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How Do You Stand Out From The Competition?
Posted on Thursday, 4th March 2010 - 12:24 pm by Fay Kelly
I reckon there are two elements to this.
In a global market the best way to differentiate yourself is the
way you sell. Every company I have worked with has ended up with
a sales process, based on my principles, but tailored to their
unique situation. It is exclusively theirs. Business growth
directly attributable to the process attests to its effectiveness
and value. By sales process I mean systems, personal selling
skills and strategy.
A proven sales process needs to become part of your asset
register. It should have a book value placed on it and in the
event of acquisition, should be included in due diligence.
So step one would be invest in sales process improvement until
you`re sure you`ve got the best and then keep measuring.
Step two, answer these questions about yourself: "what does
everyone do that we do differently?" and "what do we
do that no-one else does?" and be prepared to prove
it.
Warning: don`t confuse differentiators with your value
proposition. They aren`t necessarily the same.
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How To Discover The Decision Making Process And Decision Making Unit?
Posted on Monday, 8th February 2010 - 1:21 pm by Fay Kelly
Can you share with us how you uncover DMP and
DMU.
Do you have typical questions that help
you?
Typically would be `who else is involved in this?
Who should i talk to about this?
Any other tactics? How to be sure the answers you
get are trustworthy? Eddy Mahieu posted this on Linked in
recently and this was my response.
I teach my students to stay away from words like
"decision maker" and "decision making
process" because in a traditional process this is the point
at which your client turns into a "gatekeeper". He may
grant you access to information and people. He may
not.
This stage in my sales road map is called
"who`s who in the zoo". It`s the point in the sales
conversation when you need to find out who makes what decision,
how and when. The most important information is the
"how", i.e. the criteria. Once you know the criteria
you can demonstrate how you/your solution matches it exactly. The
strategy is based on how people process language.
If you broach the subject with a statement like
"Help me understand what I need to do and what data I need
to provide to help you make a good buying decision." you can
lead your client through a process of discovery. Your questions
will be predicated on your client`s response and language. So, if
your client says "Send us a proposal" you`d say
"sure, I`d be glad to - can you tell me, who gets to read
the proposal?" Your client will tell you - why wouldn`t he?
Your next question HAS to be, "After everyone reads the
proposal, what decision gets made?"
See, if you don`t find out what decision gets
made, you`ll never find out if there is another step in this
decision process or if other people are involved. For example,
the client might require a written document initially. This might
do the rounds - go to legal for clearance, go to I.T. for
clearance, go to a couple of head honchos (CEO CFO) etc. Several
decisions involved here culminating in "does this make the
shortlist presentation?" Then comes the shortlist
presentation where they decide who gets the
contract.
Only when you have found out what is involved in
reaching the FINAL decision do you then ask the client about
criteria and assessment. If other people are involved, you must
find out their criteria and they are the ONLY ones who really
know how they are going to make a decision.
There is no easy way round this. You really need
top communication skills. Language and how your client processes
it are key. If I could teach you this just by writing to you I
would gladly do so. I allocate half a day in my workshop simply
to teach the theory and principles of this strategy and then it`s
a question of practice, practice, practice. Worth it, so my
clients tell me.
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The Dreaded RFP Process Otherwise Known As "who's The Best Guesser In Town?"
Posted on Sunday, 17th January 2010 - 5:50 pm by Fay Kelly
Every month you hope those RFP`s come through the
letterbox and when they do you groan. The briefing document is
so basic that you might as well make it up as you go along.
What? Oh, I see, that`s exactly what you do? RFP`s - requests
for proposals, ITTs - invitations to tender, words that can
strike dread in the hearts of the toughest biz dev executives.
Wouldn`t it be great if we could say "sorry, we don`t
respond to RFP`s, especially blind ones where we can`t even get
to talk to a human being."
Actually, quite a few of my clients say precisely
that and they`re still in business and still thriving.
The thing that puzzles me, is why on earth would
the purchasing clients go looking for a supplier with whom they
are going to invest considerable resource, based on such a flawed
system? It`s like saying "Hello, we`ve got a ton of money
and we`re going to give it to the best guesser in
town."
My clients in marcoms say, "in a real world
Fay we can`t say no to RFP`s, we can`t say no to beauty parades,
we can`t say no to pitches - we`d have no business if we
did."
Fair enough, I`m not trying to change the world in
a day. I work with what I have and over the years we`ve come up
with some really neat ways to overcome the major obstacles of
responding to a blind RFP. My first option is always to
encourage my client to walk away from it unless they are
convinced (and can prove) they stand an 85%+ chance of success.
Otherwise it`s a great way to drive up your cost of sale and
provide "free consulting".
Anyway, here`s a little tip I`ve picked up and
you`d be amazed at how often it has paid off - even in this
advanced age of computer literacy.
With blind RFP`s you usually have to submit your
questions in writing in a template provided, usually a word doc,
and the questions, along with the answers, are circulated to all
competing suppliers. Since the job of co-ordinating this is
usually delegated to someone in purchasing, they simply cut and
paste from the template they receive and circulate that. If you
click on File, then on properties, you can often find who
generated the original document and get an idea of the
competition you face. This means of course, you should never
send out a confidential document like this without
"doctoring" the properties so no-one can trace it back
to you if your questions are circulated.
Back to blind RFP`s - if you do decide to
participate, and you`re allowed to put your questions in writing,
even if they and the answers are circulated, it makes sense to
get as much information as you can in order to populate your
storyboard. Clients often say "but what`s the point of that
if everyone gets to see the answers to our questions?" My
response is, "what good are the answers to everyone if they
didn`t ask the question in the first place and consequently,
don`t understand the point of the question?" This is borne
out by experience.
So, still on the subject of questions - which are
the most important ones to ask, i.e. what information do you need
to enable you to win the contract and why do you need that
information and how will you use it to populate your storyboard?
That`s what I teach my clients and even if other
people see those questions and answers in writing, they don`t
know how to use the information to their advantage so my clients
always have the edge.
A quick footnote. I talk about the
"storyboard" a few times in my blog and other articles
on the net, and people who haven`t worked with me have written to
ask me about it so I`m putting a short video together to
introduce the storyboard concept. Keep checking the website.
You`ll be able to download it free once it`s up there. I don`t
guarantee a Hollywood production but the content is hugely
useful.
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Latest news
How do you stand out from the competition?
I reckon there are two elements to this.
In a global market the best way to diffe… Read moreHow to discover the decision making process and decision making unit?
Can you share with us how you uncover DMP and
DMU.
Do you have typ… Read moreThe dreaded RFP process otherwise known as "who's the best guesser in town?"
Every month you hope those RFP`s come through the
letterbox and when they do you groan. The bri… Read more- More News
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