Reframing Value in a Crisis

Please note that this article first appeared in Top Sales Magazine July 2020 and is written by Frank Cespedes and David Hoffield.
 
Cascading bankruptcies, higher debt loads, and uncertainty about future waves of infection mean a tightening of budgets, resistance to change, and more situations where prospects prolong purchasing decisions until there’s more “certainty” about what truly is the new normal. Especially in B2B markets, buyers often have standard operating procedures in place and become accustomed to their current frame for evaluating vendors and value. If you do not alter that frame, the sale will fail.
Reframing occurs in sales conversations, and for sales leaders their biggest frustration is inconsistency. Most salespeople rely on ad­hoc experience or hope that something clever comes to mind when a situation arises. But there is a method that can be taught to improve close rates. It involvesfour highly impactful frames: Positive Outcomes, Loss