The power of intrinsic sales

September 24, 2021 0 Comments

One of the most important lessons in B2B selling was published in 1966. Harvard Business Review article titled “How to Buy / Sell Professional Services” by Warren J. Wittreich, who explains the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic sales tactics.

Extrinsic selling occurs, according to Wittreich, when a B2B marketer relies on successful work that has been done for other clients, as a means of validating the vendor’s capabilities and potential performance capabilities for a potential client. The weakness of extrinsic selling is that it requires the prospect to make a leap of faith; believe that the service provider will provide a level of success that equals or exceeds work performed for the vendor’s past or current customers. Extrinsic selling is a “trust me” approach employed by a large number of B2B product and service providers.

On the contrary, the intrinsic sale no require a potential customer to base their selection of a salesperson on work done for others. Instead, engage the prospect in meaningful dialogue that:

  • addresses your specific situation
  • It shows, immediately and first-hand, that the seller understands your situation, and
  • validates the seller’s ability to help the potential buyer

Intrinsic selling provides buyers with a significantly higher level of confidence in the seller’s capabilities and leads to a compromise or sale much more frequently and quickly than extrinsic selling.

The task of the B2B marketer is to equip the sales force with methodologies and tools that help initiate and facilitate intrinsic selling. This is rarely accomplished through client / client “case studies,” which are widely used, rarely read by potential clients, and which have the same level of credibility as references on a job applicant’s resume. (Would a company ever publish examples of its previous work that did not present itself as highly successful?)

Create simple tools to attract leads

A good example of the power of intrinsic selling was the introduction of energy derivatives from Phibro Energy, which allowed large companies to hedge the price risk related to gasoline, jet fuel and heating oil. Phibro’s CEO understood that to capture the attention of CFOs of FORTUNE 500 companies and convince them that energy derivatives were a prudent and viable risk management strategy, his sales force would have to be equipped with more than sophisticated brochures. To be convinced of the concept, a CFO should understand exactly how energy derivatives could benefit his company.

To establish an intrinsic sales dynamic, Phibro Energy equipped its sales reps with a simple worksheet to use in their face-to-face meetings with CFOs. The worksheet was designed to roughly estimate the range and depth of a large company’s energy price exposure. Based on past and projected volumes of jet fuel, gasoline, heating oil, etc. used by the potential customer, and by applying an algorithm created by Phibro’s in-house mathematicians, sales reps were able to show CFOs sitting across the table exactly how energy risk management would affect their company’s balance sheet .

Phibro’s energy exposure worksheet not only allowed their sales reps to establish intrinsic sales dynamics, but it immediately repositioned the sales rep’s role and stature. Having demonstrated the potential value of Phibro Energy in tangible terms, the CFO no longer viewed the sales rep as simply pushing products or services. In the eyes of prospective customers, Phibro sales reps took on the role of a consultant who could help your business reduce financial risk and operating costs.

Marketers at most B2B companies, as well as many B2C companies, have similar opportunities to create disciplines and tools that can empower their sales reps to harness the power of intrinsic sales.

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