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Perspective

Top ten best practices

We have identified best practices to achieve

breakthroughs in sales performance, based on ourexperience of building powerful business developmentengagement approaches with more than 120 clients.

1. Prove credibility by developing insight and foresightthat is plausible, relevant and original

2. Identify and prioritise accounts that are not onlyprofitable but game changing

3. Identify the best practice competencies andbehaviours that distinguish good from greatconsultative sales professionals

4. Embed a rigorous consultative approach and set oftools to provide a common language and consistencyacross the team

5. Develop a broader set of Key PerformanceIndicators and values that go beyond short termrevenue and focus on skills, behaviours andmanaging critical client conversations

6. Strike a balance between recruiting top talent fromoutside and recruiting slightly lower level talentwhich can be developed at a lower cost

7. Ensure sales professionals have compelling valuepropositions. Most opportunities for buildingcredibility fail within the first two minutes because'elevator pitches' are undifferentiated

8. Ignite the team with a bold new vision

9. Create an atmosphere of teamwork, trust, respectand a willingness to innovate, experiment and learn

10. Develop an aligned sales team who coach eachother and become committed to each other'ssuccess

Consultative Selling

PDN Ltd 2011

Who is PDN?

PDN is a team of consulting and professional services

leaders who bring best practice skills and experience toProfessional Services firms and the Global 500. All PDNteam members are former partners and principals ofconsulting firms.

We deliver tangible increases in revenues, improvedmargins in consulting engagements, and groundbreakingservices and practices in our clients chosen markets.

How CXOs assess value

Our latest research with CXOs from US and Europe onhow they assess value tells us that:

Senior Executives do not want to feel sold to. Theywant a dialogue with a thought provokingprofessional who can take ownership of the client'sneeds, has clear insight, a passionate desire togenuinely contribute and can demonstratecapabilities not just speak about them

Executives make a judgment around credibilitywithin the first few seconds and they rarely alter it

Executives expect a series of conversations thataddress the irrational, emotional and politicalinterests. If a sales professional does not recogniseand address these emotional needs the client willnot buy

Because sales professionals are unaware of theseconversational hurdles they get excluded fromopportunities

A strong company brand is helpful but only whencoupled with a compelling value proposition. Mostsales professionals do not prepare their value

proposition rigorously enough

A key element of PDN's work is training and coaching clients in how to strategise and design the series ofcritical conversations that will make or break their biggest deals. We do this using research into consultingdiagnostic tools, key influencing behaviours and the psychology of the buyer. We are happy to share this withour clients and to provide examples of good and bad practices.

PDNs expertise goes beyond the fundamental basics of sales. Opportunity andaccount planning are vital and a core part of what we provide but are notenough to ensure results. We train and coach sales professionals to developthe intellectual agility, dialogue and behaviours to win the hearts and minds ofexecutive decision makers. We call this skill Consultative Selling.

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PDN Ltd, The City Arc, 89 Worship Street, London EC2A 2BFTel: +44 (0)845 680 6608 www.pdnltd.com

Unfortunately, trust with product and service providers

is diminishing and sales professionals must be more

skilled in demonstrating trustworthiness.

Consultative Selling Case studies and testimonials

Over the last twenty years, 85% of PDN clients havegained revenue of at least ten times their investment inthe first year alone. Over the last six years (when weintroduced more rigorous coaching to our work), ourclients have gained between 11x and 1400x theirinvestment in the first year of applying PDN'sconsultative approach. The return continues over thenext few years as behaviours become embedded in theorganisation.

The software division of global engineering firm wonthe largest deal in its history ($165m) as a result ofPDN's approach (previously their largest deal was$40m)

A UK Telecoms firm needed higher margin businessand client engagements at more senior level. PDNrecruited, trained and coached new consultativesales professionals to win 12.5m of new servicesbusiness in six months and their largest deal inEurope that year

The first day after a five-day programme of roleplaying sessions, our client won an additional $20mand eight projects in a sales situation where theypredicted they would lose the deal completely

An IT services firm used PDNs consultative sellingapproach to build one of the largest global servicesorganizations in the world and increased the size ofproduct deals tenfold

Over a fourteen-month period, PDNs clientdisplaced its most significant competitor and wonits largest global account. Previously the account

CXO was opposed to doing any business with theclient

PDN trained and coached a twenty-man strategicaccount sales team for a client to win $1.3bn of newbusiness from scratch

PDN Ltd 2011

PDN programmes

PDN programmes are customised for each of our clientsbased on the following workshops:

Consultative Selling - Live Opportunities

Engaging the Chief Executive & Other Board

Members

Negotiation and Objection Handling

Leading Pursuit Teams

Becoming the Trusted Advisor

Selling into the Organisation

Hunting & Farming Strategies

Managing the Opportunity Portfolio

Ousting the Incumbent

Breaking into an account

If any of these ideas strike a chord, please contact us:contact@pdnltd.com

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