SALES TRIGGERS Find Hidden Opportunities and Shorten Sales Cycles

Craig EliasCreator of Trigger Event Selling™

SALES TRIGGERS

Find HiddenOpportunities and

Shorten Sales Cycles

Sales 2.0 Conference, Boston © Craig Elias 2002 – 2010 sales20conf.com/boston2010

Timing


Selective Perception


Take Action


Craig Elias

• 20 years as a top sales performer• Created Trigger Event Selling™

• Billion Dollar Idea Contest

• Dow Jones 50 most promising

• Dadpreneur


Poll: Learning Objectives

1. Learn about Trigger Events

2. Identify the best Trigger Events

3. Trigger Event Selling™ techniques

4. Learn when Trigger Events happen


Before We Get Started


Selling Paradigm

The silver bullet in sales is

Timing:

Getting in front of the right personat EXACTLY the right time!


Timing and Buying Modes

StatusQuo

Window of Dissatisfaction™

SearchingAlternatives

Happywith Status Quo

Not SearchingFor Alternatives

Unhappywith Status Quo

Not SearchingFor Alternatives

Unhappywith Status Quo

SearchingFor Alternatives


Timing and Close Ratios

0% 60 – 90%* 16%**

**Aberdeeen Research: Lead Lifecycle Management: Building a Pipeline that Never Leaks, 2009* InnerSell Survey of over 200 sales executives and sales people, 2003

StatusQuo





Adam knows what he has does not meet his needs but he is is too busy to start searching for alternatives


Timing and Selling

Higher Close Ratio

Shorter Sales Cycle

Higher Prices

Lower Close Ratio

Longer Sales Cycle

Lower Prices

Valu

e Valu

e



Valu

e

StatusQuo


Reference

Timing and Customers

Core Peripheral

Loyal

80% of Profit

Referrals

Disloyal

80% of Headaches20% of Headaches

20% of Profit



Value Proposition

Increased MarginsHigher Close RatiosShorter Sales Cycles

Core CustomersLoyal Customers

80% of ProfitReferences & Referrals

Grow Faster!



How To Know

StatusQuo



Not Interested

Don`t need it right now

We`ll be looking at that in a few

months

Call me back in ??? November when well be looking

Currently looking

Send me a quote


Questions ?


What Triggers The Best Timing?


Trigger Events

StatusQuo



Trigger Event or Circumstance?

• Falling stock price

• Shrinking margins

• New product launch

• Large customer contract

• Competitor gets acquired

• Change in decision maker

• Unhappy with current solution


A Trigger Event ...


Poll: Trigger Event Usage

1. Evaluating Trigger Events

2. Using simple Trigger Event alerts

3. Using a Trigger Event service

4. Using a Trigger Event suite


The Brute Force Method

McKinsey Quarterly: The basics of business-to-business sales success, May 20101,200 purchasing decision makers in small, medium, and large companies in USA and Western Europe


Gerhard’s Tree of Discontent

http://sellingpower.typepad.com/gg/customer-relationships/


Quantity Vs. Quality


Define Your Targets


Select Contact & Trigger Types


OneSource Sales Triggers

http://sellingpower.typepad.com/gg/customer-relationships/


Merger & Divestiture Trigger


Ray Kroc

“The two most important requirementsfor major success are:

first, being in the right placeat the right time,

and second,doing something about it.”


Research the Prospect


Understand Trends


Understand Strengths/Weaknesses


Market Intelligence


Corporate Conversations


Departmental Conversations


Expand Contacts & Get Details


Three Forms of Trigger Events

Want

Executive Changes• Executives are hired to

make a difference and do it fast.

• They need to buy solutions and services to make that happen.

• Easier to change suppliers because they can say a previous, poor, choice was some one else’s.


The Domino Effect



Afford

New Funding• Companies with new funding are 8x more

likely to buy many services than companies without a funding event.

• Funding is meant to drive growth which means purchasing new solutions and services to help with sales, marketing, product development, operations, and even finance.



Just

ify

Product Launches• New products create

demand for products and service that can fuel growth.

• The launch of a new product requires companies to purchase marketing services, sales training, e-commerce and CRM systems…


When Does The Buying Cycle Start?

Want

Afford

Just

ify


Identifying The Best Trigger Events


Won Sales Analysis™

Every Time You Win a NEW CUSTOMER

• Ask the primary contact the questions in the first four grey areas documenting their responses in the lined areas provided in the top four sections

• Classify the opportunity using the check boxes and notes sections in the bottom half of the worksheet

• Search for patterns in your customers and the conversion rates by type of Trigger Event and lead generation method

Services Sold:

People People Legal

Product\Service Places Risk Avoidance

Company Priorities Economics

< $10 Million Local B2C

$10 Mil. - $100 Mil. National B2B

> $100 Million International Wholesale

Online Local Networking

Offline Regional Cold Calling

Channel Divisional Customer Referral

$0 - $5,000 $25K - $50K $250K-$500K

$5K - $10K $50K-$100K $500K-$1Million

$10K - $25K $100K-$250K Over $1Million

1 day 2 - 4 Weeks 3 - 6 Months

2 - 7 Days 1 - 2 Months 6 - 12 Months

8 - 14 Days 2 - 3 Months > 12 months

CLOSE

IMPROVE

SelfSales

Trigger Event Selling™Won Sales Analysis™ Worksheet

Customer Name: Date of Sale:

What changes/events lead up to this purchase? (Select all that apply)

Bad Experience Change Awareness Notes/details

IDENTIFY

FIND

Notes/details

Notes/details

When did the event(s) happen?

What made you choose us?

Notes/details

What could we have done better?

Notes/details

Sales Cycle (Select One)

CLASSIFY

Lead Source (Select One)

Size of Sale (Select One)

Customer Demographics (Select One For Each Column)

Size Decision Maker Industry

Marketing

People

People

People

People

People

People

People

People

People

People

People

People

People People People


Time

Won Sales Analysis™

#1

#2

#3

1.What event(s) lead up to this purchase?

2.When did these events happen?

3.What made you choose us?

4.What can you do to make it easier to become our customer?

#4b

#4a

Em

otio

n


Questions ?


Summary

If you only remember three things about today please remember:

1. Focus on the Window of Dissatisfaction

2. Look for Trigger Events

3. Analyze your wins


Timing


Take Action


Taking Action

What is the one thing

you will do differently

from today forward?


Resources

• TriggerEventWebinars.com• 3 parts: 2nd Tuesday in July, Aug, Sept.

• OneSource.com• Free Trial

• Front of the room or iSell booth• Business Card

– Worksheets and/or presentation

• SHiFT! The Trigger Event Selling™ book


Contact Information

• Phone:403.874.2998

866.744.7904

• Email:[email protected]

• Blog:ShiftSelling.com

•

CraigElias

SALES TRIGGERS Find Hidden Opportunities and Shorten Sales Cycles

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