Sales 101 Ask For the Order and Increase your Win Rates

Sales 101: Ask for the Order and Increase Your Win Rates

John Leonardelli

Gale Force 7

© 2014 Gale Force 7 All rights reserved worldwide. 2

Agenda

• Know Your Market• Keeping the Funnel Full• Ask For The Order• Key Take Aways• Bonus Items

© 2014 Gale Force 7 All rights reserved worldwide.

Know Your Market – Definition

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Source: Gale Force 7 Research

Mid Market customers have limited IT staff and like dealing with trusted advisors. That’s our selling approach to be THAT trusted advisor

The Small Business customer is very price conscious and doesn’t issue RFPs or use any formal buying process. Our approach is to SELL the value

Large 500+ users

Medium 100-499 users

Small 1-99 users

• Limited buying power, often caused by small budgets

• Limited capabilities in terms of staffing and skills

• Work with industry savvy resellers that act as “trusted advisors”

• Reacts to specific vertical market requirements

• Less formal buying process• Purchase-based on availability and

price• Need help and advice in making

decisions

. 04/15/2023© 2014 Gale Force 7 All rights reserved worldwide.

Know Your Market – Business Priorities

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Offer solutions that solves the business priorities they are looking for:

1. Lowest TCO2. Feature/Benefit 13. Feature/Benefit 24. Feature/Benefit 35. Ease of Use6. Simplicity

-Many Customers are looking for a migration solution from their old technology platforms. They need a solution and a migration plan.-AVOID : Companies that do not leverage technology in their business processes and if all they want is basic functionality with no motivation or plans to change.


Access to Applications Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow

• Mobility has become the most important productivity tool

• CRM is New Again

• Virtual Workplace Flexworking and Teleworking

• Cloud, SaaS and PaaS

• Sales and Marketing Automation and Analytics is a growth industry

Know Your Market Strategic Technology C-Suite Agenda

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Know Your Market - Ideal Prospects• Legacy Technology Replacement

• Expansion or need to add new locations

• Customer Service Improvement

• Prospects implementing a Virtual Workforce

• Cost reduction

• Increase employee productivity

• Business process software such as CRM or ERP

• Multi-Site enterprise wide locations

• SMB looking for Enterprise applications

AVOID : Companies that do not leverage technology in their business processes with no motivation to change

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Keeping The Funnel FullIt’s a Number Game

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• Activity = Results

• Qualified Opportunities

• Marketing Drives Results


Activity Means Results• 100 Contacts a day telephone, cold call, warm call, leads, web hits

achieves a 3-5% success rate to appointment setting

– 3-5 demos a week, 1-2 closes a week

• Email Blasts - .05% success

• 25% Close ratio requires a X4 funnel for success

• 70-80% close ratio when its Demo Time

• Close 2 $50k deals a month and you are GOLD @$1.2M year

• Marketing Events is the key enabler to Sales Success:

Lunch n Learns, Breakfast n Learns, Mini Golf, Chamber of Commerce, Speaking Events, Table Top Shows, Email Blasts, Cold Calling, Red Letter Campaigns, Vertical Focus, Selling to Existing Customers, marketing in a Digital world, Social selling, Charity Event Participation

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6.5 Step Sales Cycle1. Prospecting

Cold Call, Warm Call, Email Blast, Bought Leads, Membership Leads, Vertical Target Hits, SEO, Fax, LinkedIn, Web Hits, Knocking on Doors. Call to Action to a 20 minute Meeting. Do your research before step 2

2. Qualify the Opportunity

During the 20 Minute Meeting have the conversation to earn the right to return for a 1 hour discovery meeting

3. Discovery Meeting

Uncover and understand the business needs with a call to action to return to present a draft proposal

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6.5 Step Sales Cycle4. Draft Proposal

Discussion of your solution with trial closes, more discovery with a goal to return with a demonstration and final proposal. Review, Clarify, Position, Plant Landmines, more Discovery. ASK FOR THE ORDER or gain commitment to the next step

5. Final Proposal and Demonstration

Present the Solution and Show, Tell, Show and more Feature-Advantage-Benefit. Close the Deal or ASK FOR THE ORDER

6. Contracts

Contracts and Implementation Plan Discussion

6.5 Follow Up

Follow Up and continue relationship and sell them more

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Call To Action – Ask For The OrderCustomers want us to Ask for the

Order•Discovery

• Establish Trust

• Trial Closing/Next Steps

• Proposal/Presentation

• Listening with Elephant Ears• Salespeople often feel trepidation when it comes to the moment of truth to

actually ask for the order. We are conditioned to believe that the answer will be NO! and with that comes the dreaded feeling of rejection. We can do the greatest discovery work, the best presentation, the greatest proposal but its all thrown away if we don’t ask for the order. We expect the customer to give us the order that we worked so hard for

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Discovery

It is important to uncover the customer needs early in the sales cycle

– Listen, Ask, Listen, Ask, Listen – Don’t Sell

– Let them do all the talking and ask open ended questions

– Is it personal, financial, business or organizational needs

– Are there problems needing a solution?

– What do they want?

– If I can meet your need can we do business?

– Ask to proceed to the next step – What would like to see in the proposal?

– Know their business better than they do – Plan Ahead – Do the Research

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Establish Trust - Trial Closing/Next Steps

–People Buy from People and they Buy from those they Trust

–They love to buy from those who are passionate and authentic

–Trust is earned as you build rapport at all steps of the sales cycle

–Be a problem solver and advisor

–An effective way to ask for the order at all steps of the sales cycle

–It lets you know along the way if there is continued interest

–It allows the customer to continue the relationship

–Ask for the next steps at each meeting or touch point

–Answer and handle objections as they occur

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Proposal Presentation

– Its all about Features, Advantages, Benefits

– It must always answer SO WHAT? Customer Relevancy

– Seek Agreement throughout your Sales Story

– Handle Objections as they occur – Be Prepared

– Demo, Demo, Demo

– Call to Action to the Implementation Stage

– Plant competitor landmines

– Use SMART in your solution story

– It should answer questions the customer will have about how it can solve their problems, meet their needs or improve their business

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Listening with Elephant Ears

• Keep elephant ears open for buying signals

– When can you install it?

– Do you have references?

– Asks specific questions about particular features

– Engagement is a positive sign that there is interest

– Can I lease the solution?

– Any promotions?

– We need to talk to purchasing

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Ask for the Order – Examples• What do you think of (benefit)?

• Can you see how our Collaboration tools can enhance the sales teams weekly meetings?

• Create a sense of Urgency – The vendor promotions expire on a certain date

• How do you wish to pay?

• Be Direct - - Would you like to proceed forward Cindy with our solution?

• Can we start saving your company money today?

• Mr. Frampton, can you see how our Collaboration tools can enhance the sales teams weekly meetings?

• We can have this system installed in 3 weeks, is April 15th OK?

• Is there anything that would prevent you from moving forward with this proposal?

• How do you compare our solution to the other alternatives?

• Since we have met all your needs then I all I need is your approval to proceed forward with an agreement

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Key Takeaways

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• Ask - Always ask for the order

• Use Trial Close to get feedback and gauge interest

• Assume the sale and decide on a start date

• Create a sense of urgency to make decisions now

• Listen and be on the look out for buying signals

• Objections - Be prepared to handle objections

• Practice objection handling with your peers

• Knowledge -Understand your customers needs and show how you can exceed them

• Know your product and your competitors product


BONUS – 7 Secrets of a Sales Ninja• Boost your sales with Activity. There are 3 ways to increase your income in sales

1. Activity, 2. Closing Ratio, and 3. Average Deal size. Make more calls, Many salespeople also deliver the proposal but then fail to ask for the order and close, and look for bigger deals.

• Belief. You must have positive outlook throughout the sales cycle. Remember we have to deal rejection every day

• Commitment. You have to be committed to 100% yourself, your product, your company, and above all your beliefs. Deliver a proposal to every prospect and also ask for the order from every prospect you give a proposal too.

• Discipline. You must develop new disciplines, which will then produce new results.

• Enthusiasm. Customers buy enthusiasm. You must avoid negative people, negative habits, and negative thoughts and constantly expose yourself to positive thinking.

• Focus. You must focus on the results and outcomes for success

• Goals – Set goals and follow the process to achieve them

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Bonus – Secret Discovery Questions to Ask• What system do you have today?

• What limitations does it have?

• Who maintains it? Are you happy with them?

• Have you developed a road map or strategy to migrate to new technology?

• How well is your current solution meeting your internal and customer’s needs?

• What applications do you plan on leveraging to increase your productivity and enhance your customer’s experience?

• \What consideration have you given to using new technology?

• What are your Top 3 IT Projects this year and next year?

• Do you use automation tools to propel your business forward?

• How do you manage the sales funnel?

• How do manage marketing programs?

• Do you have a mobile workforce?

• Do you have a recipe for Texas BBQ?

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Bonus – Cold Call Script Long

Hello Lucky Prospect, this is Happy Salesperson calling from XXXXX, and I am on the team that works with the Wunnerful product.

We are a leading partner in Widgets and we understand that many companies are feeling very uncertain about their current systems today so I picked up the phone to see if it makes sense for us to have a conversation about your current system.

Did I happen to catch you at a bad time? Are you the person who handles the systems?

Can I ask you a couple of specifics about your system?

What type of system do you have today? Brand A? Brand B? Brand C?

Who maintains it?

Are you currently leveraging any applications from your system such as Widget management?

Do you have a mobile workforce?

Based on your answers, I see a couple of concerns ….indicating areas where we may be able to help you get more out of your system?

I work with a team of experts who can help us dig deeper in uncovering all of these opportunities. Do you think it would make sense for us to get together to spend 30 minutes or so talking about your options. What is a good time for you and your team to meet with us?

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Bonus - Cold Call Script Short

Good morning “prospects name”, this is _Happy Sales Rep__ calling from <ABC>.

I’m calling you today to inquire if your company has looked into enhancing your technology system.

My company has much experience working with customers in your industry such as <DEF>* to lower their overall expenses, improve productivity and enhance customer service. We partner with Widget-arama, the fastest growing manufacturer of sales enablement solutions in the market.

We can come to your office and in just 30 minutes demonstrate exactly what a Sales enablement system can do for you to improve your sales results, marketing capabilities and reduce expenses.

This solution would provide a revenue increase of typically 30%. When would be a good time for us to meet?

• Be ready to name drop companies in this industry

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Bonus – 3 Steps to Leaving a Voice Mail Message

1. <ABC> and Widgetarama deliver Video Conferencing systems, which help our customer s dramatically reduce telecommunications costs and increase employee productivity. Should you be considering a new video conferencing system, I would be happy to send you whitepapers, test results, case studies, analyst reports or a Small Business Guide to Video Conferencing to assist in your evaluation. Please give me a call at <123-4567> and I would be happy to send any of these materials out to you. Again my name is _Happy Happy_ with <ABC> and you can reach me at <123-4567>.

2. As I mentioned in a previous message, <ABC> and Widgetarama deliver business IP phone systems that dramatically reduce telecommunications costs and improve employee productivity. We have thousands of customer installations and are probably best known for our feature richness, best-in-class management and unmatched ease-of-use. I would like to offer you free of charge a $650 research summary from Gale Force 7 Research, an independent analyst, on their evaluation of SMB IP Telephony solutions. Please give me a call at <123-4567> and I would be happy to send this out to you to help you evaluate your next phone system.

3.I’ve left you a few voicemail messages regarding Widgetarma’s manufacturing solution and offered both a Lean Manufacturing Guide and analyst research on Lean Manufacturing vendors. Could you please give me a yea or a nay on whether you’re interested in discussing how to improve your processes or a future date when I should call you back. Please give me a call at <123-4567> and let me know, and I would be happy to get you any whitepapers, industry analyst reports, or other resources to help you with your evaluation.

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Bonus - Sales Toolkit

• Customer Testimonial Letters

• Product Comparison Charts

• Market Share Charts

• Case Studies

• Reference List

• TCO Evaluations

• 3rd Party Research

• Benefits of your solution

• Competitive Insights and Analysis

• Industry Insights

• Content Marketing and Lead Nurturing tactics

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© 2014 Gale Force 7 All rights reserved worldwide. 24

Thank You!