Why Push-Based Selling is Dying: The Inconvenient Truth

Push-based sales are like bad dates: they talk about themselves all night and don't let you get a word in. Pull-based sales, on the other hand, are the keepers—they actually listen!

Our research shows that while sellers have various tools and guidance, they often stick to familiar, successful methods. Driven by directives from supervisors or company-approved sales playbooks, sellers typically adhere to tried-and-true routines to manage their territories and pipelines effectively. We've identified four primary sales approaches: Narrowing, Provoking, Translating, and Anticipating.

However, the Push-Based Sales Approaches, particularly Narrowing and Provoking, are losing effectiveness. The Narrowing approach, favored by over a third of sellers, aims to cut through buyer distractions prevalent in today's information-rich environment. It targets buyer indecision by addressing doubts directly, but this approach is paradoxically slowing sales processes, extending sales cycles by 40%.

The Provoking approach, which involves pushing the seller’s ideas onto the buyer, extends sales cycles even further, by 22%. Both these methods often meet resistance and confusion from buyers due to their push-based nature.

While these approaches can be effective at certain stages, they generally prolong other milestones and risk creating mistrust and tension by dismissing buyer concerns or overwhelming them with ideas. In the current climate of risk aversion and the need for consensus, such tactics are less effective.

Pull-based sales approaches like Translating and Anticipating are proving more effective than push-based methods, leading to faster deal closures and larger deal sizes. These methods focus on understanding and responding to buyer needs rather than pushing seller-driven processes and information.

Key Points:

1. Translating and Anticipating Approaches:

- Translating: Sellers use data to tailor their interactions, ensuring relevance and reducing misinterpretations.

- Anticipating: Sellers proactively address potential buyer obstacles, speeding up the sales cycle.

2. Benefits:

- Both approaches foster a deeper understanding of the buyer’s context, helping sellers align their pitch more effectively.

- They consistently improve outcomes across all stages of the buying journey, unlike Narrowing and Provoking, which only work well in specific contexts.

- Translating and Anticipating lead to a 16% and 11% improvement in deal size, respectively, compared to 7% and 9% for Narrowing and Provoking.

3. Implementation:

- Sellers can be coached to adopt these methods effectively through training and strong leadership.

- Sales infrastructure should integrate these approaches, ensuring they are emphasized in coaching, enabled by resources like playbooks, and reflected in performance evaluations.

By focusing on these pull-based strategies, sellers not only close deals faster but also build stronger, trust-based relationships with buyers, leading to more significant commitments.

To know more about stages mentioned above, below are a few examples:

1. Example of Narrowing (Push-based approach):

- Scenario: A software salesperson continuously pitches the extensive features of their product without engaging with the customer to understand their specific needs. Despite the customer showing signs of overwhelm with the information, the salesperson persists with their scripted demo.

- Outcome: The customer feels bombarded and disengaged, leading to a prolonged decision-making process without any commitment.

2. Example of Provoking (Push-based approach):

- Scenario: A car salesman aggressively tries to convince a customer to buy a more expensive model by highlighting its superior specs and safety features, despite the customer's initial interest in a more economical model.

- Outcome: The customer feels pressured and mistrustful, deciding to visit other dealerships for a more comforting sales experience, thus extending the sales cycle.

3. Example of Translating (Pull-based approach):

- Scenario: A B2B tech consultant listens to a client's issues with data management and then uses specific insights from the discussion to demonstrate how their software can uniquely resolve these challenges.

- Outcome: The client feels understood and sees the value in the personalized solution, leading to a quicker decision-making process and closure of the sale.

4. Example of Anticipating (Pull-based approach):

- Scenario: Before a meeting with potential clients about a new project management tool, the salesperson researches the client’s current operations and prepares solutions tailored to anticipated challenges, discussing how the tool will integrate seamlessly into their existing workflow.

- Outcome: The clients are impressed by the proactive approach and the clear understanding of their needs, leading to rapid agreement and a successful sale with potential for future upselling.

By: Harshal Patil (Founder of BTB Venture Group)

BTB Venture Group

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