Brent Adamson, co-author of The Challenger Sale, recently sat down with Jill Konrath, author and speaker, to discuss challenges in today’s buying process and what you can do to close the sale. Here are the takeaways from their discussion.

  1. Your #1 competitor is your own prospect.

Research shows that prospects aren’t even contacting a vendor until they’re 55-75% of the way through the decision-making process. In their online search for info about their problem and the best solution, they shut salespeople out of the process.

  1.  Prospects “think” they know exactly what they need.

When doing all this research, prospects develop preconceived notions about their requirements. But, because they don’t often make decisions in this area, the criteria they develop may or may not be correct. To be successful today, you need to help your prospects “unlearn” what they know.

  1. “Commercial insight” is required to compete in today’s business world.

Thought leadership is content we publish to get prospects to think differently about us—that we’re smarter, better, more trustworthy, etc. Commercial insight is content designed to get prospects to think differently about themselves. It illuminates how their current way of doing things exposes them to increased cost or risk, as well as why a change is needed to accomplish their goals.

  1. Top sellers proactively coach prospects through the purchase.

Prospects are often buying the solution for the first time, while salespeople are out there selling it every day. Salespeople have greater knowledge about what actually works and how to get the deal done. Top sellers know how to leverage that expertise and coach prospects through the buying decision.