“How does this sound to the people who will use it daily?” should form part of your pitching ammunition. Users can undermine your sale. So, be careful how you pitch to them – especially lay staff. This isn’t so much about dropping your pride and selling to the ‘’irrelevant’ too, but about naivete. When management
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The sales job has an element of customer service in it. Sadly, many sales people frown upon it claiming, “It’s not my job. Once I deliver the account, I’m out.” Equally, many customer service representatives strait jacket themselves in their job description and put blinders on even the most glaring of sales opportunities. “We’re not
Always have a next steps step in B2B selling. The best B2B sales process or selling strategy is one that is deliberate with an activity to keep the sale going. Besides ensuring continuity of the sale, it shows the seller’s stamina for the long haul post sale. B2B sales process description First off, a working
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Sales people that are effectively selling to C-suite executives are a miniscule few and oceans apart between. Of the few that can overcome feeling intimidated, even fewer still meaningfully engage the C-level executive. Suffice it to say, based on research, C-level executives find less than 20% of the time spent by sales people as useful.
Everyone is a salesperson. You likely have heard this before. But today I want to limit this to some roles that don’t see themselves as salespeople but are. You are selling. You may not admit it but you are. “But I’m a Programs Officer (or, do fundraising) with an NGO”. You are selling. “I’m a
Winning the business to business sale starts with knowing that buyers buy the value to your product to their business. Prospects (potential buyers) don’t care about the features of your product; the more, when they (prospects) are a business. Winning the business to business sale means showing the value of your product’s features to their
Customers want to buy, not to be sold to
This inability to sell to the right person, can lose one a job at an interview or a pitch to a panel. If you don’t prospect continually, you die. Prospecting is the never-ending search for potential buyers for your product. When you prospect, you ensure you are selling to the right person. But it first
Conflicting buyer and seller needs can be subtle. Buyers are a tricky lot; they may echo a problem collectively but have idiosyncratic pain points. When it’s one thing they need and are struggling with, it doesn’t matter that it’s 3% of your product, it only matters that it’s 97% of their problem. Buyers don’t
This dilemma replicates itself in business-to-business (B2B) selling. The assumption, for instance, that a nod from the Managing Director will automatically open all doors to the purchase of your solar panels, is a fallacy. ‘Do you want to speak to the man of the house, or the woman in charge?’ So I once read on