A 2024 Guide to the Sense-Making Sales Framework

Customers today have more information than ever before. 

It’s not just quantity, either. 89% of B2B customers surveyed say the information they were given during a sales process was high quality. But more isn’t always better. 

Ironically, this amount of information can bring a lack of understanding. Customers are flooded with endless sales enablement materials, promising that a specific product/service will solve their problems and provide the best ROI possible. 

In fact, 55% of customers say that making buying decisions is difficult based on the sheer amount of information they encounter during the buying process.

With so much information available, the sales reps’ role in the sales process has taken a step back, with only 17% of the sales process being actual conversations with potential suppliers.

With these issues in mind, many businesses are moving towards a new framework. 

Sense-Making Methodologies

The sense-making framework means helping customers make sense of the information already available instead of overloading them with more. This reduces confusion and makes them feel confident in the decisions they are making. 

A sense-making framework is made up of three key parts: 

1. Connecting the customer with necessary information. In practice, this means thinking carefully about what you send and ensuring all material is succinct and relevant.
   
   
2. Clarifying all existing information. Not only does this demonstrate professionalism, but it also positions you as an advisor, which is crucial to enterprise sales.
   
   
3. Collaborating with a customer on their learning process. This means being proactive but working at the customer’s pace rather than trying to steamroll them through the pipeline. 

It relies on the salesperson’s ability to become a reliable guide whose role is not necessarily to make a sale but to help them figure out exactly what solutions are necessary to solve their problems.

From there, the sale makes itself. By clarifying customers' confusion, sales teams will increase customer confidence and reduce scepticism.

In turn, increased buyer confidence helps secure high-quality deals. Sellers who have adopted a sense-making framework are up to 153% more likely to close high-quality, zero-regret deals.

Minoa 

The key to a successful sense-making sales approach is communication and collaboration. By opening up to potential customers, sales reps can help give guidance and clarity to customers to help them make informed decisions.

With this collaboration in mind, we designed Minoa from the ground up. It lets you help customers realise the product's value while presenting only what is relevant to them. 

Minoa creates interactive business cases with the client's direct input, keeping them in the loop and ensuring they can confidently decide. 

If you’d like to see Minoa in action, book in a demo here.

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