This is a transcript of a December 2024 talk by Catherine Alexander (Corporate Visions) for revenue leaders about closing the growing gap between sellers and modern buyers. Alexander reports research-based headwinds: win rates down ~22% on average and that in 53% of lost deals the vendor could have won; buyers prefer rep-free journeys (75%), buying committees average nine people (Gartner), and 83% of sales leaders doubt their teams can bridge the gap. She argues buyers are more informed, larger, and signal they want concise differentiation and versatile engagement; leaders should center buyer evidence in planning and enable sellers with fluency to multi-thread and tell differentiated stories to recover lost deals.
Questions this video answers
22% (win rates down on average 22%).
53% (buyers say in lost deals 53% of the time the vendor could have won).
75% (buyers prefer a rep-free buying journey).
Nine (average buying committee size according to Gartner).
83% (of sales leaders are unsure their sales team can cross the gap).
Hello, everybody. It's absolutely lovely to meet you. As Mark said, my name is Katherine Alexander, but we're not here to talk about me. You are here to think about yourself. So I invite you to draw along.
As you think about your current situation. If you are like other revenue leaders that I speak to this diagram, and I know the irony that I'm a consultant and I've just drawn this graph is quite high. It probably represents your reality. The vertical represents the pressure or the request that you are under from your slt, your elt, your owners, your shareholders, private equity, in order to get more, okay, get more money in whatever, in whatever currency you trade. And not only do they need more from you, aren't they asking for more, but they're also asking for it on the horizontal, quite frankly, now. Or if at least not now, then to show quarter by quarter progress to this overall goal. Fairly accurate. Now, that's your context. Let's zoom out and look at what is making that context particularly hard. Our research over the last 12 months actually shows, and this was primarily based on American markets, that win rates overall are down on average 22%. And if you are feeling that, I am sorry, there is sympathy and empathy in knowing you are not alone. Why are win rates down? Because there are some seriously strong headwinds creating a different buying and commercial context and dynamics. Those headwinds, I don't need to list them for you, but a couple. Macroeconomic volatility. Any word that revolves around the word uncertain, be that geopolitical, political uncertainty, economic uncertainty, all of those things. But the important thing is to know, know that these are having an impact and are creating a feeling that this is different. And from your seller's perspective, it probably feels a little bit chaotic. Now, I do want to, although I've asked you to zoom out and think about the wider context, I do want to zoom in and think about this chaos and this feeling from one particular aspect. And I know that there are many different ways to look at reaching your revenue goals. Okay. But the one that I want to focus on is the human aspect of meeting those goals. When I think about humans, they are of course, your sellers and your buyers. Why am I asking you to focus here? Because buyers are telling us that in lost deals 53% of the time, you could have won. Why? What needed to change in order for you to win? The dynamics between the humans involved in the buying conversations. And therefore, I want you to focus on thinking about what can you do as leaders in order to close the gap. Gap, real and felt that we are currently experiencing between buyers and sellers. Now, in the wider context of all of that uncertainty, political, economic, everything that is going on, what we are seeing from our customers is revenue people focusing on quite an understandable aspect. They're focusing on the things that they can control their sellers and what that translates into is again very understandable. They are focusing on providing more rigorous around their processes, around pipelines, around forecasts. They're also looking at their sellers and ensuring that they have all of the competencies that they need. Back to basics, discoveries, qualifications to move deals through and finally taking advantage of that full tech stack, making sure that the time your sellers spend is best spent. And that all makes total sense. And of course it calms some of the chaos and the changes that people are feeling in the wider buying dynamics. And ultimately they're also seeing some positive results from that, particularly short term. But as time progresses, what we're also seeing in the people we're having conversations with is the return on that time and investment levels out. And you're probably thinking, well of course it does Catherine, because according to your diagram, there's one thing that is missing from this equation. Now of course impacting your sellers is really important, but you are missing one important part of this human equation and, and that is the buyer. So in order to close this gap between your buyers and your sellers, you need to understand what is adding into it from your buyer's perspective. And really that can be looked at from three different viewpoints. What they are, who they are and how they feel what they are. Your buyers are more informed than they ever were passively or actively. There is more information out there, meaning they are better educated, coming to you later in their sales process, asking for more specific instructions. And the real knife through the heart. 75% of buyers say that they would prefer a rep free buying journey. Doesn't that feel good? They are also more of them. There are a committee. It is no longer buyer, they are buyers, more of them. Nine is the average according to Gartner. And the seniority of people involved has increased. And finally what they feel, they are telling us that this feels like a lot of noise, probably linked to the amount of info out there. What they are asking for is for somebody to cut through that noise and differentiate themselves. But right now it is not happening. So of course you have these goals and you are working within this wider climate and this has shown you some return on investment. But this alone is not going to reach the maths needed to get up here. So what my challenge is for you in order to win the 53% of deals that are being left on the table by changing your seller's behavior, you have to consider your buyer within that equation. Your buyers are showing you and giving you a roadmap to close this gap. My challenge to you, are you listening?
Can you make them less informed? No, of course you can't. But what you can do is provide your organization with versatility. If they don't want to meet with a seller, meet with them where they are at. Make it when they do meet with a human, a positive, engaging and value add intervention. Your buyers are telling you this. Are you listening committee? They're not hiding the committee from you. You all know that they are there. What they are looking for is for you to engage with them both individually and collectively in a way that is meaningful, insightful and meets their needs. What your sellers need in order to do that is fluency. So that they can multi thread all of those conversations together. And the noise nobody wants a cacophony of sound. Differentiate yourself. Tell a story that cuts through the noise. It's the equivalent of turning your volume dial up and all of your competitors volumes down. Your buyers are asking for this. They are providing evidence to you in every single interaction that you are having. Be that asynchronous, synchronous human in person, wherever it is. Listen to your buyer evidence and use it as a way to move through this what feels like a chaotic expectation gap. Because when we talk to sales leaders, they are realizing and recognizing that this gap exists. But also 83% of them say that they are unsure that their sales team are capable of crossing this gap. My advice to you, have more confidence in yourself and your sales team. Your buyers are giving you the roadmap through this gap. Are you using it individually, collectively, to not only understand, but to listen and to remediate. Because there are deals being lost on the table because of the interaction between these sets of humans. So what we are saying to you is the gap of course feels chaotic. It of course feels noisy. And the way through it is to actually repurpose your entire commercial engine with your buyer and the evidence that they are providing you at the heart. Use it at the start of your initiatives to educate yourself about the tactics and strategies that you will take. They are telling you what they want and use it at the end to actually sense, check and measure whether or not those initiatives have been successful. So is there chaos out there? Yes. Can you close this gap also? Yes. And I invite you to not be part of this statistic accordingly. My name is Bean. Catherine Alexander. I've been talking to you on behalf of Corporate Visions. If you would like to learn more about we how we can help you close this gap, please do find us online corporatevisions.com.
