Selling in Difficult Time

7/31/2019 Selling in Difficult Time

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/selling-in-difficult-time 1/3

Th e conventional ap proach in

enterpr ise sa les is th a t th e

sa lespers on develops th e prospects

eith er b y cold-calling or th rou gh a

Reques t for Pr oposa l (RFP), m eets

the client , identif ies the needs,

proposes a s olu tion, h an dles price

an d oth er objection s vis-à -vis

competit ion an d closes th e order.

Th is ap proach even th ough

appropriate, has some limitations

an d m ay n ot work in th e difficu lt

t imes when th e t r ends a rerecess ionar y an d comp an ies ha ve

eith er sh elved, or pos tponed th e

bu yin g decisions .

Today’s executives n eed t o h ave a

mu ch m ore s t ra tegic approach in

order to reach t heir quotas . Robert

Du dley, a Sales Consu ltan t from US

an d Das Narayanda s from Harvard

Business School propose a Portfolio

Appr oach to Sales.

Th e bu ying decision s can be

categorized into fou r a reas :

A. Repu rcha se

B. Replace

C. Expa ns ion &

D. Innovation

Let u s look a t th e four m odes an d

what sh ould be the Sa lesperson ’s

approach :

A. R e p u r c h a s e : Assu me tha t

you r client ha s a few desktops

an d laptops bought from you .

The con ventional ap proach is

tha t th e sa lesperson vis i ts regu -

lar ly asking th e c lient when h e is

to place the order.In cas e if th e

client ha s a service problem a

service engineer m ay be depu ted

to solve th e problems . Genera lly the

role of a s ervice en gin eer is th at of a

su ppor t fu nct ion, who repairs th e

in str u m ent, gets his service report

sign ed a n d files th e report . In fact a t

th is s tage th e role of Cu stom er

Relat ion sh ip Man agem en t (CRM)

becomes very critical. Cu st omers

perceive Sa lespers ons an d Service

En gin eers differen tly. The Salesper -

son s are gen erally viewed with som e

su sp icion wh ereas a s ervice engi-

neer is welcomed with open a rms .

1. Bet t e r Margins : In case of excel-lent service being provided, the

vend or m ay be a ble to get price

increas e in the n ew proposa l. He

does n ot ha ve to u nd ergo aggressive

pr ice n egot ia t ion with the pu rcha se

dept . Th e service engin eer du e to

h is proxim ity in th e clien t

organ isa t ion is able to u nd ers tan d

the in te rna l dyna mics m u ch be t te r

than h i s sa les coun te rpa r t .

Qu ite often th e service engin eers

are techn ically competent a nd are

ab le to solve the pr oblems bu t being

weak in commu nicat ions , they may

n ot be a ble to iden t i fy the n ew

bu sines s opportu n it ies. Th e role of

CRM becomes very critical for the

followin g r eas ons :

2. Bet t e r Ut i li za t ion of

Sa lesper son ' s Time: Th e sales per-

son n eed not have to spen d too

mu ch t ime on th i s accou n t a nd can

thu s focu s on n ew accou nts . In a

way the sa les pers on's role is pe-

r iphera l in term s of th e t ime s pent

an d n ot in n egot ia t ion a n d order

closing.

Sellin g in Difficu lt Tim es

R e a c h

- O u t

J a n u a r y 1 ,

2 0 0 9

( N e w s l e t t e r

f o r t h o s e w h o v a l u e i n

n o v a t i o n )

1



B. R e p l a c e m e n t : In th is case ,

th e client is a lready ha vin g the

competitor 's produ cts an d you

are p lann ing to get a break -

th rough. Here th e sa lespers on

needs to have a m uch more

proactive approach. You should

kn ow the weakn esses of the

compet i tor ' s products a nd the

curr ent s tatu s of the s ervice

offered. The clien t m ay n ot be

willing to give the competitor's

weakn ess offh an d. You n eed todevelop a coach or a well-wish er

to get th e au th ent ic in format ion.

Here the sa lesperson h as to do

more of a PR work, h e ha s to

check wheth er th e decis ion

ma kers who were present when

th e earl ier order was placed ar e

in th e sam e posit ion or h ave

m oved to d ifferen t dep ts. or h ave

qu it th e organ isation. You n eed

to also look into th ose who m ay

be on your s ide and th ose who

are n ot. Quite often, th e sales-

persons do not h ave th is idea

an d th ey reach t h e c lient only

after th e RFP ha s b een sen t . It i s

poss ib le that th e cu s tomer ha s

alread y decided on som eone else

an d he needs th ree quo ta t ions

for au dit pu rpose .

C. E x p a n s i o n : Here th e client is

looking out for a capacity expan-

sion or it m ight a be a n ew project

a l together . In s u ch a cas e un der-

s tan d ing the cu s tomer 's bus iness

plans , the implication s on bot-

tom-lin e, ca sh -flow, inventory etc.

becomes qu ite critical. For su ch

situa tions, vend or shou ld h ave a

team with ma na gers from Sales ,

D. I n n o v a t i o n : In cas e of expan sionit is th e extens ion of th e exist ing

process. Whereas in case of inn ova-

tion , th e clien t does n ot feel h e ha s

a cr it ica l need from t he presen t

perspective. He may even feel that

you r pr odu ct m ay be over-engi-

n eered. For exam ple you are se l lin g

software which can an it icipa te spe-

cific pr oblems in a telecom switch .

You r p rosp ect is s elling to In dian

compa n ies who do not face an ysu ch problem. Th e R&D an d th e

produ ct ion m an ager fee l tha t su ch a

fea tu re i s r edun dan t which m akes

you r product expens ive and thu s

you are ou t of th e race. At th is s tage

you n eed to take a d ifferent a p-

proa ch. The p ers pective of a CEO is

mu ch wider tha n th ose of th e mid-

level execu tives . It will be fu tile to

sell the s olu tion a t m id-level. If th e

CEO can an t ic ipate th e bus iness

requ iremen t of h is fu tu re MNC

clients for whom your u niqu e fea-

t u r e m a y m a k e m u c h m o r e s en s e .

Th e only problem is th e CEO ma y

n ot en terta in a mid-level execu tive.

Th e only option is to h ave a m eetin g

of th e CEOs of th e vend or an d th e

clien t organisa tion . Do you t h in k

both th e CEOs discu ss th e specific


R e a c h

- O u t

J a n u a r y 1 ,

2 0 0 9



n o v a t i o n )

R&D, Fin an ce an d Produ ction (as

ap plicab le). Being m ore of a pr oject

sa le, sellin g wh at you h ave is n ot

su fficient. You n eed to u n ders tan d

th e fu n ctiona l im plication s of h is

pr oject from differen t a n gles. The

issu e can be ROI, In ven tory cost ,

t ime in rea ching the m ark et ; rela-

tive m erits of bu yin g vs. leas ing etc.;

team work of fu nction al experts can

give better resu lts .

2



techn ical featu re th at your s oft-

ware has ? The cha nces are th ey

will be sp eak in g m ore on th e

chan ging bus iness s cenar ios , the

n ew opportu n it ies etc. Let me

give an exam ple: My sa les m an -

ager was intera cting with a HR

ma n ager of a leading electrical

eqpt comp an y regarding th e

sales training requirements for

almost a year with out m u ch

success. A meeting with a CEO

revealed th at th e n ew chal lengesbein g faced b y the emergin g

competit ion. I t took 30 m in u tes

to close th e order. Th e HR m an -

ager was deb ating th e nit ty grit ty

of th e program for over a year.

Th e CEO ha d a different persp ec-

tive a ltogeth er.

There is a very imp ortan t lesson

for th e CEOs. You m ay h ave a

person h ead ing sa les bu t thefu n ction sh ould not be totally

delegat ed. You s h ou ld kn ow

when to chip in pa rt icularly in

th ose crit ical orders where th e

presen ce of CEO can m ak e a

great dea l of differen ce.

To su mm arize , the s a les execu-

tives should develop a portfolio

ap proa ch of kn owin g wh en t o let

th e Service execut ives ta ke th e

lead a n d play the secon d fiddle;

when to mon itor th e c lient /

competition activity with a

ha wk's eye, when to u se fu nc-

tion al team s for project ma n age-

men t an d wh en to involve the

CEO / top ma na gemen t for se ll-

ing at Strategic Level.

To be a su ccess in difficu lt tim es

you sh ou ld n ot on ly to look at th e

trees bu t also to h ave a look at th e

forest!

For feedba ck write to

[email protected]

© Paradigm Trainers Private

Limited - 20 08

Par ad i gm Tr a ine r s P r i va t e Li mi t e d

#7, 7th Main , Bin n y Layout

1st Stage, Vijaynagar,

Ban galore - 560 04 0, Ind ia

Ph: 080 - 2320 7930

Bran ches: Ban galore , Chenn ai , Delhi ,

Mu mba i & Pun e

Web Site: paradigm-trainers.in

Rajan Paru lekar

For more d etails: Effec t ive Sel l in g

Skil ls , 2 day program a t:

Mu m b a i - 9 t h / 1 0 t h , J a n .0 9

New Delh i - 16 th / 17 th , J an .09

Banga lo re - 19 th / 20 th , J an .09


R e a c h

- O u t

J a n u a r y 1 ,

2 0 0 9



n o v a t i o n )

3

Documents

Selling in Difficult Time