Why solution selling can work to your advantage in a competitive sales environment, and 5 easy ways to gain relevant information on your prospects and their pain.

1. What’s the secret to getting a C-Suite executive to talk to you? Forget being a salesperson! Yes, I
know that’s what it says on your business card. And you wake up each morning, pumped up to be
the best salesperson you can be. And here I am telling you to forget about it! But read on and you’ll
see why what I say makes sense.
Each day, the average business executive is bombarded by a number of calls on his land line and
cell phone. They may be from customers, vendors, and partners. And a few will be from sales
executives as well. Now if the business executive is savvy, he’ll get his calls fielded by his
secretary or the company receptionist, and will apply filters by way of caller id to block out
unwanted calls.
Getting past the gatekeeper can be challenging!
Think of it from his point of view. You need 10 minutes of his time, as do say 5 other sales people.
That’s 50 minutes in his already over-booked schedule. If each of you go over the appointed 10
minutes, that could add another hour to it. And in all this, is he really thinking this new offering is a
‘must-have’? Or is he thinking of the sale his company is gearing up for? Or the expansion plans
his division has?
So how do you slip past these obstacles and persuade your prospect to speak to you?

2. Forget being a salesperson and jam on the business person’s hat. You’ll need to possess enough
knowledge and acumen to be able to convince your prospect that not only do you know something
he doesn’t, but you can use your knowledge to help him.
We’ve seen how preparation can help, and in particular, the strongest means of securing a phone
call is by way of a direct introduction or referral. Ask your current clients if they can help you.
Networking online using sites like LinkedIn and Biznik is another powerful way to get your foot
into the door.
And as with anything, research, is of paramount importance! Are you sure you’ve got the right
person? As Graham Lind, Managing Partner for Sales Performance International (Solution
Selling) says, “You can’t sell to someone who can’t buy”!
When you establish long-term relationships within a company, you automatically gravitate toward
the person you know to help you out. But what if that person is not the right individual? What if
he or she can’t make a buying decision? Getting out of such a relationship can be awkward, but it
may be your only option.
Planning to enter into a new industry or a new company needs advance strategizing, and you need
to get the right decision maker on your side. If you eventually are asked to deal with an executive,
always keep the senior or power executive in the loop. This could be with a simple email that
apprises him of how things stand and includes your latest correspondence or buying information.
So your aim is to start off at the highest level possible and if necessary work your way
down to the appropriate decision maker.
One way to do this is to think like your prospect. Make sure you’ve mapped your call. What are
the problems he’s currently facing that he would like addressed? Are there stories he might be
interested in hearing about? Making an instant connection is really important. Your goal here is to
obtain as much information as you possibly can – think of it as reconnaissance mission of the
highest level.
Initially, you will be calling to research the situation, not to sell something. If you learn
something from this call, you’ve succeeded in your main objective, which is to find out the
appropriate person/s to target.
From this initial call, you will try to gain information on the following:
1. Map of sales/support teams: Where are the sales/customer teams?

3. 2. How many sales/support people are there?
3. Current systems: What are the systems in place at the various sales/account management
teams?
4. Best contact: Who is the best person to start with (at each division)?
5. Internal Referral: Can you get an internal referral to this executive?
Here are some of the steps you can follow, which make climbing to the top much easier:
1. Gain permission: Begin by asking for permission to have a chat, with a simple, but effective
statement like, “Did I catch you at a good time?”
2. Get your contacts in order: Preliminary research will help you understand the potentially
right people to approach.
3. Clarify the customer’s buying processes: If they have a particular protocol they follow,
which most companies do have, you need to be aware of it.
4. Dig deep for pain: Guide your prospect to admitting pain, and convert it to a dollar value.It’s
hard for a buyer to take action without having a vision of what to do to solve their problem. A
good salesperson knows that by accurately diagnosing a buyer’s business issue or ‘pain’, they
can help create this vision of a solution. This is known as ‘solution selling’ and is one of the
most acknowledged paths to successful selling. Remember when it comes to diagnosing pain,
if the buyer doesn’t like your diagnosis, they won’t trust your advice, prescription, or dosage.
5. Agree to a next step: Once you’ve got your research done, it’s time to move forward with the
next step; either arranging for a meeting or a phone call. The former is preferable as it gives
you a chance to conduct a more detailed presentation. But a sales call can also work well if
you’ve prepared yourself in advance.
In the end, it all boils down to the correct contacts – those prospects who will admit to a pain are
easier to convert to customers. Don’t waste your time if the customer refuses to acknowledge his
business pain. Similarly, ensure you have covered these questions before you move further:
 Who is involved in the business decision?
 Who is impacted by this decision?
 Who needs to sign off on the paperwork?
 Can this decision be vetoed? If so, by whom?
 Is there a budget allocated for this purpose?
 Can you get funding for this?
As a final thought and to quote W. Clement Stone, “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the
salesman, not the attitude of the prospect”. So give your attitude a rehaul and go get some clients!

4. POSTED IN: REVENUE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT / TAGGED: B2B MARKETING, COLD CALLING, CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT, MARKETING & SALES ALIGNMENT, SALES EFFECTIVENESS, SALES
ENABLEMENT, SALES PROSPECTING
A thought-leader in the technology marketing space, Julie Bevacqua is a leading expert in
business-to-business (B2B) marketing with hands-on executive experience in corporate, industry,
and product marketing; demand management; and social media. She has held executive positions
at global enterprise software companies, heading up integrated marketing strategies from brand
differentiation, demand generation, sales and marketing integration, and digital marketing
strategies to media and analyst relations and corporate social responsibility.
By taking every opportunity to extend the company’s digital footprint, Julie guides her team to
achieve online dominance within the global marketplace. A natural networker, motivator and
mentor, Julie shares her marketing and business savvy through her blog www.JulieBevacqua.com.
Business and corporate marketers and entrepreneurs gain unique insights into the latest
techniques on digital and social marketing that can be applied in any organization.
Julie lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia, a haven for technology and enterprising
upstarts, dubbed ‘Silicon North’.
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