FEATURE | SALES EMPATHY
FINDING THE RIGHT WORDS In the third and final part of her series, SARAH HINCHLIFFE explores how empathy can help us to write better proposals
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his series is based on the “six habits of highly empathic people”, as identified by Roman Krznaric in his book Empathy. In Part 1, we got acquainted with the concept of empathy – tuning in sensitively to our audience’s feelings and perspectives, and adapting our behaviour accordingly. In Part 2, we looked at empathy in selling – how it can help build relationships, differentiate, and create shared values. Now, let’s explore how we carry our good work into our proposals.
SARAH HINCHLIFFE is a director of i4 Sales Performance,* a business focusing on helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) achieve sales and bid excellence. i4 is a Shipley Business Partner. See www. i4salesperformance.co.uk or email sarah@i4salesperformance.co.uk *i4 Sales Performance is the brand name of the services supplied by i4 Consultancy and Design
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THE ROLE OF A PROPOSAL Last time, we established that aligning your sales activities to the steps in your prospect’s buying process shows empathy, which helps build trust – crucial for a successful sale in the 21st century. Modern selling is a far cry from sales methods such as the infamous ABC (Always Be Closing), which are oldfashioned and downright un-empathic. In the six-step approach in the diagram below, the proposal is the fourth stage, when the prospect requests a formal offer from interested sellers. By this time, if you followed the recommendations in Part 2, you should be in pole position to win. You will have brought insight to your prospect’s BUYING AND SELLING STAGES business, positioned your Your proposal formalises your offer with a compelling story company as an important player and shaped your prospect’s needs. If you did a stellar job, your prospect may Need Status Define Access Address Make a quo emerges need options worries choice have decided not to bother with a proposal at all. But let’s assume your prospect needs a BUYER proposal for legal or professional procurement reasons. Think of the proposal as a continuation of your Provide insight & Create Negotiate Become Shape Build work to date – as the thought compelling confidence important needs and close leadership offer opportunity to pull everything together in one compelling SELLER document confirming why you are the best choice. With that in mind, we can turn back to our six empathic habits. ISMPROFESSIONAL.COM
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