REPRINT - Brand Quarterly™ 1

Our First Global SurveyIt’s Time To Be Heard

The Rise Of The Personal BrandWhat Your Company

Needs To Know

Managing ChangeThe Why, The What,

The How

Brand™

QuarterlyBuilding Your Business From The Brand Up™

Issue 3 | Volume 2

REPRINT - May 2013

Need More Hours In

The Day?Get Back Your Time By Systemising Your

Brand And Marketing

10 REPRINT - Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross has a lot to answer for.

For those of you that haven’t seen the film, it follows two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen who become desperate after their Head Office sends a trainer to “motivate” them. Alec Baldwin, the trainer, announces that all except the top two salesmen will be fired – “first prize a Cadillac, second prize a set of steak knives, third prize, you’re fired”. Head Office certainly knows how to inspire productivity in their sales team…. All the team have

to do is follow the process.

Amazingly, some sales leaders still view Alec Baldwin as a role model. We have been presented with the Youtube video on more than one occasion – “I want to be like this” they said. After we finished hysterically laughing, we realised that they were in fact, serious.

B2B selling is undergoing a revolution. Face to face meetings are being replaced with technology and online channels which in turn, provide an informed choice. Virtual environments in the form of social media now help to influence the sales and decision-making process. Customers expect more and demand evidence of expertise, acumen, value and a return on investment. In short, customers have fundamentally changed the way they buy and your sales process and your role in that process needs to reflect those changes.

From Custodian To Steward

The first step in changing your sales process is the most fundamental. Your sales process must be designed from your customer’s view point, not from yours. Complex value propositions demand customised solutions – a detailed understanding of how the sale is going to impact your client. This requires the customer’s decision-making or buying process to be at the very centre of your sales process.

There are many ways to skin the sales process cat. Typically, sales consultancies rely on a highly bespoke solution for their client companies and invariably a large budget. However, in these days of constraint, is it possible to create a process that is both flexible and adaptable in nature, which can form the basis of successful B2B sales? We believe it is and have outlined the four principle phases below.

Phase 1: A Quick Guide To The B2B Buying Process.

Phase 1 is seen through the customer’s eyes and the questions they will need to address in order to purchase services.

1. What is the market and competitive environment we are in?

2. What is our business strategy? What plans and initiatives do we have?

3. What do we need to meet our strategies and plans?

As Simple As “ABC”Improving Your B2B Sales Process

‘ABC - Always Be Closing’ - Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Julia PayneIncisive Edge

REPRINT - Brand Quarterly™ 11

4. What are our options?5. Which option should we select?6. What problems do we need to overcome with

the option we have chosen?7. How do we implement?8. How do we evaluate success?

Time spent with customers is critical in sales, but improving the sales process is now less about present and persuade and more about plan and orchestrate. Pre and post sales planning is essential. It requires a higher level of preparation with the support of data and cross-functional teams. It’s

not about the amount of face time, but how you actually use that time when in front of the customer. High performing sales teams take the time to understand their customer’s purchase processes and to co-ordinate their own sales processes accordingly, extending the process to the internal resources necessary to deliver.

Today’s sales chain is far less about the steps in the sales process your company must complete, but rather the steps your buyer will take. Creating the ideal sales process requires buyer and seller processes to harmonise, with those of the buyer taking precedence.

12 REPRINT - Building Your Business From The Brand Up™

But how do you harmonise the two?

Phase 2:

Building on the customer’s buying process, establish the ‘convergence’ points in the purchase process. These convergence points are where the seller can influence the buyer, adding new insights to help them compete more effectively and out-perform the competition. Clients no longer want to educate the sales person – rather they want to learn from them.

1. How can we influence the decision-making process? (convergence point)

2. What is the market and competitive environment we are in?

3. Why now? (convergence point)4. What is our business strategy? What plans and

initiatives do we have?5. What’s the source of the buyer’s problem?

(convergence point)6. What do we need to meet our strategies and

plans?7. What are our options?8. How can we influence the buyer?

(convergence point)9. Which option should we select?10. What’s in it for the buyer? (convergence point)11. What problems do we need to overcome with

the option we have chosen?12. How do we implement?13. How will we deliver return on investment?

(convergence point)14. How do we evaluate success?

Phase 3:

Having established these anchor points, now is the time to align the actions within your internal sales process with the buyer’s journey:

1. Can we influence the decision-making process? Process: Research buyer, company & company position

2. What is the market & competitive environment the buyer is in? Process: Understand the buyer’s environment, their problems/issues/challenges, budgets & time frames

3. Why now? Process: Determine the compelling event

4. What is the buyer’s business strategy? What plans & initiatives do they have? Process: Develop strategic plans linked to business initiatives

5. What’s the source of the buyer’s problem? What do they need to meet their strategies & plans? Process: Understand the buyer’s specific

needs, their decision making process & the access you will have to the decision maker

6. What are the buyer’s options? Process: Quantify the customer opportunity & establish your point of difference

7. How can we influence the buyer? Process: Determine the selection criteria & highlight your value proposition

8. Which option should the buyer select? What’s in it for the buyer? Process: Establish credibility & authority. Display solution & industry expertise. Create partnership criteria

9. What problems do we need to overcome with the option we have chosen? Process: Address the concerns of the buyer, mitigate risks & highlight results

10. How do we implement? Process: Develop succinct implementation strategy

11. How will we deliver return on investment? How do we evaluate success? Process: Establish success metrics with buyer

Phase 4:

The final step in your high performing sales process is to marry the stages in your process with the sales team interactions with your buyer. This is where the experience of the sales person can play a pivotal role. If these stages are outlined or understood sufficiently early in the process, the sales person can influence, educate and engage the buyer and differentiate themselves from the crowd. However, it is crucial to involve marketing in developing sales collateral to reinforce the messages, both internally to assist the process and externally, to engage the prospect.

1. Introductory meeting2. Needs analysis meeting3. Discovery review & results meeting4. Production/Solution demonstration meeting5. High level solution discussion6. Solution outline meeting7. Proposal delivery meeting8. Success metrics & ROI meeting

At each stage in the process, create criteria which when met, ensure you progress onto the next level of buyer interaction or if unmet, allow your team to progress to the next opportunity without wasting valuable sales time and resource on a no decision/no win.

As Alec Baldwin says “ABC – A Always; B Be; C Closing. Always Be Closing”.

This sales process ensures you will be.

TM

Issue 3 | Volume 2 | May 2013Brand Quarterly magazinewww.brandquarterly.com

Publisher: Vesey Creative Ltdwww.veseycreative.com