Why You Should Let Your Buyer Design Your Sales Organization

Craig Rosenberg

blog.topohq.com@funnelholic

TOPO

“The best sales leaders understand that they have to have the right people, the right behaviors, the right technology, the right coaching and infrastructure to be able to sell how their customers want to buy”

Dave Stein

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“Sophisticated customers are not interested in traditional sales models. They demand faster, more seamless, and even enjoyable sales experiences.”

Homayoun Hatami, McKinsey

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Sales Leaders who adopt a buyer-centric sales philosophy are thriving:• Exceed their revenue goals: 150% of

quota• Job security: 3-4 year job cycles

Sales Benchmark Index

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“Companies that provide great buying experiences grow >2X faster than companies that provide average experiences”

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Understand the Buyer and the Buying Process

Image by wilgengebroed TOPO

Truly understand the buyer

© 2013 TOPO

Buyer Demographics1. Who are you personally (married, children, etc)?2. What’s your background and career path?3. How long have you been at your current job?4. What industry is your company in?5. How many employees does your company have?

Buyer Role6. What is your role in the organization?7. What is your title?8. What are your responsibilities?9. What skills do you possess?10. Who are you accountable to?11. What does your team look like?

Buyer Psychology12. What are you most excited about at work?13. What are your main opportunities (biggest)?14. What are your main challenges (biggest)?15. Do you like to make things happen?16. What motivates you to make something happen?17. What defines success in your role?18. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about work?

Day in the Life19. What does a typical day look like?20. How would you describe your work environment?21. What obstacles do you commonly encounter?22. Who do you interact with the most?23. What’s your preferred mode of communication?24. What tools do you use at work?25. How do you gather information to make decisions?

Purchasing Decisions26. How would you describe the way you buy products?27. What are the major phases of a purchasing process?28. What’s an example of a purchase you recently made?29. Who is responsible for purchasing decisions?30. Who influences purchasing decisions?31. What causes you to begin a purchasing process?32. What criteria do you use to evaluate products?33. What causes you to purchase a product?34. What causes you to purchase one product over another?35. Is product, price, or service more important?36. How long does it take to make a purchase?37. What information is valuable to you during a purchase?38. How do you prefer to consume that information?39. How do you prefer to interact with vendors?40. How can vendors help you the most?

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Demographics

Gemma Hodge, Office Manager

25 year old millennial

Works at 30 person CAD engineering firm

Likes her job and the CEO, but it’s only a job

Buyer Role

Does a lot of different things at the office

Primary role as office administrator

Also acts as CEO’s admin

Spends time on accounting and HR stuff as well

Helps CEO with special, tactical projects

Has experience buying mission critical technology

Psychology

Really likes her job

But it’s not what defines her – she has a life

Still takes immense pride in her work

Wants to do the best she can within work hours

Feels like the CEO really depends on her

Values personal support she provides to him

Day in the Life

Office admin activities take up a lot of time

Also spends time on bookkeeping and HR

Can get buried with accounting some times

Is on call to support CEO whenever required

When assigned a project, spends a lot of time on it

Takes work hours very literally

Does not take work home with her

Purchasing

Is not the ultimate decision-maker

Plays support role to CEO/management

She does have strong influence over decision

Triggered by service outage, big bill, K expiration

Question 1 – is service reliable?

Question 2 – how big will the bill be?

Question 3 – how long will it take to get going?

Gathers facts and presents to CEO

Comparison shopping is important to her

Needs simple service level guarantee

Needs to present workable economics to CEO

Needs process to be straightforward and easy

Values straightforward, responsive salespeople

Small Business Office Manager

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Awareness Consideration Purchase

Phase Identification Requirements Comparison Shortlist Negotiate Purchase

Objective Identify problem or opportunity requiring attention

Understand requirements and business case

Find products that can meet requirements

Shortlist products that meet requirements

Negotiate best terms for product, price, and support

Purchase product and quickly move to rollout

Key Activities Managing businessEvent or trigger occursProblem or opportunity IDDecide to pursue issue

Identify stake-holdersGather requirementsFormalize requirementsDevelop business case

Understand solution universeEvaluate universe of productsFocus on product, price, supportRefine requirementsDevelop shortlist of options

Conduct detailed evaluationDeep dive on product, price, supportDevelop initial recommendationMake final recommendation

Create deal “strawman”Negotiate key termsSubmit for internal approval

Make final purchase decisionExecute signed agreementMove to rollout/ implementation

Information Consumed

General informationMarket Information

Stakeholder inputAnalyst researchWhitepapers

Peer inputProduct sheetsVideosDemo

DemoTrialReferences

Business caseContract

ContractRollout plan

CommunicationUsed

Internal collaborationInternet

Internal collaborationInternet

EmailInternetPhone

PhoneEmailInternet

PhoneEmail

PhoneEmail

Move to Next Phase When…

Problem/ opp identifed

Final requirements and business case

Shortlist completed

Comparison completed

Material terms negotiated

Agreement executed

Map the Buying Process

TOPO

“Evaluate and assess how the selling process overlaps with the buying process. If an organization finds that 60 percent of the sales process maps to the buying process, then the other 40 percent is a gap that needs to be addressed.”

Dave Stein

Photo by Brendan Lynch TOPO

Phases of the Inside Sales Process

Buying StagesProblem

IdentificationUnderstand

RequirementsCompare Vendors

Shortlist Vendors

NegotiationPurchase Decision

Sales Stage ApproachQualify,

Agree on Need, Sell XO

Presentation Refine Negotiation Close

Description

Approach buyer with goal of setting meeting

Gather requirements; agree on solution

Present first proposal; set next meeting

Present final solution based on feedback

Negotiate key terms; enter order

Executed SOA and paperwork received

Factor 1% 10% 25% 50% 75% 90%

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Buyer-Centric Sales Plays

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Awareness

Issue/Question Why do I need this product?

Messaging Soundbyte(s)

“Buyers prefer to consume content then listen to a sales person”“Legacy selling approaches are not as effective today?

Sales Play Focus on the problemUnderstand current environmentDeliver “Changing Buyer” presoSend Ultimate Guide to Content Selling

Content The Changing Buyer (Preso)The Ultimate Guide to Content Selling (Preso)

Process Next Step -Identify persona in CRM for nurturing-Set Follow

Prospect advances when

They identify there is a problem

Build Plays for Each Buying Step

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Design buyer-responsive plays

Buyer Stage

Buyer Activity

Status Quo Understand

Requirements/ Options

Engage Vendor(s)Identify Problem/Opportu

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Make Decision/Purchase

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Details Champion content is a toolkit that provides buyers with short preso, talking points, and due diligence checklist to show all work that’s been done as part of eval

Why CEO will make final decision, but has not been engaged thus far – need to arm primary contact with tools to get CEO over finish line

Owner Marketing owns creation of content; inside sales owns delivery/training

Champion Content Play

© 2013 TOPOTOPO

Buyer-Centric Messaging Design

Photo by Todd Hansen TOPO

Messaging Design

Industry/Persona

Challenges Solution Benefits Company

Persona #1

Persona #2

Persona #3

Persona Based Messaging

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Content Design

Image by 10ch TOPO

"In the future, a great piece of content will out-sell the average sales rep.”

Greg Alexander, Sales Benchmark Index

Image by TexasEagle TOPO

Sales Stage Approach Qualify, Agree on Need, Presentation Refine Negotiation Close

Buying Stage

Problem Identification

Understand Requirements

Compare Vendors

Shortlist Vendors Negotiation Purchase

Decision

Persona #1 • Changing Buyer

• Content Selling 101

Persona #2 • Executive’s guide to Content Selling

• 10 Habits of Top Sales Leaders

Content mapping happens here

Content and Sales Process Mapping

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Organizational Design

Image by Marcel Douwe Dekker TOPO

“The key for sales leaders is to look at the buyer variables that will impact their ability to be successful. How do their buyers want to buy? Do their buyers utilize online resources to educate themselves? Do their buyers feel comfortable communicating over phone or email? Can their buyers be educated over phone or online?”

Trish Bertuzzi, The Bridge Group Inc

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Hiring Design

Image by Justin Cormack TOPO

“We…literally need to convince prospects to turn their sales and marketing process on its head. To do so… Sales reps need to be sophisticated enough…[Based on this criteria} we started off by writing down a set of attributes that we thought would be important, and used these during interviews to evaluate candidate”

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The Hiring Profile/Scorecard

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Technology

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The Social Selling Question

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Questions?

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© 2013 TOPO

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@funnelholic

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