Succeed in Complex Sales
Jeff Thull
Today's sales transactions involve longer sales cycles and require decisions from people at multiple levels of influence. This climate requires you to ratchet up your skills and disciplines to compete and succeed.
A new system called Diagnostic Business Development, based on 20 years of observing top-notch sales professionals bringing in high-stakes sales, reengineers to conventional sales process to directly address how to master today's complex
marketplace.
Discover
Identify your customer. Set the stage for a compelling engagement and a continuing relationship based on trust and respect. Push beyond the boundaries of "prospecting" and create a solid foundation on which to build a long-term, profitable relationship. Together, the customer and salesperson must decide whether the relationship should continue.
Diagnose
It is up to the customer to make the decision whether to buy, and from whom. In the complex sale, the decision is more about should we change (the problem or lack of opportunity) than should we buy (the solution). Maximize the customer's objective awareness of her dissatisfaction, whether or not that dissatisfaction supports the salesperson's offerings. Reinforce credibility by refusing to alter the customer's reality to fit a need.
Design
Help the customer create the solution via a collaborative and highly interactive effort. Introduce and explore alternatives, including those offered by competitors. The goal is to create a framework that best solves the customer's problems and manages his expectations. Provide a "Discussion Document" as a pencil-sketch of the solution.
Deliver
By now, the customer is the "co-author" of her solution; there are no objections. Begin this phase with the preparation and presentation of a formal proposal and the customer's subsequent acceptance of the solution. Next, implement and support the solution, and measure and evaluate its results. Finally, this phase includes the maintenance and growth of the sales relationship.
See yourself as a project manager that guides your customer through a quality decision process. Think of Funman Promotions as a partner in that process--we're here to help! Just call 800-273-5976 or email us!
