Facts:

• 87 percent of all companies go through a growth stall at some point
• If management cannot turn a company around within a few years, the odds are that it will never again see healthy top-line growth again (HBR).
• When sales start to stall, every business faces similar pressures to pay their bills, keep their staff and keep their core customers loyal.

What is the insight from all these facts? Quiet simple: When a business faces headwinds, there is no way to reduce these pressures without solid top-line revenue growth and bottom-line profitability.

Surprisingly, when times get tough, not every business leader knows where to look for that additional growth and how to course-correct and mobilise their company to change. They have ideas, but every initiative requires time, focus and investment. Once they choose the wrong initiative, do they have enough resources to try again? What is the right decision to make? Where and how can they get that next ten percent in revenue, in market share, or in loyal customers?

However you look at it, every senior management member is tasked with, on the one hand, driving a current strategy and, on the other hand, being in touch with changes that happen all around them. Customers change, industries change, technology changes – and no one wants to be left behind. It is not any longer just a matter of fear of missing out (FOMO); instead, the pressure is on to be the change and to be tat he forefront of consumer trends.

So, what can top executives do and how does this affect you as the salesperson? The answer is to believe in the power of your knowledge. Business people need help, and you may have the information, the idea or the insight they have been looking for. Choosing the right growth path for a business always starts with understanding the circumstances, challenges, and strategic options.

Help your customer or prospect with:

• Clarifying and defining the situation they are in
• Bringing a different perspective on their challenges
• Understanding the trends that drive the next growth in their industry
• Seeing the risks of staying behind
• Providing alternative growth paths that deliver results
• Help them to make a good decision

Business leaders are not interested in the details of your product or solution. Instead, they want to know your opinion and ideas that may catapult them into a strategic advantage. They want to know what other companies do well or not well. They want to hear stories of other companies, in similar situations and what they did with your help to achieve their desired results.

Knowing all this, why are you still selling your products and solutions within five minutes of a customer meeting? Be a Trusted Advisor and help your customer through the buying phases of Why Change? and Change to What? before you say one word about Why You?. Selling is helping, and that is what customers who want to grow their business need.