Mastering the Complex Sale_9

SixEssentialDesignQuestions 159 determined financially. In the Diagnose phase, we assigned a cost to the customer’s current situation or cost of the problem (CoP). In the Design phase, we calculate the financial impact of the solution (FoS). This does not mean that it is time to talk about the price of our solutions or to begin negotiating price with the customer. Instead, we are going to quantify the financial impact of the desired outcome, that is, what the customer can expect in terms of increased revenue and/or decreased expense. We want to determine what it is worth to the customer to solve the problem. The value of a solution and an appropriate investment to obtain it can be expressed with a simple equation: Financialimpactof thesolutionðFoSÞ Costof solutionðCoSÞ ¼ TruevalueðvalueÞ When customers know the financial impact of a solu-tion, many of the price pressures that salespeople typically face disappear. In fact, the actual cost of the solution being offered becomes far less important than how that cost com-pares to the value the customer stands to gain. The ability to analyze value in this way is a significant improvement over the typical side-by-side price comparison of solutions that tell customers nothing about how much value each solution will create and therefore, nothing about what a realistic investment could be to solve the problem. InvestmentExpectations:WhatLevelofInvestment IsAppropriatetoSolvetheProblem? Once the value parameters are set, the next solution parameter is what level of investment makes business sense for the customer. This can also be expressed in a simple equation: 160 DESIGN THE VALUE-RICH SOLUTION Financialimpactof thesolutionðFoSÞ= Customer’srequiredROIðreturnoninvestmentÞ ¼ Maximuminvestment Defining investment expectations is a boon to both the customer and the sales professional. The customer now knows how much to realistically invest in a solution. The sales professional now knows whether the solution is finan-cially feasible for the customer. If it is feasible, the engage-ment continues. If not, the customer’s expectations must be adjusted or the customer is returned to the salesperson’s opportunity management system and it is time to move on to a more qualified customer. Also, setting investment expectations largely eliminates price negotiations and ob-jections about the price of your offerings. You know ahead of time that the investment required to purchase your solu-tions is a match with the customer’s expectations. Conventional salespeople tend to accept customer budgets. In doing so, however, they are opening them-selves up to three potential problems. First, the fact that a budget exists suggests that they are arriving late, and the later they arrive, the more difficult it is to establish accu-rate investment criteria. Second, an existing budget is a good indication that the customer is already working with a competitor, who is the likely source of the budget esti-mates. Third, because the budget is probably not an accu-rate reflection of the customer’s requirements, it is unlikely to support the proper level of investment. Timing:HowSoonDoestheCustomerNeedtoSeeResults? The next set of solution parameters is based on the timing of the expected outcomes. These are relatively simple to establish and don’t require much explanation, but they SixEssentialDesignQuestions 161 KeyThought BudgetsAreNotCastinStone. Conventional selling puts great emphasis on the customer’s budget. Budgets are part of the corporate planning process. They represent management’s de-sire to forecast and assign resources for anticipated needs. Conventional sales methods ignore the reality that the corporate budget is largely irrelevant in the complex sale. Value-laden purchases are investments. Corporate resources flow to the best investment, that is, the investment with the greatest potential return. When making quality business decisions, budgets are altered and created; they rarely impede an attractive invest-ment. Our goal is to work with customers to create the investment criteria on which the budget is even-tually based. are important. After all, in today’s fast-changing world, a solution that arrives late can cause as much damage as one that does not arrive at all. The customer’s expectations as to the timing of the so-lution tell us when the solution must be in place and the timetable by which it must be producing results. Further, timing parameters have the added benefit of signaling the customer’s intentions for purchasing the solution, thus offering valuable information to the sales professional and another opportunity to influence the final decision. As in establishing our customers’ expectations about solution outcomes, it is our job to ensure that their timing expectations are clearly defined, mutually understood, reasonable, and attainable. 162 DESIGN THE VALUE-RICH SOLUTION DecisionCriteria:HowWilltheCustomerBuy,Implement, andMeasuretheResultsoftheSolution? During the Diagnose phase, the cast of characters within the customer company made four critical decisions: 1. They decided that the physical evidence of a prob-lem or an unaddressed opportunity was compelling enough to quantify its impact. 2. They decided on the financial impact of their current situation. 3. They decided that the financial impact is unaccept-able. 4. They decided to pursue a solution capable of address-ing that impact. By this point in the Design phase, the cast of characters in the customer company has made five critical decisions: 1. They have decided on realistic expectations for solu-tion outcomes. 2. They have decided on a preferred approach to achieve their expectations. 3. They have decided on the value they should receive. 4. They have decided what they will invest to receive this value. 5. They have decided when they want the solution in place. Now, the customer must determine the decision crite-ria for selecting a solution provider. These criteria provide the customer with a clear set of parameters for scrutinizing SixEssentialDesignQuestions 163 competing solution offerings in terms of how well each will achieve the customer’s expectations. The decision criteria have already been determined by the nine decisions mentioned previously as well as the exceptional levels of clarity and alignment you have helped your customer achieve. Thus, the customer is well situated to restate the previously mentioned decisions as firm crite-ria. The customer knows what to ask, what to measure, and what to compare as various solution providers are considered. For example, because the customer has determined the consequences of his or her situation during the Diagnose phase, these consequences can now form the basis of their selection criteria. In other words, the customer adopts se-lection criteria that address and resolve each consequence. The challenge of Era 3 is helping customers make high-quality decisions in their quest to solve complex prob-lems and capture complex opportunities. By guiding your customers through the six Design questions, you have prepared them to find the best solutions and ask very precise questions that require very precise answers of potential suppliers. In doing so, you have implicitly shown that you have the answers that they are looking for, and even better yet, you have set a very high stan-dard that your competitors must meet to win the sale for themselves. Unless they are operating in Era 3 as well, it is very likely they will not be able to match the mutual understanding that you have achieved with cus-tomers. Your competitors are in a no-win position: you represent clarity and credibility, and they represent uncertainty. Now, the only task left in the Design phase is confirmation. ... - tailieumienphi.vn