think like your customer a winning strategy to maximize sales by understanding ho phần 7

This document was created by an unregistered ChmMagic, please go to http://www.bisenter.com to register it. Thanks. 5. S-Research on options and vendors 6. S-Solution overview approved 7. S-Technical validation completed 8. S-Implementation plan agreed to 9. S-References checked 10. S-Vendor on approved list 11. A-Committee recommendation --------------------------------------------- 12. R-Project staffed 13. R-ROI justification approved 14. R-Funding secured 15. S-Contract approved by Legal 16. C-Proof-of-concept successful 17. A-Board of directors approval 18. A-Contract executed Our sales strategy, and our game plan, for any opportunity needs to be predicated on our knowledge of our customer`s buying process. So, the question is, `What are the hurdles that your customer has to get over in order to buy, and be successful, with what you sell?` These hurdles, and the order in which they need to be cleared, will vary based on: Whether it`s a top-down versus a bottom-up initiative. Whether you are selling to a new prospect versus an existing customer. Whether you are selling a product versus a service. Whether you are the incumbent vendor versus a potential new vendor. The size of the financial investment. The scope of the impact of your solution. The standards and policies of the organization you are selling to. The culture of the organization you are selling to. The strength of certain Action Drivers, such as Urgency (they have to decide quickly), or Risk (they are forced to be extra careful), etc. Whether or not they have recently bought something similar. The point here is that our job is to identify every hurdle that might be involved in our customer`s buying process and begin preparing now for how we are going to help them clear those hurdles. If being added to the preapproved vendor list is required, for example, then let`s start early to get that taken care of and out of the way. We should try to get the `normal` hurdles, which we see in every buying process, out of the way as early as possible. That way we`ll have more time to deal with any unexpected hurdles that may suddenly appear out of nowhere later on. By keeping track of the things that we are doing right now in our current pipeline opportunities, we can begin to observe and formulate a list of `What hurdles do our customers typically have to get over in order to buy?` I would suggest developing and maintaining a list of all of the typical hurdles, which you see in the vast majority of buying processes, and the specific `things that we do` to help our clients get over them. This document was created by an unregistered ChmMagic, please go to http://www.bisenter.com to register it. Thanks. I also recommend making a separate list of each hurdle that you may have seen only once or twice, or that one of your coworkers experienced once. As you build your expertise and knowledge of helping your clients clear their standard hurdles, you should also carefully record how you- or someone else on your team-helped a customer to clear one of those `unusual` hurdles. Let`s leverage everything we can possibly learn to make us more effective and better prepared to deal with the next `surprise` hurdle when it comes along. This document was created by an unregistered ChmMagic, please go to http://www.bisenter.com to register it. Thanks Two Big Mistakes We Can`t Afford to Make Too often, when a prospect contacts us and says, `We`re going to buy,` we lead with our solution and focus on trying to win the Source Decision. Please take a closer look at Figure 7.4, or the list of buying hurdles above. We should take the time to understand what critical decisions may or may not have already been resolved before the customer started `Researching options and vendors` at hurdle number five. Some of these critical strategic decisions-appearing before the first dotted line-may include: 1. C-Make vs. Buy = Buy 2. R-Project oversight established 3. C-Feasibility study completed 4. R-Funds allocated The first big mistake we should avoid is jumping in at the point where our customer has conducted some research and contacted a few vendors, without finding out what has already been done or decided. Until we find out what has already happened before they contacted us, we simply don`t know enough to properly qualify the opportunity, let alone put together an effective strategy and plan to ensure a successful sales campaign. If they have not yet explored the make vs. buy question, for example, we might spend months winning the source battle, only to watch them decide to craft some sort of homemade solution on their own. Likewise, if project oversight has not been established, or funds have not yet been allocated for the project, there may never actually be a project at all. Beginning with the fifth hurdle in Figure 7.4, there are six Source hurdles in a row: 5. S-Research on options and vendors 6. S-Solution overview approved 7. S-Technical validation completed 8. S-Implementation plan agreed to 9. S-References checked 10. S-Vendor on approved list 11. A-Committee recommendation Assuming we help our client clear these hurdles, we could win the Source Decision. But that`s not all it`s going to take to win this deal. The second big mistake we can make is working our heart out to help our customer clear hurdles five through eleven so we can win the `Committee recommendation,` and then hoping they can figure out how to clear the rest of the hurdles (appearing after the second dotted line) on their own. If we spend all of our time and attention on winning the source battle, without preparing to-and helping our customer to prepare to-get over the hurdles that come after, our customer could stumble on one of these later hurdles, as we watch all of our time and effort go right down the drain. We have to know exactly what it`s going to take-and be ready and willing to do whatever we need to do-to make sure our customer gets over every hurdle, including `Board of directors approval` and `Contract executed.` 12. R-Project staffed 13. R-ROI justification approved This document was created by an unregistered ChmMagic, please go to http://www.bisenter.com to register it. Thanks. 14. R-Funding secured 15. S-Contract approved by Legal 16. C-Proof-of-concept successful 17. A-Board of directors approval 18. A-Contract executed In the next chapter, I will show you how to use the framework that has been presented here to sort out the various steps and stages your customer will have to go through to be successful in their overall buying process. Once you understand the specific hurdles your customer has to get past in order to buy, and then to achieve the business results they want to achieve, you`ll be ready to develop a rock-solid sales strategy and a plan to help them get there. This document was created by an unregistered ChmMagic, please go to http://www.bisenter.com to register it. Thanks Chapter 8: Reverse-Engineering the Buying Process Overview The term reverse-engineering is quite familiar to some, but not to all. It`s the process of analyzing a finished product, or the end result of a work process, in order to determine the way in which it was made or completed. Reverse-engineering is usually done to replicate a product or process, to redesign it to make it more efficient to produce or execute, or to deliver a higher-quality result. In our pursuit of a successful sales campaign, we can use this approach to better understand all the things that would have to happen before our client would be ready to buy. But in order to be a partner to our client, as opposed to just a vendor, we need to make sure that they can also use whatever it is that we sell to obtain their desired business results. This concept is consistent with the principle that Stephen Covey articulated in his landmark bestseller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, when he reminded us to `Begin with the end in mind.`[1] The best buying decisions are made in reverse; that is, they are made based on a clearly defined objective or desired outcome. Therefore we should start by trying to understand the end result that our customer is trying to attain-their ideal point `C.` Figure 8.1 shows the Customer Results Model (introduced in Chapter 2) from a process perspective. The activities and the actions our customer takes to move from `A` to `B` constitute a `Selection and Buying Process.` The activities and actions to move from `B` to `C` make up an `Implementation and Utilization Process.` From our client`s point of view, the former is useless without the latter. They have to be able to use what they buy to get what they want. So, if we are to use the concept of reverse-engineering successfully, I believe we should begin where our customers begin, by focusing on point `C,` and then helping them to figure out how to get there from here. Figure 8.1: The Processes That Lead to Point `C` It`s very easy to lose sight of the real reason behind an initiative to buy. It`s easy for us to lose sight because the way we earn commissions, retire quota, and earn the right to keep our job, is to close business. It`s also easy for our clients to lose sight of their desired results because of all of the activity involved in a typical buying process. After a few hundred phone calls, dozens of meetings, and endless demonstrations and presentations, it all kind of runs together. One of the ways we can keep ourselves and our customers focused on our common objective is to develop a plan of all the things that have to happen between the point where we find them, point `A,` and the point where they achieve, or at least begin to see, the results they are looking for, point `C.` I like to remind my workshop participants that we have to . . . `Sell beyond the close.` Because our customer isn`t done when they sign the contract, and if we are selling the value of business results, neither are we. There could be just as many, or even more, milestones and hurdles to get over after we pass point `B` and money changes hands, as there were before. To apply everything we covered in Chapters 6 and 7, we need to construct a plan, or a road map, of the things our ... - tailieumienphi.vn