We should go into every meeting, or every phone call, with the intention, and the expectation, of earning access to other people within the company, and especially at higher levels. Starting with the first meeting, use the techniques we have discussed, and a few more still to come, to try to get beyond the person [...]
Monthly Archive for December, 2008
I believe it helps to put ourselves in the shoes of the lower-level person in order to understand the dynamic of what and whom we are dealing with. The reason a gatekeeper is a gatekeeper is that he or she has been given a specific job to do. One type of gatekeeper is the administrative [...]
If we don’t at least attempt to meet with the key executives proactively, but instead wait until an opportunity finds us, we are often stuck selling bottom-up. Once they call us, we lose the chance to be proactive, we end up reacting to opportunities, and it’s possible to lose a great deal of control over [...]
I recommend a proactive strategy when it comes to reaching executive- level decision makers. We should start today to reach out to every C-Level executive within every existing company we sell to, as well as within our best prospective new customers. If what you sell has no relevance to some of these C-Level executives, then [...]
Selling higher really means earning access to those who will be making the Action Decision. ‘To buy, or not to buy,’ that is the question. And it can only be answered by the person or persons with the authority and responsibility to make these critical decisions on the company’s behalf. These are the same individuals [...]
This process of managing a sales campaign is so effective, and delivers such benefit in terms of managing your own time and resources, that it’s worth using even if your customer has no interest in it. For years I have used this kind of a plan for every complex sales opportunity I’ve pursued. I start [...]
If, or when, your customer doesn’t want to work with you to put together a plan, or doesn’t jump right into the plan you propose, there is usually a specific reason why they don’t. I have found the following six issues at the root of most customer hesitation to move forward with you on a [...]
As we develop our understanding of all the things that are going to have to happen in our customer’s buying process, we can start to put together a bulletproof sales campaign. We turn all the events and activities we have identified into an overall game plan, which we and our prospective customer will work through [...]
In Anatomy of a Buying Decision, we talked about developing a list or a ‘set of the hurdles’ that represent the milestones that customers in your market typically have to get over in order to evaluate, select, and buy the types of products and services you sell. As we maintain and enhance this standard model [...]
The next thing I like to do is get things in the proper order. Your customer’s idea of a selection process tends to favor their purposes, and in many ways their purpose is ‘de-selection.’ In most cases, the products or services you sell are much like those your competitors sell. Sure there are some technical [...]
Assuming we can arrive at some sort of timetable that is realistic and acceptable to the client, the next step is to figure out what has to happen before June 1. I mentioned before, we sometimes know more about the steps of a buying cycle, and the hurdles they will have to clear along the [...]
Once we frame the opportunity with what they are trying to accomplish, as well as ‘When?’ ‘Why?’ and ‘What if you don’t?’ we can begin our reverse-engineering process. First, we step backward through the events and actions that need to take place during the Implementation and Utilization Process. You are the expert here; or someone [...]
As we seek and identify new sales opportunities, we are looking for a prospective client who has a business objective they want to achieve, or problem they have to solve, and is both driven and able to take action to do something about it. Granted, it could take a lot of work on our part [...]
Too often, when a prospect contacts us and says, ‘We’re going to buy,’ we lead with our solution and focus on trying to win the Source Decision. Please take a closer look, or the list of buying hurdles above. We should take the time to understand what critical decisions may or may not have already [...]
It has been very helpful to me, and to many of my clients, to think of the buying process and all the little choices and decisions therein, as a series of hurdles that our customer has to jump over to get from wherever they currently are, to where they are ready to buy. It’s our [...]
Earning the coveted ‘vendor of choice’ label is an important milestone in any sales campaign. However, it doesn’t guarantee a sale. It only makes it possible to sell something. As your customer considers their options for a source to buy from, they will probably ponder some of the following aspects about each source, and the [...]
Taking action requires resources. Without the right resources, your customer can’t buy even if they want to. The Resource Decision involves an evaluation of Economic Value and Risk, Payback or Return, availability of funds, and so on. It’s not just about money. It takes people to head up projects, and other people to do the [...]
In evaluating the various courses of action available, your customer will have many new variables to consider. Note that some of these questions relate to the six Action Drivers, but there are also several additional criteria. I like to refer to these as Choice Drivers, because they are the factors that buyers use to differentiate [...]
In making the Action Decision, there are a lot of factors your customer will consider and questions they will have to answer for themselves. To get in step with our buyer, we need to know the answers to these just as much as they do. In a top-down initiative many of these questions will already [...]
In our Power-Prospecting for New Business workshop, we talk about the importance of proactively prospecting for new business opportunities. When we initiate communication with a prospective customer, we can call at any level we want. We may not start off, for some very specific reasons, by calling the CEO directly, but we can start as [...]