en
|
fr
WIN ProgramsWIN Programs
Privacy/Cookie Policy & User Agreement

This website uses cookies. Cookies enable us to understand how visitors use our website so that we can improve it and provide the best experience possible. By browsing our website, you agree to our use of cookies. Cookies policy.

11
Mar, 2018

By admin

Is your B2B sales team building the Value Proposition?

Is your B2B Sales team Building the value proposition ? 

Sales people that apply solutions selling starts researching prospects challenges that prevent them from reaching their goals.

Solution selling is a whole process of thinking on the behalf of prospects, asking and discovering their urgent needs.

Creating a relevant and credible value proposition will be meaningful only if it is consistently used towards prospects’ wish list.

It is crucial to apply the value proposition in every conversation that sales leaders have with prospects to close deals easily. The steps below should help with this process:

1- Find out why prospects buy from your company in the first place? What value do they seek?

2- Ask enough questions to identify their challenges and find out how important it is for them to find a solution.

3- Act like a consultant and put yourself in their shoes. Think what you should do to gain their trust

4- Make sure you have a conversation with all your prospective buyers and address their compelling reasons to buy.

5- Create the value proposition, making sure you quantify their loss or gain if they buy your product.

B2B team leaders need to master their value proposition.

Nowadays, building credibility will get you through the client’s door. However, team leaders can only build their credibility if prospects get to know them.

B2B teams need to build their network and get in touch with their base on regular basis. One way of doing that is feeding prospects with information and taking care of their business in the same way they work on of achieving their target.

Remember that prospects can access any solution/product online. Being agile and alert is the only way to keep learning prospects’ needs and market challenges.

How do you think sales organisation could support Sales leaders to make sure they are on top of their game and successfully competing in such a though environment?

, , 0
19
Sep, 2017

By admin

Do you get lots of “maybe” or “I will think about it” after your first call with prospects?

Do you get lots of “maybe” or “I will think about it” after your first call with prospects?

So far, I have posted a lot of content which tells you about general mistakes in a sales call. Today we are going to talk about the situation when you do everything right but still get a “MAYBE” as an answer.

Most people subconsciously avoid decision making after the first conversation. Every sales guru knows and advises that one needs to adjust their conversation to guide the prospect to come to a decision. This can be tricky as salespeople can become very pushy. So the big question is: how do we guide the conversation while still making the prospect feel like they’re in control?

There is a very simple solution for this: set up an agenda before the meeting. It will align you and your prospect on a plan for the meeting and make sure you’re both on the same page and moving forward together toward one of three outcomes:

  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Figuring out the next steps – Future meeting date & agenda

By following the above process, you are avoiding a limbo stage. The main advantage of this process is that you are saving valuable time on the lead follow-ups. This can feel awkward at first but if you practice it in your next meeting and make it your own, you will start seeing positive results that you’ll want to use again and again. If you have any specific questions or suggestions about the implementation of this process, we are here to help!

, , , , , , , , , , , , 0
30
Aug, 2017

By admin

What happens to a prospect when they go dark and getting to the real objection

When I first started selling, I often experienced the following scenario.

I’d have a meeting thinking I totally nailed it, only for the prospect to go dark after my attempts to follow up.

What the heck was I doing wrong? Well there were a few things, I’d made a classic error: I’d fail to uncover the secret objection my prospect still had at the end of our conversation.

Unless you directly ask, it’s easy for a prospect not to reveal their actual objections to buying. Not only is it too hard for a prospect to pin down the objection on their own, but there’s a stigma associated with rejection, and they don’t want to feel like a bad person by doing it to you.

Also, although the prospect realised both a pain and solution, they were still stuck with an existing process and habit which is hard to break.

On my side, there was still a lot of work to do if I wanted to consistently move these deals forward. The way you can motivate someone to make a change is to continue to play investigator. A few questions I like to use are:

  • Do you want to change this? (sounds simple, but no one asks this)
  • Where would making a change like this sit on your priority list? (get specific, are you in their top three or bottom three? you can learn a lot here. maybe you can solve other priorities and they don’t know it yet)
  • How committed are you to changing this in the next ______? (this gives you a sense of timeline to close/implement assuming you’re on their priority list)

These questions sound basic, but surprisingly very few have a habit of explicitly asking them.

What is your strategy to face this situation? Leave your thoughts and comments below!

, , , , , , , , 0
16
Aug, 2017

By admin

Have you faced this situation in a sales call?

 

Have you faced this situation in a sales call? 

(Source: Flickr)

Here I am with another live experience and a valuable lesson and situation that sales people face on daily basis. I experience this scenario every other day.

Sometimes a prospect will try to push you into giving a demo early in a conversation – we’ll talk about how to avoid this later in subsequent posts in details, but if it happens, here’s a quick fix.

Let’s say you’re selling an amazing product to a prospect over the phone:

PROSPECT: “We need a new system and are evaluating options. Can you show me a demo?”

YOU: “Happy to do a demo. I want to make sure I show you the right parts of our system so do you mind if I ask you a few questions first so we can make the best use of our time?”

PROSPECT: “Sure.” (Most of the time)

Instead of getting straight into the demo, frame your first questions in a way that shows you’re trying to help them get the most for their time (which you will be) and they’ll appreciate it. Also make sure to note down every response and write down corresponding product solution points with your prospect’s responses.

I call this process “earning the right to pitch.” Next, I’ll walk you through a verbal tactic you can pair this with to close deals faster and more consistently.

Have you or someone on your team started selling the solution before you’ve ‘earned the right to pitch’? 

, , , , , , 0
16
Nov, 2016

By admin

Cost Optimization or Cost Cutting?

Cost Optimization or Cost Cutting?

 With the steady increase in inflation around the world, the overall purchasing power of consumers has declined by a huge margin, making it very difficult for businesses to survive in the market. Is cost optimization or cost cutting the solution for companies to keep on their volume and margin?

Yes, optimization costs is the first natural reaction that comes to the C level mind however what they have to realize is that there are other options out there that can help businesses achieve growth. There are many factors that should be considered when deciding on choosing cost optimization.

Here’s some guidelines on different cost optimization strategies and how to implement them into your business module.

Implement strategy changes

Before you start optimizing costs, it’s essential that all of the transactions that take place during the operation of your business are accounted for. The human resource talent are also assessed to select the best team in the back office and the star sales people that will compete in difficult times.

Optimizing cost based on the next 2 to 3 year business strategy is essential. This will help you analyze the different aspects of your business module and where you can make changes to implement the correct strategy. It is vital that you cut costs in such a way that it does not have a detrimental effect on your business. Here are a few options to guide the C level in the right direction:

  • Time consumption of the operations in each department
  • Assessing the ability and potential of sales people to compete in a tough environment.
  • Their ability to be accountable and their desire to do whatever it takes to achieve success.
  • Balancing between back office and front office while focusing on team building and communication.

Drastically change the cost structure

The cost structure of your business refers to all of the fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are those costs that do not fluctuate, such as overhead costs – like rent payments – while variable costs are defined as a cost that varies with output.

In order to drastically change the costs structure, you have to consider all of your fixed and variable costs and see if there is any chance of reducing the overall operating costs of your business. For example, focus on your production cycle. See if it is possible to purchase your raw materials from a different vendor that charges less, or reduce the fixed costs by moving the business to another location where the rent is lower.

Meeting the economy of scale

One of the most important challenges to consider is to try to minimize the cost of purchasing to be able to meet the pressure on retail prices.  The economy of scale will be met through re-negotiating the deals that customers will take advantage of because of a better price offering.  Since costs have decreased, you can offer your product at more exciting prices which might help you maintain or increase sales.

Have in mind that not all incremental strategies will get you the desired results, especially if while designing it you don’t closely take into consideration competition, new entrants to the market and parallel business activity that might affect your business strategy.

Redesign or reorganize

This is an important question to ask when deciding on how to implement cost optimization strategies. Many companies fail to execute such strategies as it tends to be difficult to apply a new design in an operating business module.

In order to survive in today’s market, it is imperative that businesses adapt their internal business structure to make sure that they are operating at an optimum level with no excessive costs. First, you have to determine what aspects of your business are ineffective, such as work flows. Then, you have to implement strategies that will improve efficiency in order to reduce costs.

  Read more

, , 0
1 … 4 5 6 7 8 … 23

Recent Posts

Is your B2B sales team building the Value Proposition?
What happens to a prospect when they go dark and getting to the real objection