“The buyer is in charge” is one of the most popular refrains in contemporary business sales and marketing today. Well it’s true; the Internet has changed buyer behavior forever. In the old days of business sales, the seller controlled the conversation. Now, the Internet has given the power back to the buyer. Marketing has undergone a radical transformation to change their approach to meet the new buyer’s expectations. It’s sales’ turn. The reality is the buyer views their experience with a vendor as one of the most important factors in buying. When polled, buyers rate their experience with vendors higher than the expected answers of product and price. The sales leader’s imperative is to deliver the sales experience their buyers want and expect. In this webinar, we provide you with the blueprint and specific use case examples. This discussion is tailored for CEOs, execs, VPs, upper-level management, and anyone involved in sales and overall business strategy.

1. Why You Should Let Your
Buyer Design Your Sales
Organization
Craig Rosenberg
blog.topohq.com
@funnelholic
TOPO

2. “The best sales leaders understand
that they have to have the right
people, the right behaviors, the right
technology, the right coaching and
infrastructure to be able to sell how
their customers want to buy”
Dave Stein
TOPO

3. “Sophisticated customers are not
interested in traditional sales
models. They demand faster, more
seamless, and even enjoyable sales
experiences.”
Homayoun Hatami, McKinsey
TOPO

4. Sales Leaders who adopt a buyer-centric
sales philosophy are thriving:
• Exceed their revenue goals: 150% of
quota
• Job security: 3-4 year job cycles
Sales Benchmark Index
TOPO

5. “Companies that provide great
buying experiences grow >2X
faster than companies that provide
average experiences”
TOPO
TOPO

6. Understand the Buyer and the Buying
Process
Image by wilgengebroed
TOPO

7. Truly understand the buyer
© 2013 TOPO
Buyer Demographics
1. Who are you personally (married, children, etc)?
2. What’s your background and career path?
3. How long have you been at your current job?
4. What industry is your company in?
5. How many employees does your company have?
Buyer Role
6. What is your role in the organization?
7. What is your title?
8. What are your responsibilities?
9. What skills do you possess?
10. Who are you accountable to?
11. What does your team look like?
Buyer Psychology
12. What are you most excited about at work?
13. What are your main opportunities (biggest)?
14. What are your main challenges (biggest)?
15. Do you like to make things happen?
16. What motivates you to make something happen?
17. What defines success in your role?
18. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about work?
Day in the Life
19. What does a typical day look like?
20. How would you describe your work environment?
21. What obstacles do you commonly encounter?
22. Who do you interact with the most?
23. What’s your preferred mode of communication?
24. What tools do you use at work?
25. How do you gather information to make decisions?
Purchasing Decisions
26. How would you describe the way you buy products?
27. What are the major phases of a purchasing process?
28. What’s an example of a purchase you recently made?
29. Who is responsible for purchasing decisions?
30. Who influences purchasing decisions?
31. What causes you to begin a purchasing process?
32. What criteria do you use to evaluate products?
33. What causes you to purchase a product?
34. What causes you to purchase one product over another?
35. Is product, price, or service more important?
36. How long does it take to make a purchase?
37. What information is valuable to you during a purchase?
38. How do you prefer to consume that information?
39. How do you prefer to interact with vendors?
40. How can vendors help you the most?
TOPO

8. Demographics
Gemma Hodge, Office Manager
25 year old millennial
Works at 30 person CAD engineering firm
Likes her job and the CEO, but it’s only a job
Buyer Role
Does a lot of different things at the office
Primary role as office administrator
Also acts as CEO’s admin
Spends time on accounting and HR stuff as well
Helps CEO with special, tactical projects
Has experience buying mission critical technology
Psychology
Really likes her job
But it’s not what defines her – she has a life
Still takes immense pride in her work
Wants to do the best she can within work hours
Feels like the CEO really depends on her
Values personal support she provides to him
Day in the Life
Office admin activities take up a lot of time
Also spends time on bookkeeping and HR
Can get buried with accounting some times
Is on call to support CEO whenever required
When assigned a project, spends a lot of time on it
Takes work hours very literally
Does not take work home with her
Purchasing
Is not the ultimate decision-maker
Plays support role to CEO/management
She does have strong influence over decision
Triggered by service outage, big bill, K expiration
Question 1 – is service reliable?
Question 2 – how big will the bill be?
Question 3 – how long will it take to get going?
Gathers facts and presents to CEO
Comparison shopping is important to her
Needs simple service level guarantee
Needs to present workable economics to CEO
Needs process to be straightforward and easy
Values straightforward, responsive salespeople
Small Business
Office Manager
TOPO

9. Awareness Consideration Purchase
Phase Identification Requirements Comparison Shortlist Negotiate Purchase
Objective Identify problem
or opportunity
requiring
attention
Understand
requirements and
business case
Find products that
can meet
requirements
Shortlist products
that meet
requirements
Negotiate best
terms for product,
price, and support
Purchase product
and quickly move
to rollout
Key Activities Managing
business
Event or trigger
occurs
Problem or
opportunity ID
Decide to pursue
issue
Identify stake-
holders
Gather
requirements
Formalize
requirements
Develop business
case
Understand
solution universe
Evaluate universe
of products
Focus on product,
price, support
Refine
requirements
Develop shortlist
of options
Conduct detailed
evaluation
Deep dive on
product, price,
support
Develop initial
recommendation
Make final
recommendation
Create deal
“strawman”
Negotiate key
terms
Submit for
internal approval
Make final
purchase decision
Execute signed
agreement
Move to rollout/
implementation
Information
Consumed
General
information
Market
Information
Stakeholder input
Analyst research
Whitepapers
Peer input
Product sheets
Videos
Demo
Demo
Trial
References
Business case
Contract
Contract
Rollout plan
Communication
Used
Internal
collaboration
Internet
Internal
collaboration
Internet
Email
Internet
Phone
Phone
Email
Internet
Phone
Email
Phone
Email
Move to Next
Phase When…
Problem/ opp
identifed
Final
requirements and
business case
Shortlist
completed
Comparison
completed
Material terms
negotiated
Agreement
executed
Map the Buying Process
TOPO

10. “Evaluate and assess how the selling process overlaps
with the buying process. If an organization finds that
60 percent of the sales process maps to the buying
process, then the other 40 percent is a gap that
needs to be addressed.”
Dave Stein
Photo by Brendan Lynch TOPO

11. Phases of the Inside Sales Process
Buying Stages
Problem
Identification
Understand
Requirements
Compare
Vendors
Shortlist
Vendors
Negotiation
Purchase
Decision
Sales Stage Approach
Qualify, Agree
on Need, Sell
XO
Presentation Refine Negotiation Close
Description
Approach
buyer with
goal of setting
meeting
Gather
requirements;
agree on
solution
Present first
proposal; set
next meeting
Present final
solution based
on feedback
Negotiate key
terms; enter
order
Executed SOA
and paperwork
received
Factor 1% 10% 25% 50% 75% 90%
TOPO

12. Buyer-Centric Sales Plays
TOPO

13. Awareness
Issue/Question Why do I need this product?
Messaging
Soundbyte(s)
“Buyers prefer to consume content then
listen to a sales person”
“Legacy selling approaches are not as
effective today?
Sales Play Focus on the problem
Understand current environment
Deliver “Changing Buyer” preso
Send Ultimate Guide to Content Selling
Content The Changing Buyer (Preso)
The Ultimate Guide to Content Selling
(Preso)
Process Next Step -Identify persona in CRM for nurturing
-Set Follow
Prospect advances
when
They identify there is a problem
Build Plays for Each Buying Step
TOPO

14. Design buyer-responsive plays
Buyer
Stage
Buyer
Activity
Status Quo
Understand
Requirements/
Options
Engage Vendor(s)
Identify
Problem/Opportu
nity
Make
Decision/Purchase
1personsupportorg
UsingGmail/GoogleDocs
Workloadgrowingfast
Numberofticketsgrowing
2peoplenowworkingsupport
Newemployeenotself-sufficient
Twopersonworkflowisissue
Newemployeeneedstosolve
CollectsbasicinfousingGoogle
Talkstopeers–valuesthis
Corefeaturesidentified
Gatherspricingdata
Focusesoneaseofuse
Developsvendorshortlist
Createsvendorevaluationplan
Visitsleadingvendor’ssite
Signsupfortrial
Justneedsittowork
Startsusingtrial
Noothertrials
Takescall/emailfromsales
Abletosatisfycoreusecase
Takes2ndcallfromsales
Buyerdecidestopurchase
Enterscreditcardinfo
Buyerbecomescustomer
Play Provide primary contact with champion content that allows contact to
guide, influence, and dictate internal meeting
1 27
Internalmeetingon
finaldecision
Details Champion content is a toolkit that provides buyers with short preso, talking
points, and due diligence checklist to show all work that’s been done as
part of eval
Why CEO will make final decision, but has not been engaged thus far – need to
arm primary contact with tools to get CEO over finish line
Owner Marketing owns creation of content; inside sales owns delivery/training
Champion
Content Play
© 2013 TOPO
TOPO

15. Buyer-Centric Messaging Design
Photo by Todd Hansen
TOPO

16. Messaging Design
Industry/
Persona
Challenges Solution Benefits Company
Persona #1
Persona #2
Persona #3
Persona Based Messaging
TOPO

17. Content Design
Image by 10ch TOPO

18. "In the future, a great piece of content will out-sell
the average sales rep.”
Greg Alexander, Sales Benchmark Index
Image by TexasEagle TOPO

19. Sales Stage Approach
Qualify, Agree
on Need,
Presentation Refine Negotiation Close
Buying
Stage
Problem
Identification
Understand
Requirements
Compare
Vendors
Shortlist
Vendors
Negotiation
Purchase
Decision
Persona #1 • Changing
Buyer
• Content
Selling 101
Persona #2 • Executive’s
guide to
Content
Selling
• 10 Habits of
Top Sales
Leaders
Content mapping happens here
Content and Sales Process Mapping
TOPO

20. Organizational Design
Image by Marcel Douwe Dekker TOPO

21. “The key for sales leaders is to look
at the buyer variables that will
impact their ability to be successful.
How do their buyers want to buy?
Do their buyers utilize online
resources to educate themselves?
Do their buyers feel comfortable
communicating over phone or
email? Can their buyers be educated
over phone or online?”
Trish Bertuzzi, The Bridge Group Inc
TOPO

22. Hiring Design
Image by Justin Cormack TOPO

23. “We…literally need to
convince prospects to turn
their sales and marketing
process on its head. To do so…
Sales reps need to be
sophisticated enough…[Based
on this criteria} we started off
by writing down a set of
attributes that we thought
would be important, and used
these during interviews to
evaluate candidate”
TOPO

24. The Hiring Profile/Scorecard
TOPO

25. Technology
TOPO

26. TOPO

27. The Social Selling Question
TOPO

28. Questions?
TOPO
© 2013 TOPO
blog.topohq.com
@funnelholic
We design and deliver remarkable buying experiences