New Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development
von Mike Weinberg
Three Critical Building Blocks for a Compelling Story There are three critical sections, or building blocks, to a compelling nat we icts or sales story: 1. Client issues addressed 2. Offerings 3. Differentiators Customer/client issues, the first building block and bedrock of compelling sales story, refers to: ► Customer pains we remove ►Client problems we solve agh ► Opportunities we help customers capture ► Results we achieve for clients Offerings, our second building block, simply state what we sell (emphasis on simply). Our offerings are what we do-the services, solutions, or products for which we bill customers. Differentiators, the third building block, explain why we are better and different from other alternatives. This final building block provides solid reasons why we are the best choice to address the client's issues, as listed in the first section of the story. These three building blocks are all necessary 1. You haven't had to prospect, don't know how, or haven't seen it modeled well for you. 2. You spend too much time waiting-waiting on the company or waiting for new materials, clearer instructions, or leads. 3. You allow yourself to become a prisoner of hope to a precious few deals and stop working the process to create new opportunities. 4. You can't effectively tell the sales story. 5. You have done an awful job selecting and focusing on target accounts. 6. You are late to the party and end up playing an already-in-progress game. 7. You have become negative and pessimistic. 8. You are either faking your phone effort or could be much better on the phone. 9. You are not coming across as likable or are not adapting to your buyer's style. 10. You are not conducting effective sales calls. 11. You babysit and overserve your existing accounts. 12. You are too busy playing good corporate citizen and helping everyone else. 13. You don't own your own sales process and default to the buyer's. 14. You don't use your calendar well or protect your time. 15. You have stopped learning and growing. 16. You just aren't built for prospecting and hunting for new business.
Selecting Targets: First for a Reason 1. Largest--in terms of dollars spent (not size of the organization) 2. Most Growable-best opportunity for incremental revenue 3. Most At-Risk-highest probability of losing their business (some or all of it) 4. Other-accounts that do not qualify for any of the previous three categories
Who are our best customers? What are their common characteristics? What do their businesses “look, smell, and feel” like? Where are they located? Are they a particular size (e.g., in terms of revenue) or in certain vertical markets or niches where we have a higher rate of success?
Said another way, if we are not closing new deals, the problem can be identified either as: ► Poor target selection or lack of focus on selected targets ► Lame sales weapons or lack of proficiency deploying weapons ► Inadequate planning or lack of execution of the plan
Picking up the phone to call prospects tends to be a key delineator between legitimate new business salespeople and posers. True business developers know it is something they need to do, while those who fail find every reason possible not to pick up the phone.
“Let me steal a minute” is an easy phrase that I prefer to use to kick-start the call. I say the prospect’s first name, my name (first and last), and usually add my company name. It’s Mike Weinberg with The New Sales Coach. Let me steal a minute.”
"Three Critical Building Blocks for a Compelling Story There are three critical sections, or building blocks, to a compelling nat we icts or sales story: 1. Client issues addressed 2. Offerings 3. Differentiators Customer/client issues, the first building block and bedrock of compelling sales story, refers to: ► Customer pains we remove ►Client problems we solve agh ► Opportunities we help customers capture ► Results we achieve for clients Offerings, our second building block, simply state what we sell (emphasis on simply). Our offerings are what we do-the services, solutions, or products for which we bill customers. Differentiators, the third building block, explain why we are better and different from other alternatives. This final building block provides solid reasons why we are the best choice to address the client's issues, as listed in the first section of the story. These three building blocks are all necessary"
"1. You haven't had to prospect, don't know how, or haven't seen it modeled well for you. 2. You spend too much time waiting-waiting on the company or waiting for new materials, clearer instructions, or leads. 3. You allow yourself to become a prisoner of hope to a precious few deals and stop working the process to create new opportunities. 4. You can't effectively tell the sales story. 5. You have done an awful job selecting and focusing on target accounts. 6. You are late to the party and end up playing an already-in-progress game. 7. You have become negative and pessimistic. 8. You are either faking your phone effort or could be much better on the phone. 9. You are not coming across as likable or are not adapting to your buyer's style. 10. You are not conducting effective sales calls. 11. You babysit and overserve your existing accounts. 12. You are too busy playing good corporate citizen and helping everyone else. 13. You don't own your own sales process and default to the buyer's. 14. You don't use your calendar well or protect your time. 15. You have stopped learning and growing. 16. You just aren't built for prospecting and hunting for new business."
"Ron, thanks for inviting me in. I believe we set up this meeting for thirty minutes. How are you on time? [Pause for an answer. ] Great. I will make sure we are done before 11:30. Here's what I would like to do. Let me kick us off and take just two or three minutes to share a bit about ABC Spellbinders, the issues we solve for HR professionals, and why they tend to bring us in for help. I will also touch briefly on how we are different and why we have been so successful in this space. Then I'd like to turn the tables and ask you questions to understand more about your situation and what you are doing in regards to QRS, or how you are approaching the XYZ opportunity. Depending on what I hear from you, I can share a few relevant case studies or show you options for how we provide Spellbinding for clients. After that, we can discuss if it looks like we might be a fit to help you or of there is a logical next step(such as whether it makes sense to have a follow-up or get our teams together). This is what i was hoping to do, Ron. Tell ne what you hoping for and what you would like to walk away with today."
"before scanning your sales and marketing literature or talking with clients, start by writing answers to these questions on your client issues sheet: Why did your best customers initially come to you? ► What business problems were they facing? ► What results were they looking to achieve? Once you have a solid list started, move on to the next set of questions. These questions help you dig a little deeper into the client issues you address: ► What pains are your potential customers likely to experience by choosing or staying with the wrong provider (your competition)? ► What problems do you see prospects experiencing from trying to do for themselves what you should be handling for them (self-performing versus outsourcing)? - Which opportunities might they miss or which results will fall short because they are not your customer? Said another way, what is the opportunity cost of not working with you?"
"Strategies-How You Are Going to Do It. The goals are the "what" and the strategies are the "how." This is the place to spell out how you plan to attack the market and where the business is going to come from. For instance: Are there certain existing accounts where you plan on investing extra energy? Some reps provide lists of focus accounts (i.e., largest, most growable) for the year. ► Which geographies, vertical industries, or channels will you pursue? Do you have a focused, finite target prospect list to attach to the plan? ► What major cross-sell opportunities exist within existing accounts? ► How will you approach new accounts? What will to get in the door and how will you move opportunities forward? you do ► What other strategies or tools will you use (e.g., team selling,events,referral sources, social media connections) to achieve your sales goals?"
"Every business and every salesperson should have a handle on some type of sales math as it relates to the progression of a potential sale through the stages of the process. Over time, when engaged in enough sales activity to produce a relevant sample of data, we should know, on average, how much activity at the beginning of the sales process it takes to produce a closed sale. Let's consider a generic comagree to son is to end and activity 12 th 3. pany; here's a list of the stages of its sales process: 1. Prospect targeted. 2. Initial conversation. 3. Meaningful dialogue/first meeting. 4. Prospect needs identified; fit established; mutual agreement to move forward. 5. Second meeting / key data received 6. Presentation and / or proposal delivered 7. Deal closed and won!"
"I like to use a series of "who" and "why" questions to help iden tify strategic targets when creating a list: ► Who are our best customers (by industry, size, business model, location, etc.)? ► Why did they initially become customers? Why do they stll buy from us? ► Who do we compete against in the marketplace? Why and when do they beat us? And why do prospects choose us over them? ► Who used to be our customers (said differently, who used to buy from us)? Why did we lose the business? ► Who almost became a customer but didn't (deals where we came close but lost)? ► Who has referred business to us in the past? ► Who should be referring business to us? As discussed previously, selecting target prospects is one of our few chances to be strategic."
- →Selecting Targets: First for a Reason 1. Largest--in terms of dollars spent (not size of the organization) 2. Most Growable-best opportunity for incremental revenue 3. Most At-Risk-highest probability of losing their business (some or all of it) 4. Other-accounts that do not qualify for any of the previous three categories
- →Who are our best customers? What are their common characteristics? What do their businesses “look, smell, and feel” like? Where are they located? Are they a particular size (e.g., in terms of revenue) or in certain vertical markets or niches where we have a higher rate of success?
- →Said another way, if we are not closing new deals, the problem can be identified either as: ► Poor target selection or lack of focus on selected targets ► Lame sales weapons or lack of proficiency deploying weapons ► Inadequate planning or lack of execution of the plan
- →Picking up the phone to call prospects tends to be a key delineator between legitimate new business salespeople and posers. True business developers know it is something they need to do, while those who fail find every reason possible not to pick up the phone.
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