, ,

Sales: Objective Based Calls

In sales, process is king. Process enables repeatable actions and decisions to advance and obtain a sale. In this way, every step along the way should be an advancement towards a sale (or, close sale, good or bad). To do this, it’s often appreciated and strategically advantageous to be aware of not just the objective, but sharing the objective(s) with prospect as a means to guide them through a sales process. Otherwise, you may be thrust into no man’s land or harshly left to the buyer’s process (which could pit you against more competitors and into a price war). Though the overall objective is a sale, it’s not always attainable in a complex sale depending on the stage. Shooting for such an objective can be off-putting and lose the sale altogether.
With any call, it’s important to understand what is the objective of this call, this interaction. This will weigh heavily on where the prospect is in the sales process. From here, the objective may be to get confirmation of a buy-sell agreement. Or, in an early discovery call, the objective is to agree to a next call where more influencers and decision makers are present.
Walk through the objective(s) early on in the call to manage expectations. This doubles as confirming to the prospect that you’re here for business, and s/he should be assessing today’s interactions to make some commitment at the end. Then, at the end, be sure to close for the objective.
These objective-based calls help sales professionals stay on track on their own objectives. They also encourage commitment from the prospect to advance vs. stay stranded.
Understand, too, there are stretch objectives (maximum) and conservative objectives. Stretch objectives can be attained in the absolute best-case scenarios where the prospect commits to a “larger” objective like bringing on an integration team. A more conservative objective, then, may include introducing other key decision makers to evaluate a product or service. The objective of that call may be to bring on an integration team.
Before the next sales call, know where you and the prospect are in the sales process. Then, outline what the objectives are before the call to ensure proper alignment and talk-points are on track.
Get the objective.
/by
, , , ,

Consulting Lessons In Sales – Empowering the Champion

There are many subtle lessons I didn’t recognize from consulting that have been hugely valuable since building startups, especially in the role of sales. One of those lessons is (two-part) the role of the champion and empowering the champion to overcome internal hurdles.
I remember a project I was working on many, many years ago. We had just done a tremendous amount of work after developing models and recommendations on the client’s technology stack. We also helped the company choose a large transportation management system (TMS). We delivered our recommendations and findings to the company’s C-suite. We completed our 3-hour discussion, and yet, were only able to get through half our recommendations. As a consultant only a few months in, I thought things went well other than missing half the slides. Our internal debrief, however, highlighted how our team had missed the mark. Our recommendations focused too much on the TMS and did not deliver on IT infrastructure improvements we needed to hit home on for our champion, the Director of IT. The President and CFO moved forward with the TMS, but the rest of the scope where the Director wanted to achieve didn’t make the radar. As such, he never got budget to move forward with key initiatives.
In today’s B2B sales world, there are 7-8 folks involved in the buying process (Gartner). The role of the champion is as important as ever, and empowering the champion is critical. Empowering can come in the form of delivering a set of recommendations to the C-level suite, and to providing the champion with information and a ROI to gain buy-in internally.
In a complex sale, most of the selling does not involve a vendor’s sales professional. Instead, the real selling is done internally. It’s important to remember the role of the champion. Then, ensure the champion has as much ammunition as possible to power through his/ her agenda – hopefully, includes you. 
/by