BLOGGING WITH KA

Wed, 02 Jun 2010

Just Like Everyone Else

I just got off the phone with one of my current clients. She is the COO of a large public entity in the midst of evaluating some vendors for medical coverage.

The conversation went like this. "Wendy, how did the Finalist sessions go?" Her response, "all four of them provided my team with an overwhelming amount of content with a totally underwhelming amount of impact!"

I paused and asked, "What went wrong?"

Wendy said, "their logos by default got them to our table, but they felt the need to spend the majority of their time reselling us on their credibility? To make matters worse, they talked about all of their capabilities without taking into consideration our business, our problems, our measures for success."

I replied to Wendy, "didn't you tell all of them what you expected?" Her reply, "I was very clear; connect what you offer to what matters most to us. As obvious as I thought my request was, all four venders failed. Now it feels like we're picking the best of the worst."

Are you thinking... Your team would have presented differently? That your team's presentation to Wendy would have been unique?

Guess what... Odds are very high (>90%) that you're unique, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

Stand apart... Change your results by changing your dialogue...

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PODCASTS
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These podcasts focus on a day in the life of how real sales people use our system to overcome common challenges.

Going around your customer contact
Despite the warning, you feel it is the right thing to do to have this dialogue with an executive that you have been told explicitly to not call on.

Slowing down a customer's buying decision
How to use the Fast Path Assessment with your prospect or customer to slow down or rethink their decision to go with your competitor.

Attempting to intercept your competitor's sale
Initial dialogue with an executive after you have learned they are about to award a major piece of business to one of your competitors.

3rd party consultant keeping you at arms length
Dialogue introducing your intentions to go around a 3rd party consultant who is blocking or preventing you from doing your job on behalf of your customer or prospect.

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Curse of the Commons

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Hard Way vs Easy Way - The Napkin

Dimensions of Success

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The only set of sales "strategy" and "execution" standards built and approved by buyers.

Are you using the same outdated sales methodologies also being employed by your competition?

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Help your sales managers become effective coaches.

Have you given your sales managers the support they deserve?

Developing your sales management capability is the most important thing you can do to impact your culture.

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Independent research has repeatedly shown that poor performing sales reps work just as hard as high performers.

However, the manner in which reps manage their time and activities is usually the difference between success and failure.

Our simple, yet proven methods help salespeople effectively execute against their sales objectives. Our proprietary suite of selling tools is designed to quickly separate good opportunities from bad and maximize the amount of meaningful time your team spends with customers.

By streamlining processes associated with account and pre-call planning, qualifying meetings and on-going customer interaction, your sales staff will be able to spend productive time with more customers.

And that’s good for business.

 

Transform your sales force from interrogators to collaborators.

Are your salespeople using “sell-to” or “sell-with” techniques?

Our methodology transforms standard “questioning” techniques to “collaborative dialogues”.

Knowledge-Advantage will enhance your team’s customer interactions and extend the value of your basic selling skills program.

That’s because most basic selling platforms focus inward on salesperson behavior and not on customer needs. While those basic selling skills are critical to sales development, they only mark the beginning of the training journey – not the end.

And here’s the big secret. Making customer needs the top priority is not at odds with company goals. In fact, when that alignment occurs, both suppliers and customers benefit. Replace your internally focused, static planning processes with jointly owned customer plans.