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Are You Sales Ready?

SfSFOR SA L E S

SOL UT IONS

Robert BlairSolutions for Sales+447866 598859

robert.blair@solutionsforsales.com

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

What are we doing to our salespeople?

• Account management not sales

• Sell solutions not products

• Ever-widening portfolio

• Ever-growing sales quotas

“give them the brochures and let them work out how to sell it”– Not anymore

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

What do Salespeople want to know?

• Why sell this solution• Who to sell to• Why buy it• Competitive standing• How to position to win• How to qualify• The sales process• Who can help

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Why they should sell this solution?

How would you describe a salesperson?

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Why they should sell this solution?

Prove to me

why I should

sell your solution

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Who they should sell it to?

Sales Out

Prospects

Suspects In “real and time wasters”

time

• Maximise the number of properly pre-qualified suspects entering the funnel

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Who they should sell it to?

• Market segmentation

• Target markets

• Target accounts

• Pre-qualification criteria

• Buying triggers

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Why they will buy it?

• Success is all important

• This means that:• low risk

• quick results

• measurable benefits

are always high on their priority list

• Notice price is not on that list

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Why they will buy it?

Vendor helps customer realise they have a problem

Vendor shows them that their problem has a solution

Vendor proves that the solution works

Vendor shows that they are the best source for solution

Vendor and customer work together on an action plan

to solve problem

Customer recognises they have a problem

Customer surveys market for solutions to problem

Customer launches formal procurement process

Customer selects supplier

Customer negotiates price and places contract

Procurement desires Vendor desires

Strong chance of a saleand a shorter sales cycle but:

Less understanding of the potential ROIMore competitive sale

Smaller budget

Longer sales cycle and more sales risk but:

Greater understanding of the ROIReduced competitive pressure

Bigger investment

How do I get the best of both worlds?

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Why they will buy it?

• You want to enable the salesforce • Find problems and opportunities

• You need to demonstrate how• Solve and exploit

• Product marketing needs to explain:• who to call on• the business issues/problems/pains/opportuntities to raise• how your solution addresses each issue• what results can be achieved

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Why they will buy it?

• A superior understanding of their needs:– Trust

– There is always a problem

– Future – nothing is short-term

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Competitive standing

• 2 types of competitive information

• Salespeople wants

• Its not just product performance

• Prove it

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Competitive standing

Who will win?

Scoring:

1 = Very poor

5 = Very good

You

Com

petitor

Price 1 4

Total cost of ownership 5 3

Features 3 3

Score 9 10

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Competitive standing

Now who will win?

Scoring:

1 = Very poor

5 = Very goodY

ou

Com

petitor

Weighting

Price 1 4 20%

Total cost of ownership 5 3 40%

Features 3 3 40%

Weighted Score 3.4 3.2

Which would you prefer your salesperson to spend their time changing – the price, or the customer’s weighting?

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Position to win

• “You ain’t bragging if you’ve done it”– (Mohamed Ali)

• Proof points

• Knock-out points

• Reference visits

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Qualification

Suspects In

Sales Out

Prospects

1

10

Qualification

Relative effort

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Qualification

• Don’t chase “no-hope” sales

• Converting a qualified prospect into a sale • 10x the effort of qualifying the prospect in the first place

• Better qualification means:• Less is more• Opportunity to close ratio goes up

• Qualified opportunities conversion ratio moves from 1:4 to 1:3 – Equivalent of 7 extra salespeople in a 100 hundred person salesforce

• 7 quotas at $2 million per annum = $14million in revenue• Loaded cost/ person $200,000 = $1.4 million in cost savings

Do your salespeople have a qualification check-list?Can you identify when they are wasting their time?

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

The sales process

• No two sales are the same

• Maybe there is a process e.g defined “gates”

• Warn against common pitfalls, e.g.

• Behavioural factors• Late engagement

– Product Management

– Pro Svcs– Partners

Can you tell your salespeople how a typical sale runs?

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Who can help?

• Help people help themselves - save money - improve productivity

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Conclusions

• What do salespeople want?• “Gritty” information that they can use with customers• Facts, facts, facts

• What can we expect if we do Product Marketing better?

• Mindshare for your product• More sales• Fewer complaints from salespeople• More active engagement with salespeople and selling

SOLUTIONS FOR SALES

Customer samples

• Advantica • Amdocs • A No 1. Land

line carrier• Cramer • LogicaCMG • HP• Nortel Networks • Nuance• Openwave • A $billion Telco

S/W company• Thales

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