“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste…”
The above is a quote from President elect Obama’s chief-of-staff-designate, Rahm Emanuel (pictured left), while speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO conference. These words also apply to your sales department. What do Rahm’s words have to do with sales and selling more? Everything!
Your sales and sales management departments are competing for business in a market driven by fear and noise from the current record breaking financial crisis. Competition will come from like companies, and from every other alternative use of your prospects available discretionary capital. Don’t waste this sales crisis—retool your sales department now!
These five tips will help your company survive, stay focused, and find a position to achieve long-term growth.
1. Focus where you create verifiable value: Executives don’t want to know what you can do, they want to know what you have done—over and over again. Executives buy based on value and comfort. Expertise helps create comfort. Stay where your expertise is so strong that you have answers to questions that they don’t even know to ask! That is our definition of expertise.
2. Quantify your value: Utilizing industry statistics based value claims about your solution is weak. Specific knowledge of the business issues your solution solves, and the subsequent value generated when you solve them are paramount in this environment. Buyers want to know that your advertized results are repeatable for them.
3. Partner to verify your value: The number one reasons executives do not purchase cost justified solutions is because they don’t believe their own people “can do it”. Partner with the process and solution owners your executive decision maker trusts, to gain an understanding of the organizations readiness and ability to implement your solution. Leverage this understanding and build a proposal that has everything you know will be needed to be successful.
4. Present the EVA of your solution: In these tough economic times your greatest competition will be apathy (non-decision). Your project will compete with ever other use of the available capital dollars. To overcome apathy and fear, present the classic ROI and payback period, but also learn to present the economic value add (EVA) of your solution. EVA is the most prolific form of value claim because it demonstrates the value your solution provides over-and-above the best project return your prospect is considering.
5. Build a “force success” proposal: What amount of education will your prospect need to be successful? Include it. Are independent partners providing part of the solution? Then you will need partner management. Include it! Include a change management component in your solution. To ensuring your customer is successful and that you help “Force that Success” your proposal needs to include all of product, education, consulting, executive management, change management, partner management, and overall customer service and support needed to all but guarantee your prospect will achieve the expected value.
Last 5 posts by Chad Koser
- Building Your Zebra eBook Now Ready for Download! - April 21st, 2010
- Complex Sales and Selling Strategies, Sixth Edition - February 15, 2010 - February 26th, 2010
- Complex Sales and Selling Strategies, Fifth Edition - January 21, 2010 - January 21st, 2010
- Santa has a Zebra! Make your list, and check it twice... - January 1st, 2010
- Complex Sales and Selling strategies, 4th Edition - December 4, 2009 - December 4th, 2009
I agree, in these economic times we need to sell compelling value that is realizable in the same fiscal year that the software is purchased. If not you could be wasting a lot of your time and the customers.
Jeff / Chad,
Your advice is dead-on. I can’t imagine a better strategy for capturing new customers in this economy than by building long term sustainable value after purchase. Your partnering mentality strikes me as very important as well. Too many vendors are cutting back on service to drive down price. Customers with limited resources need more, not less service to successfuly launch any changes in this budget-crunched enviornment. I think any sales manager would bennefit from considering these strategies. Thank you for the advice and wisdom. I definitely took something away from reading this.
One thing that your article eludes to but doesn’t go that far into is the opportunity that these times can present for a sales organization. Tough times can and will separate the chaff. A good owner or sales manager can proactively speed the process along in a number of methods. Utilizing the techniques you’ve outlined should allow for, at the very least sustained sales. Focusing on Zebras and then offering them both ROI and service should close most deals.
Great advice. When the urge to buy is as weak as it is today, the “tried and true” old selling techniques will fall flat. The “Sales Game” may never be the same again and it is time to break your veteran salespeople of their bad habits. Efficiency in the sales process is more important than ever in a climate like today’s. Jeff and Chad Koser are well ahead of the curve in terms of knowing what the successful salesperson of the future will be required to do. Read it, learn it, practice it, make the behavior habitual, and “Zebras Beware!”
I knew if I lived long enough, I would hear Rahm Emanuel say something I agree with!
I am having unprecedented success in building pipeline and closing net new business over the past several months. I use Zebra-Speak in every sales situation, and have found that the message of “saving a percentage of money that you would have to spend anyway” is resonating with decision makers in relatively healthy organizations.
I also agree that communicating beyond the “ROI message” and including EVA and NPV can open doors with financial executives who welcome a positive discussion after hearing nothing but negativity in the public domain over the past 2 years.
While I feel for people who are suffering, I find that tough times offer significant opportunities if you truly have a solution to help organizations become more efficient, and are willing to modify your message and work a little harder. I have no intention of curling up into fetal position until things “get better.” Full steam ahead, people.