How to Have a Data-Linked Discussion with Clients

As a sales professional, you may wonder, ‘How much do I really need to understand about the field of data analytics?’ Which is a fair question. The relatively new field continues to evolve rapidly. Working out what is relevant, and what may be too technical for your prospective buyers takes time. 

And yes, product and industry knowledge are important. But this isn’t your prospective buyer’s first priority. If this is where you expend most of your energy, you’ve missed the point. Which is that you should be helping your prospective buyer to solve their problems with your data-linked solution. So the first question you need to answer is: who are your buyers? 

Do they oversee the company’s IT or business side of things? Or both? Are they a small and medium customer or a large enterprise? Your pitch needs to show how your solution can benefit them. Talking to someone from the IT team about how your solution will help their marketing campaigns to reach the right customer; or highlighting how your solution integrates efficiently from an API’s perspective to someone from the marketing team isn’t going to compel them to find out more. Because you haven’t shown them how this is of value to them. Your solution may well benefit the organisation’s performance as a whole. But they’ll never find out if you don’t first show the person you’re talking to how it benefits them.

Even with enterprise sales, you need to remember that you’re making a pitch to an individual. Sure, they may represent the company’s overall values and interests but they are also people who have to answer to their boss, or other decision makers. 

Once you’ve identified who they are, think about the outcomes these individuals seek. By taking the time to do your research, you can show how your solution addresses their specific pain points when you make a pitch. 

Better still, if you have existing customers who share similar pain points or have achieved the goals your prospective buyers aspire to, show how you’ve helped. The data-linked space is so crowded. So help your prospective buyers to actually envision their possible futures. Whether it’s how seamlessly your solution will fit with current CRM software or how efficiently it can consolidate data from multiple IPs. Give them a glimpse of how things have changed for the better for others like them. All this adds up and gives you the advantage to stand out. 

And if the individual you’re pitching isn’t the final decision maker, having these examples helps them to make the case for your solution to their superiors. So help them at every step of the way to show how your solution helps them and their organisation to achieve the transformation they seek.