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It's How You Sell, Not What You Sell.
Santosh PrasadEmail: [email protected]
”The three most important traits for a salesperson are research skills, asking the right questions, and a genuine desire to identify & solve problems for clients”
Results-driven professional with about 18 years experience in engaging and managing Clients PAN India. Had opportunities to lead several strategic business initiatives to help organizations get breakthroughs and establish themselves in uncharted markets & domains. Extensive experience in Strategic Sales, Business development, Enterprise Sales, and good exposure to Operations Management, Transitions & People Management.
My strengths lie in my ability to comprehend the details, dynamics and drivers of
a particular business segment/market; mapping business potential and prospects; identifying and understanding clients’ business issues to formulate solutions; planning strategic, methodological & innovative sales approach; using my operational expertise to resolve business issues; and articulating the value proposition.
Professional Summary
Skilled practitioner of consultative selling and inside sales
Structured and research based pre-sales, and client requirement analysis
Proven expertise in business development in uncharted markets & domains
Client relationship management, account development and solution designing
Formulating policies and guiding team members to accomplish business targets
Core Competencies
After engaging and managing clients for about 18 years, I am not a great believer of the traditional sales methodologies.
Today sales is all about ‘problem solving’ for the Clients. I like to think of myself not as a sales person for an organization, but rather as a ‘problem solver’ for my clients. A genuine empathy for clients’ concern is what I bring on board and try to drive the same outlook across the organization.
Research is quintessentially the name of the game for sales. I research everything i.e. companies, competitors, decision makers/influencers, services offered, end clients, industry and company specific issues, hiring trends, marketing initiatives, and a lot more before initiating contact.
Great believer in having genuine conversations with clients, asking a lot of open ended questions, always being on the client side and not really pitching /closing till it makes sense. A good sales person as per me is the ‘one with a small mouth and big ears’.
My basic understanding of sales
Make it about them, not about you
What specific problem/s do you solve for Clients?
Who does it solve the problem for (i.e. departments, designations)?
Are the benefits measureable?
Are these about cost savings/increased revenues/efficiency gains?
Does it help Clients get a competitive advantage or close the gap?
Does it help their end Clients?
How does it work for them?
Clients decisions will always be based on ‘What is in it for me?’.
Research thoroughly (and then some more……)
Online research on Google, LinkedIn, corporate websites, news sites, press releases, Twitter, financial information, job portals, Facebook, PTO websites etc.
What can you look at:
Patents and trademarks filings
New partnerships and acquisitions
Internal & external communication
New services or products
Corporate and finance affairs
End Clients’ affairs
Outsourcing
Problem statements
New Initiatives or business expansion
Leadership changes
Hiring challenges, trends and new hires
Branding/ Marketing Initiatives
Competition Issues
Investor Relations
Triggers??? ……..It’s elementary; Watson.
Triggers are events or information which indicate a need for your products or services by a company, industry or region. These are the catalysts for a ‘Need Based’ sale.
Skill set shortages
Decline in revenues
Lay offs or employee attrition
Cost reduction measures
Recession
Outsourcing deals by competitors
Regulatory or tax structure changes
Leadership Changes
Negative industry outlook by Analysts
Increase in operational costs
Examples of triggers (for an IT outsourcing company)
Differentiate between pleasure and pain points
Prospecting & Engaging
Connect on LinkedIn
Engage on Twitter
Join similar online forums and groups
Attend relevant events
Send problem specific man-to-man emails
Conduct webinars
Get involved in the marketing initiatives
Find references
Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don't.” -Seth Godin
Say NO to email campaigns and cold callingProblem specific man-to-man emails will help you better engage your prospects. This is where the ‘Triggers’ identified during the research prove useful and add meaningful context to the conversation.
Hi Bob, We understand that it has become really difficult to fill up mid-level software developer positions these days. Some of these positions remain open for over five to six months on various job portals. I am guessing that you are feeling the crunch too. We have some long term and cost effective solutions for such situations. Can we connect some time soon to discuss how we can help?
Hi Jack, There have been a lot of reports recently on various cost cutting measures by IT organizations in the US. I believe we are in a position to help organizations tide over these tough times while sustaining the quality of their workforce, and saving about forty percent of their manpower expenses. Can we connect some time soon to discuss how we can help?
Examples (for an IT outsourcing company)
Sales call
Discovery Discovery is the most important part of the call because this is where you identify and understand the problems you are going to solve for the Client. You must:Ask relevant and conversational open ended questions.‘Say less and listen more’, understand, clarify, verify and take notes
Solution On the basis of your understandings from the research and discovery process, you present a customized solution. You must:Address the concerns, and add valueKeep it flexible enough for further customizationProvide clarifications and recap
Action Points Come to an agreement regarding the solution
Timeline to get back to the client on pending queries, if anyAgree on next steps (Who does what by when)Differentiate between decision makers and influencers
The art of sales follow up is less important than the act of sales follow up
If you haven't followed up, you haven't really pitched.
It takes anywhere between 8 to 14 follow ups to get a sale.
After call work or ACW is as important as the research done before the call, and in some cases even more important than the sales call itself. In time ACW gives you an opportunity to:
Verify the information provided by the Client
Get your BANT reconfirmed
Realignment of strategy and budget in the light of new information
After the call
My best sale
Criteria Us Competitor 1 Competitor 2
Experience >2 years 20 years 7 years
Team Size 4 FTE’s Over 100 FTE’s 40 FTE’s
Cost 15% higher Standard 10% discount
What did we do differently?
Identified and understood client’s pain areas during the discovery process, and provided more benefits than they were expecting.
We offered better skilled and qualified resources who could perform additional tasks, which were beyond the scope that client had originally chalked out.
Client was able to save additional 25% operational costs, and we won a $1.4 million account.
& Happy Selling !Santosh Prasad
“A sale is not something you pursue; it’s what happens to you while you are immersed in
serving your client.”
”You don't close a sale; you open a relationship if you want to build a long-
term, successful enterprise.”
”In sales, it's not what you say; it's how they perceive what you say.”