Unleash the Power of the 9 Boxes Model: Transforming Sales Conversations and Envisioning Success

Discover the game-changing potential of the 9 Boxes model in sales. This influential framework now empowers sales professionals to guide customers through a strategic journey of diagnosis, exploration, and visualisation. From understanding pain points to showcasing your product's value, each step fuels a brighter future. Learn how to bring customers full-circle, leveraging open-ended questions and active listening. Uncover hidden challenges, highlight their broader impact, and craft a compelling vision of success with your product as the ultimate solution. Revolutionise your sales approach and empower customers to envision a brighter future.

The 9 Boxes model was originally created by McKinsey for General Electric as a means to identify key investments and to compare various business units.

Today it is more commonly used by human resource professionals to analyse talent within their organisation.

However, it is a powerful tool that can help sales professionals convince customers of the positive impact their products can have on the customer’s business.

There are 9 steps in this model, divided into 3 phases: diagnose, explore, and visualise.

 When you meet with potential customers, they are most likely already at step 9. Your job as a sales professional is to guide them back to step 1. Then use open-ended questions to bring them, full-circle, back to step 9. 

🔵 Step 1: Start by asking customers to explain the challenges they're facing in their business.

🔵 Step 2: Explore what could be causing these challenges for them, eg. is it a lack of resources, is it a systemic bottleneck in their business or could it be a misalignment in business strategy?

🔵 Step 3: Take what they tell you and repeat it back to them in your own words to show you understand. Active listening is key here and throughout the whole process. 

🔵 Step 4: Explore how these challenges impact other parts of their business. Whatever the answer is that they give you, ask them to elaborate on why they said this. 

🔵 Step 5: Repeat in your own words what you've learned about the impact of the problem on the other parts of their business. Using your experience in selling your product, ask them some questions to highlight other problems they might not be considering.

🔵 Step 6: Confirm that it's not just the customer's department that's impacted, but other departments too. Summarise the overall impact on the business in your own words.

🔵 Step 7: Ask customers what needs to happen or change in their business to overcome these challenges or move closer to their goal.

🔵 Step 8: In a subtle way present your product's value proposition as the solution to their challenges. Ask them to imagine how their challenges could be reduced or eliminated. You can also mention additional features of your product that could benefit them and the impact that these would have.

🔵 Step 9: Summarise the challenges, their impact on the customer and other departments, and how your product can help them reach their goals. Show how your product aligns with their department or company objectives.

When you reach step 9 you have identified the customer’s buying vision. Step 3 gives you the problem they are trying to solve. Step 7 highlights the impact of inaction to the customer. Step 9 defines the ideal state the customer will be in when they implement your solution.

By following these steps, you can effectively guide customers from understanding their pain to envisioning a brighter future with your product.

Here is an example of how a 9 boxes conversation would go between a buyer and seller:

Buyer (B): Good morning. I've been facing some challenges with our current software system. It's outdated and doesn't meet our growing needs. We're looking for a solution that can streamline our processes and improve efficiency.

Seller (S): Thank you for sharing that insight into your business. Understanding your situation is essential to finding the right solution. Could you please tell me more about the reasons behind the challenges you're facing with your current system?

B: Sure. One of the main reasons is that our current system is unable to handle the increasing volume of transactions and data. It often leads to slowdowns and errors, which impact our productivity. Additionally, the lack of integration with other systems makes it difficult to get a holistic view of our operations.

S: I see. The impact of these challenges on your business efficiency and productivity must be significant. Can you describe how these issues affect your daily operations and decision-making processes?

B: Absolutely. The inefficiencies caused by the system limitations lead to delays in processing customer orders and accessing accurate data for reporting. It hampers our ability to make informed decisions and respond quickly to customer demands. We need a solution that can provide real-time insights and enable seamless integration across various departments.

S: I understand the importance of having timely information and a streamlined workflow. In order to address these challenges, it's essential to envision a solution that meets your specific requirements. Could you share your vision of the ideal system? What outcomes are you looking to achieve?

B: Our vision is to have a centralised software solution that automates our processes, integrates with other systems, and provides real-time data analytics. We want to enhance our operational efficiency, improve customer service by reducing response times, and gain actionable insights for better decision-making.

S: That's a compelling vision, and I appreciate your clear goals. Based on your needs and desired outcomes, I believe our solution can align well with your needs. We offer a comprehensive software platform that provides seamless integration, scalability, and advanced analytics capabilities. It will enable you to streamline operations, improve productivity, and make data-driven decisions. We have successfully implemented similar solutions for clients in your industry.

B: That sounds promising. It's crucial for us to work with a provider who understands our needs and has the expertise to deliver the outcomes we seek. Can you share some reference stories of clients who have achieved similar results using your solution?

S: Absolutely. Let me share a reference story of a client in your industry who faced similar challenges with outdated systems and manual processes. Through our solution, they were able to automate their workflows, achieve significant time savings, and gain real-time visibility into their operations. This empowered them to make data-driven decisions and enhance their overall efficiency.

B: That reference story resonates with our situation. It's reassuring to hear that you have successfully addressed the needs we're experiencing. I believe we are on the right track. What would be the next steps to explore this further?

S: I'm glad to hear that the reference story resonated with you. The next step would be to schedule a deeper discussion where we can understand your specific requirements in detail, conduct a tailored demonstration of our solution, and explore how we can further align our offering to your needs. This will help us provide you with a comprehensive proposal and implementation plan.

B: That sounds like a plan. Let's schedule that discussion. I appreciate your attentive approach and your focus on understanding our pain points. It gives us confidence that you are the right partner to address our challenges.

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