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Are You Sales Ready?

Are You Sales Ready?. Robert Blair Solutions for Sales +447866 598859 robert.blair@solutionsforsales.com. What are we doing to our salespeople?. Account management not sales Sell solutions not products Ever-widening portfolio Ever-growing sales quotas

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Are You Sales Ready?

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  1. Are You Sales Ready?

  2. Robert BlairSolutions for Sales+447866 598859robert.blair@solutionsforsales.com

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. Why they should sell this solution? How would you describe a salesperson?

  6. Why they should sell this solution? Prove to me why I should sell your solution

  7. Who they should sell it to? Suspects In “real and time wasters” • Maximise the number of properly pre-qualified suspects entering the funnel Prospects time Sales Out

  8. Who they should sell it to? • Market segmentation • Target markets • Target accounts • Pre-qualification criteria • Buying triggers

  9. 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

  10. Why they will buy it? How do I get the best of both worlds? Strong chance of a sale and a shorter sales cycle but: Less understanding of the potential ROI More competitive sale Smaller budget Vendor desires Procurement desires Longer sales cycle and more sales risk but: Greater understanding of the ROI Reduced competitive pressure Bigger investment Customer recognises they have a problem Vendor helps customer realise they have a problem Vendor shows them that their problem has a solution Customer surveys market for solutions to problem Vendor proves that the solution works Customer launches formal procurement process Vendor shows that they are the best source for solution Customer selects supplier Vendor and customer work together on an action plan to solve problem Customer negotiates price and places contract

  11. 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

  12. Why they will buy it? • A superior understanding of their needs: • Trust • There is always a problem • Future – nothing is short-term

  13. Competitive standing • 2 types of competitive information • Salespeople wants • Its not just product performance • Prove it

  14. Competitive standing Who will win?

  15. Competitive standing Now who will win? Which would you prefer your salesperson to spend their time changing – the price, or the customer’s weighting?

  16. Position to win • “You ain’t bragging if you’ve done it” • (Mohamed Ali) • Proof points • Knock-out points • Reference visits

  17. Suspects In Prospects Sales Out Qualification Relative effort 1 Qualification 10

  18. 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?

  19. 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?

  20. Who can help? • Help people help themselves - save money - improve productivity

  21. 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

  22. Advantica Amdocs A No 1. Land line carrier Cramer LogicaCMG HP Nortel Networks Nuance Openwave A $billion Telco S/W company Thales Customer samples

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