Opportunities are everywhere. You just need to know where to find them and you always need to be on the alert for them. Such Trigger Events can be a springboard for your selling career and you need to be prepared to act on them as soon as they are recognized.

By staying on top of your game, you’re always going to be a step ahead of the competition. And if a company has an immediate need then you can be first in line to assist with that. Added to that, if a business has already discovered that they have a requirement for something new, it makes your position a much sweeter one. They have already identified their need. All you must do, at this point, is demonstrate your ability to provide them with the best solution. A business has already moved into the transitional stage is certainly easier to approach than one that has not yet identified its need for change.

When businesses are making changes it means that they are already primed for shifting into a new gear. With this pre-knowledge and some further background research into the business, you could arrive well-armed to present a winning solution that can assist in building a better business. When a business is moving through a transitional phase they are almost always ready to take on new opportunities and to make positive changes. Be ready to help them!

As always, your research and understanding before approaching the client, is going to be the crucial in your presentation. This is what separates you from the rest of the competition. By taking the initiative in being first in line and having the greatest insight into their business, you have put yourself into a powerful position. Now it’s up to you to reveal your expertise and divulge the finest solution that will benefit their business in the most efficient way.

You could make it part of your daily routine to check your local news (aka “the Grapevine”) for new information on potential clients. Always be on the lookout for Trigger Events that can open the door to new sales and new clients. It could be the action-injection that your career needs.

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If you want to learn how to find new clients by using internal and external Trigger Events – get my book today!

Use Trigger Events To Sell More is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Imagine that you will be having a baby in two weeks. While turning around in your home, what will you see? You are missing the crib, blankets, diapers and everything else that is needed for the new addition to your family. Won’t you need everything right away? You have an immediate need and must take care of it. This is a trigger event.

If we transfer this to a business environment, you will understand what trigger events means for any existing business. A trigger is a need to buy, an event that pushes you to buy the product right now. Not six months or a year down the road, but now.

This is true for the biggest corporations in the world and the small businesses oriented locally (70 percent of all U.S. businesses are so called mom-and-pop shops). The advantage of dealing with small businesses is that they are faster in reacting when an event is triggered and changes that create a need have happened.

Without the trigger you don’t really have a need to buy someone’s product now. Some studies show that companies with a trigger event buy 400 percent more often than ones without these kinds of events.

Many businesses are putting the cart before the horse, creating the product or service for which there is no market. They fail as suppliers because they take their customers wants and needs for granted, not surveying the market and not taking the necessary steps to understand why somebody is buying and who is on the market today.

Searching for trigger events is the first step forming three main keys of every sale that are:

1. Researching and qualifying your customers
2. Being in front of them
3. Being there when they are ready to buy — timing

To start the sales process you need to find out who could be in the market today, and then recognize your selected customer’s wants and needs. You need to have 360 degree view of your prospects.

What is their business situation, what are their business issues and challenges, pain problems, internal issues, changes, motivations? And then add yourself to the equation – how can I put customers in the market? How can I make customers realize that they are on the market with trigger events happening?

Keep following my blog, in my next posts I will talk more about internal and external trigger events and how to use them to find your next customer to sell more.

Remember: All needs are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

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Get the book Trigger Events today and start selling to new customers tomorrow!

Prospecting: Intro to Trigger Events is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer

Your mission as a sales person should be to find companies that have immediate wants and needs. This means that something happened or is happening to them – a move, a merger, new investors, etc. You have to look for any event that might create the opportunity for you, or better said you are looking for event that can trigger the sales for you.

It could be something internal or inside the company, like a new direction from management, a merger or an acquisition, rapid growth, or maybe a new product introduction. And it could mean the company is turning “Green” and needs new and different supplies and services.

It could be external or outside the company, like the new strategies of their competition or new legislation (Sarbanes- Oxley Act). Maybe even a natural disaster, which is a well-known external trigger for many customers.

Generally speaking, trigger events have effects inside the whole company. Suddenly new needs are recognized; previous decisions need to be revisited. Very often, management becomes aware of new priorities and changes the direction of the company.

Trigger events are extremely important when we are in the search mode, looking for our next customer, and when we need to identify our sales opportunities at a particular company from our target list.

Every company has something new happening. Maybe they improved or reintroduced their products or service. There could be new faces in the boardroom or on the sales floor. A new office may have opened up in the Midwest. A new vendor or strategic partner could have been added. Even new money or investor may come into the company.

Most important for a buyer is that the provider understands the buyer’s situation, needs and business.

Every change in the business environment causes a search for new suppliers or new service providers, and your main goal is to be in front of qualified buyers when they are ready to buy.

In these situations, I would say this is almost the perfect position for every sales person. You know there is something happening with the accounts from your list of targeted accounts and you know that as it happens – perfect timing is a key of success many times. This is equally true no matter if it is with small or large companies.

An example of the above is a situation where through your trigger event research you determine that your customer is planning to switch its ordering system to one of the new software solutions. So you know there is something going to happen. Whether the company is large or small, it can be perfect timing for you to be able to provide products and services to them using that kind of ordering/sales process.

How to use that information?

When you get the information related to a trigger event, you need to adjust your approach so the benefits of your products (or services) are closely related to the trigger event, and you are able to show your customers that you can create a value for them early in the buying process.

This is a good way to start working on the relationship and developing the customer’s perception of your value to them. This means when you speak with the decision maker and if you know exactly what this trigger event is about, you will be able to tailor your story and the benefits of your product in a way that sounds appealing and is related to the customers’ growth trigger event.

You need to adjust your presentation in the way to recognize that event and to present your offering in the most effective way.

Questions you will ask on your calls or meetings with prospects will be targeted towards their needs and you will be able to demonstrate your understanding of business situation. That should bring you step closer to get the deal done.

You definitely want to discover their hot buttons and why they could be on the market now for your products or services. Also you should find out why they are qualified now, at this particular moment, and why you should be very active with this prospect.

It is actually very simple – when you show your prospects that you actually care and you have done your homework and you know about trigger events happening inside their company (new CFO, merger and acquisition, bad 3rd quarter…) you also show them that you are interested about their issues, and most importantly concerned about their wants and needs.

You will create interest in their eyes because you are different then anyone else who contacts them who is simply trying to sell something without really understanding their needs.

When you know about different trigger events it will be much easier for you to ask questions that lead to uncovered customer’s needs and buying motives, and to put them in the market even if they feel there are not buying anything now.

If you try to make a sale without necessary information about your customers, you are just shooting blanks in the air, hoping to hit something. With full information about your prospects situation you will be able to sell easier, and that is the main purpose of this article (and my blog) – to help you to find your next customer in a much easier way for you, and yet maintain a professional, knowledgeable approach.

All needs are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

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Get the book Trigger Events today and start selling to new customers tomorrow!

What are trigger events and how to use them is a post from: The Science and Art of Selling by Alen Mayer