So, You Want To Sell Solutions? Part 5: Staying Aligned With Your Customer

Alignment with your customer is every bit as important as your plan of approach.
You cannot force the process and you cannot force the sale.

"There are no shortcuts to success, there are many shortcuts to failure."

The alignment should begin on the initial contact and be maintained through product/service delivery by a comprehensive adoption plan/sponsor letter that lays out the milestones and go/no go's that need to be reached in order to deliver your product or service.

Most large organizations move painfully slow through the procurement process, your job is to help guide them and remind them that life is what happens while we are making other plans.
That is to say, the issues and pains that drove them to seek a solution have not diminished since they sought help, but have intensified and will continue to grow until they have deployed a solution to address them.
Keep reminding them of this simple truth, also let them know that you need their internal assistance to help achieve fulfillment.
Your internal advocate needs to understand and believe that what you are offering is the best means of resolving his organization's critical issues and needs to champion you at funding and acquisition sessions.
I use the following approach in my sponsor letters:

Recap- Use the customers statements and the facts to lay out what you discussed with regard to pain, document the current method, the results and the impact it's having and will have if left unaddressed.
Detail your solution and its impact and potential value add to his organization.
Then detail the next steps needed to reach the delivery.
Use hard step dates. These can be modified as needed, but without firm milestones set, and dates for achievement agreed to you are like a boat adrift with out a compass.
Remember, while you are presenting and aligning with the project manager or whoever your point of contact is internally, they are most likely not the ones who cut the checks and create the PO. This is typically handled through a purchasing agent who likely has very little knowledge about the project or the value add you bring.
Your internal advocate can be a big help here in navigating these complex channels.
Many projects fail because there is no cohesive plan for coordinating the project and its deadline ac cross the organization you are delivering to.

If you have done your job properly, this is no longer a sales push, it is now an administrative push and you have secured your sale.
Now you just need to to get through the purchasing process.
Use your advocate/sponsor here to help. Always reminding them that you are a team now and need to work together to finalise all the details needed t0 deliver their solution.

So, You Want To Sell Solutions? Part 4 "Plan the work, Work the plan"

A lot of sales folk use scripts for making cold calls and initial contacts.

The reasons are simple and mostly valid; you need to introduce yourself; your company and gather specific information to determine if the customer is a qualified lead.

Once the call is done, that information is entered into the clients profile and should contain all the information relevant to moving to your next steps in the process.

I no longer use a script. Here's why:

Using a script, no matter how good you think you are, sounds scripted.

Plain and simple.

Try using a framework instead.

A frame work allows you to hit the same points you need to qualify the customer, yet it also lets the conversation flow organically.

Take a pad of paper and map the front call.

Determine just what information you will need to qualify and be sure that your framework contains the questions you need to ask specific to the pains and benefits your product addresses.

Let the conversation flow organically.

If you have built interest the customer will typically provide all the details, you need and offer up information you did not even expect.
If there is no need or interest, you are wasting your time.
End the call.

Too many aggressive salespeople push the potential customer to a point that they kill the lead on the front call.

You know you have the worlds greatest solution to address your customers wants and needs, they do not.

Leads cost money, do not waste them. if you have listened effectively and treated the customer with respect, even though they may not need you now, you leave the door open to follow up with them later.
So, determine what questions you need to ask to turn your lead into an opportunity.
For solution sales you must have the following to complete the sale:

Pain, Power Vision and Value:

1. Pain: Do they have an existing critical issue that your product or service can address or resolve?

2. Power: Are you at power? i.e. a a decision making authority with the power to spend or to influence the buying process?

3. Vision: Can you articulate a plan that incorporates and validates your customers short and long term vision?

4. Value: Can you detail both the actual dollar value (ROI) as well as the intrinsic value your solution represents to the organization in terms of dollars and cents as well as enhanced productivity and time saved over the existing or competing solution?

As mentioned in a previous post, you are the doctor here, you are presenting a remedy designed to cure or treat an existing pain and the underlying condition.

You must first diagnose the pain before you can prescribe a solution.

If your customer has not experienced the pain that your solution addresses, nothing you have to show them will have any value and you are just wasting your time.
Whether addressing the IT or business side you must identify and get them to acknowledge their pain before you can offer any solution.

So plan your steps, map your process and know your customer.

(To be Continued)

So, You Want To Sell Solutions? Part 3: "Know Your Customer"

Whenever I have done consulting to organizations looking to expand sales, one of the very first things I do is create a straw composite profile of what my potential customer will look like, the industries and verticals he will represent, and the most common issues he is likely to encounter.

This is a simple process and it will save you from a lot of the trial and error associated with product launch.

Earlier we discussed identifying a market need for our solution.

Now we address the user.

Keep in mind that solutions are sought and acquired only to address an experienced or anticipated pain.
No Pain=No Solution.

If you know in advance the market you are targeting and the major needs and concerns of your potential customers, you can really accelerate your process.



Identify: Who is my target? The industry, and the most likely person(s) to reach out to.


Detail: What 2-3 critical issues does my solution address and how?


Approach: What single paragraph statement can I make that will engage their attention?



In the first contact of your potential customers, you either engage them or lose them within the first 20 seconds of your sales call or first paragraph of your email.

I generally refer to this first contact as my "Thirty Second Elevator Pitch"

This is my opening statement to contacts that imparts the value add of my solution.

Ask yourself now, if I were on an elevator with the purchasing authority and had only thirty seconds to engage him, What compelling statement could I make to get him to want to explore my offering?

Be sure your statement is compelling, relevant and projects a real value add.

So, do your homework, know who your selling to and why they need your product/service and create the statement you will make based on the straw man research you have already done.

Remember:

You do not get a second chance to make that first impression.

(To be Continued)

So, You Want To Sell Solutions? Part 2: "Tell them What You Do, Then Do What You Told Them."

Another common error start ups make is in over complicating the presentation of their solutions.

Software needs to be user, not developer driven.

You may have an architect or developer in mind for your solution, and as the creator, you are probably very technical.

But developers, and architects rarely write the checks.

You need to be sure that your solution is easy to understand and that your presentation addresses complex issues in an un complex manner that the non-technical business side can comprehend.

You get no points for your brilliance, the business side is not interested in how smart you are. Show them how you can add ROI and make their lives easier and you will win their confidence and ultimately their business.

Look for a real world issue that your solution addresses and show them how you solve it.

A good rule of thumb in demonstrating an IT solution is:

1. Tell them what you are going to do.

2. Do what you told them you would do.

3. Tell and show them what you have just done.

Developing IT solutions is a complex process requiring a keen understanding for your area of expertise, years of study, patience perseverance, dedication and insight. Presenting and then selling it needs to be as uncomplicated as you can possibly make it.

If you can articulate value and common sense propositions that your customer can easily grasp , you will succeed, if you are pedantic and condescending you will lose their interest and lose the sale.

(To be Continued)

So, You Want To Sell Solutions? Part 1: 'Shut Up & Listen Up!

Previously, I mentioned that sales for all intents and purposes has not changed much over the course of human history, this is also true when selling IT solutions, we just have some different terminology, and a longer process than most other industries.

Therefore, a little planning and alignment with your customers can really help propel you to success.

Cliche's are cliche's because they are generally true. One favorite of mine is "Plan your work, And then work your plan."
This means knowing your customer and being able to align yourself to their vision of what a successful solution represents.

Another is "Take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth."
If you ask the right questions, and listen effectively, you just might learn something.

I sell SharePoint solutions, so my research is into those organizations seeking or needing to collaborate on the enterprise, identifying their pains, and then showing them what I can do to provide a solution.
When you sell solutions, you need to think of yourself as an IT Doctor; find the root cause of the patent's symptoms, diagnose the malady and then prescribe a solution.

Do not try to prescribe a solution before you know what ails your patient.

In our fast paced world, we often feel neglected or ill served when our care providers fail to listen to our complaints.
Often, they will give you a cursory once over, ask a few questions and then send you on your way.
Sometimes they don't even physically examine you!

Back in the parking lot and later at home you begin to feel resentment because no one has really listened to you.
This is no different in IT sales.
Listen to your patient!
I can not stress enough the importance of effective listening.
If you ask the right questions and document the answers verbatim, your customer will provide you with all the information you need to diagnose his problem and thereby prescribe the best treatment.
He/she will know that you are listening, and that you know what you are doing.
In turn they will be much more receptive to your offering and you will have the ammunition you need to sell them, provided to you by the potential customer.

Too often we fail at listening, only to learn after we've rambled on and on about our solutions that, not only have we not qualified properly, we are not even speaking to the right person.
This has left your truly with egg on his face on more than one occasion.
So, listen to your customer and take copious notes.


( To Be Continued)

Reinventing The Wheel

For some reason, many new start ups feel the need to create a new sales process for their new company and spend much of their funding in formulating, executing and implementing new strategy when it isn't necessary.

Here is a simple truth:

Basic sales methods have not changed since the first cavemen traded mastodon steaks for Clovis tip spears.

There is: The Approach, The Introduction, The Qualification, The Handling of Objections and The Close.

That's it.

Solution sales is no different. There are variations on the above, but other than a consultative approach, and the need to effectively manage the account after the sale, everything else remains the same.

Why is this?

Because, innovators and entrepreneurs are in a constant quest for the next new thing, and sales consultants and marketing professionals make their livings by convincing their customers that they need to use new or alternate methods.

This is simply not true.

There are so many thousands of different books and systems out there that trying to name them all would be impossible for me in this post.

Don't buy into the hype.

Use what works for you and leave the rest.

A friend asked me recently to help him prepare a sales and marketing plan to assist in launching his small business.

He had a stack of books and charts and had spent many hundreds of dollars and done days of research compiling his information.

"What are you doing?"

He protested as I waived away his sheaf of charts and pushed most of his stack of books off to the side.

"You don't need all this stuff." I told him.

"What do I need?"

"You need to look around at your competitors and find out what they are doing or have done that made them successful, and then emulate the best and leave the rest behind."

It sounds simple because it is.

In our hi-tech world we all want the latest and greatest; fastest cars, fastest computers,newest fashions and styles.

But success in sales and business is not a fad, or a trend, it is a combination of applying proven techniques and solutions and working the metrics.

So, take the best and leave the rest.

Set goals for yourself that are achievable. Little ones at first followed by big ones as you gain more confidence and improve your skill set.

Write your goals down.

Read them aloud and commit them to memory as your personal mantra.

Create an action plan, a step by step statement of the work you need to do and the little steps you need to take in order to achieve your goals.

No goal statement is complete without an action plan to guide it.

Do read some of the books, as there are many very valuable guides to sales and solution sales. Many use different terminology to achieve the same end but it all goes back to the basics.

I highly recommend Tom Hopkins"How to Master The Art Of Sales" And for IT sales pro's there is no better book than Keith Eades "The New Solution Selling" which also includes a series of well defined road maps, and metrics to help you develop and implement a solid solution sales process.

There are many others out there that are equally valuable, but remember that you do not need to reinvent the wheel. All the information is out there, compiled through trial and error and proven through the history of human experience, you just need to find what works for you and then work it.

Plan your work and then work your plan.