Successful sales teams use selling frameworks to create consistency in how sales reps deliver their pitch to their ideal customers.
Popular methodologies like Challenger, MEDDIC, and Sandler are very effective for complex deals to enterprise customers.
But what about reps who are selling to under-resourced buyers that don’t want to spend the time going through a comprehensive evaluation? Selling to this type of person requires a different methodology that makes it easy for a prospect to make a purchase.
SNAP Selling is the perfect fit for sellers who need to close deals with distracted buyers.
What is SNAP Selling?
The creator of SNAP Selling, Jill Konrath, says that in her first year of sales, she was afraid of failing and frustrated about not having the right sales approach figured out yet. She began experimenting and learning about her buyers, trying to determine why selling to them was so hard.
SNAP selling bases it’s methodology on the idea that sales reps today are dealing with distracted prospects who have “frazzled customer syndrome”. Frazzled customers are anxious about whether it is worth their time to evaluate your solution. They are distracted by other priorities, projects, and challenges.
They resist anything that seems complex, risky, or just takes too much of their time.
These buyers are demanding, so you better know your solution well and be able to answer lots of questions while the buyer is trying to get off the call. If you aren’t able to accommodate this type of prospect, they probably won’t talk to you again.
SNAP Selling helps sales reps deal with buyers who are overwhelmed, difficult to connect with, distracted, and ultimately, will choose to maintain the status quo.
The four basics of SNAP selling
Selling to distracted and frazzled buyers requires a unique approach composed of four straightforward steps.
Keep it Simple
Stressed prospects who have a hard time juggling multiple priorities need you to keep your pitch simple. Showing them everything that your solution can do for their business may be overwhelming. Instead, tailor your pitch, demo, and post sales plan to your buyer’s specific needs.
Even if you believe that they would really benefit from other functionality, if they didn’t ask for it, don’t try to sell it. Your communication needs to be to the point in order to persuade your buyer to hear you outl.
Be iNvaluable
SNAP Selling asks the sales rep to become a trusted partner. Your buyer wants answers right now. If you can prove your trustworthiness, they are more likely to follow your guidance.
Succinctly connect your solution’s value with the problems they want to solve, but are too frazzled to address. You’ll need to stand out from your competitors and the best way to do that is to partner with your customer and be an invaluable part of their decision.
Always align
Make sure that you know what concerns they have when purchasing a new solution. You can then anticipate when in the sales cycle that concern will arise and be prepared with an answer to alleviate their fears.
It’s important to understand the buyer’s goals for their company. If they are looking for new logo growth, focus on that. If they want to streamline their developers’ workflow, keep that top of mind. If they aren’t focused on certain goals right now, you won’t be able to convince them to care.
Raise Priorities
A frazzled buyer usually juggles multiple priorities at any given time. Align your products or services with the priorities they care about most. Then, position your solution as the tool to accomplish the buyer’s priorities. Give them a leg up. They won’t care that much about the boost you gave them, but they will care that the boost helps them reach their goal.
How to get inside your buyer’s head
To sell to this modern buyer, don’t try to persuade them to buy your vision; instead get inside their head and figure out how they view your product and company.
There are four steps to getting inside your buyer’s head:
- Identify your decision-makers: Figure out who has the final say when it comes to purchasing a solution.
- Use the Buyer’s Matrix: The answers to the questions in the matrix will give you insights into what types of pressure your buyer must contend with when making a buying decision.
- Build your buyer personas: Analyze your most common customers and then profile each of the key decision-makers. These personas create consistency and act as a guideline in your conversations.
- Perform a “mind meld”: Put yourself into the shoes of each buyer persona. Try to predict their reactions to each of the steps in your sales process. Fine tune your approach based on this exercise.
Is SNAP Selling right for your business?
SNAP Selling provides a framework for a specific type of buyer – but it won’t work for every sales organization. If you’re in the business of selling to SMB companies, this methodology will help you win over stressed out buyers.
If your business sells in the enterprise space or delivers a complex solution, check out another sales methodology which may offer exactly what you need.
