This talk was delivered in Bangalore's Unpluggd event in 2012.

1. On Sales
Talk by Paul Shoker @ Unpluggd,
2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvKjN3ZCG00

2. Where are you playing?
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
Commodity Moving up the Moving still further Enterprise level
products value chain up the value chain B2B sales
Transactional Collaborative
Sales
person’s To be considered To make a sale Repeat Business Insider status
Intent
Sales Customer’s Customer’s
person’s Product/Service Customer
Competition Customer
Focus
Relationship
with Casual Trust Mutualistic Symbiotic
Customer
Value Product/Service Application Strategic
Business Issues
Delivered Options Solutions Decision
Low Margin High Margin

3. DNA of a Sales Professional
• They know what to sell!
– People buy people. They buy you!
– Confidence, self belief and passion > AFE (Attitude, Focus, Execution)  I can, I will, I must
– Wake up with the right attitude, pick one or two things to focus on, the execution will automatically
happen
– You have to be curious ; You have to know a lot of things
– Surround yourself with a lot of positive energy
• Believe in the company, propositions, it’s values, etc.
• Be flexible, be open to change. Try! (Actions speak louder than words) ; Learn from failures.
• Have hunger! Have the ability to move out of your comfort zone!
• Dream Big!
• Set goals! Have a strategic prize you want to shoot for!
• Be proactive, professional, articulate and punctual.
• Speak the customer’s language
– This will get you to your customer’s board room
– Read the right material ;
• Be team players
• Network
• Effectively listen and be able to communicate value
• Know when to walk away!

4. Attribute linking > Positioning statements
Value Airline Retail e-Commerce Automobiles
Quality Qatar Harrods Net a Porter Rolls Royce
Service Virgin Sainsbury Amazon Ford
Cost EasyJet Tesco Best Buy TATA
• How do you want to be perceived?
• How do you link your attributes to your positioning statement?

5. Common Sales Cycle v/s A Consultative
Approach
Common Sales Approach
• Qualify the need
• Open
• Present proposal & handle objections
• Close or lose

6. Common Sales Cycle v/s A Consultative
Approach
Common Sales Approach Consultative Sales Approach
• Qualify the need • Qualify the need ; Qualify yourself!
• Open • Do you really want to pursue this opportunity? Are you really
• Present proposal & handle objections understanding what they want?
• Close or lose • Establish customer business drivers, competitive landscape (yours
and theirs), Who’s who? Map org structure horizontally & vertically
• What is the sales strategy & how are we going to map that?
• Where are we going to open – at the highest level, the middle
level or the lowest level?
• Re-qualify the opportunity ; Question your assumptions
• Have they got the budget? Have the business drivers
changed? Are we targeting the right folks? Are there any new
requirements?
• Assist creation of statement of requirements; Set traps and mines
• Identify influencers and re-qualify decision processes
• Re-qualify sales strategy that will be deployed
• Present proposal ; Handle objections
• Acceleration / Deceleration tactics ; Negotiate, close or walk away
• Deliver & provide ongoing proactive account management

7. Sales Planning

8. Account Planning
Facts and Questions we need to collect:
• Customer key services offered
• Year established & how they evolved
• Market share YOY
• Financials YOY
• Customer base YOY
• Biggest competitors
• Organizational structure top-down
• Overall growth strategy
• Business drivers and what’s hurting them today
• What have we sold to them v/s our competitors
• How does our service compare v/s competition (type, range of work, cost, etc.)
• How much perceived value have we added v/s our competition?
• What’s our relationship with decision makers, influencers v/s our competition?

9. Qualification & Tactics
Qualification:
• Do we have a valuable proposition that is linkable and adds value to the customer’s business
objectives?
• How do we intend to differentiate and what are our USPs?
• Who will be our key competitors?
• What is the size of the opportunity?
• Do we financially have the resources to pursue?
• Should we pursue?
• Can we compete?
• Are we aligned to win?
• Who are the decision makers?
• Who are key influencers?
• What and who are the possible show stoppers?
• Do they have an approved budget signed off?
• What sales tactics should be deployed?
– Direct - Selling the same product at the same price as my competition is doing. Head to head.
– Indirect – Changing the ground rules – Lay mines & traps
– Divisional – Decided I can’t win this whole opportunity. Should I go for a part of the pie?
• What help do you need from the executive management team?

10. Impact selling
• Understanding the customers business inside
out, outside in!
– Become an industry knowledge expert giving you
credibility!
• How your value proposition can make an
impact to the top or bottom line.

11. Tactics
• Set down mines and traps….e.g., so that could be an important feature?
– Hey mister customer, if I could offer you this particular feature (because you know now that
the competition doesn’t offer that feature), would this one feature make a big difference to
your bottom line and perhaps your top line? Would it make you more efficient? I have
analyzed all your numbers and I have noticed that you are growing at 25% per annum. And I
think that this one additional feature can make you do this!
• Accelerate… speed up the sale to close..
• Decelerate… slow down, you need to change the ground rules..
– When you know the competition is ahead or you don’t have certain features, you now need
to urgently put the foot on the brakes
– Slow down the deal by saying – Mister Customer, you need this extra feature (that you have!)
or if you don’t have that feature, say “Right, if I can back to you within 24 hours with those
two or three things (assuming everything else is okay), I know I can give you a far more
superior product/service”
– And they usually agree. Why? Because you have built a relationship with them. How? As seen
in the next slide….

12. Proactive Engagement
High
Customer interest after first meeting
First
Meeting
Proposal Ready / Seeking appointment?
Discuss Proposal
Discuss
Proposal 
Low
Time


13. Proactive Engagement
High Constant Client Engagement
Build Client Visit /
Customer interest after first meeting

Relationship Demo
Call to re-qualify
Thank you
Proposal Ready / Seeking appointment?
Discuss Proposal
Discuss
Proposal 
Low
Time


14. Suspect Prospect Weighting
At what stage is your deal currently in?
• 0% - Fact finding
– Linkable propositions, value
• 10% - Need (Suspect or Prospect)
• 20% - Qualification Fact finding – a.k.a
– How serious, budgets, decision makers knowing where you
• 30% - Defining Scope of Requirements currently are is a part
– Lay traps and help write RFQ of your daily job!
• 40% - Bid proposal
• 50% - Proposal presentation
• 75% - Letter of Intent (MSA)
• 85% - Contract negotiation
• 100% - Signature win!

15. Most common mistakes sales people make
• Fail to
– Listen (listen intently, paraphrase)
– Re-qualify (too many assumptions)
– Ask for the order
– Negotiate
– Walk away (when you realize they are only
benchmarking you, fishing for information,
negotiating hard at well below your permissible
floor price/offerings)
– When they win, they forget to account manage