Turning Buying Signals into Major Sales

Buying signals are typically defined as statements made by the customer that indicate a readiness to buy or to move forward.  In reviewing this topic I always come back to Neil Rackham, the author of SPIN Selling. He used his terminology of implied need and explicit needs when talking of buying signals in major sales.  Both are buying signals, but he points out that implicit needs such as: agreement by the customer  "that they problem" (capacity, speed etc.) or "are not happy" with the quality are buying signals for small sales.

Explicit needs such as: "we planning to buy a new system" are required for a major sale.  What this means to the salesperson in a major sales it is not enough just to identify a problem (implied need).  You need to receive a commitment to action such as: "we are planning to purchase a new system this year."  Then you must create the value in your product so that it is the chosen solution.

In summary: Get the customer to 1. Identify the problem  (implied need) 2. Commit to resolving it (explicit need) 3. Convince the customer that your product should be the chosen solution (create the specific value of your solution for this customer.)