It's How You Sell, Not What You Sell.

Santosh PrasadEmail: santoshpd@outlook.com

 ”The three most important traits for a salesperson are research skills, asking the right questions, and a genuine desire to identify & solve problems for clients”

Results-driven professional with about 18 years experience in engaging and managing Clients PAN India. Had opportunities to lead several strategic business initiatives to help organizations get breakthroughs and establish themselves in uncharted markets & domains. Extensive experience in Strategic Sales, Business development, Enterprise Sales, and good exposure to Operations Management, Transitions & People Management.

My strengths lie in my ability to comprehend the details, dynamics and drivers of

a particular business segment/market; mapping business potential and prospects; identifying and understanding clients’ business issues to formulate solutions; planning strategic, methodological & innovative sales approach; using my operational expertise to resolve business issues; and articulating the value proposition.

Professional Summary

Skilled practitioner of consultative selling and inside sales

Structured and research based pre-sales, and client requirement analysis

Proven expertise in business development in uncharted markets & domains

Client relationship management, account development and solution designing

Formulating policies and guiding team members to accomplish business targets

Core Competencies

After engaging and managing clients for about 18 years, I am not a great believer of the traditional sales methodologies.

Today sales is all about ‘problem solving’ for the Clients. I like to think of myself not as a sales person for an organization, but rather as a ‘problem solver’ for my clients. A genuine empathy for clients’ concern is what I bring on board and try to drive the same outlook across the organization.

Research is quintessentially the name of the game for sales. I research everything i.e. companies, competitors, decision makers/influencers, services offered, end clients, industry and company specific issues, hiring trends, marketing initiatives, and a lot more before initiating contact.

Great believer in having genuine conversations with clients, asking a lot of open ended questions, always being on the client side and not really pitching /closing till it makes sense. A good sales person as per me is the ‘one with a small mouth and big ears’.

My basic understanding of sales

Make it about them, not about you

What specific problem/s do you solve for Clients?

Who does it solve the problem for (i.e. departments, designations)?

Are the benefits measureable?

Are these about cost savings/increased revenues/efficiency gains?

Does it help Clients get a competitive advantage or close the gap?

Does it help their end Clients?

How does it work for them?

Clients decisions will always be based on ‘What is in it for me?’.

Research thoroughly (and then some more……)

Online research on Google, LinkedIn, corporate websites, news sites, press releases, Twitter, financial information, job portals, Facebook, PTO websites etc.

What can you look at:

Patents and trademarks filings

New partnerships and acquisitions

Internal & external communication

New services or products

Corporate and finance affairs

End Clients’ affairs

Outsourcing

Problem statements

New Initiatives or business expansion

Leadership changes

Hiring challenges, trends and new hires

Branding/ Marketing Initiatives

Competition Issues

Investor Relations

Triggers??? ……..It’s elementary; Watson.

Triggers are events or information which indicate a need for your products or services by a company, industry or region. These are the catalysts for a ‘Need Based’ sale.

Skill set shortages

Decline in revenues

Lay offs or employee attrition

Cost reduction measures

Recession

Outsourcing deals by competitors

Regulatory or tax structure changes

Leadership Changes

Negative industry outlook by Analysts

Increase in operational costs

Examples of triggers (for an IT outsourcing company)

Differentiate between pleasure and pain points

Prospecting & Engaging

Connect on LinkedIn

Engage on Twitter

Join similar online forums and groups

Attend relevant events

Send problem specific man-to-man emails

Conduct webinars

Get involved in the marketing initiatives

Find references

Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don't.” -Seth Godin

Say NO to email campaigns and cold callingProblem specific man-to-man emails will help you better engage your prospects. This is where the ‘Triggers’ identified during the research prove useful and add meaningful context to the conversation.

Hi Bob, We understand that it has become really difficult to fill up mid-level software developer positions these days. Some of these positions remain open for over five to six months on various job portals. I am guessing that you are feeling the crunch too. We have some long term and cost effective solutions for such situations. Can we connect some time soon to discuss how we can help?

Hi Jack, There have been a lot of reports recently on various cost cutting measures by IT organizations in the US. I believe we are in a position to help organizations tide over these tough times while sustaining the quality of their workforce, and saving about forty percent of their manpower expenses. Can we connect some time soon to discuss how we can help?

Examples (for an IT outsourcing company)

Sales call

Discovery Discovery is the most important part of the call because this is where you identify and understand the problems you are going to solve for the Client. You must:Ask relevant and conversational open ended questions.‘Say less and listen more’, understand, clarify, verify and take notes

Solution On the basis of your understandings from the research and discovery process, you present a customized solution. You must:Address the concerns, and add valueKeep it flexible enough for further customizationProvide clarifications and recap

Action Points Come to an agreement regarding the solution

Timeline to get back to the client on pending queries, if anyAgree on next steps (Who does what by when)Differentiate between decision makers and influencers

The art of sales follow up is less important than the act of sales follow up

If you haven't followed up, you haven't really pitched.

It takes anywhere between 8 to 14 follow ups to get a sale.

After call work or ACW is as important as the research done before the call, and in some cases even more important than the sales call itself. In time ACW gives you an opportunity to:

Verify the information provided by the Client

Get your BANT reconfirmed

Realignment of strategy and budget in the light of new information

After the call

My best sale

Criteria  Us Competitor 1 Competitor 2

Experience >2 years 20 years 7 years

Team Size 4 FTE’s Over 100 FTE’s 40 FTE’s

Cost 15% higher Standard 10% discount

What did we do differently?

Identified and understood client’s pain areas during the discovery process, and provided more benefits than they were expecting.

We offered better skilled and qualified resources who could perform additional tasks, which were beyond the scope that client had originally chalked out.

Client was able to save additional 25% operational costs, and we won a $1.4 million account.

& Happy Selling !Santosh Prasad

“A sale is not something you pursue; it’s what happens to you while you are immersed in

serving your client.”

 ”You don't close a sale; you open a relationship if you want to build a long-

term, successful enterprise.”

 ”In sales, it's not what you say; it's how they perceive what you say.”