Do I hear a buy signal there?
The easiest way to increase your chances of landing a great assignment for yourself or your colleagues is to pay close attention to whether people around you need help. And then offer it. Sounds simple, and it actually is.
Why is paying attention to buy signals such a good way?
- Hearing buying signals takes almost no time; you can do it during your "regular" work. You'll receive (indirect) requests for help in abundance when working with clients in your daily work.
- You're often already in contact with the people involved. So it's easy to join the discussion. In fact, you're often already sitting at the table.
- Customers appreciate it when you offer help voluntarily, so it's also good for the relationship. As long as you don't push, of course.
- You can pick up on buying signals for your colleagues and vice versa. This helps customers and colleagues find the right person in the right place.
What's in a name – buy signal versus help signal?
In our practice, we sometimes encounter resistance to the term "buy signal." For some, the term still has a hint of old-school sales-pushing in it. After all, you're not even sure someone wants to buy something, are you? So what's the point of a buy signal? Wouldn't a support signal be better?
Well, we've tried several other words over the years: help signal, potential help request, and in the end, nothing made it any clearer.
The bottom line is that we don't push customers, but we do offer them help where they might need it and we can provide it. And we think that's the best word for it.
Well, almost everywhere. Whether you're working with clients on a project, talking to people in the schoolyard, or even witnessing something suboptimal at a client's place, you'll encounter them. A few examples:
- A customer asks you if you happen to know anything about ISO Fill-In-Number-Here. Where does this interest come from? And would your help be appreciated?
- Someone at your client is going on parental leave. The client is suddenly without a specialist for a few months, and you or one of your colleagues would be happy to temporarily fill that position.
- New regulations are coming into effect in your field. Many clients don't know how to deal with them. Could you perhaps help them?
- You've written an advisory report with recommendations. If you can also help implement those recommendations, it would almost be rude not to offer to do so.
If you want to hear buying signals, it helps if you have a positive attitude
In the 1950s, a Dutch shoe manufacturer sent two representatives to Africa to explore the sales potential of Dutch quality products on that continent. One representative went to East Africa, the other to West Africa. After a few weeks, they returned to headquarters to report to management.
The first sales representative comes in and presents his findings. He's not enthusiastic and advises against it. Almost everyone there is barefoot; there's no money to be made.
The second vendor comes in and also presents his findings. He's very positive. Everyone's barefoot! What a fantastic market!
That's not so bad. As long as you don't push, whine, or complain, of course. But almost everyone appreciates receiving help in a friendly way.
We sometimes review customer satisfaction surveys from engineering firms, IT vendors, or other consulting organizations. These surveys almost always indicate that clients appreciate proactive assistance. They want the firm to look beyond the current assignment, and to provide clients with more than they initially asked for.
This brings us back to an important principle: no is okay.
Because if you respond to buying signals with the sole goal of quickly increasing sales, and you become too pushy in the process, it feels unpleasant to the other person. That's why perhaps the most important question when discussing a buying signal is: Would you like help with this? You explicitly ask if your help is needed and you offer the other person the opportunity to decline the offer to continue discussing the topic.
If the answer is no, at least you've offered help. And that usually improves the relationship.
And if the answer is no, we prefer not to try to turn that no into a yes in a bad salesman-like manner.
No is okay.
But not offering help to a customer in need is not okay.
Even a little rude…
How do you develop an internal buying signal alarm? The first step is to recognize buying signals and think: aha, that's where I or one of my colleagues could contribute.
A strong signal of course is: Can you help me? I have a problem. That's hardly a buying signal anymore, but rather an invitation to a buying conversation.
More subtle signals include: Our management should know that, or You have experience with ABC, right? And what about Are you busy next month?
For example, an IT professional can handle:
- How do your other customers deal with knowledge shortages at the service desk?
- Our employees at the Woerden location complain that the system is very slow...
- We are currently very busy rolling out new workstations, so we hardly have time to improve the infrastructure.
The questions that may be behind this are:
- We are experiencing knowledge issues at our service desk and are looking for someone who can help us with this.
- Our system is slow, how do we solve that?
- The infrastructure needs to be improved and we don't have time, who can do that?
A hidden buy signal is: Your rate must be very high? The signal (the customer wants something) is linked to a possible objection (I don't know if it's worth the money, of: I'll start negotiating now).
Long live the grumbling managers
When you hear one manager grumbling at another, there is often a juicy buying signal behind it:
– We are far too busy…
– Why does it never work here to…
– If only we…
Besides paying close attention to your customers' buying signals, you can also go a step further and proactively figure out how you can help them. After all, customers demand proactiveness.
We use the exercise there voucher Imagine you could give a gift certificate to one of your clients. They could use it to purchase your services for a certain amount. Who would you give that gift certificate to? What would you advise them to buy for that amount? Where do you see the added value of your services?
The answer to this question is also a buying signal. And no, we don't yet know whether your relationship sees it that way, nor whether there's any budget. We're still in the phase of recognizing buying signals.
Other unspoken signals emerge from societal changes or regulations. If three of your clients are struggling with the implementation of new regulations and have asked you for help, there are likely more clients who are experiencing the same issue.
We can't help it: wherever we are, we pay attention to how commercially and customer-focused people are. The hospitality industry is a great area for this. Just look at the service on a patio. An empty glass is a buying signal. A good waitress regularly asks, "Would you like another drink?" She does so in a way that doesn't bother you. And if the answer is no, her ego remains unaffected.
If you have noticed a buy signal, it is appropriate to check whether we can help the other person with it.
What you don't want to do is get too excited. Don't analyze the problem too quickly in detail. And don't sell too quickly. If your reaction is: So, what problems exactly are you facing, how can I help you solve them and do you already have a budget for that? Then you can give the impression that you smell turnover and not everyone likes that.
On the other hand, you also don't want to end up with some variation on "Gosh, that's a shame for you, well, have a nice day..."
How do you respond? A structure you can use in many customer conversations can help: IMI. It stands for:
- Introduce
- Motivate
- Instruct
The first step is to steer the conversation toward the right topic. In this case, the buying signal. You can do this by simply sharing what you've noticed.
Henk, I heard that Marion from Communications is going on parental leave for a few months starting in September...
Of
Hi Brenda, something struck me about how you, as a water board, handle participation issues...
And then the trick is to wait for the other person to react. COW, jaws locked.
After an initial positive response, you can ask further questions. Or, better yet, let the other person talk a little later. A simple technique to get someone talking is: tell me… What also works well is to repeat the last word of the last sentence.
Henk: Yes, that's right, Marion is taking a break. That's a bit inconvenient for the project...
Consultants: awkward…?
Henk: Yes, because during that period we are in the testing phase and that is crucial.
Some questions are better left unasked: Has any thought been given to… of Have you arranged anything yet? You want to make a proposal to offer help, not hold someone accountable. Beware of cross-examination. See also chapter 6.6 Barbed wire language.
Before you ask whether the other person wants your help, it's best to first explain why it might be a good idea.
My assignment ended in September, and I've already settled in pretty well. I think it's a great organization, so I'd be happy to support you temporarily...
Of
Other water boards that are our clients appreciate us working with them on participation issues…
When motivating others, make sure you emphasize the other person's interests. Your enthusiasm is often motivating for them as well.
After the introduction and motivation comes the instruction. That is a question that a customer ja of no can say against. So, a closed question. No is okay, remember?
In a buy signal the instruction is something like: Would you like us to help you with this? You can of course vary:
Would you like my help with this?
Of
Are you interested in exploring this further together?
Now comes another one of those COW moments. Just clench your jaws for a moment, while the other person thinks.
If it turns out that Marion's interim replacement has already been found, or if the other party doesn't recognize the problem at all, then that's the end of the story. At least you've given your client some time to think about it, and that's good for the relationship.
When the other person wants our help, it is tempting to make a forceful proposal, such as: Should I arrange the transfer with Marion and ask our account manager to email you a quote? of Should I then organize a workshop on participation issues? of Should we meet on Monday? These kinds of questions are called push questions.
Pull questions work better here. These are questions like:
- How will we tackle this?
- What do you propose?
- What would be a good next step?
- What's on your mind?
Pull questions can sometimes feel a bit counterintuitive at first. It feels like you're giving up the initiative. Yet, pull questions often work better for two reasons:
- An idea that your customer comes up with themselves will have more support than an idea that you propose.
- The client might just come up with a better plan, involving the right stakeholders at the right time.
You can read more about pulling and pushing in the toolbox in chapter 6.5 Pull or push.
After this the conversation might continue like this:
Customer: Uh, yeah, I think that's interesting, that you're temporarily replacing Marion...
Consultant: Very good. What would be the next step?
Customer: Well, I should actually ask Germaine, because she's formally responsible...
Consultant: …(Jaws Clenched)
Client: So, what if I make an appointment with you and Germaine and me…
Consultant: Good idea, what exactly should we agree on?
Customer: I'll ask Simon from our secretariat to schedule an appointment for the three of us, sometime in the next two weeks. Does that suit you?
Consultant: With pleasure…
Don't I lose my independence then?
Especially in commercial agencies, the rabbit feeling sometimes plays a role: you bring in one consultant, and before you know it, you have ten in-house.
This feeling can be deeply ingrained in some professionals and clients. It becomes cronyism: we don't choose the best professional for the job, but rather the friends of those already in the position. And this way of acquiring assignments is unfortunately not unthinkable. We know of examples of external parties who have abused their influential positions. You are certainly not one of them. But perhaps your client has had bad experiences. And you tend not to introduce your own colleagues.
The solution? If you're feeling uneasy in your relationship with the client, our rule of thumb is: State What's What. So, for example, say something like: Dear Klaas, I'm struggling with something. I think a colleague of mine could really help you with this. At the same time, I don't want to be one of those consultants who's mainly focused on rushing in as many colleagues as possible. And then just say nothing until Klaas has responded.
Klaas will likely tell you whether or not he finds this a problem. You could also discuss together how to safeguard integrity, for example, by ensuring a proper, formal intake process.
If you've heard or thought of a buy signal, you can, of course, prepare your IMI. Testing your IMI on a colleague often works very well. They'll quickly sense if you're still too pushy, for example, or if you're being too vague.
What helps against the feeling of being pushed around:
- Say that you enjoy helping the other person.
- Define your expertise (That's my job, can I help you with it?)
- Be confident enough (I have experience with that…)
- Make no okay (I'm happy to help you with this, and if you prefer to solve it differently, that's fine too, of course).
This article was written by Jan Willem van den Brink and Maarten van Os from DreamfactoryIt's based on a chapter from our book Client Wanted – Acquiring as part of your job.
If you wish to use it, we would greatly appreciate attribution.
Want to know more about this topic or how we can help your organization? Email or call us at 0348-741670.