The Second ROI That You Don’t Want To Ignore

Last week, a top sales performer shared some insight as to what makes him so successful.   He said that he always thinks of how buyers buy:  

Buyers make emotional decisions and justify them logically. 

That means he needs to present two ROIs to a prospective buyer. He went on to tell me that most salespeople think that ROIs are only spreadsheet-based and that “if my customer spends x dollars, they should see y dollars in return within z months.”

How many times have you presented an ROI with no movement from a prospect?  Perhaps it’s because it only addressed one aspect of the buying decision:  the justification.    This top performer said the magic is giving someone what they need for the emotional part of the buy; the second ROI that targets the emotional decision, which he called the “Risk of Ignoring” proposal.   This proposal addresses the more personal risk of ignoring a proposal  such as missing the opportunity to do something innovative, having to take responsibility/be exposed for the  loss of competitive advantage,  putting the company at risk, being viewed as too tactical, etc.   A good ROIgnoring proposal will highlight personal motives for why a buyer should act.  

Just like you would never present a cost without a value, consider the importance of the two-sided ROI that calls out both the Return on Investment (ROI#1) and the Risk of Ignoring (ROI#2).

I’ll share more tips from top performers as I go.   Stay tuned!