Having a good conversation — in business or anywhere else, for that matter — is not as simple as it might appear. In fact, it’s a major challenge, especially in the world of complex sales and multicultural business relationships. Authentic and compelling customer conversations are the key to what I like to call “privileged access” and “privileged insight.”

Privileged access is what we need in order to tap into the best sources of information within our customers’ organizations. Privileged insight is what we need to clearly understand our customers, their responsibilities and metrics, and recognize how we can impact their objectives. It is the only way we can create compelling value and it is the reason customers will understand and embrace that value.

In a recent conversation with a group of executives, it struck me that businesses today are most often not solution constrained. We have the ability to build and offer many solutions that are capable of delivering substantial value to our customers. The issue that is creating far more ineffectiveness is that we are more “diagnosis” constrained. There is a great tendency to leap before we understand and to propose solutions that lack relevancy in the customer’s mind. A core competency of the complex sale is the ability to perform as an expert diagnostician.

Our research has shown that customers are more likely to decide to take action when they reach clarity regarding the risks/consequences of a business situation, rather than by only understanding the mechanics of the solution. In short, there are two reasons customers will not take action on a proposal:

1. They don’t believe they have the problem or that it is large enough to take action, or
2. They don’t believe the solution will work and they won’t receive the value promised.

Reason number one is by far the more frequently given and reinforces the premise that we are diagnosis constrained, not solution constrained.

Diagnosing Complex Problems — Creating the “Incentive to Change”

Diagnostic expertise enables us to help customers more clearly recognize, analyze and understand the causes and consequences of their problems. The process of diagnosis is one of hyper-qualification — in essence, a continuation of the customer qualification process in greater detail and depth. During hyper-qualification, the full extent of the customer’s problem is explored, measured, evaluated and communicated. The focus is more on physical symptoms, the customer’s reality; rather than what the customer is interested in, which is more speculative. The goal is to raise a customer’s awareness of the problems they are experiencing. Equally important, it allows us to shift the emphasis of our conversations with customers from our solutions to their situations. This is a shift that differentiates us from our competitors, creates significant learning for the customer, and builds exceptional levels of trust and credibility.

Key thought: The customer makes the decision to buy/change during the diagnosis.

Many of the best business-to-business selling methods that have evolved were founded on the premise of “needs based” selling. As such, they have a dangerous underlying assumption that, although harmless for many sales, places your efficiency and your effectiveness in serious jeopardy as the sale reaches the complexity of strategic accounts. The underlying assumption is that the customer has the ability to self-diagnose their problem and self-prescribe the required solution. This leads to the needs analysis approach that calls for the customer to self-report their view of the problem and their picture of the solution. Largely, customers are not experienced in diagnosing complex problems or designing complex solutions. Their input is critical, but as the complexity increases, it is not reliable.

It is only natural that customers will want to and will begin to self-diagnose. It is to be expected and respected, but not accepted. To put it bluntly, self-diagnosis is one of the most significant contributors to the lack of clarity in the sales process. Here are four reasons why:

1. Customers often misdiagnose their problems before and during the sales process. It is only natural, when recognizing an issue or concern, to begin to figure out how to address it. When salespeople conduct a traditional needs analysis, they too often accept this self-diagnosis along with the customer’s self-prescription. When that happens, the seller will often prescribe an ineffective solution, which, in turn, leads to solution failure with all the associated negative consequences.
2. Self-diagnosis represents a missed opportunity for sales professionals to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise to the customer by taking the diagnosis to depths of the problems and risks the customer would never have considered. This is a tremendous, missed opportunity to differentiate solutions from the competition. Allowing self-diagnosis forces sellers to depend on solution-based presentations which all sound alike to customers.
3. Self-diagnosis represents a missed opportunity for customers to get an “outside view” from professionals who have likely seen and dealt with similar problems or situations at other companies.
4. Finally, because self-diagnosis is most often a less-than-comprehensive process, the total cost of the problem is not established and the ability to construct a compelling business case for the solution is seriously restricted.

Key thought: Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.

The best sales professionals are integrators — they orchestrate all the pieces needed to solve customers’ problems in novel and intriguing ways. To be an integrator, you have to understand your customers and their issues, and bring them to a deeper understanding of their situation. You also have to understand the value capabilities your company offers and bring your customers to a deeper understanding of how those capabilities apply to their value requirements. You will integrate all of that information together in a collaborative effort with your customer to ensure that it yields a coherent and compelling exchange of value.

How do you accomplish this task? It can be achieved through a structured series of diagnostic conversations in which you communicate with your customers at a mutually higher level of understanding. We should become so good, in fact, that the style and substance of our conversations create all credibility and relevance we need to win our customers’ confidence and ultimately their business.

The diagnostic conversation has three primary objectives:

1. Uncover the reality of the customer’s problem (Do the symptoms exist?)
2. Quantify the impact of the problem; the absence of the solution (How bad is it?)
3. Create the “incentive to change” (Is it bad enough to take action?)

The role model we like to suggest for these conversations is that of the doctor. The doctor uses a diagnostic protocol that directs the order of questions and measurements following a pre-ordained set of decision trees. The questions are about observations of physical indicators or symptoms that tie the doctor’s diagnosis to the patient’s reality. When we as SAMs are in the diagnostic mode, we are dealing directly with our customers’ reality. That is, we are working with elements that they have experienced in the past, are currently experiencing, or to which they believe they will be exposed in the future. In fact, our customers may not be aware that these elements or symptoms represent problems, and they might be missing a significant opportunity.

Key thought: You’ll gain more credibility from the questions you ask than the stories you tell.

The Nature of Diagnosis

The diagnostic conversation itself is very straightforward. It is designed to fit each unique job responsibility and repeat it as often as necessary to uncover the full dimensions of the customer’s problem. It is a cyclical conversation in two senses.

First, we need to hold this dialogue with those individuals who are observing the symptoms of the problem. For example, if we are providing components to an OEM and we want to understand the quality or durability of the current components, it is likely that the service and warranty team would have the most accurate information regarding component failure. We want to speak with individuals whose job responsibilities give them ownership of a significant aspect of the problem we can solve, since they know how the problem impacts their segment of the business and are part of the mosaic you must create to fully define the problem.

Each individual is responsible for a different function within the customer’s organization, and each will have a different perspective on the problem, different kinds of information to offer, and different motivations or reasons to respond to your solution. Accordingly, while the diagnostic conversation has a generic framework, it is not just a matter of rote repetition. You will need to craft a unique conversation with each individual; in a sense, we are allowing each individual to develop their own acute awareness of the situation and take personal ownership of the problem/opportunity and their own incentive to change.

Second, you will often find yourself cycling through a diagnostic conversation repeatedly with each individual. Typically, problems will have multiple impacts within functions. A full investigation of each impact requires a dedicated cycle through the diagnostic framework. A good illustration of these points is provided by a client company that provides more than 850 point solutions designed to build performance for large chemical and oil refineries. This is an integrated system that includes solutions for supply chain management, health and safety, production effectiveness, plant maintenance, etc. Establishing the parameters of the absence of value in such a complex environment requires coordinated diagnostic conversations with executives as well as functional managers within the business — the plant manager, controller, HR manager, and sourcing manager, to name a few.

The point here is that your solutions, the problems they address, and the opportunities they create will dictate who should be diagnosed along with the direction and depth of the diagnosis. Whether this requires 10 or dozens of conversations, you must pursue them all until you have uncovered all the facets of the problem and established a credible, compelling portrait of the business impact.

The Diagnostic Conversation — What’s Happening? How Bad Is It? Is It Bad Enough to Act On?

No matter how many times you repeat it, there is one fundamental format for the diagnostic conversation. The diagnostic conversation is a dialogue with the customer that progresses from the individual’s job responsibility — to indicators — to consequences — to priority. Connecting to the job responsibility of the person you are diagnosing is what makes the diagnosis relevant. The indicators are the physical symptoms (the evidence of the condition or problem that is placing the individual’s job performance at risk); it tells us and our customer what’s happening. Consequences are the problem’s impact on the business and its severity; it tells us what and who is being affected and provides a means to quantify the financial impact. Priority is the problem’s position relative to other issues the customer is facing. From the customer’s perspective, it tells us whether and when the problem is worth resolving.

Key thought: If you don’t have a cost of the problem, you don’t have a problem. If there is no problem, there is no value!

All businesses measure their performance in dollars and cents. Therefore, any problem they are experiencing or opportunity they are missing can and must be expressed in financial terms. Until you quantify that impact, you are dealing with a highly speculative issue and one that can evaporate or derail with the slightest distraction.

Calculating the Cost of the Problem

The most significant component and conclusion of a compelling diagnostic conversation is the quantification of value. We refer to it as the cost of the problem — connecting a financial value to the consequences of the problem provides an accurate determination of the value of your solution. In every seminar we deliver, the two most frequently asked questions are: “How can I speed up the sales cycle?” and “How can I protect my pricing from last-minute negotiating pressures?” It has been our experience, and the experience of our clients, that amazing things happen to timetables, priorities and perceived value once the customer truly understands the cost of their problem.

When we define the cost of the problem, we put a price tag on the dissatisfaction the customer is experiencing, which enables customers to prioritize the problem and then make a rational, informed choice between continuing to incur its cost or investing in a solution. Establishing an accurate cost of the problem is the only path to defining the true value of a solution. Cost and associated risks are also the surest way to shorten the customer’s decision cycle. Think of the customer’s problem as the decision driver and the cost of the problem as its accelerator. The higher the cost of the problem, the greater the pressure to solve it, and the quicker the decision to solve it will be made.

The fact that you are able to help your customer determine the severity of their situation makes you very knowledgeable of their concerns and expectations. As a trained professional, when orchestrating the resources of your company, combined with your clients’ information, you should be able to bring many more cost factors to the customer’s equation and thus enhance the quality of the decision process.

Key thought: The cost of the problem does not have to be accurate; it just needs to be believed!

When we talk about the total cost of the problem, we are not saying that you must establish a precise figure, but it must be close and credible to the customer. Calculating costs is a process similar to the navigational method known as triangulation. By sighting off of three points — the direct numbers, indirect numbers, and lost opportunities — we can arrive at a cost that is credible and, most importantly, believed by the customer. This is accomplished in two steps. First, we need to develop a formula that is conceptually sound. Second, we must ensure that the numbers plugged into that formula are derived from the customer’s reality, not your company’s reality or industry “averages.”

The customer’s inability to thoroughly self-diagnose is highlighted by their inability to accurately attach a comprehensive financial impact to their problem. The objective of your formula is to enable the customer to recognize its validity and its lack of vendor bias. Customers have become immune to the majority of ROI tools used by sellers. They must be able to clearly see that if they input their data into your formula, in the right tool, the resulting outcome will represent an accurate measurement of their current situation. When the customer sees the value of the outcome of the formula, with significant numbers, they will readily participate in the financial diagnosis and openly provide their information.

But My Customers Won’t Open Up!

Perhaps the strongest hesitation sales professionals have to the diagnostic approach is their belief that the customer will not be open to providing candid information and answering the diagnostic questions. If the customer is unwilling to participate, we need to look to ourselves and our approach for the primary reasons. The following “self-diagnosis” will determine if you are on the right track:

1. Is the issue you are diagnosing relevant to this individual’s job responsibility and personal performance measurements?
2. Is the person recognizing the presence of the symptoms in their environment?
3. Will the customer be able to determine the level of risk the symptoms represent with your guidance?

The fundamental concept of the diagnostic conversation is that the questions are relevant to the customer, and the answers to the questions increase the customer’s understanding of a situation that is critical to their performance objectives. If the answers to the above questions are “yes,” the customer will quickly engage in the conversation. Each succeeding question provides additional relevancy and clarity to the situation and increases the customer’s desire to participate in the diagnosis and provide the information that will lead to additional clarity.

The diagnostic conversation is extremely customer-centric and, as such, is recognizably different from the majority of needs-based questions. If you are able to answer yes to the above questions, you will clearly set yourself apart from your competition. Your customers will grant you privileged access that will lead to privileged insight and your ability to create credible and compelling solutions.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].