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Page 1: Ideas based selling

2011 The Forum Corporation

Ideas-Based Selling

July 20, 2011

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What If Your Sales Force Could

Consistently …

Call on senior decision-makers with

discretionary budget?

— and —

Guide their thinking?

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Your Sales Force Would Mobilize Their

Customers to Buy

Improve win rates

Increase deal size and profitability

Differentiate from competition

Increase customer loyalty

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Use Ideas-Based Selling and

Flip the Selling Process

Traditional Consultative Selling

Ideas-Based Selling

Find Prospect with a Need

Propose Your Solution

Gain Prospect’s

Commitment

Initiate Idea Discussion with

Prospect

Gain Prospect’s Commitment to Implementing

Idea

Propose Your Solution

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Ideas-Based Selling

Why?

To what extent is this

idea relevant to my

business?

How?

What are the possible

solutions?

Who

can best deliver the

right solution?

A key to this approach is understanding how a customer

executive makes decisions—including potential purchase

decisions

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Polling Question

Where is your typical entry point into a customer sales

conversation?

Why?

To what extent is this

idea relevant to my

business?

How?

What are the possible

solutions?

Who can best deliver

the right solution?

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Entry point for an

ideas-based approach

Entry point for

traditional selling

Ideas-Based Selling

Why?

To what extent is this

idea relevant to my

business?

How?

What are the possible

solutions?

Who can best deliver

the right solution?

A key to this approach is understanding how a customer

executive makes decisions—including potential purchase

decisions

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What Do We Mean By “Ideas?”

Ideas are perspectives on and approaches to addressing customer

problems that can be solved and that are worth solving

Solving them is hard—or at least not easy or self-evident for the

customer

Customer value realized from your idea could include:

Achieving profitable revenue growth and market share

Eliminating or mitigating a serious threat to business

Enhancing the experience/improving the loyalty of the end

customer

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“Focus on the hole, not the drill!”

Customer problem or opportunity

“Talk Track” for Articulating Your IdeaDescribe the business opportunity and a compelling vision for the future—

not your products and capabilities

New vision of the future

Potential paths for achieving the vision

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Potential paths for

achieving the vision

New vision of

the future

Example of an IBM Idea

Counterfeit shipping containers costs European

wholesale distributors hundreds of millions of euros

each year

Solutions based on radio-frequency identification (RFID)

technology can provide in immediate in-the-field

detection of counterfeit containers

Detection of counterfeit containers and removal from the

supply chain can reduce costs while strengthening

brand image

Customer problem

or opportunity1

2

3

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Example of a GE Healthcare Idea

Low bed-utilization rates threaten the ROI of newly built

hospitals in the high-growth region of Dubai/Abu Dhabi

Streamlining hospital processes—both clinical care and

administrative processes—can reduce patient wait-time and

increase bed-utilization rates

Optimizing key hospital functions will improve the patient

experience, helping hospitals deliver world-class health

care and improve financial performance

Potential paths for

achieving the vision

New vision of

the future

Customer problem

or opportunity1

2

3

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Where would you expect these ideas to come from?

Polling Question

o Sales

o Marketing

o Product Management

o Research & Development

o External resources

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Preparing Ideas

Address specific value

Apply best thinking

Develop tight script

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Forum Investigates Decision-Maker

Preferences

Global survey June 2011

234 qualified respondents

– Access to budget

– Actions impact profit

Revenues: <$100 million to >$1 billion

Cross-section of industries

15%

28%

20%

33%

4%

Respondents by Level

C-level

Senior manager

Mid manager

Front line mgr

Indiv. Contributor

37%

48%

15%

Respondents by Region

North America

APAC

EMEA

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Which criterion do you think is most important to

decision-makers in deciding whether to meet with an

outside resource?

Polling Question

o Knows my industry

o Knows me

o Has strong reputation

o Provides low cost solutions

o Calculates ROI

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How Decision Makers Choose

Who Gets to Help Them

“Knows my industry

and business” is

essential.

“Knows me” is least

important;

understanding business

trumps personal

relationship.

“Low-cost solutions”

ranked in bottom third.

3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2

Knows me

Knows business leaders

Calculates ROI

Reinforces my existing thinking

Educates my colleagues and me

Knows my customers

Challenges my thinking

Provides low-cost solutions

Considers my needs

Presents complete solutions

Helps me evaluate solutions

Strong reputation

Offers new or unique insights

Expertise

Diagnoses the root cause

Identifies risks to my business

Is accessible

Shows me alternative solutions

Knows my business

Is easy to work with

Knows my industry

1=Not at all important/5=Critically important

In consulting outside resources to help you address this and other critical business issues, what criteria were

most important to you in deciding to work with them?

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Decision-Makers Expect Ideas to Be

Relevant and Significant

0 20 40 60 80 100

Regulatory compliance

Employee retention

Competitiveness

Speed

Customer loyalty

Innovation

Revenue

Efficiency

Quality

Profit

Percent of Respondents

What Do Decision Makers Focus on Most?

N=234

Forum global survey of decision makers, June 2011

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Gained insight into most

important problems or new

opportunities of which was

unaware

Guided through complex

decision process

Introduced to “thinking

partner” for advice and

ideas

Reduced risks of

implementation failures

Enabled selling higher in

organization

Gained customer insights

and built customer intimacy

Positioned as business

partner and trusted advisor

Allowed higher margin

pricing of products and

services

Ideas-Based Selling Is a Win-Win

For Solution ProviderFor Customer

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Match Your Selling Capabilities

to the Way Your Customers Buy

Single Product/

Service Offer

Full

Business

Solution

Bundled

Services/

Products

High

Medium

Low

Seller’s Knowledge of Customer’s Business and Industry

Opportunity for

Educating

Customer About

Business Ideas

Low Medium High

TRANSACTIONAL

SELLING

CONSULTATIVE

SELLING

IDEAS-BASED

SELLING

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How the Sales Cadence Shifts

Lots of product collateral

―Death by PowerPoint‖

Discount schedules

Blank sheet of paper

Whitepaper

Validation methods

Tools

Interaction

Style

Talk at the customer

Focus on our product

Everyone is a potential

customer

Educate and discuss

Focus on the value of the

opportunity

Evaluate customer fit

―Are you interested in our

product?‖

―Is this problem/opportunity

worth exploring?‖Key

Question

FROM TO

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Forum Responds to the Research

Ideas-Based Selling

2-day instructor-led classroom program

Process, skills, tools

For experienced salespeople

Sales manager companion program

Available globally in Fall 2011

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Strategy. Accelerated.Forum mobilizes people to embrace

the critical strategies of their

organization and accelerate results.

When you need to swiftly align your

people to tackle an opportunity or

tear down a roadblock, Forum is an

essential business asset.www.forum.com

800.FORUM.11

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Jeffrey Baker

VP & Practice Leader

Michael Collins

VP & Executive

Consultant