Too often sales professionals are told by their leaders that they must create value. However, there is a fundamental problem with this advice. Value is not what you say it is. Value is what the customer says it is. If you don’t understand what is of value to the customer you are just doing a lot of talking.
5 clues you should be aware of to verify if your software vendor can really deliver, or is just blowing smoke.
1- If they ask you to pay in order to see if the software will do what you want. That is a sure sign you may become the victim of a smoke and mirrors act.
2- If it takes more than a week to set up a demo that can prove they have the capabilities you need. You might be in for a very expensive solution that after your investment fails to live up to the hype.
3- If the vendor tells you that the value is in the service they offer, and their primary answer to your questions is “We can support that but they can’t show you”. You may be in for some big trouble if you buy.
4- If they can show you exactly what you want to see, and they can do so in a reasonable amount of time, that is a company that you want to work with.
5- If they can provide you with references without having you sign a letter of intent first, that shows they have enough satisfied customers that they have nothing to hide.
7 General Orders of Sales Leadership
There is a new book available called No Limit-7 General Orders of Sales Leadership.
The book is available at Amazon.
In this book a number of principles are outlined for successfully leading a modern sales force.
There are ideas about modern prospecting, presenting, and even storytelling as an effective sales tool.
There is also information about how to effectively motivate your team for maximum performance.
You can get the book from Amazon for the kindle or in paperback.
Highly recommended.
Why should you talk to me?
One of the biggest challenges companies are facing is how to engage with new prospects. Before a sales rep even picks up the phone they need to ask themselves this question. Why should this prospect talk to me? In most cases the answer the rep comes up with, is not something the prospect would even care about. The reason is the answer is, in most cases all about the rep. Your prospects don’t care about you. They care about themselves. You must give them a compelling reason that is all about them in order for them to want to engage with you.
Your employees are not doing what you want them to. Maybe it’s not them. Maybe it’s you?
In a recent meeting with a client the business owner complained that their employees just were not doing the job they are being told to do. I asked the owner are they sure they know what they are expected to do? The owner said yes. I then asked did you properly train them? The owner then paused. Then told me that they expected them to know what to do when they hired them.
6 reasons your sales are slower than you would like.
Many sales processes are not actually processes. This ensures a false sense of reality when adding opportunities to the pipeline.