Sales Strategy

The Power of Need Urgency While Tailoring Sales Strategies July 18, 2023 (0 comments)

Boston, MA--In the realm of sales, understanding the urgency of your potential clientele can effectively steer your strategy. Often, businesses craft detailed profiles of their target market, considering attributes such as age, education, industry, geography, and others. However, one essential trait is often overlooked - the urgency of the client's need.

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According to a report published by Harvard Business Review, for instance, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) billing solution provider targeting dental practices might initially consider factors like size, age, or annual insurance billing volume of the practice. However, what truly matters is the urgency of the practice's need for a new billing solution. Sales teams can prioritize these prospects by adding data reflecting urgency - e.g., practices seeking billing assistance multiple times within a year.

The report noted that considering the need urgency, potential clients can be categorized into four segments: urgent need, non-urgent need, currently met need, and no need. This helps determine the sales strategy and resource allocation for each segment.

The process of integrating need urgency into your sales approach involves several steps. Firstly, identify new prospects through various sources reflecting their specific needs. Secondly, gather information by reaching out to customers and prospects to understand the urgency of their needs, frustrations, goals, and roadblocks. Finally, assess your ability to cater to different levels of need urgency.

The review noted that each segment requires a different approach. For urgent needs, questions regarding swift service, market opportunity, and pricing come into play. For non-urgent needs, consider ways to amplify perceived urgency and remain top-of-mind. For currently met needs, evaluate the possibility of demonstrating a better solution. Finally, examine other potential product needs or future changes for those with no current need.

Ideally, customers who recognize their urgent need for your offering are the perfect targets. However, if you need more than these opportunities to meet your sales targets, extending efforts to other segments may be necessary. Before revamping your entire sales strategy, test the new approach on a few targets with experienced sales representatives.

Incorporating need urgency in your sales message and tools will differentiate your offerings and identify new growth opportunities, accelerate new product sales, and enhance sales team performance.

Learn more in the entire review published by Harvard Business Review.