Month: January 2011

Team up with a Customer Support Person

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One of the fastest ways to improve relationships with a large corporate customer is to have other people involved in servicing their account.

Outside b2b sales people who have learned it is difficult to service a large account all by themselves have discovered by teaming up with an inside sales person or a customer support person have increased their overall sales volume.

A key component to this success lies in the need for corporate account people to feel safe and secure. Therefore, by having multiple contacts – who know their business – gives them an added sense of safety and security – in other words, when stuff happens they can get in touch with a human being quickly to get answers or suggestions.

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Use Success Stories to Create Interest in You

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One of the best methods for creating interest from decision makers is to discuss success stories with issues, challenges or ways to increase revenues they are currently dealing with in their organization. Talk about getting their attention in a nanosecond.

Most of the b2b sales people are doing just the opposite. These smart b2b sales people are yakking about their products and benefits or wanting to set an appointment to discuss how to work together. These are old school methods and scream – “I’m a sales person and I want to sell you something!”

Decision makers today have NO TIME for pushy, aggressive or old school sales people. They want to work with business people who can advise them on the best practices and methods to reverse negative issues or accelerate positive results.

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Are You Talking to the Most Powerful Decision Maker?

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For years I had determined that title was not necessarily an accurate clue as  to the power a person possessed. Yet, it was more of a gut feeling rather than an objective fact. So, I looked for an objective source to validate this feeling about decision makers.

The most common methods used by b2b sales people is to find a title within the organization that appears to be a match to the authority needed to buy or budget for your solution. Again, not true all the time. There are many variables used to make this guess plausible for us.

Variables we commonly look at include numbers of people reporting to this person or titles of others reporting directly to this person. Who does this person report to? Other factors such as length of time with the company have been used. And, the old catch all – advice from others who sell to this organization.

Yet, there is a key factor to uncover early in the discussions with any titled individual to uncover their true level of power. This factor is

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How to Share Business Experience with a Top Level Prospect

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Okay, several of you have asked me…

“What Do I Talk About with a Prospect, If I’m Not Talking About My Product or Service?”

I will get to a logical progression for talking about business results in a moment. Before sharing this information, I want to remind you to forget about all your old school or traditional sales training. Remember, no matter how bad you want to start your sales “pitch” there is no selling allowed with the top level prospect. If you must pitch something, pitch your old sales techniques and tactics in the trash before entering the room.

This simple progression is designed to show your prospect you are experienced and have done this before – providing the credibility and confidence they need to even think about moving forward in their buying process. Yes, they do want to buy, they do not want to be sold.

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Your Choice – Be a Peer or Sales Person

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As we move deeper into the world of selling to the top level people in prospect and customer organizations, you must be ready to a critical choice. This choice is about being and acting like a Peer or Sales Person.

I realize you are a sales person and probably have a business card with the words Sales Person on it. While it is time to change that to Business Advisor or Consultant.

Here is the issue. Top level people do not want to be sold anything by anybody. What they want to do is buy from someone they believe is there to help them, advise them or provide expertise to them on a topic of interest – to them – not to you or your company. Interesting situation you are placed into by the top level decision makers.

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B2B Sales Major Change Issue #5 – Align B2B Sales Training

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Today, I will share the fifth part of a five part series on major change issues for b2b sales. Today’s topic will discuss the  major issue of a lack of alignment regarding existing sales training and development with the new model of b2b selling.

This issue touches upon the real reason so many b2b sales people are creating the wrong environment for their customers to buy. The alignment of b2b sales training and development with what is needed for sales success in the future will, well, make you  better prepared for your successful b2b sales future.

This fifth issue is related to the second part of issue number four – the training of new sales people for b2b sales. In the past, it was determined the best sales people were aggressive, goal oriented and used people to get to their goals. While this model worked very well during the presentation model years of successful selling, as Bob Dylan sang – “The Times They Are A-Changing!”

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B2B Sales Major Change Issue #4 – Breaking Old Success Habits

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Today, I will discuss the fourth part of a five part series on major change issues for b2b sales.

Breaking Old Success Habits is one of the biggest obstacles for b2b sales people to make the changes necessary for future b2b sales success. And it is a two step issue – one with the b2b sales people and the other with sales managers and executives who only have traditional sales background experience.

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B2B Sales Major Change Issue #3 – Presentation Model is Dead

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Thia is part three of a five part series on major change issues for b2b sales. Today’s discussion will be on the third major issue of the movement away from the presentation model of b2b selling to the Questioning Model of B2B Selling.

I have been discussing the need for more and better uses of the Questioning Model during several b2b sales tips. Yet, again I believe it needs to be discussed continuously to show how important this is becoming.

The Questioning Model of B2B Selling is more important than ever and the presentation model of b2b selling is dying rapidly. Therefore, you must be better prepared to use the effective questioning, if you want to stay in the game of b2b sales.

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B2B Sales Major Change Issue #2 – Getting to Decision Makers

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This is the second part of a five part series on major change issues for b2b sales. Today, I will discuss the second major issue of the difficulty encountered by b2b sales people in getting to real decision makers .

I have mentioned this issue in several recent b2b sales tips, yet, I believe it needs more discussion to show how important this is becoming. The difficulty for b2b sales people to meet with decision making executives has become a major barrier to successful large account selling activities.

So what are the real issues creating this major and critical issue for change in our b2b selling knowledge?

Ask any b2b sales person if it is more difficult to get to higher ranking executives or managers today? You will get a resounding yes! Except for the B2B Sales Superstars who changed their method of selling several years ago when this issue first came up.

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B2B Sales Major Change Issue #1 – Internet Buying

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Today, I will begin a five part series on major change issues for b2b sales. Today, I will discuss the first major issue of the movement to Internet Buying of Products and Services.

While I have mentioned this issue in several recent b2b sales tips, I believe it needs its very own discussion to show how important this is becoming. The internet and website selling is moving up in the percentages of purchasing, so we better be prepared for the future.

The buying groups are headed to the internet or direct website purchasing.

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