growing enterprise software sales
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Sales Acceleration
Bring Value to Customers
John Akbari
john@JohnAkbari.com
JohnAkbari.com
+1 (917) 675 3197
May 2011
www.JohnAkbari.com
A buyer
Image http://www.healthdump.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Brain-Power.jpg
Risk averse Not open to change Easier to keep status quo No “science projects” Not buying Not investing Not looking
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Buying has changed...
ExploreProblem
What is technology x?
AnalystsResearch
I need x.
Use CasesMetricsBenchmarks
Research
What productshould I use?
SolutionsTools
I need avendor.
RFIPoC
InvestigateSolution
Selection
P&L
Run the businessGrow the businessImprove the business
Cash flowsRiskPaybackHurdle rateIRR
Time & money
Barriers to Buying
...including “no sale”
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...so selling has changed
Prospects are
Not aware of solutionsNot aware of good solutionsNot aware of your solutionsNot aware of you
...including “no sale”
P&L
Run the businessGrow the businessImprove the business
Cash flowsRiskPaybackHurdle rateIRR
Time & money
Barriers to Buying
www.JohnAkbari.com
Images from amazon.com
Something is missing
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Improve your customer's business
Add value to your customers, not your product. Your real value is cash flow improvement for your customer. Approach potential customers with a way to improve revenue. Find potential customers you can help – before they find you. Work with the customer, for the customer, on shared goals...revenues
follow.
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Barriers to Buying
Our competition is not our (only) competition Other business drivers Other investments P/E ratios, cash flow, profitability
Our offerings will be ranked by Investment required Timeframes Risk Payback
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Overcome Barriers to Buying
Suggest how we can help the business. Focus on the business first, then the technology. Involve the business early-on to earn and create budget. Predict our impact, with specifics
Results Time to results Investments Payback Risk of execution What the prospect needs to do to achieve results
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Confidence through competence
Sell to installed base and new customers by focusing on Customer's revenues Customer's risk Customer's timeframes
By leveraging Our knowledge Our experience Our performance Our commitment
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Help customers invest to achieve results
Avoid “no sale” -- approach all stakeholders early Business, financial, technical, operational, end users Leverage them as internal sale team Avoids “we'll get back to you”
Partner with prospect through an investment process Compare prospect's metrics with other customers' metrics (value) Proof of Concept as Proof of Value (reduce prospect's risk) Qualify upfront (improve close rate) Avoid surprises (reduce vendor's risk)
Win over other investments and create budgets by predicting How much? (cost and payback) How long? (time to results) How sure? (implementation risk, costs, partners)
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Consultative selling vs. revenue improvement
Discover
Diagnose
Design
Deliver
Concept adapted from Exceptional selling, Jeff Thull
Ask
About possible projects
Suggest
Revenue improvement project
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Revenue improvement project
proposal
delivery
Time
Value
deal signed
?
Hit and run
Concept derived from The innovator's dilemma, Clayton Christensen
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Over the long-term
Value
Time
Short-term results over the long term
Cumulative
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Builds success...
Time
Cost of sales
Project 1 Project 2 Project 3
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..to grow margins, deal size, close rate
Time
Customer and VendorCumulativeValue
Project 1 Project 2 Project 3
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Revenue improvement is a cycle...
Discover
Diagnose
Design
Deliver
Concept adapted from Exceptional selling, Jeff Thull
Suggest
Revenue improvement project
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...that grows into a tornado
Technology
Revenue improvement
Trusted advisor
Vendor
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Capture your customer's metrics and their customer's early Proof of Concept should be Proof of Value Financial, technical, business, operational
Analyze how a new prospect's metrics compare with your customer's metrics
Customize metrics per use case Approach prospects with those metrics Help your customer by helping your customer's customers
Begin with customer and end-customer KPIs
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Before/after KPIs are key
Metric Before After (Your impact)
Deals per yearSales cycleClose rateRevenue per client per yearRevenue per sales execGlobal pipeline
Avg margin
Revenue to investment ratio (cost of sales)
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Sales acceleration
Use case 1 Use case 2
Analysis
Sales, marketing, support Win/loss Financial details (ROI,
RoR, TCO...) Customer feedback Competition ...
. . .
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Repository
Selection criteria References Demonstrations Sales tools Technical documents Qualification matrix ...
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$
Prosp
ect A
$
Prosp
ect B
$
Prosp
ect C
Factory image http://www.flickr.com/photos/loryraffa15/4038160902/sizes/m/in/photostream/ Catalog image http://www.flickr.com/photos/theinspiredheart/5347766844/sizes/m/in/photostream/ Concept adapted from Consultative Selling, Mack Hanan.
Approach customers and prospects
Warm calls Leverage partners Demonstrations Qualify ...
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Selecting revenue improvement projects
Easier to quantify cost-savings than revenue increase Cost-savings
Cash flows
RoR = Σ NPV year
Payback Profit
Revenues Evaluating future potential, not actual Many uncontrollable variables
NPV expected from revenue projects Profit index = ------------------------------------------------- investment
Concept adapted from Consultative Selling, Mack Hanan
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Triggers for new revenue improvement projects
Competitive analysis
Financial filings
Partners
Contacts
Consultants
ContactsContacts Annual reports
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Evidence shortens the sales cycle
Technical buyers Architecture Demonstrations Evaluations Technology press Benchmarks
Business buyers References Value delivered Time to deliver Risk Press coverage Endorsements
Operations buyers Time to deliver Migration Training Risk Third-party support
Finance buyers Market share Vendor financials Risk Third party support
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Core competencies → partners
Core products
•Product 1•Product 2
Delivery
•Professional svcs•Training•Partners
Solutions
•Core technical•Client-specific•With partners
Support
•Core product•Client-specific•Partners
Supply
Apply
PartnerLeverage
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For recommended books and blogs on value-based selling, pricing, and competitive analysis, visit
http://www.johnakbari.com/resources/
John Akbari
JohnAkbari.com
john@JohnAkbari.net
+1 (917) 675 3197
Resources
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