Dirty Little Secrets: Interview with Sharon Drew Morgen

We recently had a chance to chat with Sharon Drew Morgen, founder of Morgen Facilitations, Inc. (www.newsalesparadigm.com) and the conceptual architect behind Buying Facilitation(R), the decision facilitation model that 'enables people to change with integrity.' In case you are not familiar with all that, check out Sharon's New York Times Business Bestseller 'Selling with Integrity.' Sharon's got a new book out now called 'Dirty Little Secrets: Why Buyers Can't Buy And Sellers Can't Sell, And What You Can Do About It!,' which focuses on how buying decisions are made, how sales models ignore key factors in these decisions and how to greater influence purchase decisions.

 

Salespeople, she's trying to make you smarter, so pay attention.

 

We spoke with Sharon recently about some of the high level concepts in her book, as well as her background in sales and words of advice around the Salesfail. Read below to get all the dirt on the 'Dirty Little Secrets.'

 

Q: Can you tell us about some of your personal professional sales experience?  

A: I was a stockbroker on Wall Street, working with Merrill Lynch, Kidder Peabody, Shearson Hutton. I was also an insurance agent and sold tech training. I have also done freelance sales for a few companies seeking sales support for large, complex sales.

 

Q: Can you give us some concrete examples of the broken sales processes you describe in Dirty Little Secrets? 

A: Sales cycles are 8 times longer than they need to be because it only manages the needs assessment/solution placement end of the buying decision, ignoring the behind-the-scenes decision issues that buyers must address to garner the necessary buy-in before a new solution can be brought in.

 

Buyers offer objections, can't differentiate between products and vendors, and delay purchases because the time it takes them to come up with their own (private) answers, and ensure a new solution won't disrupt their status quo, is the length of the sales cycle.

 

Sales only addresses the needs/solution, and leaves the buyer to figure out their private stuff on their own. 

 

Q:  How have current sales models come to ignore so many of the factors that go into a buying decision?  

A: See above. The model is not intended to do that. Buying Facilitation(R), the model I've developed, is not a sales method. It's a decision facilitation model that acts like a GPS system to help buyers navigate through their off-line, behind-the-scenes decisions (relationships, internal politics, old vendor issues, tech/user issues) that need to be addressed. Buyers must do this with help or without, and sellers sit and wait while buyers do it anyway, as there are no other skills to help buyers go through this. Buying Facilitation(R) is the only/first model that addresses this aspect. I've been training it in global corporations for over 20 years.

 

Q: What are 5 best practices for a sales person to more fully take into account the factors that influence a buyer's decision and sell more effectively? 

1. begin by focusing on the buy-in from the immediate environment and leave sales until all decision elements have bought in to change.

2. teach the buyer how to collect the appropriate Buying Decision Team.

3. give the buyer the tools to manage the people/policy elements they never addressed.

4. teach the buyer how to incorporate the old and the new - the status quo with the new solution, and how to manage the change that a new solution will bring.

[note: Buyers have to do all of this on their own anyway, and the time it takes them to do it is the length of the sales cycle. Sellers can sit and wait for this to happen, as they have for decades, or get onto the Buying Decision Team with the buyer and help them navigate through this. Once they become a true servant-leader and help the buyer garner buy-in, then there is no more competition, and the sales cycle is minimized by 7/8).

 

Q: How do you envision digital and social media affecting the sales process in the future? 

A: Instead of offering data, bot digital and social media will use Facilitative Questions on their sites, in their questionairres, to help buyers figure out their buying criteria. Information does not teach buyers how to make a buying decision - it's the very very last thing buyers need before they choose a solution.

 

Right now, all of the lead gen brings in names, and the sellers don't know what to do with it as they then revert to conventional push-sales. They can be using Buying Facilitation(R) once they get the leads:

 

"What would you need to see/know to know if you and your decision team would be able to shift your status quo and bring in a solution like this?" 

 

Just a quick Facilitative Question so you can see how it's used.