Have you heard of the “Window of Dissatisfaction[1]”? According to Forrester Research, you can sell with a closing rate of 74% during this period. In this article you will learn why this concept is so powerful and how you can make use of it to increase your success.
“The two most important requirements for major success are:
first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.”
- Ray Kroc, Founding CEO, McDonalds
Timing is a crucial factor in successful sales. If you are looking to improve your sales performance, then you’d better think about how you can engage prospects and customers when they are tuned into solving their biggest problems.
3 typical buying modes exist:
- Status quo: this is when the buyer is happy with the solution in place and is not searching for a new product or service
- The Window of Dissatisfaction: when a buyer recognises they need to change or do something to solve a problem but hasn’t started the search for a solution yet.
- Searching alternatives: the buyer is unhappy with the product or service and has started to search for a new solution.
It is important you develop a strategy for the three buying modes above, but the savvy sales professional focuses his or her efforts on connecting with those who have recently entered the Window of Dissatisfaction ahead of the competition. The benefits of getting in front of a decision maker before they have started the process of searching for an alternative are higher close ratios, less competitive pressure and therefore probably better margins.
Understanding buying triggers:
Spend time considering the triggers that shift buyers from status quo into the Window of Dissatisfaction. Triggers can include poor experiences or business transition (people, places or priorities). It can also be external factors, such as legal, economic changes or market trends. Make sure you get to know your prospects and customers earlier in the process and become the business resource that helps define the problem, designs the solution and develops an advisory relationship before the competition even knows that the opportunity exists.
[1] A phrase I first heard from my friend Craig Elias, author of Shift!