Pantheon.io
12
Sales Basics: What is a Sale?
People spend $ on things they value
Truth about value
● People value different things
● Your agency provides value
Pantheon.io
13
Sales Basics: What is a Sale?
People spend $ on things they value
Truth about value
● People value different things
● Your agency provides value
Focus on Value instead of price
Pantheon.io
16
Sales Basics: Value Based Discovery
Main points:
1. Understand their current pain points
- And connect to what the negative
consequences have been for their
business
2. Have them describe the future state
- And connect them to positive business
outcomes
3. While you are doing this, pull out
requirements for their solution.
Pantheon.io
17
Sales Basics: Value Based Discovery
Value Based Discovery
Some basic rules:
● Ask open ended questions
● Listen 75% of the time. Talk 25%
● Resist talking about your value until you have enough information to
match your value to what they are looking for
Pantheon.io
19
Takeaways
✓ Sales funnel: reverse waterfall
✓ Only pay attention to qualified Opps: (The worst thing
isn’t failing, it’s taking a long time to fail)
✓ Focus on value, not price
✓ Be a businessman and a business, man:
-know your value
Pantheon.io
20
Further Reading/Listening
*MJHoffman - https://twitter.com/mjhoffman
*You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar
Book by David H Sandler and John Hayes
*The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer
Conversation - Book by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon
*Sales Roundup - http://salesroundup.com
*Impro - Keith Johnstone
This presentation will cover:
I’ll do a brief intro of myself & my professional experiences and how it culminated in this presentation here today
talk about how to articulate unique differentiation and focus on your value instead of price.
How to help customers define clear business objectives, so you can enable their success.
The importance of Qualification & Discovery and how to conduct it.
How and when to say no to new prospects
(not really pricing) Georgina next with ideas for recurring revenue
My role my job is to identify key strategic partners as well as qualify enterprise deals and move them through the sales funnel.
I get to a pretty unique juxtaposition of our professional team of about 100 people compared to the challenges faced by small agency businesses.
Primarily, I see disparities between growth goals and the actual sales process and historical conversion rates.
Being goal-oriented isn’t enough, also have to be introspective and realistic of your value and be able to tie that value to buyer’s needs
one thing i’ve learned about agencies
point: know your position, know your value.
being coherent and realistic and self-aware of those things will help you orient towards success towards those things
which will make you better apt to qualify/disqualify potential clients
do that. only that.
speaking to freelancers and lean, nimble agencies who want to be high velocity
to do so, you have to be both a businessman and a business, man
you have to both meticulously measure success rates and intimately know your value to clients
why do people choose you?
why do they come back?
what do they tell their friends?
this will lead to more sanity and dollars
to do so, you have to be both a businessman and a business, man
you have to both meticulously measure success rates and intimately know your value to clients
why do people choose you?
why do they come back?
what do they tell their friends?
Steven said know your customer and product/service
this will lead to more sanity and dollars
NOTE:
speaking to freelancers and lean, nimble agencies who want to be high velocity
not just for small agencies, but best practices in sales that make organizations of all size successful
when I think of a typical, self-proclaimed businessman, i actually really hate that person. that person sucks
are annoying, intrusive, obtuse, and aggressive
interrupt my day
-”hi this is salesBro calling from ABC..” *click*
get out of my face
don’t listen
archetypal
you got $7k for a car? here’s a $35k car
-2005 McChevy
get out of my face
cocky
“all you have to do is be like me!”
get out of my face
-self-proclaimed ‘great salespeople’ often suck as people.
this isn’t about being a certain personality
-you can make money and still keep your soul
-don’t be a car salesman or cold caller, but bring something to the table that people value
-sales is all about taking on projects which are good fit for your org and deal with customers who value your services
How much money do you want to make this year?
Going to make an obvious statement
I am going to make really obvious statement.
People spend money on things that they value.
I’m sure you’ve been in sales engagements where client just wants the cheapest possible price
-feels like a race to the bottom
-let’s think about value on the opposite end of the spectrum
-if you need brain surgery, are you shopping on groupon to find the cheapest possible surgeon?
POINT: sales more productive process when asking questions about what a client values rather than talking price
I’m sure you’ve been in sales engagements where client just wants the cheapest possible price
-feels like a race to the bottom
-let’s think about value on the opposite end of the spectrum
-if you need brain surgery, are you shopping on groupon to find the cheapest possible surgeon?
POINT: sales more productive process when asking questions about what a client values rather than talking price
-Not hiding the ball on price, then move on to the value.
-(“the last three deals I did were $X, $Y, and $Z”)
don’t make the whole sales process about them figuring out cost
fake anecdote about long sales process that culminates with the secret price (after months)
disqualifying is just as important as qualifying
-honestly, BANT isn’t enough because people lie about budget, bring up GPCT
disqualifying is just as important as qualifying
-anecdote of long sales process: talked to marketing, to design, to the intern.
-”qualification” is the sales term, but it’s just about natural, logical fit.
-is there something that they want and i have? an itch i can scratch?
NOTE: not a lengthy, paid sales discovery process. This is a single meeting, for me an hour-long.
solution mapping
must uncover: 1. pain (what happens if nothing?) 2. where do you want to go 3. what’s required to get you there
again: NOT about price, but will I enable their success?
“my agency does ABC”
I revolutionized A
B can solve anything
C is wayyyy better than D!
Walk through Open Ended question start words “who, what, when, where, why, how”
“my agency does ABC”
I revolutionized A
B can solve anything
C is wayyyy better than D!
Walk through Open Ended question start words “who, what, when, where, why, how”
don’t focus on price: are you a commodity or are you a value?
“my agency does ABC”
I revolutionized A
B can solve anything
C is wayyyy better than D!
Walk through Open Ended question start words “who, what, when, where, why, how”