusing on operational challenges.

It's important to establish an upfront contract with the prospect at the start of the conversation. This includes setting clear expectations about what the call will cover, what you hope to achieve, and how much time will be needed. Direct questions should be asked to understand the decision-making process, the stakeholders involved, and their timelines.

As Nick highlighted: "Do your due diligence on every single new business deal... I believe if you go into a discovery call and you wing it, you are not going to give them a great experience and you're not going to get what you need out there."

Strategies for identifying prospects’ goals and triggers

Nick emphasised the importance of going thorough discovery before going into a conversation with a prospect: "I think people can think that discovery is like a tick box exercise. I've done my discovery, then I'm going to go to demo... but when you ask that question again, they're going to give you that great nugget of information that's going to help you close the deal".

This includes researching the company and its industry, as well as identifying potential triggers that may indicate a need for the product or service being sold. Butler also notes that it's important to recognise that multiple stakeholders are often involved in the decision-making process. This means that multiple calls may be necessary to uncover all relevant information and gain a complete understanding of the prospect's goals and needs.

10 questions you can ask to help uncover goals and triggers

1. What are the top two business objectives this year and could you tell mea bit about them? This helps you clarifythe priorities and goals of the company.
   
   
2. Relating to question one… How does your team need to help achieve this? This helps you to align the team'sefforts with the company's goals.
   
   
3. What is the most important metric that you need to increase or influencethis year? This helps you recognisethe key performance indicator that the company is focusing on, which you canuse to tie in your product or solution.
   
   
4. Why is this the most important metric? This helps you understand the reasoning and logicbehind the company's priorities and how important your product or solutioncould be.
   
   
5. Who else cares about this metric? This helps you identify the stakeholders who areinvested in the company's objectives, which may also need to be involved in thebuying process. After all, multi-threaded deals have 5x higher win rates.
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6. What could happen if you don’t hit this metric? This helps you to understand theconsequences of not meeting the company's goals. Aligning your product with apain or negative result can help cement the need for your solution.
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7. What will hitting this metric mean for your team? This helps to motivate the teamby showing them the potential impact of their efforts, with and without yourproduct.
   
   
8. Tell me a bit about the strategy in place to achieve this? This helps you to understand thecompany's plan and approach, which is what you will be aligning your pitch to.
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9. What do you foresee to be the biggest challenge in achieving the businessobjectives? This helps to identifypotential roadblocks and obstacles, which you can either look to solve withyour product or solution or take into account during the buying process.
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10. How do you envision a tool like ourshelping achieve your objective/ increase the key metric? This helps you to gauge if the companyor prospect truly understands the value that your product or solution can provide.With this, you’re able to tailor your pitch more effectively.

The importance of hyper personalisation in sales outreach

In the world of sales, personalisation has always been key to building strong relationships with prospects. However, in recent years, simply inserting a prospect's name into an email template is no longer enough to stand out. The focus has now shifted towards hyper personalisation, where sales development teams take the time to find triggers and personalise their outreach to each individual prospect.

According to Nick, hyper personalisation is essential to cut through the noise and stand out in a crowded marketplace. He explains that prospects only take notice when they feel that an outreach is specifically tailored to them. By identifying triggers and using them to create a personalised message, sales reps can demonstrate that they have taken the time to research and understand the prospect's unique needs and pain points.

Hyper personalisation requires a significant amount of effort and research, but it is necessary to build strong relationships with prospects and drive sales. By incorporating triggers into outreach, sales reps can demonstrate their value and build trust with prospects, leading to more successful sales cycles and higher conversion rates.

Top tips

1. Stay on top of industry trends, adapt to changing customer needs, and develop a deep understanding of the customer's pain points and the competitive landscape to make a compelling case for why your solution is the best fit for the customer's needs.
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2. In a recession, focus on long-term objectives, build trust with prospects, and take a more tactical approach to sales to position your solutions as long-term investments rather than quick fixes.
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3. Use sales triggers to gain valuable insights into market trends, industry news, and specific company events, which can give you a competitive advantage when reaching out to prospects, improving your success rate, and enhancing your sales efforts.

Key takeaways

In summary, the current tech sales market is challenging but presents an opportunity for sales professionals to improve their skills and sales strategies to prepare for future, more favourable market conditions.

Sales teams must shift from an operational to a strategic approach to sales, which involves tying every stage of the sales process to the strategic objectives of the customer's business. Sales professionals should utilise goal and trigger selling and understand sales triggers to maximise sales performance.

Effective discovery calls lay the foundation for building strong relationships with potential clients, and sales professionals should use a strategic approach to identify prospects' goals and triggers.