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Selling Value NOT Price...

9/1/2014

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It never ceases to amaze me how many times I hear sales people say they have to be the lowest price in order to win the deal.  When I hear this I cringe, as deep down I know they haven’t sold the value of their product and didn’t present a distinct differentiation from the competition.   

It’s not always price people… when you’ve clearly conveyed value propositions and have client buy-in you can oftentimes charge more… a lot more!

Here’s An Example… and there are many

Recently I was brought in to evaluate and turnaround sales for a company that provides design and printing solutions for all sizes and types of companies. 

I found that while the Company had high quality products that should demand higher than average prices, they were loosing to the competition primarily based on price. 

What I found was their sales team was simply gathering customer requirements and forwarding a pricing quotation via email… going through the motions so to speak.

I recommended modifying the sales process to stress the value of their offering rather than price. 

Now for the change to their sales process…

I simply had their graphics team mock-up photos of the prospective clients facility reflecting the proposed solution.  Why? I wanted prospects to visualize the proposed solution installed at their facility and see the value it would bring. 

When completed the sales team would email a copy to the Artwork Proposal to the prospect, pricing was not included.  Pricing was always reviewed during face-to-face meetings. We also changed language the sales team would use when speaking with the prospect… you guessed it; value points of their solution were stressed.

By simply showing and discussing value before discussing price, sales wins rose 65% and better yet deals were oftentimes priced 2 to 3 times greater than the competition!

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Top 11 Reasons Why Sales Are Lost...

8/15/2013

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I recently read an interesting blog by a highly regarded sales development expert that caused me to pause.  

The writer stated that "when a salesperson fails to land a deal, sale or order which they expected, projected, forecasted and pre-banked, nine times out of ten, you can lay the blame on one of the following ten conditions."  

And, while I tend to agree the writer, one key condition was missing… do you know what it is?

10 conditions referenced in the blog…

1.      The salesperson did not have an effective sales process.
2.      The salesperson did not follow the sales process.
3.      The salesperson was not coached on this opportunity in the context of the sales process.
4.      The salesperson was not held accountable to applying the sales process.
5.      The salesperson did not use a CRM oriented toward a sales process.
6.      The CRM application did not include the sales process.
7.      The CRM application did not require the criteria for each stage of the sales process to be met prior to moving to the next step.
8.      The sales process lacked criteria for each stage.
9.      The steps for the sales process were improperly sequenced.
10.    There was no CRM application.

Here’s the missing condition… and it should be 1st on the list!

1.    The salesperson targeted the wrong person and didn’t reach the decision maker. 

The majority of opportunities are missed because the salesperson targets the wrong person within the organization. 

Salespeople, because they are solution providers, typically call on and develop a deep relationship with the solution owner, but they don’t own the problem, they’re merely helping to solve the problem.

It’s the decision maker who owns the problem and ultimately makes the purchase decision… and too many salespeople aren’t calling on them.

After 25 years of leading and training sales teams I’ve found most salespeople are merely exposed to general sales techniques and strategies… they’re rarely taught how to transition that knowledge in to a highly persuasive message designed to get the attention of the decision maker.

What I teach sales organizations is that secret sauce… 

I teach a perfected technique of combining the salespersons knowledge, social psychology and leverage into highly persuasive communication process.  This technique opens doors to decision makers, bypasses the lower level manager and works with virtually all types of products and services.

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Getting In Is Everything… 

1/3/2013

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I’m often frustrated with sales-people as they rarely book appointments with the decision maker.  They usually settle for a lower-level person; then they have to slowly and gradually work their way up, hoping to ultimately get heard by someone who can make purchasing decisions.  

The technique I perfected early in my sales career, and what I teach sales teams and individuals today, will by-pass the lower-level person and open the doors of decision makers.

What’s the technique…  It’s a perfected method based on a specific pattern of persuasion.  It’s to a certain extent about developing your natural inborn talent as a persuader (and yes, everyone has it).  But it’s much more about putting together a series of specific steps and strategies that are incredibly persuasive and virtually unstoppable.

These steps and strategies are extremely important…  without them the door of the decision maker door will remain closed… and, if you’re not granted access there’s a slim, if not zero, chance of making the sale.

What it’s NOT about…  It’s not about using heavy handed or unethical tactics. 

What it’s about…  It’s about causing that right person to want to pay attention to the sales person and granting their request to connect.

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Executive Assistants... a technique in opening the door

1/1/2013

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First, if you deal with executive assistants correctly, they will often give you what you want.  Never try to bully or B.S. the executive assistant, you want to include them in your strategy of getting in the door.

Here’s a technique I’ve used...

When doing prospect research I uncovered a large nationwide auto lending institution that was a good opportunity for our product.  I found they had stopped doing business in fourteen states because of lending risk and our product was designed to mitigate risk. 

I decided to include the decision maker for this organization in an online survey.  I then designed survey questions around problems my research showed they experienced.

The title of the survey was “Have a Latte and Goody on me”.  All the person had to do to receive a $10 Starbuck gift card was to simply complete a 10 question online survey… pretty simple. 

The targeted decision maker responded and his survey confirmed their desire to expand, but needed a risk mitigation solution.  Now I had my opening and I wasn’t simply going to drop a Starbucks gift card in the mail.

I found out the name of his executive assistant and gave her a call.  After introducing myself I informed her that her boss had responded my online survey and by doing so he was to receive a $10 Starbucks card.  I told her I wanted to do something special for him and asked if she would assist me.  I asked if there was a Starbucks close by and she said yes.  I then asked, if I send you a $50 Starbucks card would she pick-up his favorite latte and one for herself?  I told her she could keep the remaining money on the card as my way of saying thank you.  I then said, one more thing, I’d like you to coordinate the latte delivery with a basket of Mrs. Fields cookies I’m going to have delivered, can you help with this?  The executive assistant was now helping and coordinating everything on my behalf.

Along with the $50 Starbucks card I enclosed a letter the executive assistant was to hand deliver to the decision maker.  It was a simple Thank You for completing the survey with not a lot of product details other than stating our product would mitigate the risk they had experienced and hoped we would have an opportunity talk at some point.

The day he received the latte and cookies I received a call.  He laughed and said how he liked how I got his staff to coordinate everything and wanted to know when I could come to his office to discuss our solution.

Oh, and I closed the sale in record time…

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Reaching The Decision Maker...

12/27/2012

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How to reach the decision maker… that’s the proverbial question of sales.

One technique I’ve used to reach decision makers is a targeted survey.  
The survey is comprised of only ten questions and the reward for completing the survey varies depending on revenue potential and size of the organization. 

The goal is simple…
  • you want a response and obtain contact information from the targeted person
  • you want to send a follow-up message on how your product / solution alleviates problems addressed in the survey
  • you want to enter into deeper dialog and hopefully close a sale
I know what you’re thinking… but does it work?

Here’s just one example… and I have many

An auto titling company I was working with wanted to reach the executive suite of national auto lenders.  I targeted ten institutions, but knew making a connection would be difficult as the titling company was small and unknown.

I designed a very focused survey and to be sure it was read the "subject line" and "opening paragraph" let recipient know they had a 1 in 10 chance to win a 64G iPhone 4S… there was only going to be 10 surveys sent to national lenders and each reply would be entered into a random drawing for the iPhone.

The survey received a 50% response rate and the auto titling company entered into high-level discussions with two national lenders.


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    Author

    Bill Kliss has been teaching his perfected technique  of opening doors to reach decision makers for 30-years.  His cutting edge approach has increased sales wins for virtually all types of products and services.  

    In addition, Bill also hosts the Opening Doors Radio & Video Show Series. This is  where Bill provides insight into opening doors to the C-suite by discussing proven selling techniques, and what some businesses are doing to accelerate business growth in today's economy.

    Bill's also a dad who loves the blues and anything at or in the ocean.

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