OpenShift Commons Paris - Choose Your Own Observability Adventure
How to sell solutions
1. How to Sell Solutions
According to AIIM, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Sirius Decisions research
Atle Skjekkeland
Chief Operating Officer
AIIM
askjekkeland@aiim.org
www.aiim.org
AIIM – The Global Community of Information Professionals
3. www.aiim.org/training
Change The Way You Sell
“A recent Corporate Executive Board
study of more than 1,400 B2B
customers found that those
customers completed, on average,
nearly 60% of a typical purchasing
decision—researching solutions,
ranking options, setting requirements,
benchmarking pricing, and so on—
before even having a conversation
with a supplier”
Implications? You need to create
relationships with an organization
before the customer requirements
are set.
Source: http://hbr.org/2012/07/the-end-of-solution-sales/ar/1
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4. www.aiim.org/training
Change Your Marketing (1)
The Buyer’s Journey is what counts – Understanding buying roles
and stages critical
1. Educate - Change the game by engaging new customers at the
beginning of the buying cycle
2. Take Control - Nurture the leads with educational webinars,
whitepapers, etc.
3. Tailor - Document how your solution meets the customers
requirements with solution briefs, vendor comparisons, etc.
The technology has changed – In-bound marketing, nurturing,
multi-touch.
Exploding options for content delivery – Videos, podcasts, blogs,
Twitter.
Thought leadership counts – It’s more than selling.
Source: Sirius Decisions
5. www.aiim.org/training
Change Your Marketing (2)
Old Approach
New Approach
Prospects get their information
from you
Prospects get most of their information before
they even talk to you
Focus groups
Analytics
One-to-many
One-to-one
Trade shows
Niched conferences
Presentations describe YOU
Presentations that educate THEM
Single use analyst white papers
Multi-use content assets
Product leadership
Thought leadership
Mass e-mail
Segmented and automated drip
Print or print-like delivery
Videos, podcasts, blogs, ebooks
6. www.aiim.org/training
Provide New & Unique Insights (1)
Provocation-Based Selling:
Compels project investments
outside an existing budget
Challenges the prevailing point of
view
Addresses unacknowledged angst
Targets strategic problems
Begins with the business case and
then provides technical proof
Starts an executive-level dialogue
Uses an insightful hypothesis to
provoke a response
Is proactive in leading, and forcing
issues out
Source: http://hbr.org/2009/03/in-a-downturn-provoke-your-customers/ar/1
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7. www.aiim.org/training
Provide New & Unique Insights (2)
What are the two
biggest factors that
would make you
amenable to a
discussion with a
sales
representative from
a non-incumbent
at any time in the
cycle? (Max TWO)
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8. www.aiim.org/training
Tailor Your Approach
Identifying the actual decision makers.
Identify purchase initiator, gatekeepers,
influencers, deciders, purchaser and the
user.
Determining how buyers view their selfinterest.
All buyers act selfishly, but they sometimes
miscalculate.
Identify financial, product or service, social
or political, and personal benefits
Gathering and applying psychological
intelligence.
Make sure that sales calls are highly
productive and informative
Listen to the sales force
Reward rigorous fact gathering, analysis,
and execution
Source: http://hbr.org/2006/07/major-sales-who-really-does-the-buying/ar/6
9. www.aiim.org/training
Leverage Social Media
“According to a recent study by
InsideView, over 90% of CEO’s said
they NEVER respond to cold emails
or calls.”
“Replacing the decline in cold
calling is the warmth of social
engagement. Buyers are far more
responsive to social media
messages around relevant topics
initiated by the sales person or the
buyer.”
“Selling through social channels is
the closest thing to being a fly on
the wall in your customer’s,
prospect’s and competitor’s world.”
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2012/11/05/t
10. www.aiim.org/training
Become a Challenger
According to a global study of sales
rep productivity among 6,000 reps
across nearly 100 companies by the
Sales Executive Council:
1. Every sales professional falls into
one of five distinct profiles.
Relationship Builders
Hard Workers
Lone Wolves
Reactive Problem Solvers
Challengers
2. Challengers dramatically
outperform the other profiles,
particularly Relationship Builders.
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Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/09/selling_is_not_about_relatio.html
11. www.aiim.org/training
Drive B2B Customer Loyalty
Customers value the Challenger
approach according to
research; The biggest driver of
B2B customer loyalty is a
supplier’s ability to deliver new
insights.
Source: Corporate Executive Board
12. www.aiim.org/training
Reduce Uncertainty / Increase Value
In the most general and
fundamental sense, what the
professional service organization
really has to offer to corporate clients
is the reduction or minimization of
uncertainty.
Clients look at the following 3
uncertainties when buying
professional services:
1. Identifying uncertainty
2. Confronting concrete problems
3. Identifying true professionals
Source: http://hbr.org/1966/03/how-to-buysell-professional-services/ar/1
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14. www.aiim.org/training
Improve Sales Effectiveness
Challenge
Solution
Identifying more opportunities for selling
solutions and services in different
verticals
Get ahead of the RFP by engaging
customers early in the buying cycle
Get sales reps and channel partners to
become more pro-active, not just wait
for leads
Close more business by better
demonstrating the importance of taking
action
Get new staff and channel partners
quickly up and running to produce
results
89% of AIIM trained solution and
service providers claim the
training made their staff more
effective at identifying and
engaging prospects
78% found AIIM training to be
very or extremely effective at
showing how their solution
matches the customer
requirements
89% say that AIIM training
improved their staff ability to
demonstrate the importance of
taking action