HIMSS23 is less than two weeks away. The second annual ViVE event happened last week. It is a busy time of year for healthcare vendors and their sales staff. I’ve been on both sides of this relationship – for many years as CIO and buyer and for fewer years selling services. It gives me a unique vantage point.

Buyers attending these conferences will be looking at vendors who have solutions they need now (and have budget for) and vendors who are new and interesting with innovative and niche solutions that they may want to explore further in the coming year (explore is the key word here). And they will be meeting with their current vendors to strengthen connections and get educated on what is newly available or coming soon as they leverage their existing investments.

Sales staff will be working hard to get the attention of potential buyers. They may even reach that stage of annoying and overbearing. We all know that kind of salesperson.

In my work as principal at StarBridge Advisors, I recognize it’s all about relationships. As I said in a previous blog post, it’s not just about who you know. It’s about who you are and how you show up with people. You need to be capable and competent with the right knowledge and experience, but also honest and authentic with high integrity. That’s what it takes to be successful in a business that is all about relationships. One of the best pieces of sales advice I got from a colleague was the “know-like-trust-need” model. People need to know who you are and what you can do, they need to like you, and they need to trust you. If you have all that, when they need you, they’ll call you. Simple. That’s why I focus on relationships.

My husband and I were recently on the buyer side of a sales discussion. By the end I thought, this will blog, meaning, there’s a kernel here to learn from and share. So, what happened? The salesperson worked at building a friendly relationship with us as he got to know us. But he was very scattered and the whole session took longer than scheduled. In spite of all the informal chatting and saying, “if you buy today”, he eventually had to get to his hard-core sales pitch with numbers by the end. We knew we weren’t going to buy so were getting more impatient to wrap up. Towards the end, someone else came in to check on how it was going and to try to sell the same deal an alternative way with a different set of numbers. When we were finally done and declined, someone came in to do a short survey about the sales process. He then tried to sell us a different, smaller package that he thought would be hard for us to refuse. We were still a no.

So, what did I learn about selling from this experience? Be sure to present clear, focused information on what you are selling including what problem it solves and what the tangible benefits are. Don’t try to confuse with numbers and calculations on costs and savings that aren’t real. Don’t keep at it trying to wear the buyer down when it is clear it’s over. And don’t waste people’s time (or yours) when there clearly is no deal to be had.

Selling business to business is different than selling business to consumer. Selling products is different than selling services. While the sales discussion I described was not health IT related, at the core, selling is selling. The goal is to get to yes – but be ready to accept a yes or no and know when to close.

If you’re in sales, this probably resonates. If you’re a buyer and don’t like salespeople and consider vendors the “dark side”, remember it’s about relationships. Work with people you like and trust. They will serve you well when you need them.

May your sales experiences be good ones whether on the selling or buying side of the equation.

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