Sales Transformation
Selling to the C-Suite
Why do
customers buy?
Conversations
Relationships
Trust
What is Sales Messaging?
Corporate
Strategy
Marketing Strategy
CONVERSATIONS
Brand Messaging
Sales Messaging
POSITIONING
Sales conversations differentiate…
Would your customer be willing to pay for
the conversation with you?
Change Priorities
From
•
•
•
•
Selling products
Leading with features and functions
Inconsistent ad-hoc, ‘roll-your’ own
messaging
Majority of sales conversations only with
technology staff and leadership
To
•
•
•
•
Selling comprehensive solutions
Addressing business needs and value
Consistent delivery of differentiated messaging in
every conversation
Sales confidence and ability to engage both
technology leaders, finance and LOB executives
Sales Evolution
1900’s
1925
1985
1988
1995
2008
Hunters &
Farmers
Psychology
of Selling
Strategic
Selling
SPIN Selling
Solution
Selling
Challenger
Selling
Consultative Selling Era
• Insurance
• Producers
• Collectors
• Features
• Benefits
• Objections
• Closing
• Questioning
(Open/Closed)
• Acct Strategy
• Call Strategy
• Planning
• Relationships
• Situation
• Problem
• Implication
• Need
Research
Source: MXL Partners
(Neil Rackham)
• Questioning
• Discovery
• Solution vs.
Product
• Knowledge
• Provocation
• Challenge
• Proactive
Research
(CEB/SEC)
Top sales performers…
•
Push the customer’s thinking
•
Illuminate problems
•
Provide valuable insight
The Challenger Rep
Lone Wolf (25% / 18% pop.)
Challenger (39% / 27% pop.)
• Understands the customer’s
business
• Proactively brings insight and new
ideas
• Loves to debate
• Drives the customer
Hard Worker (17% / 21% pop.)
• Follows own
instincts
• Self-assured
• Difficult to control
•
•
•
•
Reactive Problem Solver
Relationship Builder
(12% / 14% pop.)
• Reliably responds
• Ensures all problems are
solved
• Detail-oriented
(7% / 21% pop.)
• Builds strong
advocates
• Generous in giving
time
• Gets along with
everyone
Always willing to go extra mile
Doesn’t give up easily
Self-motivated
Interested in feedback and
development
Challenger Profile
• Offers unique perspective
• Two-way communication skills
Teaches
• Knows customer value drivers
• Can ID economic drivers
Tailors
• Comfortable discussing money
• Can push the customer
Asserts
Control
Source: Sales Executive Council research.
The Changing Buyer Perceptions
37% of buyers surveyed indicate reps
are not familiar with their business
60% of buyers surveyed indicate reps
don’t know their needs and objectives
Why Customers Buy
Challenger vs. Relationship Builder Profile
39%
23%
% of Core
Performers
26%
% of High
Performers
% of Core
Performers
7%
High Performers
The Relationship Builder
The Challenger
• Offers unique perspective
Teaches
• Uses 2-way communication skills
• Knows customer value drivers
• Can identify economic drivers
• Is comfortable discussing money
• Can pressure the customer
• Forms good relationships
• Builds customer advocates
Tailors
Asserts
Control
Gets Along
with Others
• Builds cross-functional ties
• Can work with anyone
• Is genuine
• Is accessible to the customer
• Gives time to help others
Likable
Generous
with Time
By the way…% of High-Performers
Relationship
Builder
Problem
Solver
11%
4%
7%
18%
11%
Hard Worker
26%
Lone Wolf
25%
25%
% of High
Performers
54%
Challenger
20%
Low Complexity Sale
High Complexity Sale
4 Focus Areas
1
Where To
Focus
2
What To
Know
3
What to Say
4
Lead a
Conversation
1
Where to
Focus
2
W
1
1
Where To
Focus
O Focus
The ‘O’ Factor
High ‘S’ – Self
High ‘O’ – Other
Have You Seen this Presentation Before?
•
Slide 1 Here’s a picture of our
beautiful HQ building…
•
Slide 2 We have lots of employees
•
Slide 3 Here’s some facts about us…
•
Slide 4 Here are the clients that
made our success possible
•
Slide 15 Here’s our technology
•
Slide 16 And here’s another way to
look at our technology
•
Slide 20 Here are a few more facts
about what we do best…
•
Slide 29 Yes, it’s still all about us…
The ‘O’ Factor
High ‘S’ –Self
High ‘O’ –Other
Focus on product capability
Focus on business value
Mastery of technical and competitive
arguments
Mastery of the customer’s business
problems
Seeks to win with features and functions
Significant industry and business process
knowledge leads to credible
recommendation
Product presentations and demonstrations
Maps recommended solutions to how it
solves customer business problems
Urgency to close
Urgency to deliver results
1
1
Where To
Focus
2
O Focus
High & Early
Messaging and the Buying Process
PHASE II
PHASE I
Why (Insert Provider Here)?
Decision
Strategy
Education
Awareness
Initiative
Project
Interest
Staff
PHASE III
Why Now?
Mgr
Exec
Why Do Something Different?
Recommendation
Investigation
Evaluation
INITIAL INTEREST
PROJECT DEFINITION
Effective Messaging Happens Here
SOLUTION DECISION
TIME
First Meetings
First Calls/Discovery
Create
Awareness
Investigation &
Interest
Generate Opportunity
Gain Sponsorship
Goals
Goals
•
•
•
•
•
Gauge and create client interest in
Hosted Communications (Network,
Voice, Messaging, Collaboration)
Understand where they are in
cloud deployment plan
Find trigger events
Identify key players within account
•
•
•
•
•
Fully understand prospect’s
expectations or challenges with
communications today
Deliver West IP Communications sales
message
Uncover competition
Position West IP Communications as the
best provider
Discover any barriers to change
Understand contractual obligations
Tools
MAJOR TRENDS
TRIGGER EVENTS
TALK TRACKS
Whiteboard
1
1
Where To
Focus
2
3
O Focus
High & Early
Target Audience
Prospect Audience
Technology Leader
Titles:
• CIO, CTO
• Director of IT
• Network Communications Director or
Manager
PROSPECT
AUDIENCES
Finance Leader
Titles:
•
•
•
•
Business Leader
Titles:
COOpriority client audiences. The
• CEO,three
CFO
This messaging has been developed and organized around
Business
•
VPobjective
or Director
of
Finance
is to create compelling “talk tracks” that illustrate how Owner
the prospective client can use
• General Manager
Controller
West IP Communications’ capabilities to solve their business problems and achieve their goals. The
• Business Unit Leader
Treasurer
selling team will combine their knowledge of the individual customer with their personal selling
experience to develop a conversation strategy. Prospect messaging should be tailored and adopted
for buyer-specific conversations.
© 2013 West IP Communications and DSG Consulting. All Rights Reserved.
25
Business Leader
• Driving effective execution across business units
• Want to understand how to leverage technology
as a competitive differentiator
• Frustrated with IT and other departmental delays
• Spending more time on operational tactics than
strategy
• Looking to streamline and cut costs where
appropriate
• Significant time expenditure around travel
• Receives operational feedback from employees
26
Finance Leader
• Focused on lowering total cost
• Driving consolidation of vendors and service
providers
• Seeking to streamline vendor portfolio and
reduce costs
• Open to outsourcing selected services
• Wants to minimize capital expenses
• Pushing corporate-wide and departmental
efficiencies
• Concerned as to expanding mobile,
contingent workforce
27
Technology Leader
• Significant investment in aging on-premises
infrastructure
• Service provider contracts nearing end of
term
• Struggling to keep IT team of 8 support techs
on strategy
• Feeling IT department is being commoditized
• Constantly changing technology challenges
• Security/threat and compliance burdens
• Team lacks core IT skill sets
• Financial cost constraint and pressure
28
1
Where to
Focus
2
W
2
What To
Know
1
2
Market Trends
Issues & Pressures
2
What To
Know
1
2
3
4
Market Trends
Issues & Pressures
Questions
Insights
Market Trends & Issues
Business Trends
IT/Technology Trends
•
Global economic uncertainties continue – while pressure behind business growth and innovation remains
strong.
•
Growing need for data and information – demands of the digital economy and the need for business
intelligence creates increased data consumption.
•
Expanding any device utilization – user-provided device proliferation creates new requirements as to how
technology and applications interact and integrate
•
Reducing capital funding/budget – focus on minimizing capital expenditure (CapEx) and maximizing value
associated with operating expense (OpEx).
•
Shift from on-premises toward hosted services – from solutions that a client acquires, deploys and manages
themselves toward managed services, hosted services, SaaS apps, cloud–based services.
•
IT to do more with less – IT is still required to do more with less while identifying technology solutions that
fuel engines of growth.
•
Legacy systems restricting innovation – existing infrastructure prevent businesses from fully leveraging
innovation
•
Cloud and IT integration challenges – Cloud offerings continue to mature although confusion exists as to
how to integrate within the IT existing architecture.
•
Inefficient network infrastructure – Over-provisioned, disparate networks negatively impacting the ability
to deploy today’s enabling technologies
•
Use of OTT applications/services – Unauthorized applications/services, affects bandwidth requirements,
network performance (OTT = Over the Top)
•
Legacy voice systems prevail – T1s/PRIs continue to exist as the dominant implementation mode but SIP
Trunking revenue continues to increase
•
Collaborative applications require flexibility in deployment – Web/video conferencing, contact center,
etc. require integration to optimize the customer experience
Enterprise Communications Trends
Market Trends & Issues
Business Trends
Trends
Global economic
uncertainties yet
business growth and
innovation
Growing need for data
intelligence and
increased data
consumption
Issues
•
Is your current platform able to provide consistent
connectivity and performance to all of your
locations, whether across the country or across the
world?
•
Even with economic challenges, 85% describe the
business environment in which their companies
operate as "more competitive” than it was 5 years ago.
•
Data sharing and collaboration are the
rule rather than the exception.
Keeping pace with business demands for
information and data-driven insights.
•
How have bandwidth requirements increased in
your enterprise over the past 18 months?
How are you enabling your employees to
collaborate internally and externally?
Has increased data consumption affected business
productivity?
•
Managing and enabling productivity in a data
demanding and consuming world is a major challenge
and a strategic imperative.
The focus of network is moving from bandwidth to
application performance and end user experience. It’s
more than a “managed router” – IT focus is on end-toend application management.
Workforces continue to become more
mobile and distributed
Support for employees who work from
out of office locations is creating new
demands on IT teams for support,
security, and device management.
Proliferation of personal devices come
with a demanding new generation of
users and productivity tool expectations.
•
•
What changes are taking place in your workforce?
How does the transformation into a distributed
workforce impact your communication patterns?
What challenges do you face in enabling access to
knowledge and expertise within your organization
while ensuring security and compliance?
•
Forsights Networks and Telecommunications Survey,
Q1 2011, show that 64% of firms and North America
identify providing more mobility support for
employees as a top priority.
•
90% of organizations by 2014 will have a BYOD policy
(due to the fact that 92% of mobile workers believe
their Smartphones should be enabled for both work
and personal use.)
Through 2014, employee-owned devices will be
compromised by malware at double the rate of
corporate-owned devices.
Shift to OpEx, versus CapEx model for
enabling new infrastructure and services.
Organizations are looking for
opportunities to save money in operating
costs and capital outlay.
•
•
•
•
•
Focus on reducing
capital funding/budget
Insights
The world is getting smaller, clients are
expanding geographically, and there is
strong demand for global reach.
•
Expanding end-user
device utilization drives
technology integration
Discovery Questions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How has the budget approval process changed over
the past 18 months?
Is your company prepared to emphasize operational
expense vs. capital expense?
How are fixed cost pressures impacting your
strategies?
•
CFOs increasingly driving towards solutions that
require minimal capital investment, pushing expenses
towards more flexible operating exp.
2
1
2
What To
Know
3
4
5
Market Trends
Issues & Pressures
Questions
Insights
3 ‘Whys’
3 ‘WHY’ Questions
Why Change?
• Market Pressures
• Business Objectives
• Challenges
Why Now?
• Compelling Event
• Cost of Delay
− Strategic
− Financial
− Personal
Why (Insert
Provider Here)?
• Relevant Differentiators
• Demonstrated Proof
3 ‘WHY’ Questions
Why Do Something Different?
(Why Change?)
•
•
•
Market Pressures
Business Objectives
Challenges
3 ‘WHY’ Questions
Why Now?
• Compelling Event
• Cost of Delay
− Strategic
− Financial
− Personal
3 ‘WHY’ Questions
Why (Insert Provider Here)?
• Relevant Differentiators
• Demonstrated Proof
to
2
What to
Know
3
Wh
Gaining Access
Internal Referral
• Top Down
• Lateral
• Upstairs
Customer Referral
Target & Contact
•
•
•
•
•
Company research
Personal research
Email
Phone
Relationship with assistant
Who are you?
What do you do?
How do you do that?
Who have you done
that with?
What results did they
see?
Two-Minute Story
What is a 2 Minute Story?
When is it used?
It’s a Framework
How?
It’s an Approach
in phone conversations, trade shows,
individual face-to-face conversations,
group presentation introductions, e-mails
It’s a Repository of content
― unexpected opportunities
When?
― initial impressions
every time we have a quick opportunity to
introduce West IPC
Why?
to create interest in conducting a face-toface customer conversation
Two-Minute Story
Who We Are…
• A leading enterprise provider of Unified Communications (UC) solutions enabling cloud-based applications and
services.
• A thought-leader in design, configuration management and support of UCaaS.
What We Do…
•
•
•
•
•
Deliver true “cloud” infrastructure with advanced communication and collaboration services.
Enable companies to focus on strategic IT business initiatives instead of managing infrastructure and networks.
Give enterprises access to technology that they may lack skills or resources to deploy and manage themselves.
Help companies leverage the cloud to end today’s “communication madness.”
Drive down communication costs and increase efficiency of IT operations.
How We Do It…
Customer Results…
• Efficiency: Driving down the cost and complexity of
implementing and managing advanced communications
tools while providing users with productivity-enhancing
tools, seamlessly integrated with key business processes.
• Agility: On-demand services that are closely aligned with
business needs.
• Execution: Speeding the deployment and impact of
Unified Communications.
• John Deere
• Favorite HC Staffing
• Scotts Miracle Grow
• General Growth Properties
• D+M Group
• St. Elizabeth Physicians
• Solutions – Cloud-based applications and services delivered over a next-generation, “application aware”
networks providing best-in-class voice, data, video, security, collaboration and contact center solutions.
• Technology – Adaptive, flexible technology supported by end-to-end implementation services and ongoing
operational support that scales as the enterprise grows and as technology evolves.
• Service – Unmatched sales and service focused on understanding and anticipating the customer’s business
requirements – a level of service that exceeds the client’s expectations.
Why West IP Communications…
• Analyst Validation – Listed in the Leader category of the 2012 Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS
• Platform – A “cloud compatible” infrastructure that delivers scalable performance and resiliency along with
flexible deployment options that support migration to IP communications.
• Tools – A single tool set for management and transparency view of applications and services.
• Service – A level of service that exceeds industry benchmarks and supports long term partnerships.
2 Minute Story
1
Who is West IPC…
(Identity/Positioning)
We are the leading provider of cloud-based communications for the enterprise offering
MPLS-based application networking, voice and threat management, advanced contact
center solutions and unified messaging and collaboration tools. The Gartner Magic
Quadrant places us in the “leaders” quadrant over other providers. Our placement there is a
result of our strong vision to help enterprises transform the way they do business.
2
What do you do….
(Business challenges we
address)
We work with companies like Scott’s and John Deere to help them make the migration to
cloud-based communications, as their business situation dictates. We help them drive
down communications costs and increase their IT efficiencies. We help them drive
employee productivity.
3
How you do it….
(Our unique approach &
capabilities)
We help our clients see differently. We help them envision a world where their resources
can drive business initiatives instead of managing basic voice and data infrastructures.
4
Where you’ve done it…
(Customer success
stories and expected
results)
Favorite Healthcare Staffing had 30 branch locations, each one of them growing, and each
one of them had its own phone system and POTS lines and some hardware that was
nearing their end of life. We showed them that by using cloud based telephony and
network management systems, each location would be able to be on the same system,
have access to IM and presence, use a more robust contact center solution and have a
more predictable monthly cost model.
4 Focus Areas
1
Where To
Focus
2
What To
Know
3
What to Say
4
Lead a
Conversation
o
3
What to Say
4
Co
Role of a Customer Executive Sponsor
MUST have:
LIKE to have:
• Sponsorship to meet with other
stakeholders
• Agreement to a follow-up meeting
to review recommendations
• Willingness to describe the decision
process, criteria, decision-makers
• Coaching on political landscape
• Willingness to risk political capital
for the project
• Commitment to a defined decision
process
© 2013 DSG Consulting
Value Proposition for Sponsorship
What benefit will the Executive Sponsor realize by
actively sponsoring your Self Reliant Experience?
© 2013 DSG Consulting
Executives Think Differently
What executives are thinking…
Do you understand my
business?
I’m open to insight on where
the industry is going.
Where am I at risk?
How are other executives
dealing with this issue?"
Never ever ask…
“What keeps you
up at night?”
Executive’s Greatest Fear
Death by
PowerPoint
Executive’s 2nd Greatest Fear
??
Now let me ask you
??
??
a few questions…
??
??
??
Death
by
??
?? 1,000
?? ?? ??
?? ??
Questions
??
??
??
??
??
??
??
?? ?? ?? ??
Provocations
Unique perspective
that frames the
customer problem in
a new light
Hard Worker
Challenger
Lone Wolf
Relationship Builder
Problem Solver
Provocations? Teaching?
Taking Control?
What does that really look like?
Not about…
Closing the deal
Giving a presentation
Having all the answers
Filled with techno-babble
Ending after one meeting
It’s about…
A series of conversations
Leading a dialogue
Providing insight
Changing the customer’s thinking
Innovative solutions
Messaging and the Buying Process
PHASE II
PHASE I
Why (Insert Provider Here)?
Decision
Strategy
Education
Awareness
Initiative
Project
Interest
Staff
PHASE III
Why Now?
Mgr
Exec
Why Do Something Different?
Recommendation
Investigation
Evaluation
INITIAL INTEREST
PROJECT DEFINITION
Effective Messaging Happens Here
SOLUTION DECISION
TIME
1
bold provocation/value
proposition
2
4
business objectives
3
why do something different?
Lead a
4
Conversation
5
why now?
why West IPC?
6
success stories
7
sponsorship
C-Suite Conversation – 4 Components
Why Do
Something
Different?
Market Pressures
Business Objectives
Challenges
Why Now?
Compelling Event
Why
(Insert Provider
Here)?
Relevant Differentiators
Demonstrated Proof
Why
Sponsorship?
Sponsorship to meet with other stakeholders
Customer Success Stories
Best Practice success
story example…
1. Customer and
Challenge
2. Solution
3. Customer Results
Thank You!