Does the good solution sell it self ?

I had a case recently where we discussed the difference between making a good solution vs. selling the solution. So I thought of the old question:

Does the good solution sell it self ?

You often find technical people that does not like sales people, because they are over promising, does not understand the solution, etc. That leads to that some technical people believe that if they just make a really good solution it will sell it self. But that is not the case!

So why do you still need sales if you have made a good solution?

Quite simply it is a matter of having someone that can:
- identify the potential customer
- make the customers aware of your solution
- understand the customers specific needs and pains
- explain and show the customer how your solution can help them meet their needs
- help the customer to decide that he needs to do anything at all

The last part is very central to all of sales. We all know the situation where we actually have a need, e.g. for a new shirt, we have just not yet decided which shirt it should be and taken the time to make a purchase. A good sales person would be able to help us make a decision to make a purchase at to put the order with him.

Selling on the edge of development - the classic conflict

Doesn't it always seam like you are selling on the edge of development ?

In IT sales you are always missing that one or two new features that is required for you to win the next big deal. It is the constant conflict between selling what you have vs. selling the vision to the customer and what you are building for the next release.

If you find your self in this situation - One thing to remember is that you have properly managed to sell a lot of business without the new features that you missing.

So maybe you can work your way around it by focusing on one of these elements:

1. Use reference to other customers that have not been using this feature
2. Analyse the customer business pain - is this feature really important to him to achieve the benefits?
3. Suggest a work around and explain how that is just as good
   
4. Focus on other areas of the business problems that you are trying to solve
5. Explain that it is coming soon

Know the personal agenda of buyer

It is very important to know the personal agenda for the buyer. We have all read that in the sales books, but it is important to remember and use that during the sales process.

I just had a sales call last week where I was reminded of this fact again. My solution was not necessary the first choice of the customer, but by focusing on the personal agenda of the decision maker we might very good chance of winning.

The personal agenda of the buyer includes elements like:

• Personal success
• It might be very important for him to ensure personal success, and if you can describe how your solution can help him achieve that you stand a better chance
  
• Limit risk
• It might also be important to reduce the personal risk of the buyer. If so - explain how you can help him do that.
  
• Acceptance by manager, team and pears
• A variant of the personal risk and success is to achieve that acceptance by managers, teams and pears. Ensure that your solution does not go across the agenda of the people that the buyer needs personal acceptance from.
  
• External image
• If your solution can help improve the external image of your buyer it might be a very important factor. Can you tell him that other managers that he looks up to has also decided for your solution ?

I recommend that you try to map your buyers personal agenda to your solution, and identify how you can work with it achieve the best results.

Think about you buy e.g. cloth yourself ?

Getting Things Done in a sales environment

I have recently read the best selling book by David Allan - 'Getting Things Done' and it a really brilliant book.

I have learned a lot from the book, and it has made me much more productive. One of the key things that it has helped me with is dividing my activities by the type, e.g.:
- At computer
- At office
- Phone calls

That ensures that I can be very productive and cluster the tasks so then I am ready to call customers I can focus on calling from the top of the list. I have found that it is even more productive if I sub divide my phone calls into
- Call
- Call - cold calls
- Call - opportunities

That gives me an increased focus on the cold calls, that I find needs a separate mindset and energy. At the same time when I have started on the cold calling don't what to think about which customers to call next - I just want to do it.

I have also made a category for my key opportunities at the same level as my projects. That means that I can go through each of my key opportunities each week and identify what I need to do to win the opportunity.

Try saying no to an opportunity

Sometimes you have to say NO to an opportunity - but it hurts!

It is always difficult to say no to an opportunity where you can earn more money.
...Thanks Mike and Joe (SalesRoundup.com) for your comment by the way - money is important :-)

Some opportunities you have opportunities that does not fall within the strategy of the company or what you are trying to achieve, which means that in the long run the time could be spend better with other opportunities. Other times you have some opportunities where your chances of winning is just to low when you are looking at it realistically - and you got to be honest with your self.

That means that sometimes you need to say no to an opportunity. That can be a very hard choice to make. I don't mean latent opportunities where you are trying to build the need at the customer - I mean real opportunities where the customer has a project and they are asking you to bid on it.

But the results of a no to an opportunity can sometimes be really effective.

1. First of all you might free up your time to work on better cases with higher probability or work on finding new opportunities that fit with your strategy, which again means that you have a better chance with the next opportunity.

2. Secondly you customers will respect you for you decision. They respect the fact that you are honest with them about what you are trying to sell.

3. You might get the chance to change the customers evaluation criterion's. If the customer is truly interested in your solution to their pain, they might get back to you.

I had a customer recently where I was asked to submit an answer to an RFP. I have made a presentation of our solution before the RFP was send out and they liked our solution. When we got the RFP I could see that there was a lot of elements where we would not compete very well, so I told the customer that we would not participate in the bit.

The customer then came back to me and told me they where very impressed with the fact that I dared say no to the opportunity, and asked me to describe why I did not want to participate. It ended up with us going to the second round of the process without actually answering the RFP and having changed the parameters for the evaluation, and we ended up winning the business.


So my advice is to consider your opportunities and don't be afraid to say no to opportunities sometimes.

Are you a critics ? Don't be - Try to read 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'

Right now I am reading the book of Dale Carnegie, ' How to Win Friends and Influence People'. It is very impressive how a book written in 1936 still can be so relevant to all of us.

One of the key messages in the book is not to criticizes, but to be genuinely interested in people and to look for the best in them.

We all know the situations when we are stressed, tired or maybe just moody, and we snap back at people. But quite a few people is also just very critical of many things like their work, their co-workers, the weather, etc.

It is never very productive to be a critics. It might get you what we want in the short run, but it can be really damaging in the long run. Instead you should be genuinely interested in people, and if they do not do what you expect or would like them to do, try to understand them, before you try to make them understand you.

These facts applies in sales as well. Don't ever criticize your customers and don't get annoyed with them. Show interest in your customer. Understand their problems and pains. Know what they are passionate about.

I can highly recommend the book.

SalesRoundup - Damn good podcast on sales

I have become a great fan of podcasts since I got my first iPod this summer.

I thought that I would be using my iPod for listening to music while running, but I very quickly found that podcasts are a great source of inspiration and knowledge. Especially I have found that I can use the time spend in queue each morning in the car to listen and learn.

It is great and very productive, because I get very inspired and go use the new input directly at work.

One of the very best podcasts that I am listening to is SalesRoundup at www.salesroundup.com.

It is two experienced sales guys, Mike and Joe, that is doing the show and the are both fun and very skilled in the field of selling. I keep learning a lot from them and I can apply it directly in my sales role every day, to 'help me earn more money' as they say.

By the way - I think the tag line it should be 'help me earn more business'. That would focus more on earning the right for the customers business by selling to them and helping them solve their pains.

So if you are a sales rep and don't have an iPod - go get one and listen to SalesRoundup! The ROI will be very good. I guarantee you.

By the way - you can help me win a prize pack by signing up for their show notification and say that I refered you :-)

Inspiring story of a natrual manager

I just heard this podcast by David Maister today. It is a great little story of a natrual manager from a gym.

This guy has a great vision, customer focus and high standard that lets him drive a great business, and David Maister draws some good conclusions from the story.

Listing to it here or find it on http://davidmaister.com

Don't hire stupid people - go for the best

In these days where it is hard to find people it is tempting to lower your standards and hire people that does not live up to your normal criterion's.

The question is should you do this? My advice is no!

Many people will find them self in a position where the company is growing, and you need more account managers and presales to follow up on the customer opportunities and help grow the business.

These days it is very hard to find the right people, because it is the employees marked. That means that when you try to find new employees you will not end up with a long list of good candidates that you can choose from. More likely you might be looking at a list of merely ok or even not_too_good candidates.

To follow the opportunities in the marked, you might consider lowering your standard and hire one of these candidates. But there is a big risk and down side to that.

These account managers might do more damage than not having any. If they do not live up your high standards, a downward spiral can start that could hurt your business.

• You customer might start to notice that they do not get the quality attention and dialog with you. You might end up with dents in your image or even complaints.
  
• Colleagues in sales will notice and might get annoyed, because the new employee does not live up to their standards.
  
• Colleagues in delivery and production/development might have to clean up after the sales person
• You will need to use more of your own time with this employee to discuss, guide and coach, which you could and should have used better with some of the high performing account managers.
  

So my advice it don't lower your standards. You know how to sell so use your skills to sell yourself and your company to the best candidates.

You can also learn how to be better at sales

Welcome all to my new blog.

My intention is to write some of my thoughts around sales management and selling in this blog. I hope this can bring inspiration and knowledge to other people working with sales and I can properly also learn a lot my self writing this.

I will be giving feedback on book I read, podcasts that I hear, knowledge I get from customers and other things that come to my, and I think others could learn from or just have fun reading.