by gabriel_sales | May 4, 2011
In Selling to the C-Suite Nicolas Read and Stephen Bistritz (page 84) provides some fantastic data that gets to some of the realities of what it now takes to get to the Senior Decision Maker. Below is what they found (detailed in the table), our strategic insight and how we approach the challenge of how to get a meeting with an executive.
Question – “When would you take a sales meeting?”
Answers:
Point #1
Strategic Take Away – You have an 80% shot of getting to the Decision Maker with an internal champion. You are almost guaranteed (4 out of 5 is as close to a guarantee as you will ever get in sales) a meeting if you can gain the trust and confidence of the technical buyer whose job it is to screen for the DM.
Action Item – Focus on creating content and a pitch that addresses the needs of the technical buyer first.
Point #2
Strategic Take Away – An outside referral works about 50% of the time.
Action Item – Success stories and on-record clients need to be part of your content and pitch mix. This also takes the pressure off of your technical buyer being out there solo recommending you especially if the recommendation is from the equivalent of a peer of the Decision Maker at a comparable company.
Point #3
Strategic Take Away – Just Cold Calling Senior Executive no longer works.
Action Item – A home run for Gabriel Sales has been getting very pointed video testimonials from Decision Makers. This allows your technical buyer to easily share them with the Senior Decision Maker.
We hope this blog has been helpful in understanding how to get a meeting with an executive. For more information, please contact us.
by Glen Springer | Apr 11, 2011
The Right Integrated Pitch and Content Strategy – Ensures the Technical Buyer Does Not Say “No” so the Business Buyer will Say “Yes”
What we are sharing below is an abbreviated outline to give you a flavor of how to approach your sales content to:
- Ensures you keep the dealing moving forward faster
- Save you money by creating collateral that can be used across the sale
- Accelerate the speed to get the meeting with the Decision Maker
If you are interested in the full presentation let us know.
In Selling to the C-Suite the authors advocate that you need to pitch to C-Level Executives on your ability to be a “Trusted Advisor”. To summarize, from the execs position, the trusted advisor needs to demonstrate the following qualities:
1. Ability to Marshal Resource
2. Understand my Business Goals
3. Responsive to my requests
4. Willing to be Held Accountable
5. Knowledge of company’s products
6. Ability to solve problems
7. Works well with my staff
Trusted advisors end up in the Client Value Zone (below). You win business as a trusted advisor and most importantly it’s the right kind of business – long term and reoccurring. In fact we tested the list from this book against one of our clients closed deals and 8 out of the 10 of the deals we won were almost verbatim hitting points 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7.
So all that stated we obviously all want to be in in the Client Value Zone. We hear the battle cries with every new client we launch. “Let’s put together a pitch that gets us meetings with the top executives out of the gate.” “Let’s go big or go home! “ That’s a great strategy but its no longer totally grounded in reality . You need to sell to the technical buyer. You don’t get to the business buyer consistently unless you are skilled at converting your technical buyer into a champion and advocate.
At Gabriel Sales we generally advocate that you focus on the technical buyer first especially when it comes to content strategy because you can leverage the majority of the content you provide the business buyer in shorter forms with the business. This may sound counter intuitive and going after the technical buyer first is not quite as sexy, but it works, so indulge me for a couple of more lines.
Combining the two data points above -here are your traffic signals for selling to the technical buyer and why that content can be repurposed for the business buyer:
- Green Light – Definitely prove you are reliable, trustworthy and consistent to the technical buyer.
o Content and Sales Focus – A couple testimonials and keeping your promises while executing a methodical sales process will prove you have Integrity to the technical buyer and will also cover of on the business buyers need to believe you are willing to be accountable (criteria #4)
- Green Light – Prove you are a solid extra set of hands
o Content Focus- this is done with Success Stories and Case Studies. This will show the technical buyer you have the capability and will also demonstrate to the business buyer you have the ability to solve problems (criteria #6) and understand business goals (criteria #2)
- Green Light – Prove you are an expert
o Content Focus – Do this with educational webcasts, digital demos and solid ROI examples. This will prove your expertise to the technical buyer and will also prove to the business buyer your sales and marketing team know their own products cold (criteria #5)
- Red Light – Never claim to the technical buyer you are an expert in their companies business or overtly tell technical buyers you will be a trusted advisor and have a collaborative relationship.
o Content Focus – Wait until you have a meeting with the Executive Buyer and have video testimonials that are gated where your own customers make this claim for you. There is one exception here – if there are specific areas where you need or can make and support the claim that you are an expert in a discrete area of their business (ideally around a sales objection) have a customer go on record to support that claim. Ideally with a digital testimonial so you can control it. These testimonials if done correctly will cover off on criteria #1 (your ability to marshal resources) .
Why is this guarded pitch and content strategy more important than ever? 2 reasons –
If you blow through the Red Light and THE TECHNICAL BUYER WANT TO BE A TRUSTED ADVISOR TO THEIR EXECUTIVE TEAM OR BOSS you will never get that meeting — because in these economic times of 8% plus unemployment – “Trusted Expert Advisor” could mean the technical buyers job (if they are not super confident) or “Trusted Advisor” could mean “I don’t get a promotion” to the technical buyer. In either case you don’t know what you don’t know (especially early in the sales process) so it’s better to err on the cautious side. Don’t give the technical buyer a reason to say no and you get your shot at the business buyer to say yes.
Finally if your pitch and content are properly aligned and you do your job with the technical buyer and you get that intro you will cover off on the business buyers criteria #7 “Works well with my staff.” Executed correctly that makes you seven for seven in business buyers “Yes” criteria before you even get to the Decision Maker – which at the end of the day is the technical buyers job as the gatekeeper. Show the technical buyer respect and consideration and you are going to win more than you lose.
If you would like Gabriel Sales to help you create a content strategy to drive results for the technical or business buyer, please contact us.
by gabriel_sales | Mar 4, 2011
At Gabriel Sales, we have over 12 years of experience helping B2B companies drive sales results and meet their business goals. Over the years, we have come to understand when and how a prospect likes to be pitched to. This blog outlines the option of digitizing your first pitch to save you time and money.
We have all been there. That first presentation you give a potential customer can be done in your sleep. Even worse after a month or two the sales rep (or the executive) can get so bored with it they start diverting slightly and it becomes less effective or even worse it starts to sound rote to the prospect.
One significant opportunity we have seen emerge over the past several years to increase our pipe velocity is the ability to take that first presentation digital. With the tools now at our disposal we can do that without completely losing the customization required for the technical buyer and the business buyer. And even more powerful, once we have the sales conversation mapped and we understand the first level of objections we can take that first sales presentation, script it for the product specialist and/or even a senior executive. Prospects love this because this first experience is with the team that will be serving them. All these in combination create wins for everyone across the board.
To learn more about Gabriel Sales and the B2B sales and marketing outsourcing work we do, please contact us. For more on B2B sales content development, please check out our Knowledge Center.
by Glen Springer | Jan 21, 2011
This is part 2 of a blog series about the value of selling with B to B sales content.
Some of the Wins for the Seller
- Digital Content gives the seller the ability to take that initial introductory pitch (that we give over and over again to see if we are even the “right fit”) and to automate it. This allows our lead gen reps to spend more time prospecting. In the time it takes to plan and execute that first presentation they could have reached out to 6-12 new potential customers.
- When we get an Engineer, Product Specialist and/or Senior Executive to participate it allows us to introduce the team on our side that will eventually be helping to service the client once they become a customer. We introduce our team upfront without needing to involve them in dozens if not hundreds of calls.
- We can track a pitch once it is digital to gauge interest and judge where the prospect is in the buying cycle. We can track the amount of time the prospect spends engaged with the content. We can see if the prospect shares the content.
- We can design the content for both the technical buyer and the business buyer.
- We demonstrate respect for the buyer’s time (and start the process of building trust) without investing a great deal of our time.
- We get to that first “yes” or “no” much faster. It the digital pitch is not moving we should probably not be investing time into that sale yet.
- We demonstrate upfront that purchasing from us will be easy and a process that they can control.
by Glen Springer | Jan 14, 2011
At Gabriel Sales, a B to B sales outsourcing company, we know that selling digital can mean great results and improved ROI.
Some of the Wins for the Buyer
- They can get a feel for whether our product or solution is a fit when they have a window in their day. (The upside for the seller is that we generally see them viewing the content within 24 to 48 hours as opposed to waiting 7-10 days to get on their calendar).
- They are able to share the content and get others involved in the decision making process sooner rather than later. We generally see that with this approach if it is a “right fit” that our first business discovery session generally ends up with more of the stakeholders involved.
- If they are not the right decision maker/champion they can forward us on. There are two advantages we see with digital content. With digital content about 40% of the time we actually get that persons contact info, as opposed to I forwarded it on and “we’ll get back to you if we are interested.” You can see if the new person has accessed the content, as opposed to a sell sheet in an email.
- When some or all of the initial digital presentation is given by a product specialist, executive or engineer it gives the prospect a sense of the caliber of the team they will be working with beyond sales. We hear over and over again that this increases their level of trust and our overall likeability. Now the sales person is becoming a facilitator of a potentially mutually beneficial transaction. This pays off significantly during discovery downstream.
- Finally it gives the gatekeeper the confidence that if they become a champion for us that we will be able to support their efforts to become an internal advocate for us. We will be able to supply them with the tools they need to be successful helping to sell us into the organization.
The bar has already been raised and if you are not convinced this is the right way to go just consider:
Netflix’s direct streaming now takes up 20% of online bandwidth in the United States during prime time so consumers can digest content when the mood strikes them.
- When is the last time you watched a prime time show at its scheduled time as opposed to going to the DVR?
- Do you still buy CDs or do you download tunes you want after sampling on Pandora.
- Do you still read newspapers daily or are you subscribing to New York Times on your iPhone for 99 cents a month (I still get the Sunday NY Times in print because anything else would be sacrilegious).
If you are not providing your prospects with the ability to at least meet you are missing the boat and you are going to lose more prospects in the early sales cycle then you are going to win.
For more on B to B Sales Content Development, please feel free to contact us.
