Doing Business With The New China: Building Urgency To Buy

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2 B2B Selling: Building Urgency To Buy

Contents

3 6 8 11 12 13

| Discovery Calls

| Presentations

| Pricing and Deal Structures

| Gaining Access | RFPs/Trials | References


Building Urgency to Buy

fter you have engaged with the customer and the customer is interested in hearing more then a discovery call is setup with the central question to be answered “Is this a waste of time?” Once this hurdle is passed, then a formal presentation and meeting is setup. In both meetings, the intent is to build urgency to buy in the customers mind. If people's choice is to always say yes tomorrow to something better than they will never say yes today so create some urgency to buy. The goal is to create a plan with the prospect to organize a working or white boarding session that brings in their key people and decision makers to create a vision. Here are some tactics around the discovery call: Framework #1 1. Get the customer to talk first in any initial calls. Here are some example questions to

kick off the call: 1. Can you tell me about what interested you in taking the call today? What is causing

you to experience that? 2. Was there anything in particular that caught your interest in what we do? 3. What was it that motivated you to call? 4. What was it that caught your eye? 5. What was it that stimulated your interest enough to want to hear more? 6. Thinking forward to the end of the presentation, what would you like to make sure

we cover that will allow you to make a good decision. 2. Probing for problems. In this part of the meeting you are looking for the customer

problems to see if there is a match for the solution you are offering 1. If you continue to be successful at what you are doing, what is the key bottleneck

that you will see in the next 12 months? 2. What is the most important problem that you are having right now? What is keeping

you up at night? 3. When you put together your X process, which of the potential bottlenecks gave you

the most concern? How important is this problem relative to everything else? 4. If you could wave a magic wand and change anything at all, what would it be? 5. When you spoke with your team regarding X, what were one or two concerns they

felt were the most critical to focus on?

A


6. Ask the individual to consider a specific business process that is within his job responsibility and pinpoint an area of concern within that process

1. “As you look across your X process…”: focus the field of inquiry on the job process the manager is responsible for

2. “…starting with A….”: this is where your want the customer to begin his review of the process

3. “…and ending up with B....”: here you describe the optimal outcome of the process

4. “…even though its all been going well for you…': protect customer self esteem by acknowledging their achievements

5. “..which part concerns you the most?...”: harvest the thought process you have just guided you customer through.

6. “…I've heard that concern from other customers…”: clarifying the answer. People never say what they mean first so attempt to clarify.

1. Can you help me understand what X would mean in your situation?‘

2. Could you tell me more about..? 3. Could you give me an example of.. 4. When did you first notice..? 5. What seem to be the key contributing

factors to..? 6. How has this affected..?

7. As you consider your X process…beginning with A...moving through B...and finally ending up with Z...if you had to choose one part of the process that concerns you the most...as well as things are going well for you...what concern would you put at the top of your list? 8. What is it that makes you not want to get up in the morning and go to work? 9. What are your biggest triggers of stress? What causes a bad day? 10. If you could eliminate one problem that would make your job/life easier…what would it be?


3. Establishing Credibility: at this point in the conversation the customer has been talking a lot and now its time for you to establish some credibility and alignment with your solutions and their problems. 1. Share a story with a prospect..

1. What I would like to do today is share my story with you and hear yours...then we can ask each other questions to see if there is a mutual opportunity?

2. I know your situation is unique, so you may or may not find this helpful... What is your sense? Can you see how this might apply here as well?

3. That reminds me of a time when I was... 4. Can I tell you a story? 5. Can I tell you a story about a client of mine who was facing similar challenges? 6. What I would like to do today is to start by sharing my story with you. I am interested in

hearing yours too...and then we can decide where to go from there…sound good? 7. Those were the last challenges my last customer was facing…I'd be interested to know

how its been for you? 4. Establish goals for change: once the customer shows receptivity to your solution and visualizes or articulates how it might apply to their situation, then establish some goals for change. Without a goal or reason to change, then the sale will not happen. 1. Fast forward 6 months, why might it make sense to do any changes to the existing system? 2. If you had all the money you needed, why might you want to do this? 3. If you had all the time you needed, why might you want to take on this project? 4. If we do what we are setting out to do here, what would it take for u to go out and buy a $1000

bottle of champagne and bring it back and share it with me? 5. What would you have to see to give this project serious consideration? What would make this

project bubble to the top? 6. What is the impact of not doing it? What things that people will not get? So let's talk about the

downside of not deciding. 7. Why would your best alternative do better for you? You can go to your alternative...thats one

option but let's take 5 minutes and come up with 4 other possible solutions

5. Understanding the customer’s internal evaluation process: here are some questions to determine what next steps will look like in the buying process: 1. Who needs to be involved: At some point in the future, if you do choose to recommend our

product or service, who will ultimately need to sign off on your recommendation? 2. Pricing questions:

1. Have you thought about what level of investment is appropriate for the results we've discussed?

2. I dont know how much this will cost you as every client situation is unique. However, other companies in similar situations, successfully achieving the results we've been talking about tend to invest between x and y. Can you see yourself falling within that range?

3. Process and Timeline 1. How have you bought similar tools in the past into the organization? 2. If i could ask you to think past the purchase decision for a moment, when would you like to

start seeing the results we have been talking about? 3. It sounds like getting the results we discussed is critical for your company. What are the

steps you'll need to take as an organization feel confident that whatever choice you make is the right decision?'


A discovery call has set the foundation for continuing the conversation and typically a more in-depth and detailed presentation is setup to determine whether it is worth working together. Help the client create a compelling and achievable vision and walk them through the process on how they can and will become successful with you product. Coach the vision out of them rather than telling it to them. Here are some presentation tips and frameworks to guide the process. FRAMEWORK #1 1. Communicate enough value to justify a favorable purchase decision. Teach the prospect

how to buy by giving them clear criteria when evaluating potential solutions. Generate urgency to buy now rather than later. Cultivate champions by teaching them how to promote your solution to others in the org who need to sign off on the decision. Teach prospects how it works by educating them about all the features and benefits

2. Challenges during the presentation: prospects who see you for the first time are similar to making a cold call. Most will have a glazed look and sit there wanting to get it over with. You need to get them curious, you need to be credible and they may not recognize need. You need to engage them mentally and emotionally. Four step process:

1. Introduce presenter and audience: ask the champion to introduce with some intro words and explain why the meeting was called. Also get him to introduce the audience as well. As the introductions are made, interject with specific questions about their areas of responsibility. This sets the tone for interaction.

2. Deliver an interactive opener: “hello everybody and welcome. I appreciate your making the time to join us today...' tell them that their time is valuable. 'my name is x...' introduce yourself again. Establish the audience’s needs by asking “Looking ahead to the end of the presentation, is there anything specific that you would like me to cover?”

3. Complete the presentation or demo: by showing that your product accomplishes many different objectives you increase their sense of urgency for finding a solution. Use stories about prospects or customers to make powerful lasting impressions. This will allow people to more easily recall your story and sell the solution internally. Ask confirmation questions 'does this make sense?‘ Are you with me?‘

4. Closing the sales presentation: do not use a vague questions like 'so...what do you think? Ask 'that is pretty much what we had planned to cover today. The question now is, do u like it?' designed to put aside details and ask how comfortable they are with solution.

5. This is the moment where sellers find out if the prospect wishes to continue the relationship and can be awkward. Once the prospect acknowledges they like what they see, ask for appropriate next steps and they will usually agree.

1. Would you like me to prepare a detailed proposal that outlines the cost of the solution. Ask the prospect if they would like to know the costs and get it on the table. use the pricing discussion to transition into the close.

Presentations


FRAMEWORK #2 1. When we present our solution, the objective is to have everything and everyone necessary

for a decision together in the same place at the same time. We present, they decide. if we present and they cannot decide, we presented prematurely. Present only when those people necessary for a decision are available. If not, gain prior agreement to meet with them in subsequent decisions.

2. Presentation: Purpose of a sales presentation is to enable a decision, not to educate or entertain

1. What do we want the client to say , do or decide at the end of the presentation? Good presentations test the meeting agenda at the beginning or before the meeting agenda

1. Today the question seems to be, should you do this with our company's help or would another option help you. Is that what you were hoping to decide as well?'

2. We realize you have 3 very good solution providers to select from. We also understand the choice is critical and it is absolutely imperative that u get it right. This is the test we would like to offer today-did we get it right? If not, what would have to change? We realize that if someone else gets it more right, if they have an even better solution-then you will pick them. Knowing that, would you be willing to give us candid feedback on that at least one solution got it right?

2. Only give clients what they need in order to decide the decision desired. 1. Thinking forward to the presentation, what would you like to make sure

we cover that will allow you to make a good decision, whether you choose us or someone else?

2. What would you like to see, hear or experience in the presentation that would allow you to make a good decision one way or the other?

3. Handling objections: frequently at the end of a presentation rather than making a decision, they ask the vendor to do something to get rid of them. Walk into the future, give them success and ask “…then what happens?” Here is the process:

1. Acknowledge: 1. If we cant find some good answers to that, I would not want

either of us to proceed. 2. I definitely hear your concern..

2. Ask questions to understand the true nature of the objection 1. What would allow you to feel confident and comfortable that..?

What would have to be in place before..? How would you become convinced that..?

3. Understand what happens next 1. For discussion purposes, lets say we resolve your concerns -

where would we be? 2. Lets say the business leaders do buy in - what would you do? 3. Just so i understand where we are, lets say you feel very good

about everything we've agreed upon with the sole exception of this one issue- what would you do?

4. Resolve the issue


ricing concerns change over the selling cycle. At the beginning there is high concern because the product cant be judged in terms of the problems it solves and must therefore be judged on cost, not value. Price concerns then drop as the sale progresses to the middle of the process. Just before the decision there is a sharp increase in price concern. Price is the respectable way to express consequences and is a smokescreen that hides other concerns. Pricing questions and objections at beginning of Sales Cycle 1. We do not have budget:

1. What were your expectations? How do you typically fund projects like this? 2. I cant tell you our budget:

1. That is not a problem, let me throw out some figures and get your reaction.. 3. I do not know our budget:

1. Fair enough, who would know? 4. I think I can get the same results for less money:

1. If you can, you should. If I were in your shoes and i could get exactly the same results for less money.. I would be fiscally irresponsible not to do it...I guess the only way you can get burned is if you are not comparing apples to apples. If you want to share some time to review their proposal, I can let you know if there is anything radically different. You might still go with them. At least you will be making a well informed decision. Sound reasonable?

2. Getting the best value for you money is important. tell me what is most important to you. Getting the cheapest price or the lowest total cost?

5. if you do a good job on this one, there is a lot more in the pipeline: 1. great. If we can sign that business now, i can reduce some of my selling costs and

pass on the savings to you. How much would like to sign up? 6. We need to see u do a good job on this project first:

1. That is reasonable and I am confident we will do a good job. We can leave the price where it and agree in advance that if you sign more business without any additional selling costs on our part, we'll give you the discount on future business.

7. We are an important name in this industry. If you do business with us, it will win you alot more business with others

1. I certainly hope so. This is how we priced our solution. If that does not happen, it would be a bad miscalculation. Can we talk a bit about what you would be willing to do in that regards?

8. All are vendors are giving us a 10% discount: 1. That is clear and reflected in the price we have given you. However we consider that

an investment that should have a return. Once you see the value we produce, our future bids will be at our regular price.

Pricing and Deal Structures

P


1. We don't have a budget for this. 1. Acknowledge:

1. Thanks for being upfront with me. I can certainly appreciate your position. I am sure there is even more pressure to make certain the limited funds you do have are being invested in the right place

2. I certainly understand that. it seems as if everyone today is more sensitive to operating within their limited budget…only making investments into proven products that they know are going to work

2. Responsive questions: 1. How much do think my product would cost…that would cause you to

feel that there is no budget available for this? 2. Is it a budgetary concern or are you more concerned about the value

you will receive? 3. Is it more of an function of not having the money to invest..or more

about making sure your limited budget is being invested in the right place to ensure a measurable ROI?

3. Get permission to discuss a solution to their concern 1. I am not sure we can provide u with the ROI that my other customers

have experienced however if the possibility existed where we can demonstrate a rapid ROI so u can start realizing the advantages within one month...is that something u would be interested in talking about?

2. If budget was no longer an issue for you..would you be open to exploring this in more detail?

3. If I can demonstrate to you in just 3 minutes how the value you will receive will far outweighs the manageable investment amount that I would propose…would u be open to hearing more about how you can achieve this?

2. Are you competitive? 1. Price is very important. But what I would like to suggest is that we spend a lot

of time talking about price before we decide if we can do business together or not. What I would like to do, if it is OK, is that we discuss your business and what other issues are important to you. Then when we get to pricing , we will have it all covered. Is that OK.

3. Can I have a ballpark price 1. Yes, I can give you a price, but it may not accurately represent your needs and

solutions. It may be too low, and we will not be able to deliver and it may be too high, and you will lose interest immediately. Either way we both lose. And what I would like to create a win-win relationship between your organization and mine.


Pricing questions and objections at END of Sales Cycle If customers push back on price, do not take it personally. They do this because they lose nothing, feel it is their responsibility etc. Advocate aggressively for the price and if needed to concede, concede slowly in small amounts and get some value in exchange. Anticipation of price negotiation problems gets the seller halfway, practice of negotiating alternatives gets the seller the rest of the way. Cost justification means the buyer accepts his own measurements, cost estimates, payback calculations and implementation schedule. Price justification is another matter entirely, its about the buyer getting the best price. Buyers will spend money when he believes that he will make money with the purchase. Do not be surprised if the buyer is telling your price is too high. There are two hurdles to overcome: 1. The buyers emotional hurdle: the last hurdle for the buyer is ‘Am i getting the best deal'. The

way the buyer tests this is to take the deal away and see if the seller walks away. This is the measurement to get the best price possible.

2. The sellers emotional hurdle: this is the sellers fortitude to walk away from a buyer who is not meeting him halfway. The seller must overcome this hurdle first, then the buyer will overcome his.

You have a buyer attempting to get the best possible deal and a seller trying to close the transaction and get the highest possible price. let's take a look at negotiation as a conversation the seller has earned the right to have, because he has executed all the steps necessary in the sales cycle. Process to navigate this part of the sales cycle:

1. When the buyer squeezes the salesperson 3 times and the salesperson says 'no' politley

each time, now it is time to transition into negotiation mode. Before going into negotiation, when asked for better pricing ask the buyer the following

1. Assuming we reach agreement, are we the vendor of choice? 2. Is price (or whatever they are squeezing you on) the only issue? 3. Again, assuming we reach agreement, can you personally get this done today?

2. Politely say no to posturing and do it unemotionally. the buyer has already made the decision to buy but has the emotional hurdle of needing to believe she is getting the best possible deal. Say no 3 times and concede something other than price

1. Is there anything you would like to take out? 2. You've known the cost for 2 months. why is this coming up now? 3. By your numbers, the savings are $36k per month. shouldn't we get started? 4. We have spent alot of time together in the past 3 months to improve your

operations. has anything changed? 5. Didnt u say that you wanted to do this to save on Y?

3. In some cases, the buyers will press for a better deal. In this case, there should be something given in return. 'for me to consider a concession, I would need some help from you? The only way i could do something for you is if you can do something for me?

4. Comparing against competitors pricing: offer to do a comparison of results 1. ask for next steps: 'since you are willing to (summarize what the buyer said

was possible), then I would be willing to (concession). can we move forward?‘ 2. If no on the above, then it is time to leave the discussion 'that is what I was

prepared to offer. while it doesn't appear we can proceed today, this transaction makes sense for both of us. why don't we give our positions some further thought? I will call you Wednesday and see if we can try to reach agreement.'


aining access to stakeholders is an important part of the sales process. The premise is if we will invest time to come up with a solution that precisely meets the needs of the stakeholders, are the individuals willing to invest a little time about 30 minutes to mutually understand their priorities? If necessary, we can do it on the phone. It is worth our time to create and practice responses that increase the probability we will get to talk to key stakeholders, if we never try our probability will be low.

Here are some tactics and questions to gain access:

1. At some point in the future, if you do choose to recommend our product or service, who will ultimately need to sign off on your recommendation?

1. If all these other people will ultimately sign off on your recommendation, would it make sense to invite some of them to next week's meeting, so you dont have to sit through the same presentation four or five different times?

2. I have a concern. It sounds like even if we have a solution that exactly meets your needs, even if we produce the results we talked about, it wont be adopted until these key stakeholders buy in. What do you feel we should do about it?‘

3. I have a concern. In our experience, unless we get participation by top management, it is highly unlikely you will get the results you want. What would have to happen to make sure we get their participation?

4. Lets say the business leaders do buy in - what would you do? 5. Our goal is to come up with a solution that precisely meets your needs. From what you described to

me, those people are key owners of those needs. To make any kind of intelligent proposal, I’ll need to talk to them. You know the company better than i do. How do we set that up?

1. response 'they are too busy': ‘I appreciate that. I am sure the last thing they would want for us to waste their time. And that is my concern, if we give them a presentation that does not address their needs, this will be a huge waste of time and they'll hate it. So lets not waste their time.

2. response 'its not fair for you to see them. If you then everyone': ‘Would it make sense, in the spirit of fairness that access be granted to those who ask for it. If the others dont need to, they wont ask. If they dont ask, then you dont need not grant access. Thats fair.‘

3. response 'i will do it for you': ‘I appreciate your offer and you've been helpful so far. May i share a concern? If you were to come to my company and my job was to get you information...i know two things would happen: I would do my absolute best, but the information would be filtered and you would not get all the nuances. I would not ask the questions you would so critical info might never be communicated. I imagine the same would happen here and I’d like to offer a suggestion. Do you know one of the stakeholders well enough that you and i can get together to have a 30 min conversation with him? At the end, you can decide whether the time was well spent. If yes, you could extend it to another stakeholder. If not all, all we risked was a 30 min conversation. Does that sound reasonable?'

Gaining Access

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requently in a situation where an RFP has been created, the buyer is already looking for a solution and in most cases if you respond, you will lose. This is because the RFP has been co-created with a vendor that has helped the buyer move from latent pain to vision. This is a tough situation, and you have to do some tough negotiating up front and get access with the power sponsors and key buyers. 1. it looks very interesting and we want to respond. In order to do the kind of job you want me to do, it will take 30 to 40 hours of support person time. Before i invest that time on it, I would like the opportunity to have three 1 hour interviews with x,y,z 2. 'if you r unwilling to give me 3 hours so I can get a clear picture for myself of the most important issues at stake, then i am unwilling to put in 40 hrs into it. I cannot in good conscience respond, because i do not want to submit a shabby proposal that may not meet your needs.

When you are told early in a sales cycle that the budget has been approved, you should always assume your competition has set the criteria. The prospect has already started to evaluate the merits of comparable products or services being offered and has obtained cost estimates. if this were not the case, how could they possibly know already how much money to budget. Even if you are calling someone at a higher level and are the preferred vendor, a fair amount of time is needed to get to the point of having a losable order then you are in second place, When the customer is looking for trial, ensure that success expectations are setup correctly: 1. Agree where the free trial fits in their buying process. if the trial is successful, then what? 2. What would be the easiest place to prove success: if we could solve only 1 to 3 things with this trial..what would they be? 3. How will the customer know the trial is a success: what does success look like? what do we need to accomplish with the trial before you want to move forward with us? 4. Lay out a plan with regular milestones. hitting milestones creates momentum and creates more proof of value 5. Make sure the customer has the right expectations of how much time and effort they need to put into the trial to make it succeed. 'lets schedule this now, so you don't have to worry about it later'

RFPs/Trials

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hen prospects are asking for references they are really looking for a way to reduce their risk of making a bad decision between the different alternatives. They want to know how you are going to deal with problems when and if they arise. When we provide a list of happy customers, we are providing what everyone else is providing and you dont differentiate yourself. Since every reference customer had some sort of challenge, the list does not have to change, just the positioning. 1. I could give you a list of references just like everybody else. It might be more helpful, however for

you to talk with some of our customers who have had problems, so you will know how we respond when faced with a challenge.

Traditional reference selling cites specific customers. This may not always work because there is a risk of mismatch. Just because your solution worked in their environment, doesnt mean its right for us. The ability to uninterrupted name the references is key to credibility. When customer asks for references: 1. 'sure, do you have a pencil?' dont use pen as it might sound contrived 2. Name references from memory - name, company, telephone number etc. This is to show credibility

References

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Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Doing Business With The New China: Building Urgency To Buy