Executing on Competitive Differentiators

It’s easy for a sales rep to talk until they are blue in the face about how they are “better and different”. Recently, my company launched a new sales initiative that was a bit of a surprise to me: Our CEO would be taking to the phones to personally call some of the sales leads and opportunities in our sales pipeline (or any deal that we would ask him to take a swing at, for that matter). Additionally, he would even be calling a few of our leads to get some first-hand exposure to the customers that were interested in our services.

This initiative got me thinking to back to when I was in the market to buy a new car. I spent a lot of time with many different salespeople and visited  each company’s website. But, despite being a ‘hot lead’, I never got a personal introduction to Takeo Fukui, CEO of Honda, Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, or Takashi Yamanouchi, CEO of Mazda. So, why does this type of sales approach resonate so well with our customers and our sales team?

For us, the answer is that it shows our customers how truly valued they are to us – not just to get their business, but especially after we get it. It shows them a living, breathing, and tangible example of our company’s leadership and it is a reflection of our corporate culture. This initiative is already generating positive feedback and is proving to be a very strong competitive differentiator. In fact, several of the customers who spoke with him were favorably impressed enough to move ahead to not only trial our product, a few even signed up on the spot.

But there’s more to it than just having your CEO make sales calls.

Differentiation is about showing the customer that they’re going to be served with the right solution – the one that makes their job easier, or faster, or less painful. It’s easy for a sales rep to talk until they are blue in the face about how they are “better and different”. It’s another thing when you can show a customer a concrete example of how being better and different applies to their needs and sensibilities.  For example, instead of telling a client that your solution is “quick and simple” to implement, why not show them by quickly and simply building them a custom demo and use for their evaluation?

We should never be afraid of proving our capabilities, or naïve enough to think that our customers are not interested in this proof. The following are a few examples of executing on competitive differentiators:

• Let your customer take a ‘tour’ of your company. If you brag that your organization has excellent support, and this is something that resonates as a point of interest for your prospect, have them call support and ask some questions.
• Show by example – don’t just talk about it. If you claim to offer a personal touch that only a mid-sized company can provide vs. a colossal, impersonal corporation, show them! We introduced our CEO to a few of our customers and it’s working great for us!
• Prove what you can do. If your product is able to offer your client an effective ROI, be sure you have a easily understood ROI calculator on hand and demonstrate this to your prospects.

There are many different ways you can show your customers how you’re better and different. You’re not just trying to get their business – you want them as a customer. While the difference is subtle, never forget that it has a major impact on how you approach the sales process and the effect that your customer feels.

Upon original publishing, Ken Cross was working with Landslide, but is now a part of Sales Performance International’s Business development team. We welcome him aboard.

A Short Chat with a Procurement Manager About RFP´s...

What is in the head of a procurement manager? Is it true what we say in Solution Selling training about the buyer tactics? Do they really eat salesmen for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

At the conclusion of a recent meeting I had a chance to have some small talk with an ambitious procurement manager. She had just read my book “Solution Selling, Success or Failure” and referred to the chapter on how to win RFP´s. “Your input in your book is correct; of course we ask salesmen to do a proposal so we can compare prices. Most often we do not have the intention to buy anything, especially when we invite many vendors for a RFI. It is just a way for us to be proactive.”

She also told me that:
- They don’t like to buy a “complete solution”, because of unclear cost/value
- They like to split up the solution in to small pieces and compare prices
- They don’t like to buy from the market leader
- They want to go with the challenger to get extra value
- They don’t like risks and open issues in the proposals
- They like short and easy to read proposals in word format (no power points)

Finally she told me about her ambition to act as a market radar, to scan for new solutions and new vendors. After all, she wants to provide value to the organization that pays her salary!

How can we use this knowledge in our sales efforts? My conclusion is that we have to comply with their way of viewing the world, but also understanding that procurement is only the gatekeeper to the real power sponsors.

Written by and posted with the permission of:
Jens Edgren, Lindgren Partners Solution Selling
+ 46 8 651 25 00
www.lindgren-partners.se

How's Your "Middle" Doing?

Many of the prospects I initially call on tell me going in that they have a sales process in place.  At first look, that often appears to be the case. Most have an installed CRM system and a long list of internal activities/ steps that sellers are suppose to follow, i.e., make 25 phone calls a week, make five in-person sales calls a week, enter all data into CRM, issue contracts, etc. It all looks good. The problem is none of it has anything to do with how their buyer’s buy—- buyer alignment. 

Almost anything entered into the CRM system is categorized as a qualified opportunity. It can sit there for a long time… four months, six months, eight months and even longer. Often the next step is: has the deal closed? What’s wrong here? The middle part —- the most important portion —- of the sales process is missing. 

So, many times I basically see a two step process for opportunities: create and close. Alignment with the buyer is not incorporated into the process. Key steps of qualification, development of the solution, proof and negotiation are not formalized. Additionally, implementation, a key step after close, is not accounted for in the sales process at all. 

The “middle” steps of sales process allow sellers to develop situational fluency by thoroughly diagnosing a customer’s pain, providing a vision of a solution and positioning value throughout the entire process. These key steps move sellers from product-centric selling to consultative or “Solution Selling®” (meaning both the trademark intellectual property AND the core methodology in practice). 

Now, tech companies often have a middle step and it’s called the “demo”. Get the tech guy, book a time and show the prospect a real time demonstration of the technology. Problem is, without the other “middle” steps of sales process, the demo may not be providing capabilities that the prospect needs. So, many demos are delivered for opportunities that will never go anywhere. It frustrates sales management and dramatically drives up the cost of sales.

Without a buyer-aligned middle part of the sales process, it is impossible to weed out the bad deals or, conversely, find the great deals that may require more resources and support. Forecasting for sales managers becomes a complicated, separate process that consumes way too much time and rarely results in better forecast accuracy.

How’s the “middle” part of your sales process working out?