New Information Paradigms - Transformative MetaSystems for Collaborative Teams

The biggest problem that companies face when buying a new system isn't finding and assessing suitable and capable technology. Instead, it is working out exactly what is needed, to satisfy all requirements and internal demands - many of which aren't instantly obvious - and working out how to introduce a system to the company.

It is our experience that in most cases, if a company has issued an RFP, it shows that this process has not been completed. Information-gathering is important in helping companies elicit requirements, and RFPs can be an essential part of this process (as well as necessary for due diligence), but an RFP will not solve the "softer" decision-making issues. Nor will it guarantee that a system will "fit" the various different places in a company that it will be used in.

In trying to bridge this gap - and as believers in word-of-mouth marketing, and in being uncomfortable with aggressive selling "techniques" (cold-calling, etc.) - we found ourselves casting around for innovative selling strategies. Along the way we came across some interesting books: Hank Trisler's classic "No Bull Selling", published in 1983 and Neil Rackam's 1987 consultative selling book "Making Major Sales", were milestones.

But it wasn't until we came across Sharon Drew Morgen's 1997 book "Selling with Integrity", where she introduced the concept of buying facilitation, that we felt we had found a way in which we consistently wanted to work with customers.

Selling with integrity/buying facilitation is based on several key principles and beliefs:

The Six Principles

1. You have nothing to sell if there's no one to buy
2. Relationship comes first; task second
3. The buyer has the answers; the seller has the questions
4. Service is the goal; discovery is the outcome; a sale may be the solution (but may not be)
5. People buy only when they can't fill their own needs
6. People buy using their own buying patterns, not a seller's selling patterns

Buying Facilitation: The Beliefs

• The prospect has ultimate control over the outcome of the interaction
• The seller's job is to support the prospective buyer's needs
• The prospective buyer knows what s/he needs and can solve his/her own problems with the support of the seller's questions
• People buy only when they cannot solve their problems with their own internal resources; then they seek an external solution
• Sellers will find the right people to buy their product independent of their need to sell
• Prospective buyers and sellers trust each other and are honest with each other, communicating in a "We Space" uniquely their own
• Prospective buyers have the answers; sellers have the questions
• Prospective buyers know what they need, but prefer to work collaboratively with a seller in a "win-win" situation to support each other in getting their needs met.

We have therefore found that the most productive way forwards in pre-sales situations involves supporting prospective customers in discovering what their critical needs are, and what their internal decision-making process is (the main criteria, how these will be evaluated, and by whom). This "exploration" phase can happen in various ways - meetings, questionnaires, workshops, demos, pilot schemes.