Business Thoughts, Rants and Observations

B2B 7: anticipointment and sales

Note from Bruce:

I was recently asked by an interesting B2B company to write some blog posts and new business direct mail thoughts. They were interesting because <a> they wanted to focus on a smarter, more intelligent, level of thinking in their communication <b> they truly had an ‘edge’ to them in terms of attitude, and <c> they were interested in taking on specific objections they hear day in and day out in a candid fashion. It was fun for me and I generated maybe 20 draft thoughts for them in less than 3 days. The following shares my favorites <in rough draft form and the name of the company removed>.

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Most people in sales are optimists. They project sales growth and project a sense of anticipation for what a sales force will do for an organization.

This seemingly realistic anticipation tends to only find itself mired in disappointment <with some extraordinary peaks of excitement when something goes well>.

Let’s call this constant chafing between anticipation & disappointment ‘Anticipointment’ – where high optimistic expectations are followed by a letdown.

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anticipointment

n. A state of mind produced after having overly-anticipated a particular event or purchase, thus creating unreasonably high expectations, and then been disappointed after the event or purchase has taken place because the expectations were not met.

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If you are involved in sales development & the actual sales presentation you likely been there and, if honest, more than once.

That said, if you think about this thing called ‘Anticipointment’ you will recognize what Company X recognize – it burdens sales development, negotiations as well as a sale itself.

This burden is actually rooted in something called “anticipated pleasure.’

Research suggests that anticipated pleasure, or conversely anticipated pain, is almost as powerful a motivator as the actual pleasure or pain feelings.

This all means that when making a decision, even on something that no longer gives any pleasure, you will most likely use the emotions you might experience as a result of the choice as the reason you make the choice.

This happens in sales planning and sales projections all the time. As we write this we get a queasy feeling and think of the infamously horrible thought which we hear far too often in business:

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“I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I’ll feel it when I find it.”

–

Sonya Tecla

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Anticipointment is unnecessary particularity in the B2B business world. A business should know what to look for in sales and sales development and shouldn’t have to ‘feel it when they find it.’

Sales should be anticipated as predictable, consistent and, on rare occasions, surprisingly good.

There is a solution to anticipointment.

Think of engineering and a well-crafted finely tuned engine – strategic, structured, solutions & sales.

Sales engine intelligently designed

Sales engineering is intelligently designed and intelligently implemented – delivered consistently time after time and delivering predictable consistent results. The result is a gain in sales development productivity, efficiency in the sales process and increased effectiveness in final engagement. The engine consistently runs and adapts as the environment dictates to shift based on needs analysis.

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January 19, 2016 by Bruce

Written by Bruce

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B2B 7: anticipointment and sales

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