1. Step 12 - The Follow up
1.1. Once the deal is won, Elite Sellers stay engaged on the project, ensuring success because they know that the more credible your Metrics are, the more likely you are to win. There is no better way of building credibility into your Metrics than by references from other customers.
1.2. Follow-Up: After the first interaction, follow-up by writing an email to the Economic Buyer and copying in your Champion. The email should exist to serve the Economic Buyer, not the Seller. Therefore, it must include value for the Economic Buyer to balance the asks you will make. Include evidence that supports any discussion points, such as the business case, or any industry reports in which you referred to. Summarize the call within the email and ensure any action points are confirmed and the next steps are clearly articulated and allocated to owners.
2. Step 11 - The Plenary
2.1. Aim: Yes, let's arrange another demo.
2.1.1. Define and schedule the next steps.
2.1.1.1. a. One question—“What do you suggest as an appropriate next step?”—is all it takes to bridge toward agreement on what comes next.
2.1.1.2. b. “Based on what you’re saying, how about if I do EFG, and you pull together JKL?” In other words, “Let me do this and you do that.” Mutual commitment is a good thing.
2.1.2. Thanking
2.1.2.1. One final thought about ending the call appropriately: Don’t fall all over yourself thanking the person for their time. Sure, be thankful; be respectful. But act like you’ve been here before. You should be accustomed to conducting meetings that end with a positive outcome for both sides. Keep in mind that you’ve delivered much value to the prospect. You provided ideas; you painted a picture of a successful outcome. So while it’s fine to thank the person for investing the time to visit with you, don’t bow down in the process. Remember, your prospect is the one with the pain, problem, or desired result. You have the potential solution. If you’ve done your job by correctly structuring and conducting the sales call, your prospects should be just as appreciative of you as you are of them.
2.1.3. Vocabulary
2.1.3.1. We covered a lot in this demo,
2.1.3.2. Starting with a look at…
2.1.3.3. Then you wanted to look at..
2.1.3.4. Tell me how I've done and if you still have any questions.
2.1.3.5. Excellent, what I'd recommend is
2.1.3.6. We set up a second more custom demo to address those specific use cases
2.1.3.7. Is that okay?
2.1.3.8. CONFUSED - Follow up qns.
2.1.3.9. Ask me anything you'd like I probably the answer I'm really good at what I do because I love what I do.
2.1.4. • End the first call with:
2.1.4.1. ○ ”We’ll debrief internally X
2.1.4.2. ○ "It seems like you might have some next steps in mind?"
2.1.5. "Thank you for the super insight you have given me today. If it is OK with you, then I think a good next step would be to show you how we can connect our solution to solving some of the goals and challenges you have raised today."
2.1.6. Close Strong: Finish your first interaction by summarizing what you heard on the call from the Economic Buyer and how it relates to the engagement so far. There are likely to be some action points from the call, so re- articulate them and allocate them to owners.
2.1.7. "From our conversation today, it seems as though we can really help you solve your objectives.
2.1.8. With your sponsorship, I think we could find more areas of value across the organization. Would you be willing to sponsor the project?"
2.2. Key Qns
2.2.1. I. Why should you buy a Database Magazine?
2.2.2. 2. Why should you buy from Collibra?
2.2.3. 3. Why should you buy now?
3. Step 10 - A new Way - Macro to Micro
3.1. Macro to Micro Vocabulary
3.1.1. First, I'm going to show you…
3.1.2. It has this.. I showed you this because you mentioned that… was important to you (SC1)
3.1.3. Everything you need
3.1.4. Since you mentioned….was important to you. I wanted to start here.
3.1.4.1. Because our platform
3.1.5. Next, I want to dive into
3.1.5.1. A more nuanced feature
3.1.6. Which allows you to easily
3.1.7. I know you are looking for ….
3.1.7.1. Striving for time and cost savings
3.1.8. Which is preciely what you are going to get by using this…
3.2. a. Grab your literature. Review fancy charts and graphs. Wax eloquently about your samples. Share stories of how you’ve helped other clients achieve remarkable results. Describe possible solutions. Flip through a few screens on your iPad, showing off your latest and greatest whiz-bang offering. Provide customer testimonials.
3.3. Take full advantage of what you’ve learned to tailor your message for this particular prospect. Show off your sales skills by showing the buyer that you actually listened. Skip over areas that are not relevant and spend extra time dwelling on key points that will resonate with the buyer’s issues. You’ve identified the prospective buyer’s needs, issues, and opportunities; now tie them in directly with your offerings, using the buyer’s own words to drive home your points.
3.4. The Meat of the Meeting Vocabulary
3.4.1. Challenges goals achieved
3.4.1.1. How much time would this process save verses the one you guys have in place today?
3.4.2. Time Management
3.4.2.1. Is that accurate? Your team feels it is costing them time and money?
3.4.3. QN vs Qn - Answer a qn with a qn.
3.4.4. Avoid answering direct trap questions.
3.4.4.1. Touching on that, how does your team do that today?
3.4.4.2. What I've heard from other folks in the market is that the main difference between us is… THEN LINK TO S.C.
3.4.5. Quality first - Worksheet mentality - SEND direct and simple to follow demo.
3.4.5.1. Avoid WE! I am empowering YOU. With this software YOU can do this.
3.4.6. Use their ACRONYMS/VOCAB/VERNAC. They say WALT - YOU SAY WALT.
3.4.7. Using our product you can.. This feature will allow you to You would simply.. Our current clients achieve this by..
3.4.7.1. How are you different from?
3.4.8. And heads up, I am going to make some notes to give you my best.
3.4.9. Allow for silence.
3.5. - A point by point review of what they need to solve the problem you have outlined.
3.6. Summarise the need for a solution, and showing how much better their lives would be if they acted differently.
3.7. Customers must buy the need for a solution before they buy your solution.
3.8. • Hunt the Negatives
3.8.1. o Sellers are often told to stay positive when selling. I think this is awful advice and should be widely ignored.
3.8.2. o Elite Sellers know that digging into the negative is what turns pain from being indicated to them, to being implicated upon them, thus making them want to solve it immediately.
4. Step 9 - Outcomes of the product
4.1. Aim: "Yes, that is what we want but now show me how does your product make that possible?"
4.2. Deliver the power statement (three minutes maximum).
4.3. Full power statement. - Look for reactions from clients. - You are the doctor, establishing credibility.
4.4. Show the client that the product meets their desired outcomes
4.4.1. USE THE S.C. TO SHOW THAT THE PRODUCT MEETS THEM.
4.4.2. Challenges: but, due to the relatively… - YOU MENTIONED EARLIER.
4.4.3. Challenge, discovery statement, solution, discovery statement, discovery statement
4.5. Outcomes vocabulary
4.5.1. Before we hop into..
4.5.2. Without bothering…
4.5.3. As you mentioned earlier.
4.5.4. What's special is that…
4.5.5. You'll notice.
4.5.6. Now let's look at how the..could look if you had our…
4.5.6.1. In your hands.
4.6. Lastly, before continuing...
4.6.1. Are there any other aims you want to try and meet?
4.7. Summarising outcomes
4.7.1. Tell me how this aligns with what you envisioned.
5. Step 8 - The Reframe
5.1. - The aim is not to get the customer to agree, but to get them to say "I never thought about it that way before."
5.2. Show the customer a different way to think and why it matters.
5.3. Commercial Teaching
5.4. Rational Drowning
5.4.1. Here's where I twist the knife. I show why it is worth the customer's worth your customer's time and attention. - - now it's time for the data, graphs, tables, and charts you need to quantify for the customer the true, often hidden, cost of the problem or size of the opportunity they'd completely overlooked.
5.4.2. - Rational Drowning is the numbers-driven rationale for why your customer should think - differently about their business, but presented specifically in a way - designed to make them squirm a little bit—to feel like they're drowning. - -
5.4.3. Marketers often refer to this as the "FUD factor" —fear, uncertainty, and - doubt. - -
5.4.4. Wow, I had no idea we were wasting that kind of money!" or "I'd never thought of this as an opportunity before. We've got to get after this or we're going to really miss out!" - - This is still not your solution specific - not directly anyway but it will touch on your USP.
5.4.5. - The customer sees themselves in the story you are telling. They recognise that it is a problem specifically for them. - They must not respond with "we are different." More data won't solve this.
5.4.6. If they don't see themselves if the story -
5.4.6.1. I understand that you're a little bit different but let me give you a sense of how we've seen this play out at similar companies. - Then make it personal. Make a deep connection to the problem and the client
5.5. Three I's
5.5.1. 1. Identify Pain
5.5.1.1. Three I's' transition where we first Identified the Pain to the customer by asking questions about what plans they had to manage the inflow of engagement on social media while live shows were on.
5.5.2. 2. Indicate Pain
5.5.2.1. We had Identified the Pain that our unique differentiator could help solve as our rules engine could help automate the inbound engagement and prioritize it based on the criteria that the customer configured. We were armed with the information we needed to Indicate the Pain to the customer. To do this, we required more information about the volume of inbound messages and had to make some estimations about the salary costs of those who would be hired to manage engagement during the live shows.
5.5.3. 3. Implicate Pain
5.5.3.1. Another angle we considered was, what would the perceived cost be of missing a high-value interaction? We asked, "What if Justin Bieber Tweets at you, and you miss it?" We didn't ask this question to uncover lost revenue; instead, we wanted to ask the customer to make them consider those circumstances, the missed opportunity, and the repercussions of them. By causing the customer to consider this negative scenario, we were forcing them to feel Implicated by the pain, which is the final step.
5.6. • What to do if the Customer is Aware of their Problem?
5.6.1. ○ If we are invited by the customer to help them solve a problem they are aware of, it is vital that we run a thorough discovery process as if they aren't aware of the problem.
5.6.2. ○ Identify as part of the decision making criteria:
5.6.2.1. Three of them you can solve for better by doing something only your solution can do.
5.6.2.2. Two of them the customer doesn't need.
5.6.2.2.1. Four of them you have a similar ability to do as your competition.
5.6.2.2.2. One of them you are unable to do as well as the competition (Risk identified).
5.6.2.3. Four new criteria that only your solution can do, or that you do much better than your competition.
6. Step 7 - The Warmer
6.1. After initial formalities (e.g., introductions, time check, agenda setting), a
6.1.1. • Starts off with your assessment of your customer's key challenges.
6.1.2. • "What's keeping you up at night?"
6.1.3. • You lay out what you're seeing and hearing as key challenges at similar companies.
6.1.4. • If you have it, this is a great place to provide benchmarking data.
6.1.5. • At the very least, this is where you share anecdotes from other companies that capture the challenges most likely of highest concern to your customer in ways that corroborate their own experience. (Never underestimate the value in being able to demonstrate to your customers that they're not alone when it comes to their most pressing challenges.)
6.1.6. • You then conclude your review by asking for their reactions.
6.2. Don't then lay out the solution with a value proposition. - Don't talk about your business and lose that good will.
7. Wisdom
7.1. A prisoner of hope is someone who is banking on a deal closing.
7.2. Spread your attention across many clients.
7.3. If you’re not excited about what you're selling, how will you get a prospect interested?
7.4. Sales people are too self-focused. - Not client focused.
7.5. A sales story must differentiate from the competition and compel the buyer to act.
7.6. Perseverance, creativity, resilience
7.7. Make sure you are leading the prospect, not reacting to the market or the prospect.
7.8. THE NEW SALES DRIVER
7.8.1. A. Select targets.
7.8.2. B. Create and deploy weapons.
7.8.3. C. Plan and execute the attack.
7.9. Prospective customers are not interested in what you do; they are only interested in what you can do for them. Said another way, no one cares how smart you are or how great you think your company is. They want to know what's in it for them. No one argues this point.
7.10. Questions for yourself
7.10.1. What can you tell me about (insert your company name here)? How do you and your colleagues answer that question off the cuff?
7.11. Buyers are tired. Tired of being on the receiving end of presentations aimed "at" them. Tired of having their time wasted by unprofessional salespeople who promise great value but instead come to meetings and execute what I call the "show up and throw up"—regurgitating a load of rehearsed, canned, seller-focused marketing garbage. How can we break through the noise and overcome a buyer's indifference or negative response? Be darn sure to have a razor-sharp sales story. Stop talking about yourself and your company and begin leading with the issues, pains, problems, opportunities, and results that are important to your prospect.
7.12. Three Critical Building Blocks for a Compelling Story
7.13. When I transitioned into sales, I followed the lead of my mentors, whose effectiveness convinced me that selling was about the customer and their
7.13.1. needs, desires, issues.
7.14. There are three critical sections, or building blocks, to a compelling sales story:
7.14.1. 1. Client issues addressed - DISCOVERY
7.14.1.1. • Customer pains we remove
7.14.1.2. • Client problems we solve
7.14.1.3. • Opportunities we help customers capture
7.14.1.4. • Results we achieve for clients
7.14.2. 2. Offerings - WHAT WE SELL SIMPLY
7.14.3. 3. Differentiators WHY BETTER
8. Step 1) Research before the sale:
8.1. • The Organization:
8.1.1. • What outcome do I want from this engagement?
8.1.2. • Who else do I want to speak to?
8.1.3. • Have I set the expectation ahead of time? Agenda, etc.?
8.1.4. • What objections could be raised?
8.1.5. What messages do I need to reinforce?
8.1.6. ○ What is the state of their business?
8.1.6.1. § Under threat from competition?
8.1.7. § Are they growing?
8.1.8. § Expanding?
8.1.9. § Making Acquisitions?
8.1.10. § Or are they in trouble?
8.1.11. ○ Here are a few super places to research:
8.1.11.1. § The Annual Report - For me, there is no better source of information than the annual report. Of course, it will be biased towards a positive outlook, but it should help you uncover what the strategic plans are and the overall state of the business.
8.1.11.2. § Their Existing Tech Stack - If you are selling a technical solution such as software, you can find a lot of useful information by analyzing what technology they already use. Plugins for your web browser, such as BuiltWith, will allow you to see what technology is running on a website. It will often state when the technology was implemented or when the website stopped using it.
8.1.11.3. News Articles and Press Releases - Not only will the latest news and press keep you up to date with any current matters within the organization, but they also give clues to the organization's strategic direction.
8.2. • The Industry
8.2.1. ○ Many Sellers have specializations in industries, so there may not be a specific requirement to research the sector ahead of a new engagement. However, if it is a new industry to you as a Seller, it is vital that you research the industry.
8.2.2. ○ Understanding how the sector works, what trends are occurring, and understanding industry-specific terms will be necessary, especially if your organization is new to the industry or doesn't have many customers you can reference. If you are new to an industry, your competitors are likely to lay traps around your industry experience.
8.2.3. ○ Look out for any significant industry changes that have occurred recently or are upcoming. These can be anything from acquisitions or mergers through to changes to the law that may affect the customer you are talking to.
8.3. • The People
8.3.1. ○ Start first with whom you are going to be engaging with.
8.3.1.1. § What is their role?
8.3.1.2. § What is likely to be their goals and challenges right now?
8.3.1.3. § Who are your mutual connections?
8.3.1.4. § Can anyone give you some advice or insight into dealing with this person? Where have they worked before?
8.3.1.5. § Would they have used your solution before or that of your competitors?
8.3.1.6. What publicly available information can you find out about this person online?
8.3.2. • Internal Parties
8.3.2.1. ○ The rich data that exists within their systems and teams. If you work in enterprise sales for a well- established company, your engagement with a customer is unlikely to be the first that your company has had. Therefore, it is likely that there are some valuable nuggets of information within your company, your colleagues' memories, or even your CRM system.
8.3.3. • Third Parties
8.3.3.1. Whom do you know that understands your customer's business or the people that work there? By following all of the above advice, you are likely to uncover third parties who already have relationships. What can they tell you about them?
8.4. Premeeting Discovery
8.4.1. Questions
8.4.1.1. ○ At least nine out of every ten of your discovery questions should be open- ended versus closed.
8.4.1.2. ○ Open-ended questions invite thoughtful answers. They are generally tough to give short answers to. If used correctly, they open up a discussion about a topic.
8.4.1.2.1. For example, an open-question could be: "Can you tell me how GDPR impacts your ability to communicate with your customers?"
8.4.1.2.2. The likelihood of the customer not giving an insightful answer is unlikely.
8.4.1.2.3. Close-ended questions, on the other hand, usually always receive a short response, most frequently "Yes" or "No". An example of a close-ended question would be: "Is GDPR impacting your ability to communicate with customers?"
8.4.1.3. ○ An excellent hack to keep your questions open-ended is to use the TED Acronym:
8.4.1.3.1. Could you please Tell me about it...
8.4.1.3.2. Can you please Explain to me...
8.4.1.3.3. Would you please Describe how...
8.4.1.4. • Hunt the Negatives
8.4.1.4.1. ○ Sellers are often told to stay positive when selling. I think this is awful advice and should be widely ignored.
8.4.1.4.2. ○ Elite Sellers know that digging into the negative is what turns pain from being indicated to them, to being implicated upon them, thus making them want to solve it immediately.
8.4.1.5. • Discovery is about THEM, not YOU.
8.4.1.5.1. ○ A proven method to open up the discussion on the right path in the first call is to ask the customer what it was that made them take the meeting or what they are hoping to get from it. This should give some opening context of what they expect from you and may provide an early clue as to what they hope you could help them solve.
8.4.1.6. • Switching from Pain Mode to Qualification Mode
8.4.1.6.1. ○ Sellers frequently make the mistake of switching too quickly.
8.4.1.6.2. ○ They hunt around trying to find the pain and the moment they uncover it, they switch to trying to sell against it.
8.5. Ways to build relationship and do Discovery
8.5.1. Social Media.
8.5.1.1. The opportunity to research and connect With potential customers has exponentially increased With the social media revolution. While certain aspects of the Internet have made selling more challenging, tools like Linkedln and Twitter are versatile weapons, providing information and opportunity to engage with prospects in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago.
8.5.2. EMail.
8.5.2.1. E-mail has become the primary weapon of choice for many sales hunters when making an initial contact with prospects. It is less disruptive to the potential customer, and less reliant on the salesperson's ability to execute a proactive telephone call. Because it is less intimidating overall, e-mail can be a creative and effective entrée to an account.
8.5.3. Proactive Telephone Call.
8.5.3.1. Much to the dismay Of many Sales 21) pontificators and scared sales reps, I remain a huge fan of our old friend, the telephone. Bar none, the phone is still the most deadly and accurate weapon to score a face-to- face meeting with a target prospect. I attribute much of my own success as a new business salesperson to the quantity and quality of proactive phone calls (some ice-cold) made over the years. The concepts shared in Chapter 9 will provide everything necessary to help make you great on the phone
8.5.4. Voice Mail.
8.5.4.1. Voice mail is reality, and anyone in sales needs to deal with it. I'm tired of all the whining about reaching a prospect's voice mail. If we're going to get voice mail more than half Of the time, let's change our attitude about it. What a wonderful opportunity to drop a tidbit ofour sales story, position ourselves as a value creator, and begin building a relationship. Yes, you can build a relationship with someone through voice mail messages.
8.5.5. Traditional Printed Marketing Materials.
8.5.5.1. Sell sheets, brochures, catalogs, and introductory letters to prospects sent via snail mail. These weapons have been around for ages and, when used properly, are still beneficial today
8.5.6. Digital Marketing Tools:
8.5.6.1. Blogs, Podcasts, Online Videos (You Tube), and Webinars_ These powerful and Interactive tools put a modern twist on traditional sales materials. This relatively new genre of weapons is attractive for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the incredibly low cost of production combined with the ease of updating content. Today's effective salesperson creatively deploys these tools to deliver ideas and value as appetizers that entice prospects to want to know more.
8.5.7. White Papers and Indlcstry Experts.
8.5.7.1. Third-party, unbiased, or academic information can be launched before, during, and after the initial sales call to help pique a prospect's interest. Often, buyers are more receptive to information highlighting industry issues and marketplace realities from outside sources and respected gurus. It follows that a potential customer receiving this third-party information assumes that the salesperson providing the material has a meaningful solution to the issues presented.
8.5.8. The Initial Face-to-Face Sales Call.
8.5.8.1. The first face- to-face meeting with a prospect is the pinnacle of what we do in sales, The simple goal of all weapons launched beforehand is to set up the sales call. That's not true for the inside sales rep who conducts full sales calls over the phone. But for the outside rep, that initial meeting is the big enchilada—it's what we work so hard to achieve. Chapter 10 will help us prepare for the call, and Chapter I I provides a fail-safe structure for conducting winning sales calls.
8.5.9. Probing Questions.
8.5.9.1. I'm convinced that more and better selling is accomplished by asking great questions than by making great presentations. professional reps can significantly move the sales ball forward when they become proficient at asking pain-seeking, opportunity-uncovering, probing questions. And salespeople who are incompetent at asking questions will embarrass themselves and lose ground faster than one can Imagine.
8.5.10. Case Studies.
8.5.10.1. The proof is in the pudding. I don't know where that expression originated, but it sure applies here. Case studies of how we've helped other clients are powerful evidence that what we sell is real and works. It's a thing of beauty when a salesperson weaves relevant case studies and client successes into the dialogue with a prospect.
8.5.11. Samples and Demos.
8.5.11.1. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Most salespeople are armed with samples and demos because these weapons are important to the marketing folks. While these materials are very effective when used well, I've seen too many examples Of boring, self-focused demos blowing up in the salespersons hands.
8.5.12. Trade Shows.
8.5.12.1. While a costly and seemingly outdated platform, trade shows remain a viable and emcient way to connect live With large numbers of customers and prospects. All it takes is one meaningful lead becoming a major account and you become a fan of trade shows for life.
8.5.13. Facility Tours.
8.5.13.1. For many companies, their place Of business is a memorable and differentiating sales weapon. The salesperson can provide the prospect with a great feel for his company's people, culture, and processes. One of my best friends and sales mentors sold 401(k) plans for a giant financial company He had a reputation for turning the prospect site tour into a well- orchestrated selling science. Every step of the tour was planned, and he insisted that key players rehearse their roles.
8.5.14. Team Selling.
8.5.14.1. Top-performing hunters must become masters at using all available resources to win business. Team selling can take various forms. Personally, I love to drag the CEO or other senior executives along for high-level sales calls. The very presence of senior executives demonstrates commitment to earning the prospect's business and also helps keep the conversation focused on the buyer 's business issues as opposed to the finer details of the deal. Another bonus of involving senior managers is that they become personally invested in the opportunity and usually make every effort to help you close the deal. It's also advantageous to use Other subject matter experts (SMEs) from your company. In certain businesses, sales engineers, program coordinators, implementation specialists, or even account managers play essential roles in the sales process. This is particularly true in technical sales, where the sales rep is often seen only as the "relationship" person and the buyer prefers talking to technical experts.
8.5.15. Entertainment.
8.5.15.1. This is a main reason that a good number of people outside of sales resent those of us in sales. They hear about expensive dinners or seeming perks such as taking customers to ball games and they're jealous. Of course, they're not jealous of our having to call strangers on the phone, or getting stood up for meetings, or being stranded in airports because of flight cancellations. The truth remains that a ton of business is conducted away from the office and entertainment is a wonderfully effective weapon when used appropriately
8.5.16. Presentations.
8.5.16.1. While I've come to hate the word presentation for good reason (see Chapter 1 3), presentations are expected or obligatory pieces Of the selling process in many situations. When planned and executed properly, a killer presentation can be the difference maker that truly sets you apart from the competition. To be successful, we must perfect the art of drafting and delivering effective presentations.
8.5.17. Proposals.
8.5.17.1. Proposals come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we're forced to respond to a formal request for proposal (RFP), but in most cases we have the freedom to craft a highly customized document for Our potential customer. Since the proposal is one Of the final weapons we would fire at a target account, and since it's the one they can say "yes" to, it is certainly worth the effort to hone our proposal-writing skills.
8.5.18. References.
8.5.18.1. Right along with case studies, references serve as validation that we're as good as we say we are Testimonials and third-party endorsements are more credible than anything we can say about ourselves, which makes cultivating usable references a worthwhile endeavour. It's ideal to have a variety of references so that you're in the advantageous position of being able to pick and choose the most relevant references for specific new business opportunities. And it's also perfectly acceptable to coach your references (assummg your relationship is solid enough) on What they should say or how they might be able to assist in winning over your prospect. The best sales reps maintain fantastic reference relationships and use them as deal-closing weapons whenever possible.
9. Step 2) Just before the sale:
9.1. Who are we meeting with?
9.1.1. List who is attending the call from both sides and what you think each person's role will be.
9.2. Describe each person's behavioural style.
9.3. What is important to each person attending this sales call?
9.4. Why do they think we are here today?
9.5. What is going on in their business that I need to know about?
9.6. What is our main objective for today?
9.7. What is a win for us?
9.8. What is the plan for the call?
9.9. How am I going to handle introducing the new offering?
9.10. How are we vulnerable?
9.11. Which of our competitors are involved here?
9.12. Who is more entrenched?
9.13. When I hear salespeople talk about a “presentation,” I’ve learned to ask a series of questions:
9.13.1. What type of discovery work have we done?
9.13.2. To whom are we presenting, and what do we know about them?
9.13.3. Why are we being asked to prezsent?
9.14. I like to use a series of "who" and "why" questions to help identify strategic targets when creating a list:
9.14.1. Who are our best customers (by industry, size, business model, location, etc.)?
9.14.2. Why did they initially become customers? Why do they still buy from us? Who do we compete against in the marketplace?
9.14.3. Why and when do they beat us?
9.14.3.1. And why do prospects choose us over them?
9.14.4. Who used to be our customers (said differently, who used to buy from us)?
9.14.4.1. Why did we lose the business?
9.14.5. Who almost became a customer but didn't (deals where we came close but lost)?
9.14.6. Who has referred business to us in the past? Who should be referring business to us?
9.14.7. Who are our best customers?
9.14.7.1. What are their common characteristics?
9.14.7.2. What do their businesses "look, smell, and feel" like?
9.14.7.3. Where are they located?
9.14.7.4. Are they a particular size (e.g., in terms of revenue) or in certain vertical markets or niches where we have a higher rate of success?
9.14.7.5. Where can we find potential customers with similar profiles?
9.14.8. Does our best chance for new business lie within our current portfolio of existing customers?
9.14.8.1. 1--low should we rank those current accounts and then segment our focus across various types of customers, based on growth potential?
9.14.8.2. How much of our time should be allocated to account penetration, to prospecting, to working referral sources?
9.14.8.3. Are there certain competitor's accounts that make sense to attack?
9.15. Team discussion
9.15.1. 1. Define Rules of Engagement for the presales team that state clearly
9.15.1.1. • what SEs will do (e.g. technical discovery, validation, technical presentations, demos, technical parts of RFPs, etc.) and, equally importantly, what they will not do (e.g. company overviews, pricing, etc.) - NOTE: this will vary from company to company, but hopefully the larger point comes across
9.15.1.2. which stages of the sales cycle AEs should expect an SE to participate and/or own
9.15.2. What information does an SE need to know from the AE before every call/engagement?
9.15.3. My team needs the following
9.15.3.1. ○ state of the opportunity before the call
9.15.3.2. ○ objective for the call
9.15.3.3. expectations for the value that the SE will add in the call
9.15.4. • Communication between the Sales Director and the SE Manager/Director to get your teams to collaborate better
9.15.5. • Communication between AEs and SEs (weekly syncs, for example) to discuss what is going well, what could go better, and to reiterate the Rules of Engagement
9.15.5.1. ○ a simple start/stop/continue framework is lightweight and effective
9.15.6. • All of this can feel Sisyphean but is essential work Coach and empower your SEs to hold AEs accountable while having the flexibility to understand the AEs’ point of view. This frees up some of your time and develops confidence and leadership skills in your SEs.
9.15.7. • The SE indicates their view on the “health” of the opportunity with respect to us being selected as Vendor of Choice
9.15.8. • The info in these fields helps AEs and Sales Management reconcile what they are seeing from both commercial and technical aspects of the opp, and helps them forecast and course-correct better
10. Step 3) At the meeting, before discussing sales
10.1. Build rapport and identify the buyer's style.
10.1.1. a. Lasts as long as client feels comfortable.
10.1.2. b. Short sharp way to gain an understanding of the client's mood and style.
10.2. Adapt to make your style their style. - Mirror.
11. Step 5 - Clear up issues/as part of Agenda
11.1. Clean up their issues (only with existing customers).
11.1.1. a. Fix any problems from previous situations.
11.2. Clear the air.
12. Step 4 - At the very beginning of the meeting
12.1. Introduce Agenda
12.1.1. Agenda Vocab
12.1.1.1. I'm going to hit on
12.1.1.1.1. Specific tool
12.1.1.2. How you could potentially
12.1.1.2.1. Our suite
12.1.1.3. Therefore, what I'll cover first today
12.1.1.4. We designed
12.1.1.5. How we'll fit into your existing… system
12.1.1.5.1. So you can learn how you could
12.1.1.6. Then I'll spend more of our time
12.1.1.6.1. Showing the specific tool in our
12.1.1.7. Cut down
12.1.1.8. So that I can set up
12.1.1.9. We designed to help … meet that need.
12.1.2. Share the agenda (get buy-in, seek input).
12.1.2.1. a. Differentiates you from other sales people.
12.1.2.2. b. Respect their time - establish time constraints.
12.1.2.2.1. i. I believe we set this meeting up for 30 minutes? How are you for time? Great, I'll make sure we are done before 11:30.
12.1.2.3. c. Establish the objective
12.1.2.3.1. "I was just curious. How come you agreed to visit with me? "That is what I was looking to do in our time together. What would you like to get from this meeting; what were you hoping to
12.1.2.3.2. accomplish today?" "Why did you invite me in?
12.1.2.4. d. It informs the buyer where you are headed.
12.1.2.5. It lets the buyer know you expect a dialogue.
12.2. Justify Agenda
12.2.1. I know you wanted to understand
12.3. Introduce follow up
12.3.1. More in-depth demo with
12.3.2. If you like what you see we can set up
12.4. The Brief
12.4.1. To begin, I find it helps to summarize your engagement so far with the organization and how the opportunity to engage with them came about. For people on your team joining the first call, this will give them a useful context.
13. Step 6 - Discovery / Step 0 Discovery
13.1. 5 Minute Discovery
13.1.1. Present
13.1.1.1. What type of product/What product do you use right now?
13.1.2. Future
13.1.2.1. Is there a benchmark on how quickly you want to be able to do this in the future?
13.1.3. DRIVERS
13.1.3.1. What would the impact be on the business?
13.1.4. LONG TERM
13.1.4.1. What KPIs are you looking to drive?
13.1.5. Big WISH
13.1.5.1. Are there any specific holes in your…
13.1.6. Preference
13.1.6.1. Who do you want to be involved?
13.1.7. DESIRES
13.1.7.1. How do you measure the effectiveness of the tools you use today?
13.1.8. Little wishes
13.1.8.1. Are you interested in learning a bit more about the technology behind our product or the potential…
13.1.8.2. I know your background is on the technical side, would you prefer if I spent a bit of extra time on the technology behind our product or how potential…
13.2. In Depth Discovery
13.2.1. Probing Questions
13.2.1.1. a. 1. Personal questions
13.2.1.1.1. What are their short-and long-term goals?
13.2.1.1.2. What type of results are they working to achieve?
13.2.1.1.3. How and when do they get bonuses or promoted?
13.2.1.2. b. 2. Strategic and directional questions
13.2.1.2.1. i. What’s going on in your customers’ space?
13.2.1.2.2. Who are they up against in the market?
13.2.1.2.3. What industry trends are working for or against their situation?
13.2.1.2.4. Are there corporate initiatives or new strategies catalyzing change?
13.2.1.2.5. Isthere pressure to grow and expand or to reduce costs?
13.2.1.3. c. 3. Specific issue-seeking and opportunity-seeking questions
13.2.1.3.1. The easiest way to formulate effective questions is to review the client issues section of your power statement (problems solved, pains removed, opportunities captured, results achieved). Work through the entire list, taking each of the stated reasons that clients look to your company and converting it into a probing question.
13.2.1.4. d. 4. Sales process questions
13.2.1.4.1. i. Decision authority and decision influencers
13.2.1.4.2. ii. Timelines
13.2.1.4.3. iii. Available dollars or budget
13.2.1.4.4. iv. Willingness to make a change
13.2.1.4.5. v. Stage in the buying process
13.2.1.4.6. vi. Decision criteria (how the decision will be made, not who makes it)
13.2.1.4.7. vii. Alternative options
13.2.2. If you are selling a technical solution, I find it helpful to capture information about their tech landscape. Not just what technology they use, but if applicable, what kind of metrics can you see? Publicly available information such as how many web hits they get can be useful at this stage.
13.2.3. Discovery is about THEM, not YOU.
13.2.3.1. o A proven method to open up the discussion on the right path in the first call is to ask the customer what it was that made them take the meeting or what they are hoping to get from it. This should give some opening context of what they expect from you and may provide an early clue as to what they hope you could help them solve.
14. Meddicc
14.1. Early Stage
14.1.1. Early-stages: Early in your sales process, Metrics can help you build credibility with your customers. You can combine storytelling and the results you've had with other customers to make a positive picture of your value. To do this, you need to uncover your customer's pains and relate them to where you have solved the same problems before for other customers. If you can, it is most useful to use comparative Metrics from customers who are ideally similar in their business model and industry. It can be helpful to refer to Metrics you build from proof-points with other customers as Metrics I's (MI's). When used well early in the sales cycle, Metrics do three things: 1) Gives you credibility from the references you've made to other customers and their Metrics. 2) Helps you quantify the pain that you are trying to solve, helping to Implicate the pain upon your customer. 3) Broadens your value if you can uncover a pain that wasnt previously considered and align it to a Metric.
14.1.2. If the Economic Buyer isn't engaged in the early stages, then it is important that the Seller works on uncovering who they are, what the political landscape surrounding them is, as well as how they are impacted by any challenges you have uncovered. In the early stages, you will be working hard to uncover what the Decision Criteria and Process is likely to be. The Economic Buyer is likely to play a part in both the Decision Process and Criteria, and understanding the dynamics of their involvement will be useful to building your understanding of those stages of MEDDICC as well as the role the Economic Buyer will play in your deal. Early Consensus: In the early stages, you want to obtain a consensus on who the Economic Buyer is, and how they are involved in the deal, as well as how they will be involved going forward. Specifically, you want to understand how the Pain you have uncovered impacts their business objectives. An Economic Buyer can often provide a fresh perspective on your deal that a Champion can't give you. If delivered correctly, your final proposal should illustrate value underpinned by the Metrics you will use together to measure the success of the solution once live. The proposal should represent a return on investment so strong that proceeding forward with your solution seems like an obvious decision.
14.2. Mid Stage
14.2.1. "Champion and I have built some Metrics which we think will measure the success of our solution, but before I show you ours, I'd love to get an idea from you of what you think would be a great indicator of this solution being a success for you?"
14.2.2. From Previous Customers
14.2.2.1. • What have you helped them solve?
14.2.2.2. • What results did they see?
14.2.2.3. • Which mutual connections do you have?
14.2.2.4. • Who can you introduce them to?
14.2.3. Mid Consensus: In the mid-stages, you will be looking for multiple levels of consensus from the Economic Buyer. Starting with how your solution solves her business objectives and later shifting to how your solution matches their Decision Criteria. Finally, the Economic Buyer should agree a consensus with the value you illustrate within their business case.
14.2.4. Mid-Stages: In the mid-stages of your deal, you need to have direct engagement with the Economic Buyer. At this point, you need to have confirmation from the Economic Buyer that they see the full value of your solution. This should be achieved by illustrating how strongly your solution aligns with the Decision Criteria and displays the Metrics that underpin the value. Ideally, you will have reached a consensus with your Champion and the Economic Buyer on the value you provide prior to finalizing the scope and subsequently the final costs of your solution. Giving pricing prior to having consensus on the value could lead to a perception that your solution doesn't represent value for money, AKA you are expensive. If you have affirmation of your value from the Economic Buyer, then you should progress to trying to obtain the final buy-in from your Economic Buyer on your solution.
14.2.5. Mid: How does this value compare to others?
14.3. Late Stage
14.3.1. • Metrics and Implicate the Pain -
14.3.1.1. ○ You should have the Metrics locked in with consensus from the key stakeholders.
14.3.1.2. ○ The pain should be fully quantified and implicated upon the customer.
14.3.2. • Economic Buyer -
14.3.2.1. ○ You should have good engagement and a consensus with the Economic Buyer on the Metrics.
14.3.3. • Decision Criteria -
14.3.3.1. ○ You should have a full understanding of the Decision Criteria and how you score against it.
14.3.4. • Decision Process -
14.3.4.1. ○ You should fully understand the Decision Process and where you are within it.
14.3.5. • Paper Process -
14.3.5.1. You should have a full understanding of the Paper Process and where you are against it.
14.3.6. Late Consensus: At the late stages of your deal, the Metrics act to reinforce and underpin your value, reducing any perception of Risk that may be outstanding. By this stage, it is imperative that not just your Champion, but also the Economic Buyer and any other significant stakeholders have consensus on the Metrics.
14.3.7. Late-stages: As you enter into the late stages of your deal, you are looking for commitment from the Economic Buyer that you are their vendor of choice and they support your business case. The Economic Buyer can play a highly useful role around the paper Process as their influence can help you streamline the process and fly through stages with the momentum their sponsorship creates.
14.3.8. Late Consensus: The Go-Live Plan provides a great tool for obtaining late-stage consensus as you can confirm the stages with the Economic Buyer and obtain the support to complete the stages still ahead of you. Summary Snapshot of in the sales process: • Early: How much will you help me? Do I believe you? • Mid: How does this value compare to others? Late: Have you proven that this value is available? Economic Buyer after you've won the deal Once your deal is closed, the Economic Buyer is unlikely to have any further hands-on activity with your solution.
14.3.9. Late: Have you proven that this value is available?
14.3.10. • Late: Have they proven that this value is available?
14.3.11. Late-Stages: In the later stages of the sales cycle, the Metrics you have aligned with the project are likely to be evaluated by new stakeholders that have been brought into the Decision Process. Expect your Metrics to come under fresh scrutiny directed at uncovering their accuracy. You may see new executives brought in to evaluate your business case as well as requests from your customer to have reference calls with other customers, in which the Metrics are likely to be a reference point. How you prepare for this eventuality is essential. Is your Champion briefed and ready to explain the value of your solution? Have you armed them with Metrics to back it up? Generally, by this point, good Sellers have built a proposal to support their deal, but the proposal often becomes outdated as the scope shifts or the commercials alter. For this reason, Elite Sellers keep the proposal up to date and go to the effort to create a summary proposal for more senior executives that covers the main selling points in a clear, easy-to-digest format regardless of who the stakeholder is.
14.4. Economic Buyer Considerations
14.4.1. 1. Cost - Economic Buyers are not just thinking about the bottom line cost of your solution to their business, they will be evaluating the full business which includes the cost of resources to implement and maintain the solution as well as the potential opportunity cost of prioritizing your solution over others.
14.4.2. 2. Completion - How long until we can realize the value? 2. Completion - The Economic Buyer will be considering the time to value your solution and how that aligns against the other initiatives, strategies, and goals. It is important to keep in mind that an Economic Buyer is most likely looking at results at a quarterly and annual level, and therefore, it is important you do too. Remember that not all organizations follow the same financial years.
14.4.3. 3. Confidence - How confident is everyone around your solution? 3. Confidence - How confident are the buying team around your solution? The Economic Buyer is likely to test all stakeholders, and in particular, your Champion. With this in mind, it is important that you educate your Champion as much as you can for this encounter. Economic Buyers are likely to have context (and scars) from previous investments that may make them more astute and wary of investments into new solutions. They may also have connections at the executive level to the organizations you have put forward as references, so be sure to check their network where you can, and if you do find a mutual connection who can act as a reference, be sure to be proactive with that opportunity. You should focus your messaging to the Economic Buyer on the above three areas even if they don't ask about them. It'll hone the conversation to the matters they care about and help to streamline your deal.
15. Notations
15.1. Sales Process
15.1.1. 2. The reframe. - This is the central moment of the challenger sale. - Introduce a new perspective/a new challenge which they didn't realise that they had. The insight is the headline (the outcome but framed as a non specific problem which they are having) the aim is to make them consider this in a new way. - If they've already thought of this, you haven't provided unique insight or value. Don't respond to needs, reframe them. Surprise and build curiosity.
15.1.2. 3. Why it matters. - RATIONAL DROWNING. why the reframe matters, what is the hidden cost of the problem. The numbers driven to make the client feel like they are drowning. The customer reaction should be - wow I had no idea how much time we were wasting. - in a world class teaching pitch, the ROI is about solving the problem not buying your problem. Teach them first that the problem is worth solving before that you are the answer to the product.
15.1.3. 4. Emotional impact. - The next thing you say you need to outline the customer's real deep problem. Explain their understanding to them. Explain their pain.
15.1.4. 5. A new way. - you've convinced them of the problem, now convince them of the solution. Step 5 is still about the solution, it's about behaving differently. - that's what we need to do! That's the kind of company we want to be. I promise to act differently.
15.1.5. 6. Why my solution is the answer.
15.2. Thoughts on books
15.2.1. The Challenger sale is the more advanced book and assumed a greater level of knowledge but seemed more relevant to the role, especially as an expert. I think the concept of the challenger sales person is possibly a product of the Pygmalion effect and the Vygotsky's theory of a more able other and the zone of proximal development. Things are their best when they are being led down an appropriate route and a successful, knowledgeable sales person becomes more successful and more knowledgeable and pushier as time develops. It's an upside spiral of momentum, success breeds success. NSS vs JFD is an interesting comparison, their sales methods have a lot of overlap but they somewhat disagree on the order of events, NSS seems to hate demoing, which is the main part of the role as I understand it, but it actually has a lot in common with the mindset of JFD. JFD includes the valuable idea of selling the client on the outcomes right after the discovery, whereas NSS assumes you have enough sales experience already. I'm glad I read them in the order that I did as each seems to pick up from the previous. However, I think I need to revisit JFD, with the ideas I gained from NSS. I may read Demonstrating to win by Robert Riefstahl, as this is the basis of JFD but may have more information.
15.3. Just F*ing Demo
15.3.1. Chapter 1
15.3.1.1. His Example
15.3.1.1.1. Why it's important and easy to use…right?
15.3.1.1.2. Common expectations for pitching:
15.3.1.1.3. 1. Say hello
15.3.1.1.4. However, what does the audience want? What do they want to figure out? Which features are most important for demoing?
15.3.1.1.5. The point of a demo is to be productive and reach a shared understanding.
15.3.1.1.6. My aim: Clients thank me for being helpful in their purchasing decision.
15.3.1.1.7. Deliver the perfect demo for the audience, not the product.
15.3.1.1.8. Knowing the product doesn't equal effect demo.
15.3.1.1.9. Read:
15.3.1.2. My example
15.3.1.2.1. Demo Home Assistant.
15.3.1.2.2. Chris, I know you want to understand how you could streamline your many devices into one IT system.
15.3.1.2.3. Therefore, first today we'll cover the home assistant implementation.
15.3.1.2.4. Then I'll spend more of our time discussing one specific tool which combines two or more of your systems into one.
15.3.1.2.5. If you like what you see, we can set up a much more in depth demo with your partner.
15.3.1.2.6. Is there anything else you want to make sure we cover today?
15.3.1.2.7. Rephrasing based on reflection -
15.3.1.2.8. I know you want x,
15.3.1.2.9. MOST IMPORTANT -> so I will HELP YOU GET X through method A, then method B,
15.3.1.3. Introduction:
15.3.1.3.1. Set the expectation for what we will cover (and why) (and when)
15.3.1.3.2. This introduction is customized for the audience. To help them get what they need from the demo.
15.3.1.3.3. I'm saying what I need to say SO THAT IT CAN HELP YOU.
15.3.2. Chapter 2
15.3.2.1. I'm happy to recommend a writing tool. First I'd like to ask a few questions to learn what your writing needs are, then I'll be able to share which I think is best. Is it just writing tools you are looking for?
15.3.2.2. PRESENT - What do you currently use for writing and why? Describe what you normally write, drawings or written words? Is there a specific barrier with your current writing system?
15.3.2.2.1. What is your task you are trying to overcome?
15.3.2.2.2. What is your end goal - L.O.?
15.3.2.2.3. How will you know if you are successful in getting to this end goal? - S.C.?
15.3.2.3. Future - How often do you see yourself writing in the next day, week and month?
15.3.2.4. Preference - Describe what you see as an effective writing tool.
15.3.3. Chapter 3
15.3.3.1. Challenge - It's been useful to you for a long time but it's beginning to run out of ink and it may be costly to replace
15.3.3.2. Discovery past (info from discovery) - Due to the difficulties you mentioned earlier, you are not able to easily purchase a new pen as the shop is too far away.
15.3.3.3. Solution - Now let's see how the pen could work for you if you used this pen, which is full of ink.
15.3.3.4. Discovery preference (info from discovery) You'll notice that the pen is full of ink and the proximity to you is beneficial for your time and effort.
15.3.3.5. Discovery Future - (info from discovery) Which, as you mentioned, could result in a decreased level of effort for you and therefore more time to get on with your work day.
15.3.4. Chapter 4
15.3.4.1. Bucket 1: Macro
15.3.4.1.1. • First I'm going to show you our user dashboard.
15.3.4.1.2. • On this dashboard, everything you need to push content and see KPI performance at aglance is right here.
15.3.4.1.3. • Sinceyou mentioned having the power to push content without IT was important to you, I wanted to start
15.3.4.1.4. here, because our platform has been ranked the #1 most user-friendly in our space.
15.3.4.2. Bucket 2: Micro
15.3.4.2.1. • Next, I want to dive into a more nuanced feature, which allows you to call out where on site you would like to push content.
15.3.4.2.2. • This feature allows you to easily mouse around the page and select exactly where your content should go.
15.3.4.2.3. • I know you're looking for customization of where content should be pushed, while also striving for time and cost savings, which is precisely what you are going to get by using this feature.
15.3.4.3. Plan out your demo by putting features that align with your audience's needs into "buckets".
15.3.4.3.1. Starting with broad features and getting more nuanced, move from bucket to bucket, and for each:
15.3.5. Chapter 5
15.3.5.1. Time management is key - add and remove buckets based on how much time you have.
15.3.5.2. Ask appropriate questions to keep changing the buckets and ensure understanding on both sides.
15.3.6. AGENDA - SET UP THAT YOU WILL ASK QUESTIONS.
15.3.7. PRESENT -CHALLENGES SEND
15.3.8. FUTURE - DESIRED OUTCOMES L.O.
15.3.9. PREFERENCE - SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS SC