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Expert PanelSample Work Session Agenda

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Agenda

Time Topic8:00 – 8:15 Introductions & Project Overview

8:15 – 9:15 Wins Activity

9:15 – 10:00 Losses Activity

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:15– 11:00 Competition

11:00 – 12:00 Portfolio & Call Planning

12:00 – 12:45 Working Lunch / Lead Generation & Lead Management

12:45 – 1:30 Best Practices

1:30 – 2:15 Challenges / Solutions

2:15 – 2:30 Wrap-Up / Next Steps2:30 Depart for Airport

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January 26, 2012

• Name• Office Location & Role• Tenure @ ABC Corporation• Prior Experience• Expectations for the Session?

Introductions

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January 26, 2012

• Obtain Point of View of ABC Corp. Top Performers• Validate/Invalidate hypotheses about tools the

field needs to be successful• Identify Best Practices• Pinpoint highest impact areas of opportunity

Purpose of Today’s Expert Panel

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January 26, 2012

• No Idea is a Bad Idea• A lot to cover – let’s stay on

topic• Everyone contributes• When we wrap-up, all will be

asked to share 1 item they discovered today from another panel member that will be put to use in their future sales efforts.

Ground Rules

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Wins Activity

• Take 10 minutes to record the following on the hand out:– Customer Name– Annual $ spend before the Win– Annual $ Amount of the Win (incremental revenues)– Product Category(s) Won– Specific competitors you were up against - if so, who?– Time from Identification of Opportunity till Close– “Moment of Truth” - specific situation with buyer that

pushed them from consideration to buy – what did they say and do? What did you say, do and feel?

– “Big Hurdle” – One specific objection that stood most in the way of closing deal and how you overcame it.

– Describe one specific aspect of this Win that was the most important “take-away” that can be applied to future sales situations?

– What was the value proposition you put forth for this win?

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Loss Activity

• Take 10 minutes to record the following:– Customer Name– Annual $ spend– Annual $ Amount of the Loss– Product / Service Category(s) Lost– Specific competitors up against - if so, who won?– Time from Identification of Opportunity till Loss– “Moment of Truth” - specific situation with the buyer that

pushed them to a non-buyer – what did they say and do? What did you say, do and feel?

– “Big Hurdle” – One specific objection that stood most in the way of closing deal and how you tried to overcome it.

– One specific aspect of this Loss that was the most important “take-away” for you to be applied to future sales situations?

– What was the value proposition you put forth during this loss?

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Competition

• Take 10 minutes-record the following on the hand-out:– Top 2 Competitor Names– 2 Biggest Benefits they provide to The Customer– What do you know about each Competitor as

compares to ABC Corp for these categories:• Pricing• Product Selection• Customer Service• Sales Compensation• Structure by Function (Field Sales, Telephone

Sales, Customer Service, etc.)– When your customers talk about these specific

competitors, what do they most often say?

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Portfolio Review• Take out the listing of all your current

customers and their spend with you.• If you only had the opportunity to personally

visit 5 customers in a given month, record in “Top 5” box, with their annual spend and briefly include a specific reason why you include them in Top 5

• Now, if you could find more time to visit an additional 5 customers in a given month, which 5 would you add and why? Do the same as above in the “Next 5” box.

• How many customers remain in your portfolio?• What portion of your annual revenue remains

outside of the Top 10 you designated?

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Portfolio Review - Increasing Share

• Thinking about your 5 most important customers identified in the prior exercise, take a moment to record:

– What is the current share (in %) ABC Corp has of their total spend among all products?

• What specific steps would you take to increase your share among these customers?

• How do you identify up-sell opportunities within existing customers?

• How do you prioritize opportunities within your existing customers? Which do you go after first and why?

• What would you need in terms of support from the organization to significantly increase share?

• More Time? Where would you find it?

• More Support? In what form?

• What Else?

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Lead Generation & Lead Management

• Approximately, how many leads do you receive from others inside of ABC Corp. in an average month?– What sources do these come from?– How “warm” are these leads by source?– How many turn into closed deals?

• Approximately how many leads do you generate yourself in an average month?– What sources do these come from?– How “warm” are these leads by source?– How many turn into closed deals?

• What other sources of leads do you think are available that ABC Corp. should explore?

• When you receive leads or identify leads yourself, how do you:– Decide when to make contact?– Generate interest? – Identify the prospects pain point(s)?

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Best Practices

• What are the top 5 tools/sales aids that you use?

• Is there a certain step, approach, or process that you consider a key to your sales success?

• How do you stimulate interest in a prospect to consider your solutions?

• How do you create a compelling need to act in your accounts? Do you have a business/action case you use?

• What are the top 5 things you do to keep existing customers satisfied and increasing their purchase (i.e. revenue) levels?

• What is the most distinctive thing you do in progressing a deal/opportunity (i.e. sales campaign) that sets you apart from your peers?

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Challenges & Solutions

• Brief Description of the challenge:

• How this impacts the sales process/effort:

• Possible solution to this challenge:

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Wrap Up

• Please give us the one most important learning you’ve taken away from today.

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Next Steps

• Incorporate all you’ve learned today into your daily work

• We’ll ask you to assist in delivering recommendations to other ABC Corp. senior leaders (week of xx)

• We’ll call on this Expert Panel again• You, as leaders in the Sales

organization, will be instrumental in helping drive implementation and adoption.