Here are the different viewpoints to be found in most organisations:

1. Manager Viewpoints

We find that managers are concerned about the salesperson who cannot ask for help and proceeds through sales cycles without involving others.  But they are also concerned about the sales person who asks for help too early, or too often.  The latter is perhaps the most common, with managers complaining ‘he/she wants somebody to go along to almost every meeting to accompany them!’

At the core of the problem is the lack of agreement as to how sales cycles are to be managed – who is involved and when.  All this comes under the heading of sales process definition.

2. Technical Department Viewpoints

      -   Technical people often complain that sales people don’t have sufficient product, or technical grounding. 

      -   Furthermore, the fact that salespeople ‘have not made the effort to learn’ is something that they find difficult to understand. 

      -    Although in some cases the efforts by salespeople’s to learn from their technical colleagues are stymied. 

      -    They also complain about uninformed salespeople over-promising, mis-representing or underselling their solutions.

 
3. Salesperson Viewpoints

      -    Sales people often complain that technical is reluctant to adapt to the requirements of customers – Why can’t we have that feature if the customer wants it?  Why is it going to take so long? 

      -    They are irked by demos that don’t go smoothly, or by the lack of preparation for customer presentations. 

      -    They want less information to reside in the heads of developers and engineers, and more to be found in documentation and support materials. 

      -    And last but not least, they are concerned with form as well as function and want often want what the customer sees (the interfaces, etc.) to look sexier.

      -   They often feel at a disadvantage in having to compete for time and resources, believing that a greater priority should be attached to supporting sales opportunities.

      -   All of this is not helped by the fact that the typical salesperson is less patient than normal.

Increasingly organizations are turning from the ‘lone ranger’ approach to selling, to a more team based approach.  That is because in today’s complex sales environment, great solo performances are not enough.  Sales is too important just to be left to the sales person alone.

Today’s stellar performing salesperson is merely the front man.  Selling complex solutions requires the combined and coordinated efforts of a team that includes; technical, sales support, account management and other people and skills. 

Team-based Selling

They key word is team.  The multiplicity of tasks, the variety of decision making factors and the number of people involved in the decision making process, means that selling is too much for just one person.  There are no a multiplicity of roles required in any sales team.

No one person has all the information, knowledge and expertise required to single-handedly close a major deal – to navigate the customer through the different stages of increasingly lengthy and complex sales cycles, including;

-          Factfind / needs analysis
-          Developing the solution
-          Nurturing relationships and building credibility
-          Communicating the benefits
-          Calculating and Negotiating price
-          Building and validating the business case
-          Demonstrating / customizing / integrating the technology
-          Contract negotiation
-          Implementation and project management
-          Problem solving

The Team Selling Challenges

A team is not just a collection of individuals.  It is a meshing together of different skills, disciplines and even perspectives in the pursuit of a common purpose.   However, the diversity inherent in great teams, also represents one of the greatest challenges to getting people working effectively together:

       -         Different roles and backgrounds, sales and technical, for example, or even sales and marketing.  Too often the lines of demarcation can become battle lines.

       -         Different personalities and sometimes contrasting role-related stereotypes – for example the typical salesperson who is outgoing, confident and shoots from the hip, versus the typical techie who is likely to be understated, introverted and more analytical.

       -         Different disciplines, each with its associated language, methodologies and paradigms.  It is clear that most engineers and sales people think differently.  They speak and act differently too.

       -         Last but by no means least, there is the inter-personal element, the relationships, the egos, the histories and the culture.

Diversity equals strength

Diversity in the right team environment means synergy.  Different perspectives, different approach, etc. all are valuable.  But, combing them together effectively is key.  That requires matching people to the right roles and getting people to sign off the same hymn sheet.  It also requires an coach, or leader to ensure effective communication, provide encouragement, manage feedback, etc . 

Great solo performances are not enough.  If the salesperson is the trumpet, then technical is the strings section, account management is the drums, etc.  But is everybody in harmony and just who is conducting the orchestra?

Relying on adjectives, as opposed to more meaningful and tangible evidence of benefits, limits the impact of their proposition, in most cases making it almost indistinguishable from competitors. Here is an example:

Our customers achieve significant savings as a result of implementing our solutions…

That sounds pretty bland, right?  It sounds like what most of your competitors would say. ‘Significant savings’ is vague and somewhat unconvincing. It does not grab attention, or represent a compelling reason to buy, or at least explore buying. 

Now change the message slightly, as follows:

Our customers, including; companies A, B and C, have achieve savings of up to 20% as a result of implementing our solutions…

The impact is a lot greater, right?  First off, there are companies mentioned, that adds credibility and 3^rd party validation.  Then the benefit are tangibilized, even quantified.  That tells customers exactly what to expect.

Now, many salespeople will say customers won’t believe the statistics (a point we discuss in another article).  But, assuming that it is true and veritably so, that depends on how it is used.  It should be merely a reference point, with the salesperson saying ‘…this is what other customers have achieved, we would be delighted to explore with you whether this can be achieved by you…’

It is also worth bearing in mind:

        -   That when you mention a statistic you have to be able to convincingly back it up, with reference to the experiences of your other customers and to a business model, or spreadsheet. 

        -   Take care with the figure you use.  Don’t use a figure that will sound incredible to the prospect, even if you need to pare your figure back a little.

In age where brochureware gets binned quicker than you can say ‘marketing blurb’, we help many companies increase the effectiveness of their sales messages and materials. We are always surprised that our clients struggle most to provide any quantification of the benefits delivered for other customers. 

Managers can easily provide long list of features and feature-led benefits, but succinct statements of the impact on key customer business metrics are a challenge.  In our view this points to the need to get closer to their customers.

The conclusion: if you want to want to grab your prospects attention and keep them reading – quantify the results that your solutions have achieved for other customers. The rest of the sales process is then focused on the salesperson and prospect exploring how he/she can achieve the same, or a similar result.

As a result I asked a director of IT who holds a size-able budget what characteristics he looked for in the vendors/service providers. His answer

• Expertise
• Listening skills
• Someone who isn’t too pushy
• Someone who is willing to say they don’t know the answer buts knows someone who doea
• People who follow up professionally

The message: people want to meet experts not know it alls, people who are confident in their ability and people who know what they don’t know.

Everybody has heard of the 6 degrees of separation – the notion that there are only 6 people between you and anybody that you could want to contact.  Now Linked-In, the professional equivalent of Facebook and Beebo, shows business people that they are better connected than they think.

Linked-In is essential for every professional – whether they want to find new customers, build their professional profile, find out about a company, recruit staff, or look for a new job. Moreover it is by-in-large free.   Today it has 38 million members and growing, in over 200 countries around the world.  

It enables most people to effortlessly double, triple and quadruple the number of contacts to which they have access.  In fact it will quickly provide access to 1000s of new trusted contacts.  I use the word ‘trusted’ because unlike cold calling, these people are linked to you by somebody they have worked with, studied with, or done business with in the past.

Thereby it really accelerates business development, moreover because it involves leveraging established past and present; friends, colleagues, clients, etc.  it is much easier and more effective than cold calling.

Getting Started with Linked-In

Here is how it works:

1. Sign-up for free and enter your career and educational history – it is a little like preparing your CV, only that you are guided step by step online. 

2. As you build your profile you will be presented with other members who have worked i the same companies and studied in the same institutions (at the same time).  You can choose to link yourself to them.  When you do they will receive an email asking them to accept a link from their profile to yours.

3. You can import your contact list from Outlook (or another source) to Linked-In and that will result in an even longer list of people to whom you might also be linked.  Again you can select any of the automatically generated contacts and they will then receive an email requesting the link to you.

4. There are two things that determine the strength of your profile on Linked-In; how many connections (or links) you have to others, as well as how many recommendations you have received.  The latter is a direct result of how many others you give recommendations to, and how many your revive in return.   This aspect is pretty well controlled, before a recommendation from another appears on your profile you will get to view and approve it.

5. As seen below you will very quickly have access to thousands of new contacts via your network.  Here is an example of the statistics you will be able to view, including where people in your network are located and what sectors they belong to.

6. If you want to sell to a new company, for example Company XYZ, then you can search for the company and see if there is somebody in that company that either you know directly, or that you know through somebody else.  You can then view their profile and contact them by email.  You  can also contact a certain number of people directly even if you don’t have any links (that is part of the paid service).  When you contact the person they will receive an email notification to their email inbox and can also pick up the details next time they log into Linked-In.

7. You will have both a personal and a private profile on Linked-in – that way you get to decide who can see what.  For example, if somebody searches for you in Google there is a good likelihood your public profile will appear.  But, some aspects of your profile can be kept private to only those that are linked to you can see.

8. You can join groups on topics that are of interest (e.g. ERP software) whereby you can share thoughts and opinions with other members.  You may be interested in groups in particular that your potential customers might be interested in.

9. Put Linked-In in your internet favorites (if you use Firefox you can download an extension that integrates it with your browser’s menu) and make visiting the site a habit.  It is useful to know that you can set notifications of new contacts, emails and recommendations you have received to get them all just once a week (as opposed to receiving them by email as they arrive).  You can add a link back to your Linked-In profile to your email signature, your personal bio anywhere it appears on the web.

1. Why Managers Struggle To Get The Price Right

Pricing is a blend of art and science.  For economists it is a relatively straight-forward equation – that point where demand and supply meet.  But in the real world how prices are set is much more complex.  That is why it cases problems for managers.

 Price is only one half of the price-value equation, albeit the half that tends to get most attention.  A product, or solution that is 50% more expensive, but delivers a 20% saving year on year over and above others solutions is still the best solution to buy.  Hence, the increasing focus on pay-back, or return on investment.

Even for rational buyers and economic buying decisions price involves the notion of psychology and perception.  Products and services that may be relatively similar in terms of form and function can have vast differences in price depending on brand name, styling and other quite subjective factors.  Indeed, a whole array of difficult to weight factors, from the reputation of the company to the relationship with the salesperson, can outweigh price. 

Part of the reason for the difficulty in setting price, is the fact that there are few absolute rules ot follow and several paradoxes, for example:

      ·         For some products raising the price perversely increases demand, or at least desirability. 

      ·         Price is relative and increasing it can be effectively achieved by reducing the volume of the product, the length of service, etc.

2. Pricing: Key Questions to Address  

Here are some of the key questions Managers should address in setting, or revising price:

1.       (a) What is the cost?  That is what do you need to charge to cover the cost of producing and delivering the product/service, as well as the cost of its development and marketing? 

Tips:

·         To avoid under-estimating the cost of marketing, take the cost of development and multiply it by 3.

·         Calculate the total cost of development and taking your product, or service to market, adding up all direct and indirect costs.  Spread this over different estimates of volumes to be sold.

·         Of course, to that needs to be added a profit margin representing the return on investment and reward for risk to the promoters.

2.       (b) What is the customer willing to pay?  The answer to this question is based on an understanding of the value and the payback of you solution.

(i)    Understanding the value

What are the factors that determine the perceived value of the solution?  Break your product/solution into components (e.g. scoping, pilot, installation, integration, commissioning, ongoing support, etc.) and, where possible, isolate the benefits/value associated with each.  Re-arranging these components can impact on the value.  

In terms of market research report they may put little value on the research process and reporting, but great value on the conclusions and recommendations.  So it would make sense to increase one and perhaps reduce the other.  Can you separate out different elements and charge for them separately (e.g. service)?

Tips:

·         Keep in mind that price sensitivity, perceived need (or urgency) and value for money of your solution will vary greatly from segment to segment. 

·         It can also vary according to how you position your solution and the promises, benefits, or features that you highlight.

 (ii)   Understanding the payback

How significant is the problem that the solution solves?  What is the payback, or return on investment for the customer?  What saving, or additional revenues will ultimately result from the solution?   What is the customers total cost of ownership?  What proportion of that total cost does the price account for?

Tips:

·         Create a spreadsheet to calculate the implication of your products, or services on the customer’s business.

·         Involve the customer in modeling the business case / return on investment for your solution.
It is generally best to be modest, or realistic in your assumptions.

·         Track how customers apply and benefit from your solutions.  Undertake a before and after analysis of the impact.

3.       (c) What are competitors charging?  What do the alternatives cost?  

Tips:

·         Keep the list of alternatives as broad as possible, including the cost of alternative technologies, or solutions and even the cost of doing nothing.

Questions:

·         Do you start with a low price to penetrate the market and then increase?

·         Do you have a higher list price, but be prepared to negotiate?

·         Do you offer a number of product variations/service alternatives with different prices attached to each?

·         Do you charge for your solution in terms of a large upfront payment, or alternatively in smaller increments?  Do you charge once-off or per usage / ongoing license / retainer fee?