The business of knowing your customer's business - The key to selling value

COMPLIMENTARY WEBINAR
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<Month, Day>, 2015 | Julie Thomas
*The key to selling value
The business of knowing
your customer’s business*

Today’s objectives
What is business acumen and why is it important?
How to engage in a business conversation
The relationship between business issues
and justifying the sale
How to be a better business professional
© 2015 ValueSelling Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

Business acumen
is keenness and quickness
in understanding and dealing
with a business situation
Business literacy
is the knowledge and
understanding of the
financial, accounting,
marketing and operational
functions of an organization
Acumen
is “the ability to make
good judgments and
quick decisions”

The relationship

The steps for creating business literacy
INVESTIGATE PREDICT PREPARE

Investigate
Local information
─ Business Journals
Industry information
─ Associations
Trade Press
─ Lists
Company Information
─ Financial statements
Executive messages
─ Analyst Reports
INVESTIGATE

Investigate: Research
Research about them and the
company/agency (looking for
challenges they may be facing –
helps us connect to Business Issue…)
─ Company/agency website
─ Earnings report if public
Look for trends in key financial metrics
How does this company describe,
manage and measure the business
health?
INVESTIGATE

Predict
Business Objectives
Business Goals
Business Strategies
Business Initiatives
Business Issues
PREDICT

Value created by resolving Business Issues
Business Objective
What the organization
needs to accomplish
to maintain or grow
their business/entity.
Business Issue
needs to address and
resolve to achieve
business/entity
objectives.
Problem
Difficulties that prevent
them from being able to
satisfactorily deal with or
resolve business issues
– technical, process,
people.

Characteristics of a Business Issue
Has a direct (business) impact
Will align to a (business) objective
May need to be discovered
Has a cost and a
corresponding value

Questions to uncover Business Issues
What’s your #1 priority or challenge?
What stands in the way of you contributing
to your organization’s objective?
What’s your most important concern this year?
What customers need to address/resolve
to achieve business objectives

Executive dialogue question types
Verifies shared understanding and confirms
what we heard customer say.
Designed to surface customer’s view of current conditions.
Raises issues that didn’t surface on their own.
Used to differentiate and create need for your products
and services.
Aimed at getting prospect to momentarily experience the
consequences of not having your product or service.

Value created by resolving Business Issues
Business Objective
needs to accomplish
to maintain or grow
their business/entity.
Business Issue
needs to address and
resolve to achieve
business/entity objectives.
Problem
Difficulties that prevent
them from being able to
satisfactorily deal with or
resolve business issues –
technical, process, people.
Solution
Capabilities any
vendor needs to supply
to enable customer to
properly address
Business Issues
Value
The only thing that matters is customer’s
perception of the value of being able to resolve
their business issues; always a combination of
tangible and intangible components.

Justifying the Sale
Tangible Business Value:
Measurable or quantifiable
positive impact on the
Business Issue.
VALUE

What can you do today?
Commit to staying current
and relevant!
Industry knowledge
Financial literacy
Specific company knowledge
BusinessSpeak: Preparing for
Business Conversations with
Executives eLearning course
PREPARE

Summary
We must become business professionals first,
sales professionals second
Business executives expect peer-level
value-added relationships
Investigate, predict, prepare – all three steps are
key to execution!
Invest the time and effort to stay current and
relevant to your customers and prospects

Special offer!
99$
a $500 value!
Coupon code
SELLINGPOWER
available 1Q16
New launch eLearning course that shows you how to
INVESTIGATE | PREDICT | PREPARE

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Thank you!
Julie Thomas | President and CEO
julie@valueselling.com
+1 858 759 7954
www.linkedin.com/in/julieathomas

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