Stay current in fast-moving times!Strategies to improve sales team effectiveness !

SALES STRATEGY SERIES #5

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“ “ © 2011

I have yet to encounter a sales process or methodology that encourages creativity, adaptability or flexibility…

Human interactions are complex, and adaptability and resourcefulness are the key components that breed

success when everything is changing (especially when the rate of change is also growing exponentially)."

"

“Sales Process Problems: Turn by Turn Guidance is Unavailable,” The Sales Blog, S. Anthony Iannarino

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$ Factors that influence customer needs, preferences, and buying behaviors are constantly in flux. Economic downturns cause buyers to clamp down on purchasing. But external forcing functions, like legal and regulatory mandates, can unleash urgent waves of spending. Industry-specific compliance initiatives or competitive pressures often compel buyers to break loose funding for specific purchases that give them an edge.

Capture fleeting opportunities

You can’t afford to miss a window of opportunity in this cut-throat environment. Give your reps early warning with a constant stream of contextual insight about shifts in your market.

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Give your sales team a heads-up on major shifts before competitors take action with real-time intelligence on your key markets. Scrutinize analyst coverage for industry trends, clues to changes in the category landscape, hints about future moves by competitors, and predictions about spending increases or decreases. Keep tabs on competitive partnerships and investments to gauge direction and momentum. Track customer sat scores and renewal rates for red flags about where reps might encounter obstacles.

Keep your ear to the ground

CATEGORY! COMPETITORS! CUSTOMERS! COMPANY (OURS)

How satisfied are our customers? Are we gaining or losing ground? How quickly do we need to respond?

Who are our best targets? How are their needs changing? Are there unmet needs we can seize on?

How are our competitors selling? Who are they partnering with? How much momentum do they have?

What’s driving spending now? How is the category changing? Where might our competitors be going next?

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Staying current on customer-specific catalysts and inhibitors can be a challenge for even seasoned sales reps. Contextual customer snapshots profile aspects of a decision-maker or influencer’s buying behavior that matter when engaging with them in a deal. Snapshots help reps understand and adapt to changing customer mindsets and buying behavior shifts with insight that captures what’s top of mind right now for each buyer they’ll encounter.

Deliver dynamic customer insight

Make my boss look good and get promoted

Avoid a high-profile failure

Convince decision-makers

Manage the details and get it done

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Snapshots arm your reps with a detailed dossier on potential buyers. Point them in the right direction by profiling the ideal prospect, including their role in the buying process, pain points to probe on, specific texture about their perceptions and fears about a given solution, and gotchas to watch out for in the purchasing process.

•  Reporting relationships

•  Funding sources •  Cross-organizational

linkages

•  Accountability requirements

•  Explicit concerns •  Implicit fears

•  Scope of role •  Ownership of specific

initiatives •  Decision-making

authority

•  Performance goals

•  Personal drivers •  Career path plans

Engage on a more personal level

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Proven with B2B leaders Our approach is built on deep domain expertise in B2B selling and insight about current buying dynamics gained from hundreds of hours of interviews with successful enterprise sales leaders.

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© 2011 © 2011

We develop contextual selling tools and content marketing programs that are considered best in class, with messaging that sharpens differentiation, playbooks that improve sales performance, and content marketing programs that deliver results. We help companies harness sales leader knowledge and apply rich insight about customer drivers and market realities in tools and programs that drive measurable change, often in less than 90 days.

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