Building an enterprise sales strategy

Building an Enterprise Sales Strategy

Linda Cadigan, CEO Go2Market Strategies
go2marketstrategies.org

Sales Strategy from go2marketstrategies.org

Thesis
As technology and social media allow businesses
of all sizes to compete in the global
marketplace, how do we build an enterprise, best
in class sales team for growing companies?

We can start by setting aside irrelevant
buzzwords, establish a genuine sales
leader, execute processes, messaging, identify
opportunities and seek proof and validation of
success via keen measurement.


Prospect Focused Selling vs. Reputation Based Selling

Understand audience, then build process
Seller Activity Buyer Behavior Sales Process


Sales Process Flow

Opportunity Develop Proof & Selection
Establish
Needs and Control of and Close
Identification the Value
Solutions Sales Cycle Negotiation


Sample Sales Process
Opp Id Develop Establish Proof and Select & Close
Needs/ Value Control Negotiate
Solutions
Selling Skill Qualification Need Prospect Recourse Retaining Know when to
Interest Development Industry Utilization Margin walk
Development Solution Knowledge Opportunity Resisting the Know why we
Development Value Qualification Squeeze from won/lost.
Questions Sales Cycle Procurement
Control
Job Aid Success Call intro Solution Follow up Negotiation Win/loss
Stories, messaging Development notes/details worksheet analysis
Prompters-
Vision and needs /agendas
Valuable
Value Solution differentiators— Sequence of
Proposition Development email templates, events
and Props Prompter one pagers, Emails re:
archived milestones
webcasts, etc.

Process Output Lead Opp Debrief- Value Analysis Email threads, Negotiation Win/loss
Conversion > sanity check call logs, event Worksheet analysis
Contact> sequence
Account>
Opportunity


Buyer Behavior - “People love to buy (even
corporate buyers) but hate being sold”
Traditional Sales Processes Prospect Focused
Make presentations Converse situationally
Offer opinions Ask relevant questions
Relationship focused Services as solution focused
Gravitate towards users Target business people/business cases
Rely on reputation Relate applicable services/provide value-add
media to inform, create distinction.
Compete as busy work Compete to win-continue to add value, provide
tools so prospect closes themselves.

Attempt to sell by: Sell by helping buyers:
-Convincing/persuading -Achieve goals
-Handling Objections -Solve problems
-Overcoming resistance -Satisfy needs


Concise Messaging
Current messaging concerns – are we
always able to?

– Achieve a goal
– Solve a problem
– Satisfy a need

“Up to 90% of collateral created as marketing/messaging is never
used by sales.” –AMA
This can cause salespeople to invent or “wing” messaging.


Sales Ready Messaging
• More effective Touch Time (increasing
revenue, spinning fewer cycles with
same or fewer resources.)
• Shorten time to revenue
• Increase selling time
• Increase close rates and margin (thus
improving quality of interactions)


Opportunity Identification includes:

Industries Served
Key Players/titles
Key Players‟ goals and objectives
Value Proposition


Target Internal Sales Goals
Sales Leadership: Increase
revenue, profit, market
share, sustained, enduring and healthy
corporate growth
Decrease: Costs, sales cycles, attrition
Market Driven: Federal and/or industry
regulation/compliance, alignment with
business demands


Sales Ready Messaging
EQPA
• Event- The circumstance causing a specific job title to
need a specific service, training and/or product.
• Question- Asking facilitates buying. Telling feels to
buyer like you are selling.
• Player – Who/what/system will take action in response
to the event.
• Action – How the solution feature set can be used to
state in terms the buyer understands that relates to
their current event.


Components of Success Stories
Key Players Job Titles/Industries
Goal or issue Goal happy client had (told in past
tense.)
Contributing reason Contributing factor preventing
achievement of the goal (which our
solution helped.)

Capability Capabilities that allowed the client to
negate contributing reason above.

Benefit Statement By stating the capability provided by SC
to client solution ownership empowers
the buyer.

Actual Benefit Provide measurement, ROI savings on
remediation, etc.


Build Incremental Interest via Messaging

< 1 minute cold Prospect is 2 Minutes Introduce
contact/‖pitch‖ ―how curious Value Prop Messaging
we help‖

Prospect Shares Prospect
Prospect agrees to Goal feels team is
Scoping/Solutions competent –
Development/Proposal curiosity
discussion converts to
INTEREST


Develop Needs and Solutions –
Take time to diagnose, don’t prescribe:
Goal Admitted Solution Admitted

Step A: How do you ______today? Step D: Determine solutions via
diagnosis in steps B & C—‖How do you
see yourself fixing______________?‖

Step B: Diagnostic Questions Step E: Usage Scenarios: ―What if
―How do you handle this currently?‖ there was a way to EQPA—would that
―How many times has that happened?‖ help?‖
―What does it cost when that happens?‖

Step C: Recap/Confirm ―From what you Step F: Confirm goal achievement with
have told me, today your capabilities ―From what you said,
you_____________.‖ IF you had the capabilities to
_________then could you?‖


Goal > Problem > Need
Frame
Frame
“What solutions have you
“How do you…..today?”
considered?”
Usage Scenarios
Diagnose “When ….would it
“Today do you experience…..?” help….if….could and how much
“How much, how often…?” would it help?”

Confirm
Confirm “If you had the capabilities we
“So, the way you do it today offer could you then (achieve
is…..?” goal?)”


Establishing Value
• Emotional decisions are justified by value
and logic.
• Value Justification vs. Cost Justification
– Reasons for participation
• Initiating
• Closing
• Minimizing pressure to discount
• Mandatory requirement


Why Value?
―Projects are 60% more likely to be
approved with a cost justification and a
business case.‖
―More than 82% of IT decisions require
Cost/Benefit analysis.‖
―Only those services/solutions that clearly
demonstrate cost versus benefit are
considered.‖
―ROI is king. Projects with a clear
cost/benefit are more likely to get funded.‖
--Gartner


Value Measurement and Validation

Value Measurement Value Validation
• Avoid eliciting emotion • Correlate the value of
• Establish baseline with your company‟s
diagnostic questions: capabilities to current
• “How much?” situation, previously
diagnosed:
• “How many?”
• “You said today you have
• “How frequently?” to…..which is costing
you…..what if you could
leverage our capabilities
via EQPA…would that
help?”


POTENTIAL OF CAPABILITIES
• Summarize clearly your capabilities as a
solution to the problem
• “If you had the capability we‟ve discussed
would you achieve your goal?”
• Confirm value of solution with buyer:
• “Of the amounts discussed how much do you
think you‟d recover if you had the capabilities
we „ve discussed?”


Proof
• Proof provided to qualified prospects
• Proof aligns with buyer function/title
• Salesperson guides proof sessions
• Review buyer‟s solution
• Proof for adversaries should be witnessed by allies
• Proof aligns with each opportunity

Cost/Benefit is not proof, it is speculation as to what
MIGHT happen.


Proof
Inexpensive Expensive
• Success Stories • Reference/Site visits
• Testimonials • Proof of Concept
• Reference Calls • On-site demos
• White paper • Meetings with influencers
• Case studies and decision makers
• Web site • Free
training, licenses, added
• Online demos on products etc.
• One pagers per
service


Competitive Strategies
• Sell scared (assume competition exists)
• Identify competitors
• Identify potential adversaries and try to neutralize
them with allies and champions
• Determine if the Prospect‟s expectations were set by
the competition. Are these expectations realistic?
Manageable?
• Develop a strategic plan with sales leadership
• Conduct periodic competitive sanity checks


Competitive Strategies
• Pre-emptive – Win by being • Flanking-Rule Changes
first/avoid battle – Expand prospect‟s goal
– Exclusive deal – Enhance solution
– Alliances – Change power structure by
– Pre-wired/partner introducing new
– Walk away influencers
• Frontal- Direct Assault – Change the process
– Company Reputation • Fractional-Divide/Conquer
– Services differentiators – Isolate competition
– Plausible Emergencies – Strategic alliances


Motivating Stalled Prospects
• Call to follow up • Begin the follow up with
• Ask to schedule a refocus review of suspected goals
meeting • Confirm current goals and
• Prior to meeting, document consensus from key players
prospect‟s goals, identify if • Determine sense of urgency
these have changed • Determine missed criteria, ask
• Apply EQPA to each goal if there‟s anything missing
• Request for attendance by as • Follow up with new evaluation
many key players as possible plan via email to document
or set stage for meetings for
each key player


Manage Buyer Tactics
• Typically need multiple • Price negotiation may
bids occur in reverse
• May have already preference order
selected preferred • Buyer may fabricate
provider pricing/discounting by
• Won‟t let us know if we‟re competitors
winning or losing or why • Buyer more heavily
deal seems stalled commoditizes services
• Price negotiation (countered by
pressure applied to soon consequence questions.)
• Buyer may orchestrate
buying time frame.


Selling by Habit

Knowledge –
(what to
do, why it’s
important)
HABITS

Desire (why
Skills (how we want
we do it) this)


Creating Effective Habits
“Creating a habit requires work in all 3
areas –It‟s sometimes a painful process.
It‟s a change that has to be motivated by
a higher purpose., by the willingness to
subordinate what you think you want now
for what you want later.”

Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People


Thank You

http://go2marketstrategies.org/contact/


Building an enterprise sales strategy

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