SSA#36: Cost Of Inaction
Close Larger Deals Faster
How to find the Cost Of Inaction (COI) for your prospects.
Happy Thursday to 11,968 SaaS sales professionals!
Cost Of Inaction (COI) as a discovery concept is more important than ever.
COI is a key ingredient to close larger deals faster.
Let's dive in👇
Success Story From Our Coaching Program:
No COI, No Deal
Cost Of Inaction (COI) is a negative consequence, or missed opportunity, that occurs when prospects delay or cancel a buyer decision.
In other words: they lose money.
In B2B there are 3 types of COI:
- Lost revenue (missed sales opportunities)
- Increased costs (labor, materials, time)
- Compliance (fines, penalties)
The best sales reps use Impact and Need-Payoff questions (look up SPIN) to find COI in their deals.
The more COI you can find in your deal,
- The greater the perceived decision value for your prospect
- The greater the urgency to make a decision
- The more you differentiate from the competition
- The more you can justify your price
- The better your objection handling.
COI helps you close larger deals faster, period.
How To Find COI Step By Step
Step 1: Understand current state
- Before the disco call research the account. Avoid asking too many Situation Questions (the S in SPIN)
- During the call focus on uncovering painful problems (the P in SPIN).
Step 2: Quantify business impact
- Understand how the problems found in step 1 lead to lost sales, increased cost or compliance penalties.
- Attach literal $$ values to each of these. This requires business acumen & collaboration with a champion prospect. For a deeper dive, check out GAP Selling.
Step 3: Establish future state
- Understand your prospect's vision, mission and goals. Where do they want to be in 1, 5, 10 years?
- Align your solution and USPs with their top C-level initiatives. That's how you build executive relevance and access.
Step 4: Build a business case
- A business case isn't just ROI, as in "you will increase your MQLs by 20% with our marketing automation". This approach is so 2020.
- Instead, show a CFO: you're bleeding $$XX,XXX every month you're postponing this decision due to problems A, B and C.
Member Results
We put huge emphasis on Cost Of Inaction in the SaaS Sales Academy.
Here are some of the results of our members:
- "Since I started using business cases as a mandatory step in my sales cycles, I was able to cut my sales cycle length in half" - Vilson, AE @Eversports
- "Already 50% more pipeline from Christian’s systems and a 718k deal closed!" - Denisse, AE @Paycom
"I made my entire monthly quota (98.58%) with one deal. So far I’m 100% satisfied with the SaaS Sales Academy program." - Patrick, AE @HubSpot - "Christian helped me hit 111% of my ARR quota and 150% of my SQL target in Q3! Working with Christian was the best investment I’ve made in myself, and I wish I had done it sooner. He helped me improve my discovery process and focus on customer pain points, not just pricing. I am now able to apply MEDDPICC, get commitment from buyers and disqualify more." - Nipun, AE@Twilio
