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BUILDING BLOCKS FOR SUCCESS
How Marketing can createmessaging that salespeople
can actually use
A presentation byMike Bosworth
Your Mother’s Experience?
• Aggressive• Insincere• Pushy• Manipulative• Obnoxious• Over-familiar• Prone to exaggerate• Inclined to over sell• Anxious to tell “everything you ever wanted to
know”• Poor listeners• Likely to do what’s best for them, not the buyer• Not to be trusted
What is Selling?From The IT Seller Perspective
• Convincing?
• Persuading?
• Getting someone else to do what you want?
• Persistence?
• Handling objections?
• Taking at least 5 “NO’s” before giving up?
Can We “Reframe” Selling?
Customer centric selling is asking directed questionsto help buyers visualize how to use your offerings to:
–– Achieve a goalAchieve a goal
–– Solve a problem Solve a problem
–– Satisfy a need Satisfy a need
This allows you to shape your customer’s experienceand make the way you sell a competitive advantage!
• Conversations• Questions• Solution focused• Business decision makers• Relate product usage• Sell by helping buyers:
– Achieve goals– Solve problems– Satisfy needs
• Willing to leave• Rarely have to close
Best Practice Selling Behavior
Typical Salesperson Product Training
Software Product Feature List Example
Password administrationSingle view across platforms
Standard milestonesContact information
Account historyCross selling24x7 access
Political mappingElectronic coaching
Lead trackingPassing of leads
Historical close ratesAnalysis of past campaigns
etc.etc.etc.
Typical Product Training/Product Marketing The “Pinocchio” Effect
“’It’ will improve your sales forecast!”
“’It’ will increase your productivity!”
“’It’ will reduce your customer churn!”
“’It’ will improve your salesperson morale!”
How will “IT” do it?
Selling With Traditional Product Training
Typical salesperson statement:
“Our seamless and integrated CRM application will dramatically improve
your forecasting accuracy!”
This causes salespeople to develop messaging on the fly”
Customer Message Management ForumAmerican Marketing Association
“Up to 90% of collateral created by marketing is never used by sales.”
Building Trust
People buy from sellers who earntheir trust by empowering them
Should a seller:
– ask for the buyer’s trust?
– tell the buyer to trust them?
– earn trust by empowering the buyer to trust themselves?
Shouldn’t Your Salespeople Be Asking?
“After making calls, would it help if your CRMsystem would prompt your salespeople to reportprogress against pre-defined standard milestonesfor each opportunity in their pipeline?”
“On an ongoing basis, would you like the CRMsystem to apply historical close rates for eachsalesperson at each stage of your pipeline, andhighlight activity that will yield below quotaperformance?”
Product Development
Product Marketing
Product Training
Demand Generation
Collateral Customer-Centric?
Customer-Centric?
Marketing?(Above the funnel?)
Sales?(In the funnel?)
Who’s problem is it?
Initial Call/GOAL Identification
SOLUTION DevelopmentChampion
Qualify Championand Key Buyers
Qualify theOpportunity
Cost vs. Benefit
Negotiation/Close
Product Marketing
Product Training
Collateral
Demand Generation
Marketing?(Above the funnel?)
Sales?(In the funnel?)
Who’s problem is it?
SOLUTION DevelopmentChampion
Qualify Championand Key Buyers
Qualify theOpportunity
Cost vs. Benefit
Negotiation/Close
Initial Call/GOAL Identification
Product Marketing
Product Training
Collateral
Demand Generation
Who’s problem is it?
Marketing?(Above the funnel?)
Sales?(In the funnel?)
SOLUTION DevelopmentChampion
Qualify Championand Key Buyers
Qualify theOpportunity
Cost vs. Benefit
Negotiation/Close
Initial Call/GOAL Identification
What predictable conversationswill a salesperson need to have
in order to get your offeringSold, Funded and Implemented?
Targeted Conversation List
Targeted Conversation List - CRM Example
VP FinanceS,F Achieve profit projections w/ accurate revenue forecasting
VP FinanceS,F Reduce the cost of sales
VP SalesS,I Improved forecasting accuracy
VP SalesS,I Shorten start-up time for new sales reps
VP SalesS,I Increase the number of B and C reps who make quota
VP MktgI Provide sales ready messaging for each stage in the company’s sales process
CIOI Support Implementation with limited resources
S SellF FundI Implement (Conversion/Compliance)
What business eventswould each targeted buyer encounter
that would cause them to wantor need the features of
your offerings?
Targeted Business Events
Targeted Business Events - CRM Example
Target Conversation: CFO - Achieve profit projections
Business Event #1: After a rep makes a sales call
Business Event #2: When reviewing pipelines
Business Event #3: When coaching salespeople
Business Event #4: When preparing revenue projections
Create Usage Scenarios for Business Events:
The EQPA Formula• Event:
– The circumstance causing a specific job title to need a specificfeature of your offering
• Question:– Asking facilitates buying. Telling feels like you're “selling”
• Player:– Who or what (could be a system) will take action to respond to the
event
• Action:– How the feature can be used stated in terms the buyer can
understand and that relate to their job title
EQPA ExampleConvert buyer’s events into Usage Scenarios
• Conversation: VP Finance – Improve Profit Projections• Event: After sales reps conduct sales calls• Situation: Salespeople have difficulty projecting probabilities &
outcomes of the opportunities in their pipelines, leadingto forecasting difficulties.
The EQPA Formula
Event: After your sales reps make sales calls,Question: would it help ifPlayer: your SalespeopleAction: could be prompted to report progress against pre-
defined standard milestones for each opportunityin their pipeline?
Af ter making callsWould it help ify our salespeoplecould be prompted to report progress against pre-def ined standardmilestones f or each opportunity in their pipeline?
When rev iewing a salesperson’s pipelinewould it be helpf ul ifsales managerscould access a data base of opportunities, ev aluate their status andemail suggestions to reps to improv e the chances of winning ?
On an ongoing basiswould y ou likethe CRM sy stemto apply historical close rates f or each rep and each stage of thepipeline, highlighting activ ity that will y ield below quota perf ormance?
When ev aluating the status of large opportunitieswould it be benef icial ifYou and other C lev el executiv escould access y our pipeline v ia y our laptop any time/any where andrev iew progress against milestones?
On demand and at any timeWould y ou wanty our sales managersto rev iew opportunities and based upon their experience, chooseopportunities they f eel hav e low probabilities of success andencourage the salesperson to do f urther quality or withdraw?
Building Solution Development Prompters™Title: VP Finance Goal: Achieving revenue projections with more accurate forecasting Product/Service: SFA/CRM
USAGE SCENARIOSEvent:
Question:Player:Action:
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
After a rep makes a call
When reviewing pipelines
When coaching your reps
When preparing forecasts
24x7 anytime
BUSINESS EVENTS
Today, how would buyers respondto events without your offering
and how would they benegatively impacted?
What targeted diagnostic questionswould a seller need to ask?
Targeted Diagnostic QuestionsThe Key To Seller Credibility
Topic 1: Update opportunity status daily against milestonesHow do managers keep current with the status of opportunities? How of ten dothey get updated by their reps? How? Would more f requent status reports behelpf ul? Hav e y ou established milestones to gage progress?
Topic 2: Protection of data when territory changes take placeHow do reps rev iew past activ ity when assigned new accounts? How av ailableand usef ul is documentation? Between new hires and turnov er, how manyreps/y ear are added? Does a lack of continuity ev er cost y ou business? S
Topic 3: Plan activity levels based upon historical close ratesDo reps stop prospecting when their f unnel looks healthy ? Do some hav epeaks and v alley s due to this trend? % How do sales managers monitoractiv ity to ensure quotas will be met? Do they adjust f or v ary ing close rates ofreps? How?
Topic 4: Bottlenecks identified and flagged for ManagersHow do managers identif y bottlenecks in a rep’s pipeline? How many deals arelost because opportunities stall? #;$ If aware of a bottleneck, would managersof f er suggestions to mov e opportunities f orward? How would they do it?
Topic 5: Manager visibility to disqualify opportunitiesHow of ten do reps v oluntarily withdraw f rom opportunities prior to losing them?% Is it dif f icult f or managers to discov er low probabilities deals? Can y ouestimate the % of opportunities in the pipeline that y ou are unlikely to win?
What are the major barriers to achieving yournumbers today?
Completed Solution Development Prompter™Title: VP Finance Goal: Achieving revenue projections with more accurate forecasting Product/Service: SFA/CRM
DIAGNOSTIC QUESTIONS USAGE SCENARIOS
#,%,$,E?
#,%,$,E?
Recap: “So your current situation is…” Confirm solution: “If you had (capabilities)…could you then (achieve goal)?
I would like to try _____ ideas on you.
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
Event:Question:
Player:Action:
Af ter making callsWould it help ify our salespeoplecould be prompted to report progress against pre-def ined standardmilestones f or each opportunity in their pipeline?
When rev iewing a salesperson’s pipelinewould it be helpf ul ifsales managerscould access a data base of opportunities, ev aluate their status andemail suggestions to reps to improv e the chances of winning ?
On an ongoing basiswould y ou likethe CRM sy stemto apply historical close rates f or each rep and each stage of thepipeline, highlighting activ ity that will y ield below quota perf ormance?
When ev aluating the status of large opportunitieswould it be benef icial ifYou and other C lev el executiv escould access y our pipeline v ia y our laptop any time/any where andrev iew progress against milestones?
On demand and at any timeWould y ou wanty our sales managersto rev iew opportunities and based upon their experience, chooseopportunities they f eel hav e low probabilities of success andencourage the salesperson to do f urther quality or withdraw?
Targeted Conversation List - CRM Example
VP FinanceS,F Achieve profit projections w/ accurate revenue forecasting
VP FinanceS,F Reduce the cost of sales
VP SalesS,I Improved forecasting accuracy
VP SalesS,I Shorten start-up time for new sales reps
VP SalesS,I Increase the number of B and C reps who make quota
VP MktgI Provide sales ready messaging for each stage in the company’s sales process
CIOI Support Implementation with limited resources
S SellF FundI Implement (Conversion/Compliance)
Building Incremental Interest
< 1 MinuteCold Contact
“Elevator Pitch”Sample Menu
Prospect is curious “Tell me more” Prospect
feelsseller is
competent
curiositybecomesinterest
2 Minutes Success Story
10+ MinutesSolution
developmentdiscussion
Prospect shares Goal
Thank You!
For more informationor a copy of this presentation:www.CustomerCentric.com
a. Copyright 2005 CustomerCentric Systems, LLC (www.customercentricsystems.com).b. CustomerCentric Selling® is a registered trademark and service mark of CustomerCentric Systems, LLC.c. This material is owned by, and is the property of CustomerCentric Systems, LLC. This material is intellectual property and is confidential. Any reproduction, copying, or other use of this material in any manner without the express written permission of the owner is strictly prohibited.d. Sales Ready Messaging®, Solution Development Prompter™, Solution Development Process™, Opportunity Qualification Road Map™, Conversational Road Map™ are trademarks of CustomerCentric Systems, LLC.
