Selling to the Oil & Gas Industry10 Rules

The Oil and Gas Sales Experts

1. Be the Consultant, not

the Sales Person

Understand the clients

business. It challenges,

constraints, their KPI’s,

business culture and the

problem that your solution

is solving. Read (and

understand) the annual

report or at least the 10K

and truly comprehend how

your client makes money.

Also understand their

competitive differentiators.

Know their business better

than they do and stay on

top of news and events that

may affect it.

2. The Business is Everything

Regardless of what you are selling,

make it a business issue. So instead

of selling software to IT, take what

that software does and align it to a

business issue. Make sure you can

verbalize the business case and

real value of investing in your

product or solution. The business

side of oil & gas has the majority of

the budget and can make buying

decisions much quicker than

anyone else. So the business is

where you should be selling. Not

to IT, HR, Legal, HSE, etc. which are

shared services and who only have

enough budget to “keep the lights

on”.

3. Collect all Necessary Data

Before you can formulate strategy, you

need to gather all the necessary

information. The size and scope of the

problem your solving, its cost to the

business, the cost of not fixing the

problem, the names and roles of the

decision making team & their geographic

location, budget available, buying process

of your client, timeframe to make a

decision, who your competition will be

and any hard success metrics that you

have from previous clients that are

similar to this one. Remember that in the

larger oil & gas companies there are

multiple business units (BU) that do no

communicate. So Halliburton’s Well

Control is a totally separate culture than

their Coiled Tubing BU. So insure your

data accurately reflect the BU you are

dealing with.

4. Build a Strategic Plan

Even for small sales this is

important. The process

varies but basically you

want to apply logical rigor

to the process of taking

your client from initial

meeting to closing the

deal, taking into account

all the different factors.

There are many plan

templates online to help

you get started.

5. Set the Agenda

You need to really understand the

organizational dynamics and

business culture of your client, then

set the agenda with the business by

aligning yourself to the biggest

problems that your solution can

solve. Then stay focused on that

problem & solution and do not let

yourself, your team or the client get

sidetracked.

6. Connect with a Senior Person

You need to establish a credible

and high trust relationship with at

least one senior person in the

business. Your day to day dealing

will probably be with people

much lower down the food chain,

and your senior person may not

attend most meetings. But if

things get stuck, you need to have

someone to air your grievances

too that sees the bigger picture.

Often establishing that connection

can be achieved through third

parties or through proper

networking.

7. Understand the Politics

The organizational chart can

be misleading and it is

essential to understand the

power-base and influence-

dynamics that transcend the

visible structure. Remember

that the oil & gas industry is

truly global, so there may be

dual reporting at the

geographic and the business

unit level. Align your value

with serious problems,

important outcomes and

winning agendas. Solutions

must be embedded in the

customer’s business

processes and not within the

micro- group that you may be

talking too.

8. Have Heightened

Time Awareness

Sales cycles in oil & gas

are the longest of any

vertical I know. Because

of that you need to be

very aware that your

actions today will

influence the sale a year

from now. One of the

benefits of building a

strategic plan is it allows

you to stay on track with

daily/weekly/monthly

tasks so that your sales

momentum is never

lost.

9. Manage Risk

Risk resides in what you cannot control

and especially from ignorance. In the

software industry, 90% of risk is in

demonstrations (think about it). Across all

industries, risk also resides in people that

may interact with your client. Anyone on

your team afflicted by arrogance or an

inability to listen represents enormous

risk. Beware of your own executives who

seek to interact with your prospect

because they can easily say something

damaging or introduce unwanted

information. Competitors are a risk only if

you do not know their business, so

learning their strengths and weakness is

just as important as knowing your own.

10. Enjoy

You can go through life seeing

your glass as half empty. Or you

can choose to go through life

seeing your glass as half full. The

oil & gas industry is a wonderful

place for professional

salespeople, as you get to truly

help people and solve real

business issues. And you get paid

VERY well. So enjoy the

experience!

Please share this presentation

Thank You

The Oil and Gas Sales Experts http://modalpoint.com

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