Graham Hawkins

“So what counts as a ‘commercial insight’? Some examples include: BEST PRACTICES: Customers often want to know about best practices from other regions. For instance, being able to explain to an Australian-based buyer that businesses in the US or UK are solving a similar problem with a new solution that is deemed to be the current best practice is often highly valued, as it could provide a newer (or better) solution than the one the buyer had previously considered. EMERGING TRENDS: Being able to share the latest trends concerning your sector can empower buyers to make educated decisions about investments, particularly when it comes to the longevity of different solutions or how developments in adjacent industries could disrupt the business. INVESTMENT RISK: In mature markets, business buyers often become very risk averse as they don’t want to be held responsible for having a negative impact on growth numbers. Many sales people steer clear of talking about risk with their customers, because they worry about turning a buyer off making a purchase decision. However, while highlighting a risk to your customer could mean that you lose a sale, putting the customer’s best interests ahead of your own will ultimately position you as a trusted adviser. Additionally, because many sales people take the opposite approach – they sell the customer on the value while carefully avoiding any mention of the possible downside, only for the risk to raise its ugly head after the purchase – this helps you stand out as a person of integrity in a field where integrity is seen to be lacking. CASE STUDIES: Unique customer case studies and stories not only build your credibility and the credibility of your offering, they help develop a rapport between you and your customer. In the same way that comedians curate a long list of jokes, anecdotes and stories that they can roll out at any given moment, you should also become the curator of unique stories and case studies that your customers value because they can’t easily find these on Google.”
― Graham Hawkins, The Future of the Sales Profession: How to survive the big cull and become one of your industry's most sought after B2B sales professionals