Office Depot 2 Day Workshop for Sales Managers
© Solution Selling, Inc. 2009
Credit, Copyright, and Contact Information
Trademark Notice: The following trademarks and service marks are owned by Sales Performance Holding Company
(DBA: Solution Selling, Inc.) and licensed by Sales Performance International, LLC. Any questions concerning the use
of these trademarks or whether a name that does not appear on this list is in fact a trademark of Solution Selling, Inc.
or comments concerning this manual, workshop or presentation should be referred to Sales Performance International,
LLC in the United States at the following address:
4720 Piedmont Row Drive, Suite 400
Charlotte, North Carolina 28210 USA
Phone: 704.227.6500 FAX 704.364.8114
Solution Selling® and Situational Fluency Prompter®, Pain Sheets®, 9 Block Vision Processing Model® and Pain
Chains® are registered trademarks and service marks of Solution Selling, Inc.
AchieveGlobal®, Professional Selling Skills®, and Professional Prospecting Skills® are registered trademarks and
service marks of AchieveGlobal, Inc. Professional Sales Coaching™ is a trademark and service mark of
AchieveGlobal, Inc.
All other referenced marks are those of their respective owners.
Copyright Notice: This manual is a copyrighted work of Solution Selling, Inc. This manual may not be reproduced in
whole or in part without the prior written consent of Solution Selling, Inc.
Additionally, Sales Management and Coaching, Targeted Territory Selling, Major Account Selling, Strategic Opportunity
Selling, Collaborative Sales Negotiations, Solution Prospecting and
Executive-Level Selling are copyrighted materials of Solution Selling, Inc.
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 1985 – 2009
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 1
Solution Selling®: Workshop Objectives
After completion of this Solution Selling® Workshop, you will be able to:
 describe “how buyers buy” and align your selling activities to accordingly
 recognize the difference between “latent pain” and “active vision” opportunities
 conduct effective pre-call planning and research
 stimulate interest and establish credibility with prospects
 get prospects to share / admit high priority pain
 engage in consultative dialogue that promotes the differentiating strengths of your offerings
 gain access to “power” people within an opportunity
 effectively qualify and disqualify opportunities based on objective decision criteria
 better control and manage sell cycles
 improve your chances of winning competitive opportunities
 shorten sell cycles and avoid no decision
 manage proof and internal resources
 negotiate the steps leading to closure of a sell cycle
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 2
Office Depot Sales Process Elements
Office Depot Sales Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Select solution,
evaluate risk, &
finalize contracts
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
Propose and Close
Implement
Fulfill
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created
in Sales Online
Gain agreement with
Power Sponsor to
next steps
Signed contract /
Gain verbal
agreement to buy
First orders placed
7-7-7 Goals
Accomplished
Sales
Tools and
Resources
Key Players List
PSS® Pre-Call Planner
Transition Plan
Buying
Process
Sales
Stage
Contact Strategy
Yield
Probability
www.solutionselling.com
Power Sponsor
Letter/e-mail
25%
Get-Give List
75%
Reference Story
Implementation Plan
Success Criteria
100%
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 3
AchieveGlobal Models Will Be Used Within the New Sales Process
Professional Prospecting Skills®:
Professional Selling Skills®: Needs Satisfaction Selling Process.
Goal: To make informed, Mutually Beneficial Decisions
AchieveGlobal®, Professional Selling Skills®, and Professional Prospecting Skills® are registered trademarks and service marks of AchieveGlobal, Inc.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 4
SPI and AchieveGlobal Tools Will Help Sellers Have Conversations with
Customers at Various Points in their Lifecycle
Acquire
Convert
Grow
Retain
New
customers
Newly acquired
customers
Loyal
customers
“At-risk”
customers
A
B
C
D
New Business
Conversion
Share of Wallet
Retention
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 5
Talent Assessment
 Are intuitive
 Have conversations
 Ask questions
Eagles
 Make presentations
 Make statements
 Process is key to success
Journeypeople
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 6
Situational Fluency
What Buyers Should Expect from Salespeople
Situational
Knowledge
Capability
Knowledge
How Do We
Integrate?
People
Skills
Selling
Skills
Situational Fluency:
Integration of knowledge and skills by the salesperson for “eagle” performance
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 7
Selling Difficulties: Examples
“I have trouble maximizing my time in the field and may not be calling on the right
customers.”
“Customers only care about price.”
“I was a BDM and now I have trouble with account management.”
“My experience is primarily working with existing customers so I have challenges
with prospecting and finding new customers.”
“Customers don’t see a reason to change from their current provider.”
“We have a difficult time standing out from the competition. We all offer the same
things.”
“I am unable to determine who is the right decision maker.”
“It’s hard to disqualify any opportunities, even if we don’t think we have a good
chance of winning.”
“We get involved in the opportunities too late.”
“I lose control of the opportunity at the end of the sell cycle.”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 8
Managing Difficulties: Example
“I am unable to determine the real status of an opportunity.”
“I am unable to get an accurate forecast from my sales reps.”
“I know when a salesperson is not meeting quota, but I don’t know why.”
“I have key opportunities on my forecast, and I am not sure they will close this quarter or ever!”
“My salespeople see our sales process as unnecessary work.”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 9
Exercise: Introduction and Management Difficulties
Purpose:
 To introduce yourself to the facilitation team and other participants
 To identify your specific management challenge(s)
Activities:
 Record the following information:
 Your name and location
 Your title and/or responsibility
 The top managing difficulty that you may be experiencing
Note:
 Difficulties should be challenges over which you have control (i.e. no mention
of “my seller won’t…” or “my product or service doesn’t…”)
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 10
Key Selling Skills
Sales Process Steps
PLAN & ENGAGE
DIAGNOSE
PROPOSE & CLOSE
IMPLEMENT
FULFILL
Prospecting
Developing Needs
Developing and Delivering Value
Managing Proof
Accessing
Power
Qualifying / Disqualifying
Controlling the Process
Negotiating / Closing
Aligning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 11
Negotiating Throughout the Sales Process
Maintaining Your Control
Quid Pro Quo: Latin, “something for something”
 Set the tone for all things to be negotiated throughout the sales cycle
 Use “quid pro quo” to:

Qualify the buyer and the opportunity

Move opportunities forward

Position your personal “power”

Minimize the cost of sale
Office Depot Sales Process
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
Propose And
Close
Implement
Fulfill
Quid Pro Quo and Negotiating
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 12
Shifting Buyer Concerns
How Organizations Plan, Evaluate and Buy
Buying Phases
Phase 0:
Conduct Planning
Phase I:
Determine Needs
Phase II:
Evaluate Alternatives
Phase III:
Evaluate Risk
Level of Concern
Risk





Price
Strategy
Projects
Issues
Priorities
Budgets
Needs
Solution
Time
Decision to solve a
priority problem
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 13
Basic Principle
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
NO PAIN, NO CHANGE
Pain = Problem, Critical Business Issue or Potential Missed Opportunity
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 14
Criteria for Pain
 Job specific
 How the prospect is:
 Measured
 Motivated
 Recognized
 Rewarded
 Viewed by peers
 Personal
 Provides a compelling reason to act
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 15
Basis of Pain
 Increasing
 Costs
 Competitive losses
 Errors
 Customer complaints
 Returns
 Employee turnover
 Eroding
 Profits
 Market share
?
COMMON
DENOMINATOR
 Service quality
 Growth rate
 Customer care
 Compliance
 Government regulation
 Industry standard
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 16
Basic Principle: There are Four Levels of Buyer Need
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
Level
Four:
Active
Evaluation
Level Three:
Vision of a
Solution
Level Two: Admitted Pain
Level One: Latent Pain
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 17
Conceptual Sales Territory
Of all the people who could benefit from your offering…
What % are actively evaluating?
Not
Looking
Active *
*
www.solutionselling.com
 Power person driving evaluation
 Business issues defined
 Requirements documented
 Evaluation team in place
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 18
How Organizations Evaluate and Buy
Not Looking
www.solutionselling.com
Active
Requirements
Company A
Company B



























Company C






© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 19
Sales Process Flow Model
Potential opportunity starting points
Latent or Admitted Pain
Vision or Active Evaluation
Conduct pre-call planning
and research
Perform opportunity
assessment
Stimulate interest
Define “pain” or critical
business issue
Diagnose and create vision
of company-biased solution
No
Yes
Go?
Yes
No
Negotiate access to power
Yes
No
At
power
?
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Select competitive strategy
Reengineer vision with
company differentiators
No
Develop & manage Evaluation Plan
(sample steps)
• Summarize findings
• Prove capabilities
• Present preliminary solution
• Determine value analysis/s. criteria
• Gain all approvals (L/T/A)
• Conduct pre-proposal review
Reach final agreement
Measure and leverage
success criteria
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 20
Office Depot Sales Process: Plan and Engage Stage
Buying
Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Sales Stage
Plan and Engage
New Business
 Conduct opportunity
planning
 Conduct opportunity
assessment
Activities
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client
satisfaction
 Research buying
trends
 Identify new
opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
New Business
 Conduct opportunity planning
 Conduct opportunity
assessment
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client satisfaction
 Research buying trends
 Identify new opportunities
across SKU’s and categories
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
Sales Tools
and
Resources
• Dun & Bradstreet lists
• Hoovers
• Opportunity Assessment
• Pain Chain®
• Key Players List
• Contact Strategy
• Business Development
Prompter
• Reference Story
• PPS Scorecard
• PPS Funnel Calculator
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created in
Sales Online
Yield
Probability
0%
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 21
Identify Opportunities through Planning
Territory
Territory Planning
Account Planning
Existing Accounts
Account
Account
New Accounts
Account
Account
Account
Opportunity Planning
Opp
www.solutionselling.com
Opp
Opp
Opp
Opp
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 22
Qualification Criteria: Example at Territory Level
Finding the “Sweet Spot”
Criterion
# of White Collar Workers
Chamber / Association Member
Referred to Office Depot by another
customer
High revenue producing verticals
Close proximity to Office Depot
stores
Currently under “Contract” or
receiving customized pricing with
competitor
www.solutionselling.com
Measure
Points
25-50
1
50-75
3
75-100
5
Yes
5
No
1
Yes
5
No
1
Legal
1
Medical
3
Education
5
Yes
5
No
1
25-50 WCW
Yes = 1
No = 3
50-75 WCW
Yes = 1
No = 5
75-100 WCW
Yes = 1
No = 7
Not mandated by
corporate
Criteria will vary from
region to region (gain
input from manager)
Not a form… things to
consider!
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 23
Sorted in Descending Rank: Example
Currently under
“Contract” or
receiving
customized
pricing with
competitor
# of
WCW
Chamber /
Associatio
n Member
Referred to
Office Depot
by another
customer
High
revenue
producing
verticals
Close proximity
to Office Depot
stores
Matchmakers, Inc.
5
5
5
3
5
1
24
United Way
3
5
5
1
5
3
22
Kwik Transport
5
5
5
3
1
3
22
Lifestyle Leasing
1
1
1
5
5
7
20
MSA Payroll Services
3
1
1
1
5
1
12
Fantasy Travel
3
5
5
3
1
3
20
4Square
Entertainment
1
5
1
5
5
3
20
Baldrige Consultants
5
1
5
3
5
7
26
City Government
3
1
1
3
1
3
12
Able Bakers
1
5
1
1
1
5
14
Account Name
www.solutionselling.com
Total
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 24
Account Criteria Examples
 Annual company revenue
 Strategic value to us
 Our revenue from this account last year *
 Company’s compatibility with our culture
 Expectations of future revenue *
 Our experience in this industry
 Market position
 Urgency of Business Issues (Pains)
 Market viability
 Knowledge of buying processes
 Financial strength
 Recent good/poor financial performance
 Growth in revenues
 Growth in employees
 Our relationship quality
 Trusted advisor vs. vendor
 Likelihood of sponsorship
 Expected profitability
 Technology adoption position
 Our account coverage last year
 Competitive strength
 Customer satisfaction level
 Competitive presence
 Current installed inventory of our
products
 Our solution fit to their needs *
 Potential usage of our offerings *
 Analyst opinions
 Known email address
 Business initiatives we can help with
 Mergers & acquisitions
 Convenience of geographic location
 Responded to (e)mailing
* “Traditional criteria”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 25
Account Pre-call Planning and Research
Key Areas to Research
 Company
 History
 Nature of the business
 Mission statement
 Annual reports / 10Ks
 Offerings
 Description
 Types
 Uniqueness
 Market analysis
 Size
 Location
 Trends
 Maturity
 Share
 Financials
 Balance sheet
 Income statement
 Track record
 Competition
 How positioned
 Strategies
 Comparisons
 Executive profiles
 Work history
 Education
 Competencies
 Potential critical business issues
(pains)
Opportunities in the Pipeline
Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 26
Account Profile: Example
Account Profile
Company:
Alliance Healthcare System is a collection of 5 hospitals and urgent care facilities, 39 Clinics, 7 medical practice groups, 12
community pharmacies, and 3 ambulatory care centers. Alliance is headquartered in the Denver, Colorado with locations
throughout the western part of the US. Excluding medical professionals, Alliance has in the neighborhood of 30 to 65 white collar
workers in each location. The business offices are located in the Denver facility. As part of the Alliance Mission Statement and
Statement of Strategic Vision, the CEO stated that: “Alliance will be the model for outstanding patient care and as an unparallel
place to work”. They were considered an innovative and market leader in the past. They have received numerous awards in
recognition from the communities they serve.
Offerings:
Clinical and hospital services along with medical practices and pharmacies. The locations tend to operate on an autonomous
basis with administrative support staffs. Alliance has significantly broadened their offering base through rapid acquisitions and
mergers over the last 5 years. They are still in the process of standardizing processes across all locations.
Market analysis:
The market outlook for growth is good, but cost structure is not in line with industry average.
Financials:
The recent Annual Report stated last years net operating revenues at $2.8 billion. Also in the “Management Commentary” of the
report was a directive from the VP of Finance to cut budgets across the board by 10%.
Competition:
Key competitors are Kaiser Permanente, Novant Health Systems, and Abbot Northwestern Health Care.
Executive profiles:
Michael Paisley, CEO for 5 years –formerly with Kaiser Permanente – visionary, cares about public image of AHS and depends
on philanthropy to supplement operating revenues. Nat Greenfield, VP Finance for 10 years – graduate of Colorado University in
hospital administration and CPA – scrutinizes costs. Alma Bettis, VP Facilities Management for 8 years – strong personality –
formerly with Novant Health – very conservative. John Richmond, Office manager of Boulder clinic – with Alliance for 7 years–
aggressive in promoting programs within Alliance. Morton Blank. Director of Purchasing for 2 years formerly with Boston
Scientific as manager of logistics. Beth Hardin, VP of HR 5 years – degree in psychology formerly with University of Minnesota.
Potential critical business issues:
Increased costs from lack of standardization. Goals are to lower operating costs by using more economic ordering practices.
Inventory management practices to lower carrying costs across multiple locations. Currently the autonomous operating
environment has fostered “helter-skelter” purchasing practices thus leaving opportunity costs on the table. They have recently
incurred increasing shipping costs of supplies. Recent employee survey across all locations indicated growing dissatisfactions
with working environment and lack of reasonable “perks” cited. A write-in comment stated that “As hard as we work around here,
it looks like we could have a decent lounge area with a real cup of coffee!” This is driving employees out of the office to get coffee
and snacks.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 27
Account Pre-call Planning and Research
Information Sources
 Review account’s website
 Access public information

Annual Reports / 10-Ks
•
Chairman’s Letter
•
Financial highlights

Hoover’s Online (www.hoovers.com) * – Company overviews: financials, key people in the
organization, industry-related news, competitor profiles, business & financial rankings, and company
subsidiaries.

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) - Source for increasing network and association with past and present
colleagues

MSN Business Online (www.msnbc.com) Company information and news articles searchable at the
world, national and local levels

OneSource (www.onesource.com) * – A single source for detailed company information for both public
and private companies.

Standard & Poor’s (www.standardandpoors.com) – Financial information about organizations around
the world in multiple languages. Financial information includes credit ratings, equity research, global
indices and articles pertaining to the financial impact associated with world events.

US Securities Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov) – Information on public filings from 1993 –
present

Yahoo Finance
 Contact account’s shareholder department (e-mail) with specific questions – become a shareholder
 Contact salespeople and account managers within the prospect organization
* Good resource for researching minimal requirements of an Account Profile
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 28
Contact Strategy within Sales Online
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 29
Appointment Preparation
When preparing for appointments, take advantage of the tools that are on the
dashboard.
MARKETING MATERIAL – you will also find this link on the left side of
the Dashboard under the QUICK LINKS section. This takes you to
an EXCEL document with links to some helpful marketing material.
You can filter the material based on Sector, Product Group or
Project name. Print them off, or go GREEN and email them to your
customer before or after the sales call.
Note: Make sure you use the STAR report to identify multiple
categories to go after. Have backups and don’t stop if the
customer agrees to purchase in a new category. Keep penetrating
and offering solutions.
TOOLS AND JOB AIDS – you will find this link on the left side of the
Dashboard under the QUICK LINKS section. This link takes you to
a series of CATEGORY CHEAT SHEETS that allow you to prepare
for specific categories on customer calls. Print them off as needed
and use them in your appointment planning. You will find the CALL
PLANNER under this link. This Call Planner assists in developing
your action plan and incorporates PSS skills. You will also find the
SOLUTION SELLING® TEMPLATES at this link.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 30
Key Players List: Example
Key Players (Job Title)
Potential Pains
VP Finance (corporate)
 Missed budgets
 Eroding margins
 Increasing overall costs
Office Manager
(remote locations)
Human Resources Director
(corporate)
Procurement (corporate)
 Increasing local operational costs
 Decreasing employee productivity
 Increasing shrinkage
 Potential increase in insurance costs
 Low employee morale
 Increase in costs to hire and train employees
 Increasing cost of procurement
 Unable to leverage buying power
 Difficulty managing supply chain
Director Environmental
Strategy (corporate)
 Declining public image related to being “green”
 Difficulty meeting corporate “green” initiatives
VP Facilities (corporate)
 Increasing facility costs across all locations
 Lack of standardization in all locations
 Difficulty managing inventory
VP IT / CIO
www.solutionselling.com
 Difficulty managing multiple technologies
 Difficulty implementing and integrating disparate systems with
corporate standards
 Inability to meet users’ technology demands
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 31
Basic Principle
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
PAIN FLOWS THROUGH AN ENTIRE
ORGANIZATION
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 32
Pain Chain® - “Cause and Effect”
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason:
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason:
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason:
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 33
Pain Chain®: Example
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason A:
Reason B:
VP Finance
Missed budgets
Potential increase in insurance costs
Increasing facility costs across all locations
Job Title:
Pain:
Human Resources Director
Potential increase in insurance
costs
Reason A: Increasing risk liability due to
employee leaving premises
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason A:
Reason B:
Reason C:
Office Manager
Increasing local operational costs
High costs of carrying inventory
Increasing shipping costs
Inefficient ordering process because of
multiple suppliers
www.solutionselling.com
Job Title:
Pain:
VP Facilities
Increasing facility costs across all
locations
Reason A: Increasing operational costs at remote
locations
Reason B: Increasing procurement costs
Job Title: Procurement
Pain:
Increasing cost of procurement
Reason A: Large number of suppliers
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 34
Basic Principle
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
YOU CAN’T SELL TO SOMEONE
WHO CAN’T BUY
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 35
Traditional Organization Chart: Example
Investors
CEO /
Managing
Partner
Marketing
Executive
CIO
Sales
Executive
Financial
Executive
Operations
Executive
Production
Executive
“The Budget Line”
Director IT
www.solutionselling.com
HR Manager
Quality
Manager
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 36
Exercise
Pain Chain®
Purpose:
 To identify and depict the cause and effect relationship that pain can have within an
organization
Activities:
 Identify an account to use as an example
 Identify the pain (and reasons) for a specific customer (by job title) that you are either
engaged with or might encounter in a typical sales cycle
 After you’ve recorded this information, trace the pain up and/or down the Pain Chain®
to include three other job titles in the customer’s company impacted by this pain
 Draw arrows between the Pain and reason to show the cause and effect relationship
 Use the Pain Chain® Template on the following page
Notes:
 Remember that a pain is personal. Pains can often be determined by analyzing how a
key player is measured, motivated, recognized, rewarded, etc.
 Pains are usually articulated in a negative manner (i.e. usually something is increasing or
decreasing)
 Feel free to make up any information you may not have to complete the exercise
 Be prepared to debrief
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 37
Pain Chain®: Template
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason A:
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason A:
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason A:
Job Title:
Pain:
Reason A:
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 38
Exercises for Sales Workshops
TDM
 Share best practices of how to use Contact Strategy
 Create specific qualification criteria for their territory
Major/Global/Public
 Conduct Pain Chain® exercise for opportunity chosen by group from pre-work
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 39
Office Depot Sales Process: Plan and Engage Stage
Buying
Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Sales Stage
Plan and Engage
New Business
 Conduct opportunity
planning
 Conduct opportunity
assessment
Activities
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client
satisfaction
 Research buying trends
 Identify new
opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
• Create interest
• Gain initial meeting
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
Sales Tools
and
Resources
• Dun & Bradstreet lists
• Hoovers
• Opportunity Assessment
• Pain Chain®
• Key Players List
• Contact Strategy
• Business Development
Prompter
• Reference Story
• PPS Scorecard
• PPS Funnel Calculator
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created in
Sales Online
Yield
Probability
0%
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 40
Business Development Best Practices
 Remember who is responsible for your quota
 Distinguish between prospecting vs. polling
 Analyze funnel to plan activity and determine level of
activity needed
 Create interest and curiosity with your approach
 Reserve sacred time for business development activities
 Target the same job title or same industry (if possible)
 Target high in the organization
 Experiment with new approaches
 Consider “timing and touches”
 Measure results of various approaches
 Remember the “SW” rule
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 41
Business Development: Messaging Considerations
“Are You Curious?”
 You have limited time to get attention and create curiosity
 Put yourself in the mind of the buyer
 Target pains / critical business issues:
• describe how someone else has solved a problem
• target a peer in a potentially similar situation
• select a problem they might have or to which they can relate
 Communicate value
 The communication should NOT:
 focus on company history or new offerings
 ask them to buy anything or schedule a meeting
 ask the buyer to admit “pain”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 42
Business Development Prompter: Example
Business Development Prompter: New Opportunity
This is Bill Hart (salesperson name) with Office Depot (your company).
You and I haven’t spoken before, but we have been working with
healthcare (specific industry) organizations for the last 10 (#) years. A
common trend we are hearing lately from other Office Managers (job title)
is their frustration (difficulty) with increasing operational costs (job title’s
likely critical issue / pain) [resulting from high cost of carrying and
shipping of various cleaning and break room supplies
(articulate common reasons)]. We have been able to help our customers
address this issue. Would you like to know how?
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 43
Business Development Prompter: Examples
Business Development Prompter: New Opportunity
This is __________ (salesperson name) with __________ (your company). You and I haven’t spoken before,
but we have been working with __________ (specific industry) organizations for the last ___ (#) years. A
common trend we are hearing lately from other __________ (job title) is their frustration (difficulty) with
_______________ (job title’s likely critical issue / pain) [resulting from ______ (articulate common reasons)]. We
have been able to help our customers address this issue. Would you like to know how?
Business Development Prompter: Menu Approach (See Business Development e-mail)
This is __________ (salesperson name) with __________ (your company). You and I haven’t spoken before,
but we have been working with __________ (specific industry) organizations for the last ___ (#) years. The top
three issues (concerns) we are hearing (lately) from other __________ (job title) are: (1) __________, (2)
__________ and (3) __________ (job title’s top three likely critical issue / pain). [We’ve helped companies like: (1)
__________, (2) __________ and (3) __________ (three reference-able organizations) address some of these
issues.] Would you like to know how?
Business Development Prompter: Referral Approach
This is __________ (salesperson name) with __________ (your company). You and I haven’t spoken before,
but __________, __________ at __________ (reference person’s name, title and organization) suggested that I
give you a call. We were able to help her/him address his/her difficulty with __________ (reference person’s
critical issue / pain) [resulting from ______ (articulate common reasons)]. Would you like to know how?
Business Development Prompter: Multiple Contact Approach
This is __________ (salesperson name) with __________ (your company). You might recall my last contact via
[phone / email / seminar / webinar / tradeshow] where we described how we have been working with
__________ (specific industry) organizations for the last ___ (#) years. We cited a common trend with
__________ (job title) is their frustration (difficulty) with _______________ (job title’s likely critical issue / pain)
[resulting from ______ (articulate common reasons)]. We have been able to help our customers address this
issue. Would you like to know how?
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 44
Business Development Letter/e-mail: Example
Steve,
Office Depot is in the business of helping customers in the healthcare industry improve effectiveness and
efficiencies of their operations by consolidating and simplifying purchases.
We have been working with healthcare companies since 1999. Some of the chief concerns we hear lately
include:
□ Increasing local operational costs
□ Decreasing employee productivity
□ Increasing shrinkage
We have been able to help our customers successfully deal with these and other issues. I would like an
opportunity to share some examples with you. If you are interested in learning how we have helped other
office managers solve some very challenging issues, please call me 555-215-1111 and I will provide you
with more information. In lieu of your call, I’ll plan a follow-up call on Wednesday of next week.
Regards,
Bill Hart
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 45
Reference Story: Example
REFERENCE STORY
Situation:
Critical Business
Issue:
Increasing local operational costs
Reason(s):
High cost of carrying and shipping of various cleaning and break room
supplies
Capability(s):
When ordering replenishment of cleaning and break room supplies the
office manager could order only what was needed at the best price and
have it delivered at the desired time without shipping costs.
(when, who, what)
We provided…
Result:
www.solutionselling.com
Office Manager in a large organization
…this capability
They were able to reduce operational costs by over $4,000.
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 46
Reference Story Format
Situation:
Critical
Business Issue:
Reason(s):
Capability(s):
(when, who,
what)
We provided…
Result:
www.solutionselling.com
A customer job title and vertical industry
The pain of the title above (Anxiety words and phrases are very
powerful here).
One of the reasons for the critical issue biased to your product
or service
In the words of your customer, the business event, the player(s)
and specific capabilities needed to address the critical issue “He/she/they told us when… who… what they needed”
If the “solution” is described properly above, all we have to do
here is say that we (our product / service / company) provided
them those capabilities
Specific measurement is best, $ or %
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 47
Building a Compelling Value Proposition
EXTRAPOLATE
Your Offering
www.solutionselling.com
Customer A
Situation
Your Offering
Customer B
Situation
Measured
Results
Projected
Results
Reference
Story
Initial Value
Proposition
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 48
Components of an Initial Value Proposition
A simple, clear statement of:
 Your target prospect
 Key quantified benefits you may offer them to address their potential critical
business issue(s)
Based on:
 Your knowledge of the specific value already achieved by an existing
customer
 Your company’s experience / knowledge of the prospect with a comparable
situation
 Your initial projection of the value to that prospect
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 49
Initial Value Proposition: Example for Local Office Manager
VALUE PROPOSITION
“We believe that Alliance Healthcare System should be able to
reduce expenses by approximately $4,160 per location
through the ability to streamline the ordering and delivery
process for cleaning and break room supplies.”
Value Proposition Assumptions:
 Alliance location has 65 WCW
 Customers of this size typically spend $257/WCW
 Average savings is $64 per WCW
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 50
Initial Value Proposition: Example for VP Facilities
VALUE PROPOSITION
“We believe that Alliance Healthcare System should be able to
reduce overall expenses by approximately $126,000-274,000
through the ability to streamline the ordering and delivery
process for cleaning and break room supplies.”
Value Proposition Assumptions:
 Alliance locations have approximately 30-65 WCW in each location
 Alliance has 66 locations
 Customers of this size typically spend $257 per WCW
 Average savings is $64 per WCW
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 51
Initial Value Proposition: Format and Template
VALUE PROPOSITION TEMPLATE
“We believe that _____________________________ should be able to
__________________________________________________________
(by $_______________ or _______________%)
through the ability to ________________________________________
as a result of ___________________________________________.”
Value Proposition assumptions being made:
 ____________________________________
 ____________________________________
 ____________________________________
 ____________________________________
 ____________________________________
 ____________________________________
www.solutionselling.com
Value Proposition Format:
We believe that [ Client name ]
should be able to [ improve what ]
by [ how much, what %? ]
through the ability to [ do what? ]
as a result of [ what enabling capabilities? ].
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 52
Exercises for Sales Workshops
TDM and Major/Global/Public
 Build Business Development Prompter
 Build Reference Story
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 53
Quid Pro Quo in Plan and Engage
“What things would the customer want from you and
what would you want from the customer?”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 54
Office Depot Sales Process: Diagnose Stage
Buying
Process
Sales Stage
Define problems
and opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
New Business
 Conduct opportunity
planning
 Conduct opportunity
assessment
Activities
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client
satisfaction
 Research buying
trends
 Identify new
opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
Sales Tools
and
Resources
• Dun & Bradstreet lists
• Hoovers
• Opportunity
Assessment
• Pain Chain®
• Key Players List
• Contact Strategy
• Business Development
Prompter
• Reference Story
• PPS Scorecard
• PPS Funnel Calculator
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted
pain and create or
reengineer vision of
Sponsor
•Get pain admitted
 Negotiate access to
power
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon next steps
 Diagnose admitted
pain and create or
reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation
criteria and propose
next steps
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon plan of
next steps
 PSS® Pre-Call
Planner
 9-Block Vision
Processing Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Power Sponsor Letter
/e-mail
 Evaluation Plan
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created
in Sales Online
Gain agreement to
Evaluation Plan
Yield
Probability
0%
25%
www.solutionselling.com
Select solution,
evaluate risk, &
finalize contracts
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 55
Getting Pain Admitted
Why Would Buyers Admit Pain?
Because the salesperson has:
 Built rapport naturally
 Established trustworthiness (sincerity + competence)
 Established credibility
 Demonstrated situational knowledge
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 56
Basic Principles
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
POWER BUYS FROM POWER
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 57
Strategic Alignment: Steps 1 and 2
Opening of the Call
BUYER PERSPECTIVE / DECISION
“Do I even want to listen to this salesperson?”
SALESPERSON ACTION

1. Establish Rapport Naturally
2. Introduce Call
“Is this person different
from other salespeople?”
 State call agenda

“Is s/he sincere?... competent?


“Am I ready to share critical information
with this person?”
www.solutionselling.com
 Share “we help” theme
 Provide company / personal
introduction
 Share relevant Reference Story (or
progress-to-date)
 Transition to “getting pain admitted”
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 58
Strategic Alignment Prompter (Steps 1 and 2)
Step 2: Introduce Call
 State call agenda *
What I’d like to do today (or… during the next ___ minutes) is to:
• Introduce you to Office Depot (my company)
• Tell you about another Office Manager we have worked with
• I would then like to learn (more) about you and your situation…
• …at that point, the two of us will be able to make a mutual decision as to whether or not we should proceed
any further. Is this okay with you?”
 Share “we help” theme
“Office Depot is in the business of helping customers in the healthcare industry improve effectiveness and
efficiencies of their operations by consolidating and simplifying purchases.”
 Provide company / personal introduction *
FACTS
□ Office Depot won the “Outstanding environmental leadership” award from Office Products International
□ We also won a Stevie award for sales and customer service
□ I personally have worked in the healthcare industry for 10 years
 Share relevant Reference Story (or progress-to-date)
“A particular situation you might be interested in is another healthcare (organization type). Their office manager
(job title) was having difficulty with increasing operational costs (pain). The reason for her difficulty was high
cost of carrying and shipping of various cleaning and break room supplies. What she needed was some way
to (describe capabilities) when ordering replenishment of cleaning and break room supplies the office manager
could order only what was needed at the best price and have it delivered at the desired time without shipping
costs. We provided them with those capabilities and the result was they were able to save over $4,000 in
operational costs per year (specific result).”
 Transition to “getting pain admitted”
“But enough about Office Depot. Tell me (more) about you and your situation.”
* Alter steps for existing vs. new relationships as relevant
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 59
Strategic Alignment: Step 3
Getting Pain Admitted
BUYER PERSPECTIVE / DECISION
SALESPERSON ACTION
3. Get Pain Admitted
“Do I want to admit my
critical business issue (pain)
to this salesperson?”
www.solutionselling.com
 Ask Situational Questions (if necessary)

 Ask Menu of Pain Questions (if necessary)
 Prioritize the admitted pain
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 60
Getting Pain Admitted
Potential Buyer Responses
“But enough about (my company). Tell me about you and your situation.”
Salesperson’s Actions:
Potential Buyer Responses:
1.
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
4.
4.
5.
5.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 61
Getting Pain Admitted
Question Examples
SITUATIONAL QUESTIONS
“Today, how are you procuring all of your office, cleaning, and break room supplies?”
“How do you place orders?”
“How are orders received, distributed, and paid for?”
MENU OF PAIN QUESTIONS
“The top three difficulties we are hearing from other Office Managers these days
include:
 Increasing local operational costs
 Decreasing employee productivity
 Increasing shrinkage
…are you facing any of these issues today?”
OR
…are you curious how we have helped our customers deal with these
issues?”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 62
Anxiety Creation: Example
1. Anxiety Question:
“How would you feel if one of your top executives made an unannounced visit
and they found different items from their location because you order differently
from what the executive expected?”
2. Capability Question:
“What if there were a way…when ordering cleaning and break room supplies you
had one specific, standardized list of approved corporate items, which included
your executive’s favorite coffee, available for next day delivery… would that
help?”
3. Office Depot Differentiator:
Each location would have a customized shopping list with pre-approved items
available for purchasing.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 63
Exercises in Sales Workshops
TDM
 Build individual call introduction and role play with a partner
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 64
Office Depot Sales Process: Diagnose Stage
Buying
Process
Define problems
and opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Sales Stage
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
New Business
 Conduct opportunity
planning
 Conduct opportunity
assessment
Activities
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client
satisfaction
 Research buying
trends
 Identify new
opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted
pain and create or
reengineer vision of
Sponsor
Evaluate success
• Diagnose admitted pain and
create or reengineer vision
of Sponsor
 Diagnose admitted
pain and create or
reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation
criteria and propose
next steps
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon plan of
next steps
 PSS® Pre-Call
Planner
 9-Block Vision
Processing Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Power Sponsor Letter/
e-mail
 Evaluation Plan
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created
in Sales Online
Gain agreement to
Evaluation Plan
Yield
Probability
0%
25%
www.solutionselling.com
Resolve issues &
implement
 Negotiate access to
power
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon next steps
 Dun & Bradstreet lists
 Hoovers
 Opportunity
Assessment
 Pain Chain®
 Key Players List
 Contact Strategy
 Business
Development
Prompter
 Reference Story
 PPS Scorecard
 PPS Funnel
Calculator
Sales Tools
and
Resources
Select solution,
evaluate risk, &
finalize contracts
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 65
Basic Principle
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
DIAGNOSE BEFORE
YOU PRESCRIBE
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 66
Performance
Sales Performance Over Time
P
M
Time
P = Performance
M = Morale
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 67
Strategic Alignment: Step 4
Develop Needs / Customer Buying Vision
BUYER PERSPECTIVE / DECISION
SALESPERSON ACTION
4. Develop Needs / Customer Buying Vision
“Does this person understand
my business issue and the reasons
contributing to it?
“Has this person thoroughly
diagnosed my situation?”


“Should I discuss the impact
that my issue has on
others in the organization?”

“Do I agree with the capabilities suggested
and the value articulated?”

“Do I want to take responsibility
for solving this problem?”
www.solutionselling.com

 Diagnose and create a vision of a
company-biased solution
or
 Reengineer a vision with company
differentiators
 Participate in existing vision
 Introduce differentiators
 Determine underlying pain (if not
admitted)
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 68
Navigating the Levels of Buyer Need
Level Four: Active Evaluation
Level Three: Vision of a Solution (Buying Vision)
9 Block Vision Processing Model®
Level Two: Admitted Pain
Stimulating Interest Job Aids
Level One: Latent Pain
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 69
Architecture of the 9 Block Vision Processing Model®
PAIN
3 Question
Types
Diagnose Reasons
Explore Impact
Visualize Capabilities
R1
I1
C1
R2
I2
C2
R3
I3
C3
3 Areas of
Exploration
Open
Customer’s
Point of View
Control
Salesperson’s
Point of View
Confirming
Combined
Point of View
BUYING VISION
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 70
9 Block Vision Processing Model® - Vision Creation
PAIN
Diagnose Reasons
Open
R1
“Tell me about it,
what is causing you
to have this…
(repeat pain)?”
R2
2
Control
“Is it because…
Reason A?…
Reason B?...
Reason C?...
R3
Confirming
1
3
“So, the reasons for your
(pain) are…?
Is that correct?”
Explore Impact
I1
4
“Besides yourself,
who in your
organization is
impacted by this (pain)
and how are they
impacted?”
I2
5
“Is this (pain) causing…
(another pain)?”
“If so, would
(other job title)
also be concerned?”
I3
6
“From what I just heard,
(repeat the “who” and
“how”) are impacted.
It sounds like this is not
just your problem, but a
______ problem!
Is that correct?”
Visualize Capabilities
C1
7
“What is it going to take
for you to be able to
(achieve your goal)?”
“Could I try a few ideas
on you?”
C2
8
“You mentioned
(recall reason)…
Would it help if …
Capability Vision A?...
Capability Vision B?...
Capability Vision C?...
C3
9
“So, IF you had the ability
to (summarize capability
visions),
THEN could you (achieve
your goal)?”
BUYING VISION
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 71
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®: Example
Pain: Increasing local operational costs
Job Title & Industry: Office Manager (local location), Healthcare
Offering: Cleaning Break Room Supplies
REASONS (R2)
Is it because; Today…?
A Tell me about the additional inventory you need
to carry?
IMPACT (I2)
Is this (pain) causing…?
•Increasing facility costs
across all locations?
Is the VP Facilities
concerned?
•Budgets to be missed?
Is the VP Finance
concerned?
B What is the shipping and fulfillment process used
by current suppliers today?
C What is the process for placing orders with
multiple suppliers?
www.solutionselling.com
CAPABILITIES (C2)
What if…; Would it help if…?
A When: Ordering replenishment of
cleaning and break room
supplies
Who: You
What: Had a way to order only what
you need at the best price so
that your cost to carry is
minimized?
B When: Inventory has reached safety
stock level
Who: You
What: Could go to your personalized
landing page, identify items you
need, check inventory, place
your order, and have it delivered
at your desired time without
shipping costs?
C When: Ordering multiple categories of
items
Who: You
What: Had the ability to utilize a single
website to order all items at
once and not have to use
multiple ordering processes and
receive one delivery with one
invoice?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 72
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®
Where it is Used
RI
R2
R3
www.solutionselling.com
I1
I2
I3
A
A
B
B
C
C
D
D
C1
C2
C3
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 73
Basic Principle
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
THE SOLUTION MUST EQUAL
THE BUYING VISION
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 74
Building Visions
Pain:
“My operational costs are increasing!”
Goal:
“What if you could lower your operational costs?”
Capability:
PAIN
RI
“What if you could get the best price on your cleaning and
break room supplies?”
I1
C1
R2
I2
C2
R3
I3
C3
BUYING
VISION
Capability Vision:
“What if when ordering replenishment of cleaning and break
room supplies (who) you had a way to order only what you
need at the best price so that your cost to carry is
minimized? ”
Capability Vision:
What if when inventory has reached safety stock level (who)
you could go to your personalized landing page, identify
items you need, check inventory, place your order, and have
it delivered at your desired time without shipping costs?”
Buying Vision
“IF you could order only the cleaning and break room
supplies you needed, and when you needed to order them
you could go to your personalized landing page and have
them delivered at your desired time without shipping, THEN
could you lower your operational costs?”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 75
Vision Processing: Example for TDM
OPEN
Pain : Difficulty completing workload
Diagnose Reasons
1
Tell me about it, what is causing you to have this (repeat pain)?
CONFIRM
CONTROL
A. What is the process for ordering and maintaining office
supplies?
• Does this process take a lot of time?
• How much time do they spend per week?
• How many orders do you place per week?
• Who is doing the ordering?
• How many people are involved?
Visualize Capabilities
What is it going to take for YOU to be able to (achieve
goal)?”
4
A. When ordering office supplies the administrative
professional could access a frequently ordered items
list from a pre-populated list and select the appropriate
items and volume, or with a single check duplicate a
previous order & add or delete items immediately and
have them delivered next-day?
B. How do you reconcile invoices?
B. When an order is entered the administrative
• Due to the process, do you spend a lot of time reconciling
professional could be assured that the invoice
invoices?
requirements have been completed so that less time is
• How much time?
spent reconciling invoices on the back-end?
• What are your accounting requirements?
• What happens to invoices that can’t be reconciled?
• How often does that happen?
• How much administrative effort is involved in getting it resolved?
• Does it adversely affect your vendor relationships?
• How does this affect your buying power?
C. What is the approval process for spending?
C. When a special request order is entered you had a way
• How long does it take to get an exception approved?
for the order to be automatically compared to preset
• What are your spending authority levels?
rules and routed appropriately for approval so that you
• What happens if the approvers are not in the office?
don’t spend too much time waiting for approvals?
• Have there been any key project delays due to the approval
process?
• How often does it happen?
• What is the cost?
2
3
So, the reasons for your (repeat pain) are …? Is that correct?
www.solutionselling.com
5
6
So, if you had (summarize capabilities), then could you
(achieve your goal)?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 76
Exercise: Vision Creation Role Play
Strategic Alignment (Step 4)
Purpose:
 To give a salesperson practice on how to diagnose the reasons for a
prospect’s critical business issue or pain, explore the impact of that pain on
the organization and help the buyer visualize the capabilities needed to
address their pain
Activities:
 Break into role play groups
 Follow the blocks in the numbered order using the prompter provided (9
Block Vision Processing Model® - Vision Creation)
 Be sure to use the Pain Sheet® (found within the following pages) to assist
in the control questions row on the 9 Block Vision Processing Model®
 Each person should get an opportunity to play the “buyer” and the
“salesperson”. Use an observer in the rotation if possible
 Be prepared to debrief
Note:
 Focus on following the process, not on personal skills such as eye contact
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 77
9 Block Vision Processing Model® - Vision Creation
PAIN
Diagnose Reasons
Open
R1
“Tell me about it,
what is causing you
to have this…
(repeat pain)?”
R2
2
Control
“Is it because…
Reason A?…
Reason B?...
Reason C?...
R3
Confirming
1
3
“So, the reasons for your
(pain) are…?
Is that correct?”
Explore Impact
I1
4
“Besides yourself,
who in your
organization is
impacted by this (pain)
and how are they
impacted?”
I2
5
“Is this (pain) causing…
(another pain)?”
“If so, would
(other job title)
also be concerned?”
I3
6
“From what I just heard,
(repeat the “who” and
“how”) are impacted.
It sounds like this is not
just your problem, but a
______ problem!
Is that correct?”
Visualize Capabilities
C1
7
“What is it going to take
for you to be able to
(achieve your goal)?”
“Could I try a few ideas
on you?”
C2
8
“You mentioned
(recall reason)…
Would it help if …
Capability Vision A?...
Capability Vision B?...
Capability Vision C?...
C3
9
“So, IF you had the ability
to (summarize capability
visions),
THEN could you (achieve
your goal)?”
BUYING VISION
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 78
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®: Example
Pain: Increasing local operational costs
Job Title & Industry: Office Manager (local location), Healthcare
Offering: Cleaning Break Room Supplies
REASONS (R2)
Is it because; Today…?
A Tell me about the additional inventory you need
to carry?
IMPACT (I2)
Is this (pain) causing…?
•Increasing facility costs
across all locations?
Is the VP Facilities
concerned?
•Budgets to be missed?
Is the VP Finance
concerned?
B What is the shipping and fulfillment process used
by current suppliers today?
C What is the process for placing orders with
multiple suppliers?
www.solutionselling.com
CAPABILITIES (C2)
What if…; Would it help if…?
A When: Ordering replenishment of
cleaning and break room
supplies
Who: You
What: Had a way to order only what
you need at the best price so
that your cost to carry is
minimized?
B When: Inventory has reached safety
stock level
Who: You
What: Could go to your personalized
landing page, identify items you
need, check inventory, place
your order, and have it delivered
at your desired time without
shipping costs?
C When: Ordering multiple categories of
items
Who: You
What: Had the ability to utilize a single
website to order all items at
once and not have to use
multiple ordering processes and
receive one delivery with one
invoice?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 79
Value Justification / Analysis
Start with the End in Mind
Profits from increased revenue
Examples:
Capabilities provided by your product / service that
help the buyer increase revenues and profits




Reduced costs from displaced costs
Examples:
Capabilities provided by your product / service that
help the buyer eliminate an existing cost and
improve profits
 Headcount / labor costs
 Equipment / maintenance costs
 Inventory costs
Reduced costs from avoided costs
Examples:
Capabilities provided by your product / service that
help the buyer eliminate a future cost
 Overtime
 Employee turnover
 Equipment downtime
Intangible benefits
Examples:
Capabilities provided by your product / service that
help the buyer but either have no dollar value or
the buyer is unwilling to assign a dollar value
 Employee morale
 Company image
Time-to-market
Ability to react to competition
Increased market share
Increased order volume
Note: salesperson must know how his/her offering should impact the customer’s business
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 80
Enhancing the Buyer’s Vision with Value
Value
 Measure the size of the pain
 Add measurement to control questions in Box R2 and I2 to establish the cost
of doing business today
 Compute and confirm total cost of the way they are doing it today in Box R3
(and I3)
Vision
 Create descriptive action visions of how one would be able to better function
after having your capabilities
 Link cost uncovered in Box R2 with capability visions described in Box C2
 Summarize capability visions into a buying vision in C3 while restating the
total value
Emotion
 Display empathy when appropriate
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 81
9 Block Vision Processing Model® - Vision Creation
PAIN $
Diagnose Reasons
Open
R1
“Tell me about it,
what is causing you
to have this…
(repeat pain)?”
R2
2
Control
“Is it because…
R3
Confirming
1
Explore Impact
I1
4
“Besides yourself,
who in your
organization is
impacted by this (pain)
and how are they
impacted?”
I2
5
Reason A?…
Reason B?...
Reason C?...
“Is this (pain) causing…
(another pain)?”
“If so, would
(other job title)
also be concerned?”
#?, %?, $?
#?, %?, $?
3
“So, the reasons for your
(pain) are…?
Is that correct?”
I3
6
“From what I just heard,
(repeat the “who” and
“how”) are impacted.
It sounds like this is not
just your problem, but a
______ problem!
Is that correct?”
Visualize Capabilities
C1
7
“What is it going to take
for you to be able to
(achieve your goal)?”
“Could I try a few ideas
on you?”
C2
8
“You mentioned
(recall reason)…
Would it help if …
Capability Vision A?...
Capability Vision B?...
Capability Vision C?...
C3
9
“So, IF you had the ability
to (summarize capability
visions),
THEN could you (achieve
your goal)?”
BUYING VISION $
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 82
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®: Example
Pain: Increasing local operational costs
Job Title & Industry: Office Manager (local location), Healthcare
Offering: Cleaning Break Room Supplies
REASONS (R2)
IMPACT (I2)
Is it because; Today…?
Is this (pain) causing…?
A Tell me about the additional inventory you need
•Increasing facility costs
across all locations?
to carry?
• Is it a high cost to carry the additional inventory?
Is the VP Facilities
• What is the cost?
concerned?
•Is there a minimum order you have to place to avoid
additional charges?
• How much do you spend on additional charges?
•Budgets to be missed?
• What is the minimum order?
Is the VP Finance
• How much space is devoted to carrying inventory?
concerned?
• What is the average days of inventory?
• What is the monthly value per month to carry over?
•What is your shrinkage factor?
• Do you incur any corporate chargebacks?
• What is the spoilage rate?
B What is the shipping and fulfillment process used
by current suppliers today?
•Is shipping costly?
• What are your freight costs for all of your supplies?
• How many suppliers do you have?
• Are you leveraging any current discounts for
shipping with suppliers?
• How many orders do you place per month?
• What is the cost to receive?
• What is the impact on the environment of doing it
this way?
C What is the process for placing orders with
multiple suppliers??
•Today, how many different suppliers and ordering
processes do you have?
• How many FTE’s does it take?
• How many orders do you place per month?
• How long does it take to place each order?
www.solutionselling.com
CAPABILITIES (C2)
What if…; Would it help if…?
A When: Ordering replenishment of
cleaning and break room
supplies
Who: You
What: Had a way to order only what
you need at the best price so
that your cost to carry is
minimized?
B When: Inventory has reached safety
stock level
Who: You
What: Could go to your personalized
landing page, identify items you
need, check inventory, place
your order, and have it delivered
at your desired time without
shipping costs?
C When: Ordering multiple categories of
items
Who: You
What: Had the ability to utilize a single
website to order all items at
once and not have to use
multiple ordering processes and
receive one delivery with one
invoice?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 83
Exercise
Build a Pain Sheet®
Purpose:
 To construct a Pain Sheet® that includes capabilities of your offering(s) that addresses
reasons for a particular customer key player’s pain. The Pain Sheet® is used to have a
consultative, diagnostic conversation with a customer key player
Activities:
 Include the primary reasons (for a key player’s pain) and the corresponding capabilities
 Attempt to uncover at least 2 reasons and articulate 2 corresponding capabilities
 Be sure to articulate the capabilities by crafting a “capability vision” that addresses each
reason for the pain
 Be sure to include other key players affected by the pain in the impact column
 Develop “drill down” questions for each of the reasons from the Pain Sheet®
framework. These questions should be designed to uncover the negative effect on the
customer of not having your capabilities
 The “drill down” questions typically drive to quantifiable loss that is usually expressed
in “lost revenue” or “incurred cost”
Notes:
 Each capability vision should describe “when”, “who”, and “what”… meaning, “when”
in time, a business activity will prompt “who” in the organization to take “what” specific
action via the capability being offered
 A Pain Sheet® template has been provided on the page that follows
 Be prepared to share your work
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 84
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®: Template
Pain:
Job Title & Industry:
Offering:
REASONS
IMPACT
CAPABILITIES
Is it because; Today…?
Is this (pain) causing…?
What if…; Would it help if…?
A
A
When:
Who:
What:
B
B
When:
Who:
What:
C
C
When:
Who:
What:
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 85
Exercises for Sales Workshops
TDM and Major/Global/Public
 Conduct role play of Vision Processing
 Build Vision Processing Prompter for chosen group opportunity
 Conduct role play of Vision Processing for chosen group opportunity
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 86
Office Depot Sales Process: Diagnose Stage
Buying
Process
Sales Stage
Define problems
and opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
New Business
 Conduct opportunity
planning
 Conduct opportunity
assessment
Activities
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client
satisfaction
 Research buying
trends
 Identify new
opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
Sales Tools
and
Resources
• Dun & Bradstreet lists
• Hoovers
• Opportunity
Assessment
• Pain Chain®
• Key Players List
• Contact Strategy
• Business Development
Prompter
• Reference Story
• PPS Scorecard
• PPS Funnel Calculator
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted
pain and create or
reengineer vision of
Sponsor
 Negotiate access to
power
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon next
steps
 Diagnose admitted
pain and create or
reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation
criteria and propose
next steps
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon plan of
next steps
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
•Negotiate access to power
•Confirm dialogue and agree upon
next steps
•Diagnose admitted pain and create
or reengineer vision of Power
Sponsor
•Determine evaluation criteria and
propose next steps
•Confirm dialogue and agree upon
plan of next steps
 PSS® Pre-Call
Planner
 9-Block Vision
Processing Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Power Sponsor
Letter/e-mail
 Evaluation Plan
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created
in Sales Online
Gain agreement to
Evaluation Plan
Yield
Probability
0%
25%
www.solutionselling.com
Select solution,
evaluate risk, &
finalize contracts
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 87
Strategic Alignment: Step 5
Gain Agreement to Explore Further
BUYER PERSPECTIVE / DECISION
SALESPERSON ACTION
5. Gain Agreement to Explore Further
“Am I serious about
moving this forward?
“Am I prepared to promote this
to our decision-maker?”
www.solutionselling.com


 Gauge the desire of the buyer to move to
the next step
 Move to Step 6 if you perceive the buyer is
not “power” and has not volunteered
access to “power”
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 88
Strategic Alignment Prompter (Steps 3 - 5)
Step 3: Get Pain Admitted
• Ask Situation Questions (if pain has not been admitted but the buyer is talking freely)
• Ask Pain Questions / Menu of Pains (if pain has not been admitted and the buyer is not talking freely)
• Once the pain has been admitted be sure to prioritize the admitted pain
Step 4: Develop Needs – Customer Buying Vision
 Use the 9 Block Vision Processing Model®
• Diagnose and create a vision of a company-biased solution or
• Reengineer a vision with company differentiators
 Confirm buying vision and bridge to “Agreement to Explore Further” step
“So, if you had the ability to (restate capabilities) could you (restate goal)?” (Get buyers agreement)
Step 5: Gain Agreement to Explore Further
Option 1:
“(Buyers name), I am reasonably sure we can provide you those capabilities. I want to check some things with
my resources. If they confirm what we just discussed, will you further evaluate (company)?” (Get buyer’s
agreement).
Option 2:
“(Buyer’s name), I’m confident we can provide you those capabilities and I would like the opportunity to prove
it to you. Would you give me that opportunity?” (Get buyer’s agreement).
If, during the process, the buyer volunteered access to power, schedule the meeting and end the call. If the buyer did
not volunteer access to power go to Step 6.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 89
Strategic Alignment: Steps 6 and 7a
Determine Ability to Buy and Negotiate Access to Power
BUYER PERSPECTIVE / DECISION
SALESPERSON ACTION
6. Determine Ability to Buy
“Should I reveal the identity of power?”

 Ask the buyer to describe the process for
proceeding if they are pleased with the
capabilities. Ask them to identify anyone
else involved in making the decision
 If a Sponsor, go to Step 7a
 If a Power Sponsor, go to Step 7b
7a. Negotiate Access to Power
 Request access to “power”
“Do I want to sponsor this person
if I’m convinced the capabilities
meet my needs?”
 If denied, strike a bargain

 If buyer bargained, end the call and write
a Sponsor Letter / e-mail
 If buyer will not bargain, find another
potential Sponsor
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 90
Strategic Alignment Prompter (Steps 6 and 7a)
Step 6: Determine Ability to Buy
“Let’s say you become convinced that it really is possible to (repeat buying vision) and you want to go
forward, what do you do then? Who else is involved in this decision? How are they involved?”
Step 7a: Negotiate Access to Power
 Request access to Power
“Could we set up a meeting with him/her?” (if denied, strike a bargain)
 If “no”, strike a bargain (for access to Power)
“That may be too soon, but let me suggest this. I’m not sure of the best way to prove these capabilities.
Whatever we end up doing will take some of my company’s time and resources but I’ll commit that to you
today; however, if you become satisfied with the proof step we arrive at, would you then introduce me to
(power person), is that fair?” (Get buyer’s agreement and end call).
 End call (write a potential Sponsor Letter / e-mail)
“Thank you for your time. I will send an email summarizing today’s conversation. In that e-mail I will
recommend a specific way for us to prove these capabilities to you. You should receive that e-mail by
_______ .”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 91
Gaining Access to Power
 If vision and value are compelling, the prospect may volunteer access to
power
 Many will accept proof in exchange for access to power
 How to handle those who will not grant access to power:
 Find another potential Sponsor on your own
 Ask for a contact they feel would sponsor you to power and get you an
introduction
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 92
Potential Sponsor Letter/e-mail: Example
Steve (Office Manager),
Thank you for your interest in Office Depot. The purpose of this e-mail is to summarize
my understanding of our meeting and our action plan.
Qualification Components:
1
2
3
4
5
6
We discussed the following:
(1) Your primary critical issue is increasing operational cost, which have gone up 15% this year.
(2) Reasons for increasing operational costs:
 high costs of carrying additional inventory
 increasing shipping costs
 inefficient ordering process because of multiple suppliers
(3) Capabilities you said you needed:
 when ordering replenishment of cleaning and break room supplies you had a way to order only what you need at
the best price so that your cost to carry is minimized
 when inventory has reached safety stock level you could go to your personalized landing page, identify items you
need, check inventory, place your order, and have it delivered at your desired time without shipping costs
 when ordering multiple categories of items you had the ability to utilize a single website to order all items at once
and not have to use multiple ordering processes and receive one delivery with one invoice.
You said if you had these capabilities, you could lower your operational costs.
Our next steps
(4) You agreed to move forward with our company (5) and said if we succeed in proving we can give you these
capabilities, you will introduce me to Jim Smith, your VP Facilities. You mentioned Jim is not happy with the increasing
facilities costs across all the locations.
(6) I would like to propose that we arrange a meeting with another Office Manager who has been using our cleaning and
break room supplies services. I am confident you will like what you hear and introduce our company to the rest of your
organization. I’ll call you Monday to discuss it further.
Sincerely, Bill Hart
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 93
Gaining Access to Power
A Second Vision Processing Conversation
Power Sponsor
Pain
Reason A
Reason B
Reason C
Sponsor
Pain
Reason A
Reason B
Reason C
www.solutionselling.com
RI
I1
C1
R2
I2
C2
R3
I3
C3
RI
I1
C1
R2
I2
C2
R3
I3
C3
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 94
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®: Example
Pain: Increasing facility costs across all locations
Job Title & Industry: VP Facilities, Healthcare
Offering: Cleaning Break Room Supplies
REASONS (R2)
Is it because; Today…?
A Increasing operational costs at remote
locations?
• How much have costs increased?
• Across locations, what are the inventory
carrying costs?
• How much do you spend on shipping
supplies?
• How many suppliers do you have for the
locations?
• How much does it cost to deal with so many
suppliers?
IMPACT (I2)
Is this (pain) causing…?
•Budgets to be missed?
Is the VP Finance
concerned?
CAPABILITIES (C2)
What if…; Would it help if…?
A When: Cleaning and break room
supplies are ordered
Who: Various location end users
What: Could use the same website to
check inventory, order only the
items and quantity they needed,
and receive it by the next day
without shipping costs?
B Increasing procurement costs?
• How many different vendors provide CBS items?
• Are items standard across all locations?
• How many contracts are managed?
• What is the cost of managing this many vendors?
• Are locations staying within budget?
• How is budget tracked?
• What are the typical variances?
• How many FTE’s are processing orders?
• What is the average burdened cost for an FTE?
www.solutionselling.com
B
When: Ordering cleaning and break
room supplies
Who: Various location end users
What: Had one specific, standardized
list of approved corporate
items, competitively priced and
available for next day delivery?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 95
Strategic Alignment: Steps 6 and 7b
Determine Ability to Buy and Determine Evaluation Criteria
BUYER PERSPECTIVE / DECISION
SALESPERSON ACTION
6. Determine Ability to Buy
“Should I reveal the identity of power?”

 Ask the buyer to describe the process for
proceeding if they are pleased with the
capabilities. Ask them to identify anyone
else involved in making the decision
 If a Sponsor, go to Step 7a
 If a Power Sponsor, go to Step 7b
7b. Determine Evaluation Criteria
 Ask open questions to uncover the buying
process
“Am I serious enough about this
to disclose my buying process?”
“Does the evaluation approach help me
mitigate my own risk?”
www.solutionselling.com


 Ask closed questions to influence the
buying process
 State “no new information” and preproposal review themes
 End the call and write a Power Sponsor
Letter / e-mail with an Draft Evaluation Plan
included
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 96
Strategic Alignment Prompter (Steps 6 and 7b)
Step 6: Determine Ability to Buy
“Let’s say you become convinced that it really is possible to (repeat buying vision) and you want to go
forward, what do you do then? Who else is involved in this decision? How are they involved?”
Step 7b: Determine Evaluation Criteria with the Power Sponsor
 Ask open questions to uncover the buying process
 Ask closed questions to influence the buying process
“How would you like to evaluate us?” (Write down each request as you repeat it. Do not agree or disagree)
“If we get to a point where we might want to do business, will there be a… (Legal review?... Technical
review?... Administrative approval?)”
“Will you want a proposal from me? (Get buyer’s agreement) As part of that proposal would you also want a
value analysis?”
 State “no new information” and suggest pre-proposal review
“When you ask me to prepare a proposal, I want you to know that it will come at the end of the evaluation
process. It will simply document everything we will have done along the way.” (Get buyer’s agreement)
“I suggest we meet a week in advance of our delivery of the final proposal with a rough draft. This ensures
there will be no surprises in the final proposal.” (Get buyer’s agreement and end call)
 End call (write a Power Sponsor e-mail with Draft Evaluation Plan)
“Thank you for your time. I am going to take this list back with me. I will then make an initial attempt to put
together a plan for you to evaluate our (company / product / services). You should receive the draft plan by
__________. I will call you to discuss it.”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 97
Potential Power Sponsor Letter/e-mail: Example
Jim (VP Facilities),
Thank you for meeting with Steve Jones and me earlier today. I believe it was time
well spent for both Alliance and Office Depot.
Qualification Components:
1 Pain
2 Reasons for the Pain
3 Buying Vision
4 Organizational Impact
5 Agreement to Explore
6 Evaluation Plan Set-up
We discussed the following:
(1) Your primary critical issue is increasing facilities costs across all locations. You said costs have increased 15%.
(2) Reasons for increasing costs:
□ Increasing operational costs at remote locations
□ Increasing procurement costs
(3) Capabilities you said you needed:
□ when cleaning and break room supplies are ordered the various location end users could use the same website to
check inventory, order only the items and quantity they needed, and receive it by the next day without shipping
costs
□ when cleaning and break room supplies are ordered the various location end users had one specific, standardized
list of approved corporate items, competitively priced and available for next day delivery
(4) You said if you had these capabilities, your office managers at remote locations could lower their costs, and Donna
Moore , your VP Finance, could be on track to make her budgets for the year.
Our next steps
(5) When I told you I was confident Office Depot could help you, you agreed to commit the resources needed to evaluate
our ability to do so.
(6) Based on my knowledge to date, I am attaching a suggested evaluation plan for your further exploration of our
company. Look it over with Steve, and I will call you on February 7, to get your thoughts.
Sincerely, Bill Hart
Attachment: Draft Evaluation Plan
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 98
Draft Evaluation Plan: Example
Attachment to Power Sponsor Letter/e-mail
[DRAFT]
Event
Week
√
Responsible
Go/No
Go
Interview with procurement and accounting
February 14
OD/Alliance
Interview IT about back-end systems
February 14
OD/Alliance
Interviews with end-users at other locations
February 14
OD/Alliance
Summarize findings to management team
February 14
OD/Alliance
*
Provide CBS samples / product evaluation and conduct delivery
match-ups
February 14
OD
*
Conduct demonstration of ordering platform (proof of capabilities)
February 21
OD
*
Gain approval of implementation plan
February 21
Alliance
*
Discuss pricing and refined value proposition
February 21
OD/Alliance
*
Agree to success criteria
February 21
OD/Alliance
Create market evaluation (Bid)
February 28
OD/Alliance
Send agreements to legal
February 28
OD/Alliance
Analyze competitive evaluations
March 7
OD/Alliance
Present final proposal & gain agreement to move forward
March 14
OD
Gain legal approval
March 21
OD/Alliance
Begin implementation
March 28
OD
Measure success criteria
Ongoing
OD/Alliance
*
* Mutual decision to proceed
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 99
Power Sponsor Letter / e-mail: TDM Example
Qualification Components:
1 Pain
2 Reasons for the Pain
3 Buying Vision
4 Agreement to Explore
5 Suggested Next Steps
Jim (Finance),
Thank you for meeting with me earlier today. I believe it was time
well spent for both our companies.
We discussed the following:
(1) The primary critical issue is increasing operational costs.
(2) Reasons for not increasing operational costs
□ Spending too much time reconciling invoices
□ Spending too much time in approval process
(3) Capabilities you said you needed:
□ When an order is entered the administrative professional could be assured that the invoice requirements have been
completed so that less time is spent reconciling invoices on the back-end
□ When a special request order is entered you had a way for the order to be automatically compared to preset rules and routed
appropriately for approval so that you don’t spend too much time waiting for approvals
You said if you had these capabilities, you would be able to decrease your costs.
Our next steps
(4) When I told you I was confident Office Depot could help, you indicated you felt so too and suggested we proceed with next steps.
(5) Based on my knowledge to date, I have included a list of what the next steps might be to help you further explore Office Depot. I
will call you on Thursday, to get your thoughts.
Sincerely, Bill Hart
Next Steps
Review usage list
Speak with Accounts Payable about pay requirements
Present and gain approval on bid
Agree on implementation plan & success criteria
Set-up account
Conduct web-site demo & place first order
www.solutionselling.com
Week of
June 22
June 22
June 29
June 29
June 29
June 29 or July 6
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 100
Exercises for Sales Workshops
TDM and Major/Global/Public
 Conduct role play of buyer qualification process
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 101
Quid Pro Quo in Diagnose
“What things would the customer want from you and
what would you want from the customer?”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 102
Office Depot Sales Process: Propose & Close Stage
Buying
Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Select solution,
evaluate risk, & finalize
contracts
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
Propose and Close
Sales Stage
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted pain
and create or
reengineer vision of
Sponsor
 Negotiate access to
power
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon next steps
 Diagnose admitted pain
and create or
reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation
criteria and propose
next steps
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon plan of next
steps
 Execute Evaluation Plan
steps
 Engage appropriate
overlay
 Present solution
 PSS® Pre-Call
Planner
 9-Block Vision
Processing Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Power Sponsor
Letter/e-mail
 Evaluation Plan





Sales Tools
and
Resources
Dun & Bradstreet lists
Hoovers
Opportunity Assessment
Pain Chain®
Key Players List
Contact Strategy
Business Development
Prompter
Reference Story
PPS Scorecard
PPS Funnel Calculator
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created in
Sales Online
Gain agreement to
Evaluation Plan
Signed Contract
Yield
Probability
0%
25%
75%
New Business
• Conduct research on
prospective accounts
• Identify contacts
Activities
Retain and Grow
• Monitor client
satisfaction
• Research buying
trends
• Identify new
opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
• Create interest
• Gain initial meeting
www.solutionselling.com
 Refine value
proposition
 Agree upon transition
plan
 Identify success criteria
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
• Refine value proposition
• Agree upon transition
plan
• Identify success criteria
 Create RFP to reflect
Office Depot
differentiators
 Engage bid team
 Respond to RFP or bid (if
appropriate)
 Finalize T’s & C’s
Transition plan
Success Criteria
Negotiating Worksheet
Get-Give List
Resolving Customer
Concerns (PSS ® Skill
Guide Card)
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 103
“Go/No Go” Step Completion e-mail: Example
To: jsmith@alliancehealthcare.com
cc: sjones@alliancehealthcarecom; dmoore@talliancehealthcare.com ;
jwatkins@alliancehealthcare.com
Subject: Evaluation Plan - step completion
Attachment: Updated Evaluation Plan v2.doc
Jim and team,
I am pleased to report that another milestone has been completed. On February 21 we
provided cleaning and break room samples for a product evaluation and it was approved.
The changes you requested are reflected in the attached copy.
Our next milestone is the week of February 28 when we will go through a demonstration of
the ordering platform.
Thank you again for your continued support of this project.
Sincerely,
Bill Hart
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 104
Three Sales within a Sale
FINANCIAL SALE
Operational Vision
+
Transition / Implementation
Vision
“What is the overall value to the
organization?”
LINE OF BUSINESS SALE
Operational Vision
“What capabilities do we need to
meet our business goals?”
www.solutionselling.com
TRANSITION SALE
Transition / Implementation
Vision
“How do we get from where we
are today to where the Line Vice
Presidents want to be?”
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 105
Three Sales within a Sale
The Transition Sale: Transition / Implementation Vision
FINANCIAL SALE
Operational Vision
+
Transition / Implementation
Vision
“What is the overall value to the
organization?”
LINE OF BUSINESS SALE
Operational Vision
“What capabilities do we need to
meet our business goals?”
www.solutionselling.com
TRANSITION SALE
Transition / Implementation
Vision
“How do we get from where we
are today to where the Line Vice
Presidents want to be?”
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 106
Evaluation Plan: Example
The Transition Sale
Go/No
Go
Week
√
Responsible
Interview with procurement and accounting
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Interview IT about back-end systems
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Interviews with end-users at other locations
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Summarize findings to management team
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Go
Provide CBS samples / product evaluation and conduct delivery
match-ups
February 14
√
OD
Go
Conduct demonstration of ordering platform (proof of capabilities)
February 21
√
OD
Go
Gain approval of implementation plan
February 21
Alliance
*
Discuss pricing and refined value proposition
February 21
OD/Alliance
*
Agree to success criteria
February 21
OD/Alliance
Create market evaluation (Bid)
February 28
OD/Alliance
Send agreements to legal
February 28
OD/Alliance
Analyze competitive evaluations
March 7
OD/Alliance
Present final proposal & gain agreement to move forward
March 14
OD
Gain legal approval
March 21
OD/Alliance
Begin implementation
March 28
OD
Measure success criteria
Ongoing
OD/Alliance
Event
*
* Mutual decision to proceed
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 107
Transition Issues & Capabilities Worksheet
Person responsible:
Facilities Manager
Transition issue:
Potential inhibitors to rapid implementation
REASONS
OUR TRANSITION CAPABILITIES
A
Unaware of all buyers in organization
A
When placing orders all users could go
to the web site and self-register via email or have the website posted on your
corporate purchasing website to ensure
all buyers become aware of the new
process.
B
Invoicing procedures are inconsistently
defined or not defined at all
B
When placing orders, end-users would
have to fill out required, validated fields
to ensure accurate billing.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 108
Three Sales within a Sale
The Financial Sale: Operational Vision + Transition / Implementation Vision
FINANCIAL SALE
Operational Vision
+
Transition / Implementation
Vision
“What is the overall value to the
organization?”
LINE OF BUSINESS SALE
Operational Vision
“What capabilities do we need to
meet our business goals?”
www.solutionselling.com
TRANSITION SALE
Transition / Implementation
Vision
“How do we get from where we
are today to where the Line Vice
Presidents want to be?”
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 109
Evaluation Plan: Example
The Financial Sale: Operational Vision + Transition / Implementation Vision
Go/No
Go
Week
√
Responsible
Interview with procurement and accounting
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Interview IT about back-end systems
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Interviews with end-users at other locations
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Summarize findings to management team
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Go
Provide CBS samples / product evaluation and conduct delivery
match-ups
February 14
√
OD
Go
Conduct demonstration of ordering platform (proof of capabilities)
February 21
√
OD
Go
Gain approval of implementation plan
February 21
√
Alliance
Go
Discuss pricing and refined value proposition
February 21
OD/Alliance
*
Agree to success criteria
February 21
OD/Alliance
Create market evaluation (Bid)
February 28
OD/Alliance
Send agreements to legal
February 28
OD/Alliance
Analyze competitive evaluations
March 7
OD/Alliance
Present final proposal & gain agreement to move forward
March 14
OD
Gain legal approval
March 21
OD/Alliance
Begin implementation
March 28
OD
Measure success criteria
Ongoing
OD/Alliance
Event
*
* Mutual decision to proceed
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 110
Basic Principles
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
THE BEST RELATIONSHIPS ARE
BASED ON VALUE
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
PEOPLE MAKE EMOTIONAL
DECISIONS FOR LOGICAL REASONS
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 111
Refined Value Proposition
 Reasons for participation:
 Initiating
 Closing
 Discounting
 Must be done
 Others?
 Early adopters (visionaries) vs. Majority (pragmatic and conservative)
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 112
Refined Value Proposition
What Will Be Measured?
Profits from increased revenue
Examples:
Capabilities provided by your product / service that
help the buyer increase revenues and profits




Reduced costs from displaced costs
Examples:
Capabilities provided by your product / service that
help the buyer eliminate an existing cost and
improve profits
 Headcount / labor costs
 Process improvement
 Inventory costs
Reduced costs from avoided costs
Examples:
Capabilities provided by your product / service that
help the buyer eliminate a future cost
 Overtime
 Employee turnover
 Equipment downtime
Intangible benefits
Examples:
Capabilities provided by your product / service that
help the buyer but either have no dollar value or
the buyer is unwilling to assign a dollar value
 Employee morale
 Company image
www.solutionselling.com
Time-to-market
Ability to react to competition
Increased market share
Increased order volume
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 113
Refined Value Proposition: Example for VP Facilities
“Based on current usage of cleaning and break room supplies, we believe
Alliance Healthcare System should be able to reduce operating
expenses by $217,000 per year
through the ability to consolidate their vendors and streamline their
processes for improved efficiency.”
Value Proposition calculations being made:
 Eliminate shipping costs= $85K (3)
 Reduce supplies costs with non-premium products by 8% = $68K (1)
 Eliminate minimum order & expediting fees= $9K (3)
 Reduce number of invoices to be processed by 40%= $55K (2)
Sources for information:
1) Office Manager
2) Accounting
3) VP Facilities
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 114
Evaluation Plan: Example
The Financial Sale: Operational Vision + Transition / Implementation Vision
Go/No
Go
Week
√
Responsible
Interview with procurement and accounting
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Interview IT about back-end systems
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Interviews with end-users at other locations
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Summarize findings to management team
February 14
√
OD/Alliance
Go
Provide CBS samples / product evaluation and conduct delivery
match-ups
February 14
√
OD
Go
Conduct demonstration of ordering platform (proof of capabilities)
February 21
√
OD
Go
Gain approval of implementation plan
February 21
√
Alliance
Go
Discuss pricing and refined value proposition
February 21
√
OD/Alliance
Go
Agree to success criteria
February 21
OD/Alliance
Create market evaluation (Bid)
February 28
OD/Alliance
Send agreements to legal
February 28
OD/Alliance
Analyze competitive evaluations
March 7
OD/Alliance
Present final proposal & gain agreement to move forward
March 14
OD
Gain legal approval
March 21
OD/Alliance
Begin implementation
March 28
OD
Measure success criteria
Ongoing
OD/Alliance
Event
*
* Mutual decision to proceed
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 115
Success Criteria: Example
Part of Business Review
Criteria
Shipping costs for cleaning and break
room supplies/year 1,3
Minimum order fees 2
Baseline
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
$85K /
year
$9k / year
Number of invoices processed 2
250 /
month
Inventory value (1 month extra per
location) 2
$68K /
month
CBS spend per month 1,3
$70K /
month
(1) VP Facilities
(2) Office Manager
(3) Procurement
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 116
Success Criteria: Leveraging Success
Reference Story
Criteria
Baseline
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
RI
I1
C1
Situation:
Critical issue:
Reasons:
Capabilities:
We provided:
R2
I2
C2
Results:
R3
I3
C3
Business Development Prompter: New Opportunity
This is __________ (salesperson name) with __________ (your company). You and I
haven’t spoken before, but we have been working with __________ (specific industry)
organizations for the last ___ (#) years. A common trend we are hearing lately from other
__________ (job title) is their frustration (difficulty) with _______________ (job title’s likely
critical issue / pain) [resulting from ______ (articulate common reasons)]. We have been
able to help our customers address this issue. Would you like to know how?
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 117
Quid Pro Quo in Propose and Close
“What things would the customer want from you and
what would you want from the customer?”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 118
Sales Process Flow Model
Potential opportunity starting points
Latent or Admitted Pain
Vision or Active Evaluation
Conduct pre-call planning
and research
Perform opportunity
assessment
Stimulate interest
Define “pain” or critical
business issue
Diagnose and create vision
of company-biased solution
No
Yes
Go?
Yes
No
Negotiate access to power
Yes
No
At
power
?
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Select competitive strategy
Reengineer vision with
company differentiators
No
Develop & manage Evaluation Plan
(sample steps)
• Summarize findings
• Prove capabilities
• Present preliminary solution
• Determine value analysis/s. criteria
• Gain all approvals (L/T/A)
• Conduct pre-proposal review
Reach final agreement
Measure and leverage
success criteria
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 119
Office Depot Sales Process
Active Opportunities
Where are you?
Where is the buyer?
Customer Buying Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Select solution, evaluate
risk, & finalize contracts
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
Propose and Close
Implement
Fulfill
 Execute Evaluation Plan
steps
 Engage appropriate
overlay
 Present solution
 Refine value proposition
 Agree upon transition
plan
 Identify success criteria
 Create RFP to reflect
Office Depot
differentiators
 Engage bid team
 Respond to RFP or bid (if
appropriate)
 Finalize T’s & C’s
 Engage
implementation
manager
 Execute
implementation plan
 Engage IT Integration
manager
 Test order placement
and billing
 Measure success criteria
 Resolve customer
problems
 Manage Office Depot
team
 Implement Competitive
Strategies
 Conduct business review
 Monitor client satisfaction
Sales Stages
Plan and Engage
New Business
 Conduct opportunity planning
 Conduct opportunity assessment
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client satisfaction
 Research buying trends
 Identify new opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
Diagnose
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted pain and
create or reengineer vision of
Sponsor
 Negotiate access to power
 Confirm dialogue and agree
upon next steps
 Diagnose admitted pain and
create or reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation criteria
and propose next steps
 Confirm dialogue and agree
upon plan of next steps
Verifiable Outcome
 Opportunity created in Sales
Online
 Gain agreement to Evaluation
Plan
 Signed contract
 First orders placed
Sales Tools and Resources










Dun & Bradstreet lists
Hoovers
Opportunity Assessment
Pain Chain®
Key Players List
Contact Strategy
Business Development Prompter
Reference Story
PPS Scorecard
PPS Funnel Calculator
 PSS® Pre-Call Planner
 9-Block Vision Processing
Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Power Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Evaluation Plan





Transition plan
Success Criteria
Negotiating Worksheet
Get-Give List
Resolving Customer
Concerns (PSS ® Skill
Guide Card)
 Implementation Plan
 Success Criteria
 Reference Stories
Yield Percentages
25%
www.solutionselling.com
75%
100%
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 120
Active Opportunities
How to Approach
 Ask yourself, “Was it ACTIVE when I became aware of it?”
 Is the customer at “vision” or “evaluation”?
 Who has influenced the vision (internal, competition, 3rd party)?
 Who is controlling the buying process?
 Perform an opportunity assessment to determine “should I engage or not?”
 Quick assessment
 Detailed assessment
 Select an appropriate competitive strategy
 Lead strategy
 Fall-back position
 Consider disengaging if you can’t reengineer the requirements
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 121
Opportunity Assessment
“Quick Assessment”: Example
 PAIN
 Do we know the pain?... Is the customer likely to act?
 POWER
 Do we know who “power” is?... Are we aligned with the right people to win?
 VISION
 Is our “solution” differentiated?... Does the customer prefer our offering?
 VALUE
 Does our offering provide mutual value?
 CONTROL
 Can we exert control upon the buying process?
Sale = Pain x Power x Vision x Value x Control
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 122
BD - Win Probability / Project Viability Scoring
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 123
Opportunity Assessment (Worksheet)
“Detailed Assessment”: Example
Opportunity Assessment Worksheet

1
2
3
4
5

6
7
8
9
10

11
12
13
14

15
16
17
18
19

20
21
22
23
24
25
Answer key: (Y) = Yes, (N) = No or (?) = Unsure
 = “Quick 5” assessment questions
PAIN – “Is the customer likely to act?”
Has high priority pain or potential pain been identified?
Have we validated the pain with the owner(s)?
Do we understand how others are impacted by the pain?
Is there budget in place?
Is there a timeframe to address the pain?
POWER – “Are we aligned with the right people to win?”
Do we understand the roles of the key players for this opportunity?
Do we understand who will influence the decision and how?
Are we connected to the people in power?
Do we have the support of the key players?
Are we connected to the people with access to funds?
VISION – “Does the customer prefer our offering?”
Did we help establish the initial requirements?
Does our offering fit their needs / requirements?
Have we created or reengineered a differentiated vision for the key players?
Do the key players support our solution approach?
VALUE – “Does our offering provide mutual value?”
Do we understand the benefit to each key player / corporate?
Have the key players quantified and articulated the benefits of our offering to us?
Has a (corporate) value analysis been agreed upon?
Does the value analysis warrant access to funds?
Is there sufficient value to us? Profitable? Strategic?
CONTROL – “Can we exert control upon the buying process?”
Do we understand the decision making process and criteria for the key players?
Do we understand the proof and satisfaction requirements for the key players?
Do we understand the customer’s buying practices, policies and procedures?
Has the customer agreed to an evaluation process with us?
Can we control the evaluation process?
Can we successfully manage our risk?
www.solutionselling.com
Assessment date: _______
competition
Us





© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 124
Competitive Strategies
 Preemptive
 Get there first, set the requirements, differentiate yourself, be Column A
ACTIVE OPPORTUNITIES
Lead Strategies
 Head-to-head
 Direct or frontal approach
 End-around
 Indirect or flanking approach
Fall Back Positions
 Divide and conquer
 Divisional or fragment approach
 Stall
 Containment or delay approach
Based on The Art of War by Sun Tzu
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 125
Basic Principle
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
www.solutionselling.com
MAKE YOURSELF EQUAL
BEFORE
YOU MAKE YOURSELF DIFFERENT
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 126
How Organizations Buy – “Changing the Rules”
Requirements
“ADD TO”
“DIFFERENTIATE”
“TAKE AWAY”
www.solutionselling.com
Company A
Company B

























Company C









© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 127
Vision Reengineering – Questions to Ask
SALESPERSON ACTIVITY
QUESTION(S) TO ASK
1
Participate in original vision

2
Bias original vision with capability vision
questions

3
Explore current method

4
Diagnose current method with bias and
measurement

5
Summarize current method

BOX
Lead the buyer to the critical business issue
(pain) and measure
6
Explore impact

7
Expand impact

8
Summarize impact

9
Confirm new buying vision
(original vision + new capability visions)

www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 128
9 Block Vision Processing Model® - Vision Reengineering
PAIN $
Diagnose Reasons
“What is the
effect on you and
your business of
doing it this way?”
Open
R1
“How do you do it today
without this capability?”
(“It” = perform the
function they want to
improve)
R2
4
Control
“Today…?
R3
Confirming
3
CURRENT VISION
Explore Impact
I1
6
“Besides yourself,
who in your
organization is
impacted by this (pain)
and how are they
impacted?”
I2
7
Reason A?…
Reason B?...
Reason C?...
“Is this (pain) causing…
(another pain)?”
“If so, would
(other job title)
also be concerned?”
#?, %?, $?
#?, %?, $?
5
“So, the way you do it
today is…
Is that correct?”
I3
8
Visualize Capabilities
C1
1
“How do you see
yourself using this
(repeat initial vision)?”
(Clarify initial vision in
when, who, what
format)
C2
2
“Are you also looking for
a way to…?”
Would it help if you also
had a way to …?”
Capability Vision?...
Capability Vision?...
Capability Vision?...
C3
9
“”When you called, you
“From what I just heard, were looking at (product /
(repeat the “who” and
service) to give you the
“how”) are impacted.
ability to (original vision)
It sounds like this is not Today, you also said you
just your problem, but a needed (capability visions)
______ problem!
If you had… could you
Is that correct?”
(verbalize goal)?”
REENGINEERED
BUYING VISION $
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 129
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®: Example
Pain: Increasing facility costs across all locations
Job Title & Industry: VP Facilities, Healthcare
Offering: Cleaning Break Room Supplies
REASONS (R2)
Is it because; Today…?
A Increasing operational costs at remote
locations?
• How much have costs increased?
• Across locations, what are the inventory
carrying costs?
• How much do you spend on shipping
supplies?
• How many suppliers do you have for the
locations?
• How much does it cost to deal with so many
suppliers?
IMPACT (I2)
Is this (pain) causing…?
•Budgets to be missed?
Is the VP Finance
concerned?
CAPABILITIES (C2)
What if…; Would it help if…?
A When: Cleaning and break room
supplies are ordered
Who: Various location end users
What: Could use the same website to
check inventory, order only the
items and quantity they needed,
and receive it by the next day
without shipping costs?
B Increasing procurement costs?
• How many different vendors provide CBS items?
• Are items standard across all locations?
• How many contracts are managed?
• What is the cost of managing this many vendors?
• Are locations staying within budget?
• How is budget tracked?
• What are the typical variances?
• How many FTE’s are processing orders?
• What is the average burdened cost for an FTE?
www.solutionselling.com
B
When: Ordering cleaning and break
room supplies
Who: Various location end users
What: Had one specific, standardized
list of approved corporate
items, competitively priced and
available for next day delivery?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 130
Confirming the Reengineered Vision
BUYING VISION $
Confirming
Control
Open
PAIN $
CURRENT VISION
Diagnose Reasons
Explore Impact
Visualize Capabilities
3
6
1
R1 I1 C1
4
7
2
5
8
9
R2 I2 C2
R3 I3 C3
Reengineered Vision
Summarize / Confirm New Value $
Are you now willing to change your
requirements to include… so that
you can (verbalize goal)?”
“Will you ask everyone else to prove
these additional capabilities as well?”
BUYING VISION $
Step 5: Gain Agreement to Explore Further
Option 2:
“(Buyer’s name), I’m confident we can provide you those
capabilities and I would like the opportunity to prove it
to you. Would you give me that opportunity?” (Get
buyer’s agreement).
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 131
Exercise: Vision Reengineering Role Play
Strategic Alignment (Step 4)
Purpose:
 To focus on the skills needed to change a prospect’s existing vision to one with a bias
toward your capabilities
Activities:
 Break into role play groups
 Follow the blocks in the new sequence using the prompter (9 Block Vision Processing
Model® - Vision Reengineering) provided. Focus on following the process, not on
personal skills such as eye contact. Be sure to use the Enhanced Pain Sheet® (within
the following pages) to assist in the control row of the 9 boxes
 Each person should get an opportunity to play the “buyer” and the “salesperson”. Use
an observer in the rotation if possible
 Be prepared to debrief
Notes:
 The premise is that you find (or are introduced to) an opportunity where a vision of a
solution already exists. To truly reengineer this opportunity, you must change or
expand the existing vision. It is necessary to first participate in the prospect’s existing
vision and “make yourself equal before you make yourself different”
 The role play should begin with the buyer discussing their “current vision”
(recommendation: select a capability vision from the “capabilities” column on the Pain
Sheet®)
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 132
9 Block Vision Processing Model® - Vision Reengineering
PAIN $
Diagnose Reasons
“What is the
effect on you and
your business of
doing it this way?”
Open
R1
“How do you do it today
without this capability?”
(“It” = perform the
function they want to
improve)
R2
4
Control
“Today…?
R3
Confirming
3
CURRENT VISION
Explore Impact
I1
6
“Besides yourself,
who in your
organization is
impacted by this (pain)
and how are they
impacted?”
I2
7
Reason A?…
Reason B?...
Reason C?...
“Is this (pain) causing…
(another pain)?”
“If so, would
(other job title)
also be concerned?”
#?, %?, $?
#?, %?, $?
5
“So, the way you do it
today is…
Is that correct?”
I3
8
Visualize Capabilities
C1
1
“How do you see
yourself using this
(repeat initial vision)?”
(Clarify initial vision in
when, who, what
format)
C2
2
“Are you also looking for
a way to…?”
Would it help if you also
had a way to …?”
Capability Vision?...
Capability Vision?...
Capability Vision?...
C3
9
“”When you called, you
“From what I just heard, were looking at (product /
(repeat the “who” and
service) to give you the
“how”) are impacted.
ability to (original vision)
It sounds like this is not Today, you also said you
just your problem, but a needed (capability visions)
______ problem!
If you had… could you
Is that correct?”
(verbalize goal)?”
REENGINEERED
BUYING VISION $
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 133
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®: Example
Pain: Increasing local operational costs
Job Title & Industry: Office Manager (local location), Healthcare
Offering: Cleaning Break Room Supplies
REASONS (R2)
IMPACT (I2)
Is it because; Today…?
Is this (pain) causing…?
A Tell me about the additional inventory you need
•Increasing facility costs
across all locations?
to carry?
• Is it a high cost to carry the additional inventory?
Is the VP Facilities
• What is the cost?
concerned?
•Is there a minimum order you have to place to avoid
additional charges?
• How much do you spend on additional charges?
•Budgets to be missed?
• What is the minimum order?
Is the VP Finance
• How much space is devoted to carrying inventory?
concerned?
• What is the average days of inventory?
• What is the monthly value per month to carry over?
•What is your shrinkage factor?
• Do you incur any corporate chargebacks?
• What is the spoilage rate?
B What is the shipping and fulfillment process used
by current suppliers today?
•Is shipping costly?
• What are your freight costs for all of your supplies?
• How many suppliers do you have?
• Are you leveraging any current discounts for
shipping with suppliers?
• How many orders do you place per month?
• What is the cost to receive?
• What is the impact on the environment of doing it
this way?
C What is the process for placing orders with
multiple suppliers??
•Today, how many different suppliers and ordering
processes do you have?
• How many FTE’s does it take?
• How many orders do you place per month?
• How long does it take to place each order?
www.solutionselling.com
CAPABILITIES (C2)
What if…; Would it help if…?
A When: Ordering replenishment of
cleaning and break room
supplies
Who: You
What: Had a way to order only what
you need at the best price so
that your cost to carry is
minimized?
B When: Inventory has reached safety
stock level
Who: You
What: Could go to your personalized
landing page, identify items you
need, check inventory, place
your order, and have it delivered
at your desired time without
shipping costs?
C When: Ordering multiple categories of
items
Who: You
What: Had the ability to utilize a single
website to order all items at
once and not have to use
multiple ordering processes and
receive one delivery with one
invoice?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 134
Pain Sheet® - Situational Fluency Prompter®: Example
Pain: Increasing facility costs across all locations
Job Title & Industry: VP Facilities, Healthcare
Offering: Cleaning Break Room Supplies
REASONS (R2)
Is it because; Today…?
A Increasing operational costs at remote
locations?
• How much have costs increased?
• Across locations, what are the inventory
carrying costs?
• How much do you spend on shipping
supplies?
• How many suppliers do you have for the
locations?
• How much does it cost to deal with so many
suppliers?
IMPACT (I2)
Is this (pain) causing…?
•Budgets to be missed?
Is the VP Finance
concerned?
CAPABILITIES (C2)
What if…; Would it help if…?
A When: Cleaning and break room
supplies are ordered
Who: Various location end users
What: Could use the same website to
check inventory, order only the
items and quantity they needed,
and receive it by the next day
without shipping costs?
B Increasing procurement costs?
• How many different vendors provide CBS items?
• Are items standard across all locations?
• How many contracts are managed?
• What is the cost of managing this many vendors?
• Are locations staying within budget?
• How is budget tracked?
• What are the typical variances?
• How many FTE’s are processing orders?
• What is the average burdened cost for an FTE?
www.solutionselling.com
B
When: Ordering cleaning and break
room supplies
Who: Various location end users
What: Had one specific, standardized
list of approved corporate
items, competitively priced and
available for next day delivery?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 135
Request for Proposal (RFP): Response Tactics
Your Senior Executives must be in alignment with this strategy
1. Call the RFP sender, offer response to RFP in exchange for “three interviews” (quid pro
quo). If granted, go to #4 *
2. If denied, send a letter stating that it will be impossible to respond to the RFP without
the interviews
3. When called again, offer to respond to the RFP in exchange for three one-hour
interviews
4. When interview is granted, ask each line executive the question, “What are the two
primary issues behind the project?”, and create or reengineer buying visions
5. Respond to the RFP as agreed
6. Send a cover letter with the proposal with an “executive summary” to the person
controlling the RFP. Document the buying vision of each line executive
7. Highlight the key capabilities in the proposal that match the buying visions of the power
people on the buying committee
8. Send a copy of the letter and response to the line executive with whom you had the best
rapport
* If RFP is regulated, use strategy during the RFI stage. If no other option request a Bidder’s Conference
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 136
RFP Initial Response Letter: Example
Mr. / Ms. Consultant:
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the proposal from your client. We appreciate your
confidence in us. As I mentioned on the phone, our practice is not to respond to Requests for
Proposals until we have personally interviewed the department heads impacted by the scope of the
project. We have found this practice enables us to be more thorough in our work; our potential client
sees a more satisfactory implementation of the project. The client is the major beneficiary of this
practice.
If you would arrange for us to meet with the VP Operations*, VP Finance*, and the CIO*, we will then
invest the time and resources to thoroughly respond to the RFP to your satisfaction.
In the meantime, I have enclosed some detailed information on our products and services. If you
have any further questions, don’t hesitate to call.
Sincerely,
Salesperson
* These job titles are determined after evaluating the scope of the RFP
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 137
RFP “Executive Summary” Letter: Example
Mr. / Ms. Consultant:
Thank you for arranging our meeting with the VP Operations, VP Finance, and the CIO. Their input
proved to be invaluable in the preparation of our response.
Attached is our response to your RFP. Based on our interviews, seven primary capabilities are
sought by these executives:
I have highlighted the four (4) capabilities which are within the RFP [out of the 163 questions].
 Capability #1,
 Capability #2,
 Capability #3,
 Capability #4,
I have added three (3) capabilities that were outside the scope of the RFP as numbers 164, 165 and
166. The executives interviewed said these specific capabilities should also be included in the RFP.
 Capability #5,
 Capability #6,
 Capability #7,
Again, thank you for the opportunity to propose our products / services to your client. I look forward
to working with you toward a successful implementation of these capabilities.
Sincerely,
Salesperson
cc: J.D. Smith, VP Finance, TGI
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 138
Differentiation Grid
U
N
I
Q
U
E
N
E
S
S
10
0
CUSTOMER VALUE
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 139
Tactics for Addressing Competition / Incumbents: Example for TDM
Key Vulnerabilities
1. Account management team
•How does your current vendor
manage the account relationship?
•How often do you see your
representative?
•What do you like about them?
•If you could change 3 things about
the current relationship, what would
it be?
2. Lack of technology resources
•How do they provide for your
technology needs?
•How do you receive support on
technology?
•Do you have a dedicated account
based resource for technology?
Staples
Key Vulnerabilities
1. Inconsistent pricing structure
Regional
Provider
2. Expertise
www.solutionselling.com
Response
Response
•How long have you been with
them?
•What is their pricing philosophy?
•How does it affect your budgeting
process?
•Have you audited the pricing?
•Have you found it consistent?
•How do they support your current
business initiatives?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 140
Exercises for Sales Workshops
TDM (do not teach Vision Reengineering or RFP strategy)
 Identify top 2 competitors and their key vulnerabilities
 Identify Office Depot differentiators that can address vulnerabilities and come up with
questions to ask the customer
Major/Global/Public
 Conduct Vision Reengineering Role Play
 Instructor will conduct group differentiation exercise
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 141
Office Depot Sales Process: Propose & Close Stage
Buying
Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Select solution,
evaluate risk, & finalize
contracts
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
Propose and Close
Sales Stage
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted pain
and create or
reengineer vision of
Sponsor
 Negotiate access to
power
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon next steps
 Diagnose admitted pain
and create or
reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation
criteria and propose
next steps
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon plan of next
steps
 Execute Evaluation Plan
steps
 Engage appropriate
overlay
 Present solution
 PSS® Pre-Call
Planner
 9-Block Vision
Processing Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter e-mail
 Power Sponsor Letter/
e-mail
 Evaluation Plan





Sales Tools
and
Resources
Dun & Bradstreet lists
Hoovers
Opportunity Assessment
Pain Chain®
Key Players List
Contact Strategy
Business Development
Prompter
Reference Story
PPS Scorecard
PPS Funnel Calculator
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created in
Sales Online
Gain agreement to
Evaluation Plan
Signed Contract
Yield
Probability
0%
25%
75%
New Business
• Conduct research on
prospective accounts
• Identify contacts
Activities
Retain and Grow
• Monitor client
satisfaction
• Research buying
trends
• Identify new
opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
• Create interest
• Gain initial meeting
www.solutionselling.com
 Refine value proposition
 Agree upon transition
plan
 Identify success criteria
 Create RFP to reflect
Office Depot
differentiators
 Engage bid team
 Respond to RFP or bid (if
appropriate)
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
• Gain final agreement
• Finalize T’s & C’s
 Gain final agreement
 Finalize T’s & C’s
Transition plan
Success Criteria
Negotiating Worksheet
Get-Give List
Resolving Customer
Concerns (PSS ® Skill
Guide Card)
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 142
Basic Principles
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
IF YOU ARE NOT READY TO WALK,
YOU ARE NOT READY TO SELL
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
DON’T CLOSE BEFORE IT IS
CLOSEABLE
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 143
Buying Tactics
Buyers:
 Consider many alternatives
 Know position in advance
 Assign sponsor to each alternative
 Never let you know you are winning
 Never let you know you are losing
 Price negotiate in reverse preference order
 Take it away from you at least once
 Are aware of your deadlines
 Will take what you put on the table
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 144
Negotiating
 Knowledge is power
 Plan before you begin
 Is it closeable during this meeting?
 Know what you will accept
 Know what you are willing to give
 Seek to understand the true interests underlying buying positions taken
 Give reluctantly and slowly (if necessary)
 Withstand up to three “squeezes” by the buyer
 Don’t give without getting
 Be willing to walk away today
 Salesperson must overcome emotional hurdle first
 Buyer must believe he/she is getting the best price
 Use a mutual win approach
 If less than 100% of quota, do not negotiate alone
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 145
Negotiating Worksheet: Example
Is it closeable today?





Power to buy?
Payback agreed to? VP Facilities
L/T/A approvals? VP Facilities
Plan completed?
Known cost since: 2 months
Stand 1
(Plan):
“Our published plan shows an implementation starting on Monday. Is this issue worth the
delay?”
Stand 2
(Value):
“When we reviewed the value, you told me you would be able to save over $200,000 per
year. Is this still accurate?”
Stand 3
(Pain):
“The reason we have spent the last 2 months together is because your costs across your
facilities is increasing. That issue is not going to go away until you gain these new
capabilities. Has something changed?”
Salesperson: “The only way I could do something for you is if you could do something for me.”
Buyer (should ask): “Like what?”
GET
“Is it possible for you to… provide us an introduction to another line of business within
your organization? Is that possible?”
If the buyer indicates a concession, present your “give”
GIVE
www.solutionselling.com
“If you can… provide us an introduction to another line of business, then we are prepared
to offer __________ which is worth $__________. Can we go forward on that basis?”
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 146
Get-Give List
Your
priority
GET
Value

GIVE

Projected
customer
priority
1
2
3
4
5
NOT NEGOTIABLE
1
2
3
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 147
Quid Pro Quo in Propose and Close
“What things would the customer want from you and
what would you want from the customer?”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 148
Office Depot Sales Process: Implement & Fulfill Stages
Define problems and
opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Select solution,
evaluate risk, &
finalize contracts
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
Propose and Close
Implement
Fulfill
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted pain
and create or
reengineer vision of
Sponsor
 Negotiate access to
power
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon next steps
 Diagnose admitted pain
and create or
reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation
criteria and propose
next steps
 Confirm dialogue and
agree upon plan of next
steps
 Execute Evaluation
Plan steps
 Engage appropriate
overlay
 Present solution
 Refine value
proposition
 Agree upon transition
plan
 Identify success criteria
 Create RFP to reflect
Office Depot
differentiators
 Engage bid team
 Respond to RFP or bid
(if appropriate)
 Finalize T’s & C’s
 Engage implementation
manager
 Execute
implementation plan
 Engage IT Integration
manager
 Test order placement
and billing
 PSS® Pre-Call
Planner
 9-Block Vision
Processing Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Power Sponsor Letter/
e-mail
 Evaluation Plan





• Implementation Plan
Sales Tools
and
Resources
Dun & Bradstreet lists
Hoovers
Opportunity Assessment
Pain Chain®
Key Players List
Contact Strategy
Business Development
Prompter
Reference Story
PPS Scorecard
PPS Funnel Calculator
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created in
Sales Online
Gain agreement to
Evaluation Plan
Signed Contract
First orders placed
Yield
Probability
0%
25%
75%
100%
Buying
Process
Sales Stage
New Business
 Conduct research on
prospective accounts
 Identify contacts
Activities
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client
satisfaction
 Research buying
trends
 Identify new
opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
www.solutionselling.com
•Measure success criteria
Transition plan
Success Criteria
Negotiating Worksheet
Get-Give List
Resolving Customer
Concerns (PSS ® Skill
Guide Card)
 Measure success
criteria
 Resolve customer
problems
 Manage Office Depot
team
 Implement Competitive
Strategies
 Conduct business
review
 Monitor client
satisfaction
•Success Criteria
•Reference Stories
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 149
Success Criteria: Example
Results After 6 Months
Criteria
Baseline
Q1
Q2
$85K /
year
0
0
$9k / year
0
0
Number of invoices processed 2
250 /
month
225
200
Inventory value (1 month extra per
location) 2
$68K /
month
$50K /
month
$40K /
month
CBS spend per month 1,3
$70K /
month
$70K /
month
$60K /
month
Shipping costs for cleaning and break
room supplies/year 1,3
Minimum order fees 2
Q3
Q4
(1) VP Facilities
(2) Office Manager
(3) Procurement
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 150
REVIEW COACHING MANUAL
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 151
Office Depot Sales Process
Managing The Sales Business
Customer Buying Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Select solution, evaluate
risk, & finalize contracts
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
Propose and Close
Implement
Fulfill
 Execute Evaluation Plan
steps
 Engage appropriate
overlay
 Present solution
 Refine value proposition
 Agree upon transition
plan
 Identify success criteria
 Create RFP to reflect
Office Depot
differentiators
 Engage bid team
 Respond to RFP or bid (if
appropriate)
 Finalize T’s & C’s
 Engage
implementation
manager
 Execute
implementation plan
 Engage IT Integration
manager
 Test order placement
and billing
 Measure success criteria
 Resolve customer
problems
 Manage Office Depot
team
 Implement Competitive
Strategies
 Conduct business review
 Monitor client satisfaction
Sales Stages
Plan and Engage
New Business
 Conduct opportunity planning
 Conduct opportunity assessment
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client satisfaction
 Research buying trends
 Identify new opportunities across
SKU’s and categories
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
Diagnose
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted pain and
create or reengineer vision of
Sponsor
 Negotiate access to power
 Confirm dialogue and agree
upon next steps
 Diagnose admitted pain and
create or reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation criteria
and propose next steps
 Confirm dialogue and agree
upon plan of next steps
Verifiable Outcome
 Opportunity created in Sales
Online
 Gain agreement to Evaluation
Plan
 Signed contract
 First orders placed
Sales Tools and Resources










Dun & Bradstreet lists
Hoovers
Opportunity Assessment
Pain Chain®
Key Players List
Contact Strategy
Business Development Prompter
Reference Story
PPS Scorecard
PPS Funnel Calculator
 PSS® Pre-Call Planner
 9-Block Vision Processing
Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Power Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Evaluation Plan





Transition plan
Success Criteria
Negotiating Worksheet
Get-Give List
Resolving Customer
Concerns (PSS ® Skill
Guide Card)
 Implementation Plan
 Success Criteria
 Reference Stories
Yield Percentages
25%
www.solutionselling.com
75%
100%
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 152
The Sales Online Sales Cycle is Supported Within the New Sales Process
Customer Buying Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Select solution, evaluate
risk, & finalize contracts
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
Propose and Close
Implement
Fulfill
 Execute Evaluation Plan
steps
 Engage appropriate
overlay
 Present solution
 Refine value proposition
 Agree upon transition
plan
 Identify success criteria
 Create RFP to reflect
Office Depot
differentiators
 Engage bid team
 Respond to RFP or bid
(ifpportunity
appropriate)
 Finalize T’s & C’s
 Engage
implementation
manager
 Execute
implementation plan
 Engage IT Integration
manager
 Test order placement
and billing
 Measure success criteria
 Resolve customer
problems
 Manage Office Depot
team
 Implement Competitive
Strategies
 Conduct business review
 Monitor client satisfaction
Sales Stages
Plan and Engage
New Business
 Conduct opportunity planning
 Conduct opportunity
assessment
P
rospect
Retain and Grow
 Monitor client satisfaction
 Research buying trends
 Identify new opportunities
across SKU’s and categories
 Create interest
 Gain initial meeting
Diagnose
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose admitted pain and
create or reengineer vision of
Sponsor
 Negotiate access to power
 Confirm dialogue and agree
upon next steps
 Diagnose admitted pain and
create or reengineer vision of
Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation criteria
and propose next steps
 Confirm dialogue and agree
upon plan of next steps
O
C
ustomer
Verifiable Outcome
 Opportunity created in Sales
Online
L
eadlists
Dun & Bradstreet
Hoovers
Opportunity Assessment
Pain Chain®
Key Players List
Contact Strategy
Business Development
Prompter
 Reference Story
 PPS Scorecard
 PPS Funnel Calculator







 Gain agreement to Evaluation
Plan
 Signed contract
 First orders placed
Sales Tools and Resources
 PSS® Pre-Call Planner
 9-Block Vision Processing
Model®
 Pain Sheet®
 Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Power Sponsor Letter/e-mail
 Evaluation Plan





Transition plan
Success Criteria
Negotiating Worksheet
Get-Give List
Resolving Customer
Concerns (PSS ® Skill
Guide Card)
 Implementation Plan
 Success Criteria
 Reference Stories
Yield Percentages
25%
www.solutionselling.com
75%
100%
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 153
Course Objectives
Help Managers:
 Build more predictable and productive pipeline
 Apply consistent pipeline grading habits
 Anticipate and minimize shortfalls
 Enable seller success
 Identify skill problems
 Apply focused coaching for action
 Determine accurate status of opportunities
 Increase manager productivity
 Manage by exception
 Leverage resources
 Simplify internal communications
 Improve effectiveness sales-sales manager interactions
 Company
 Team
 Individual
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 154
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support a sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Review
 Determine Gap by Sales Unit and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 155
Sales Management Focus Areas – The Key Metrics
Revenue
• Overall revenue production
• Reasonable margins
• Pipeline metrics
Predictability
• Forecast accuracy
• Sales Process / CRM adoption and usage
• Eliminate surprises
Cost of Sales
• Time utilization
• Resource utilization
• Sales pursuit costs
Seller Development
www.solutionselling.com
• % of quota attainment by seller
• Seller turnover ratio
• Average length of ramp-up time
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 156
Sales Management and Coaching®
Competency Focus Areas for
This Course
Planning & Execution
Management
Illustrative Overall Sales
Management
Competency Model
Pipeline
Analysis
Budgeting
Performance
Management
Reporting
www.solutionselling.com
Planning
Sales
Execution
Resource
Management
Leadership
Communication
Coaching &
Development
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 157
Sales Management Either Enables or Disables the Enterprise
Information
Corporate
Sales Executives
Sales Managers
Play a Critical Role
for How
Salespeople Are
Connected to Sales
Performance
Sales
Process
Sales Managers
Salespeople
CRM
Sales
Method
Goals,
Investment
and
Resources
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 158
Sales Managers Provide an Ongoing Reality Check
Sales Executive
CRM Reports
Sales Manager
Isolation
Customer
Seller
A Snapshot of Reality is Provided at Key Cadence Events
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 159
Cadence Calendar Summary View – Example
Q1
Month
1
Month
2
Q2
Month
3
Month
4
Month
5
Territory
Planning
Q3
Month
6
Month
7
Month
8
Q4
Month
9
Month
10
Month
11
Month
12
A
A
A
A
Q
A
A
Q
Account Plan
Development
Q
Q
Q
Customer
Account
Review
Q
Pipeline
Reviews
N
N
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
B
Forecast Call
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
Opportunity
Reviews
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
Q
Q
Key: A=Annual; Q=Quarterly; M=Monthly; B=Bi-weekly; N = As Needed; W = Weekly
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 160
Structure of Sales Management Fundamentals Course
Topic Areas
Pipeline
Management
Standards
Pipeline Focus
Key Sales-Facing
Interaction
• Opportunity Review
Checklist
Quality
Volume
Tools / Reports
Pipeline
Review
• PPVVC Questions
• Pipeline Yield Report
• Pipeline Analysis
Worksheet
• Opportunity Review
Checklist
Opportunity
Coaching
Velocity
Opportunity
Review
• Strength of Sale Check
• Stuck Opportunity Report
• GRAF Coaching Model
Personnel
Development
www.solutionselling.com
History and
Patterns
All
• Coaching Prompters
• GRAF Coaching Model
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 161
Sales Management Flow Chart
“Managing the Sales Business”
Develop /
Review Plan
D
I
A
G
N
O
S
E
Analyze
Pipeline
Identify
Skill Issue
Analyze Plan
/ Opportunity
Update
CRM
Management
by exception
C
O
A
C
H
www.solutionselling.com
Coach Skill
Issue
Coach Plan /
Opportunity
Follow-up
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 162
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support a sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Review
 Determine Gap to Plan Overall and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 163
Office Depot Sales Process Elements
Office Depot Sales Process
Define problems and
opportunities
Determine needs /
requirements
Select solution,
evaluate risk, &
finalize contracts
Resolve issues &
implement
Evaluate success
Plan and Engage
Diagnose
Propose and Close
Implement
Fulfill
Verifiable
Outcomes
Opportunity Created
in Sales Online
Gain agreement with
Power Sponsor to
next steps
Signed contract /
Gain verbal
agreement to buy
First orders placed
7-7-7 Goals
Accomplished
Sales
Tools and
Resources
Key Players List
PSS® Pre-Call Planner
Transition Plan
Buying
Process
Sales
Stage
Contact Strategy
Yield
Probability
www.solutionselling.com
Power Sponsor
Letter/e-mail
25%
Get-Give List
75%
Reference Story
Implementation Plan
Success Criteria
100%
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 164
Pipeline Milestones
Yield
Sales Process Step
Plan and Engage
Sales Execution Activities and Verifiable Outcomes




0%
Diagnose
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or reengineer
vision of Sponsor
 Negotiate access to power
 Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or reengineer
vision of Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation criteria and propose next steps
 Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next steps
 Gain agreement with Power Sponsor to next steps
25%
Propose and Close







Execute Evaluation Plan steps
Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
Agree upon transition plan
Identify success criteria
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators or Respond to RFP
or Bid
 Engage bid team
 Finalize T’s & C’s
75%
Implement
100%
www.solutionselling.com
Conduct opportunity planning
Conduct opportunity assessment
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
 Opportunity Created In Sales Online




 Signed contract / Gain verbal agreement to buy
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
 First Orders Placed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 165
Basic Principle
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
SALESPEOPLE WILL RESPECT WHAT
THEIR MANAGERS INSPECT
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 166
The Sponsor Letter within the Pipeline Milestones
Yield
Sales Process
Step
SPONSOR LETTERPlan and Engage
Dear Steve,
Sales Execution Activities and Verifiable Outcomes




0%
1 Recall Pain
2 Recall Reasons
3 State Buying Vision
4 Recall Agreement to Explore Diagnose
5 Restate Bargain for Power
6 Suggest Proof / Next Step






Sincerely, Bill Hart25%
Propose and Close









75%
Implement
100%
www.solutionselling.com




Conduct opportunity planning
Conduct opportunity assessment
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
 Opportunity Created In Sales Online
Get pain admitted
Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or
reengineer vision of Sponsor
Negotiate access to power
Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or
reengineer vision of Power Sponsor
Determine evaluation criteria and propose next steps
Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next steps
 Gain agreement with Power Sponsor to next steps
Execute Evaluation Plan steps
Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
Agree upon transition plan
Identify success criteria
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators or Respond
to RFP or Bid
Engage bid team
Finalize T’s & C’s
 Signed contract / Gain verbal agreement to buy
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
 First Orders Placed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 167
Verifiable Outcome: Potential Sponsor e-mail: Example
Steve (Office Manager),
Thank you for your interest in Office Depot. The purpose of this e-mail is to summarize
my understanding of our meeting and our action plan.
Qualification Components:
1 Pain
2 Reasons
3 Buying Vision
4 Agreement to Explore
5 Bargain for Power
6 Proof / Next Step
We discussed the following:
(1) Your primary critical issue is increasing operational cost, which have gone up 15% this year.
(2) Reasons for increasing operational costs:
 high costs of carrying additional inventory
 increasing shipping costs
 inefficient ordering process because of multiple suppliers
(3) Capabilities you said you needed:
 when ordering replenishment of cleaning and break room supplies you had a way to order only what you need at
the best price so that your cost to carry is minimized
 when inventory has reached safety stock level you could go to your personalized landing page, identify items you
need, check inventory, place your order, and have it delivered at your desired time without shipping costs
 when ordering multiple categories of items you had the ability to utilize a single website to order all items at once
and not have to use multiple ordering processes and receive one delivery with one invoice.
You said if you had these capabilities, you could lower your operational costs.
Our next steps
(4) You agreed to move forward with our company (5) and said if we succeed in proving we can give you these
capabilities, you will introduce me to Jim Smith, your VP Facilities. You mentioned Jim is not happy with the increasing
facilities costs across all the locations.
(6) I would like to propose that we arrange a meeting with another Office Manager who has been using our cleaning and
break room supplies services. I am confident you will like what you hear and introduce our company to the rest of your
organization. I’ll call you Monday to discuss it further.
Sincerely, Bill Hart
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 168
Power Sponsor Letter/e-mail and Evaluation Plan within the Pipeline
Milestones
Yield
Sales Process
Step
POWER SPONSOR LETTER
Plan and Engage
Dear Jim,
1 Recall Pain 0%
2 Recall Reasons
3 State Buying Vision
4 Include Organizational Impact
5 Recall Agreement to Explore
Diagnose
6 Suggest Evaluation Plan
Sales Execution Activities and Verifiable Outcomes










Sincerely, Bill
Hart
EVALUATION
PLAN
25%
Propose and Close









75%
Implement
100%
www.solutionselling.com




Conduct opportunity planning
Conduct opportunity assessment
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
 Opportunity Created In Sales Online
Get pain admitted
Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or reengineer
vision of Sponsor
Negotiate access to power
Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or reengineer
vision of Power Sponsor
Determine evaluation criteria and propose next steps
Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next steps
 Gain agreement with Power Sponsor to next steps
Execute Evaluation Plan steps
Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
Agree upon transition plan
Identify success criteria
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators or Respond to
RFP or Bid
Engage bid team
Finalize T’s & C’s
 Signed contract / Gain verbal agreement to buy
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
 First Orders Placed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 169
Verifiable Outcome: Potential Power Sponsor e-mail: Example
Jim (VP Facilities),
Thank you for meeting with Steve Jones and me earlier today. I believe it was time
well spent for both Alliance and Office Depot.
Qualification Components:
1 Pain
2 Reasons for the Pain
3 Buying Vision
4 Organizational Impact
5 Agreement to Explore
6 Evaluation Plan Set-up
We discussed the following:
(1) Your primary critical issue is increasing facilities costs across all locations. You said costs have increased 15%.
(2) Reasons for increasing costs:
□ Increasing operational costs at remote locations
□ Increasing procurement costs
(3) Capabilities you said you needed:
□ when cleaning and break room supplies are ordered the various location end users could use the same website to
check inventory, order only the items and quantity they needed, and receive it by the next day without shipping
costs
□ when cleaning and break room supplies are ordered the various location end users had one specific, standardized
list of approved corporate items, competitively priced and available for next day delivery
(4) You said if you had these capabilities, your office managers at remote locations could lower their costs, and Donna
Moore , your VP Finance, could be on track to make her budgets for the year.
Our next steps
(5) When I told you I was confident Office Depot could help you, you agreed to commit the resources needed to evaluate
our ability to do so.
(6) Based on my knowledge to date, I am attaching a suggested evaluation plan for your further exploration of our
company. Look it over with Steve, and I will call you on February 7, to get your thoughts.
Sincerely, Bill Hart
Attachment: Draft Evaluation Plan
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 170
Draft Evaluation Plan: Example
Attachment to Power Sponsor e-mail
[DRAFT]
Event
Week
√
Responsible
Go/No
Go
Interview with procurement and accounting
February 14
OD/Alliance
Interview IT about back-end systems
February 14
OD/Alliance
Interviews with end-users at other locations
February 14
OD/Alliance
Summarize findings to management team
February 14
OD/Alliance
*
Provide CBS samples / product evaluation and conduct delivery
match-ups
February 14
OD
*
Conduct demonstration of ordering platform (proof of capabilities)
February 21
OD
*
Gain approval of implementation plan
February 21
Alliance
*
Discuss pricing and refined value proposition
February 21
OD/Alliance
*
Agree to success criteria
February 21
OD/Alliance
Create market evaluation (Bid)
February 28
OD/Alliance
Send agreements to legal
February 28
OD/Alliance
Analyze competitive evaluations
March 7
OD/Alliance
Present final proposal & gain agreement to move forward
March 14
OD
Gain legal approval
March 21
OD/Alliance
Begin implementation
March 28
OD
Measure success criteria
Ongoing
OD/Alliance
*
* Mutual decision to proceed
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 171
Power Sponsor Letter / e-mail: Shorter Example
Qualification Components:
1 Pain
2 Reasons for the Pain
3 Buying Vision
4 Agreement to Explore
5 Suggested Next Steps
Jim (Finance),
Thank you for meeting with me earlier today. I believe it was time
well spent for both our companies.
We discussed the following:
(1) The primary critical issue is increasing operational costs.
(2) Reasons for not increasing operational costs
□ Spending too much time reconciling invoices
□ Spending too much time in approval process
(3) Capabilities you said you needed:
□ When an order is entered the administrative professional could be assured that the invoice requirements have been
completed so that less time is spent reconciling invoices on the back-end
□ When a special request order is entered you had a way for the order to be automatically compared to preset rules and routed
appropriately for approval so that you don’t spend too much time waiting for approvals
You said if you had these capabilities, you would be able to decrease your costs.
Our next steps
(4) When I told you I was confident Office Depot could help, you indicated you felt so too and suggested we proceed with next steps.
(5) Based on my knowledge to date, I have included a list of what the next steps might be to help you further explore Office Depot. I
will call you on Thursday, to get your thoughts.
Sincerely, Bill Hart
Next Steps
Review usage list
Speak with Accounts Payable about pay requirements
Present and gain approval on bid
Agree on implementation plan & success criteria
Set-up account
Conduct web-site demo & place first order
www.solutionselling.com
Week of
June 22
June 22
June 29
June 29
June 29
June 29 or July 6
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 172
Opportunity Review Checklist
Check these items and outcomes below to verify status
Plan and
Engage




Conduct opportunity planning
Conduct opportunity assessment
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
 Name and title of potential Sponsor
 Business development approach and job aids used
 Appointment or call logged in calendar
 Opportunity Created In Sales Online
0%
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or
reengineer vision of Sponsor
 Negotiate access to power




Pain articulated by potential Sponsor
Differentiated vision and value articulated by Sponsor
Power Sponsor’s name and title
Sponsor Letter/e-mail sent and content agreed upon
 Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or
reengineer vision of Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation criteria and propose next steps
 Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next steps




Pain articulated by potential Power Sponsor
Differentiated vision and value articulated by Power
Power Sponsor Letter/e-mail & draft Evaluation Plan sent
Evaluation Plan modified or agreed upon
Diagnose
 Gain agreement with Power Sponsor to next steps
25%
Propose and
Close







Execute Evaluation Plan steps
Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
Agree upon transition plan
Identify success criteria
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators or
Respond to RFP or Bid
 Engage bid team
 Finalize T’s & C’s
 Customer approval process understood?
 Customer key players identified and engaged (as
applicable)?
 Transition issues identified and addressed?
 Negotiating Worksheet and Get-Give List
 Who is negotiating? What is agreed upon?
 Signed contract / Gain verbal agreement to buy
75%
Implement
 First step accomplished (Go/No Go Step Letter)




100%
www.solutionselling.com
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
 Implementation activities have been followed up
 When? Who? Status?
 First Orders Placed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 173
Potential Sponsor and Power Sponsor Letters
Common Problems
 Not enough of them
 The “critical issue” is really a reason, or is not applicable for the job title
 The “pain” doesn’t relate to value
 The “pain” is stated as a goal
 The capabilities are stated in product terms, not as a clear vision
 When, Who, What, So that
 Not written soon after the call
 Missing one or more of the qualification components
 Customer agreement with the content is not verified
 Salespeople are trying to re-word the letter for an “active” opportunity
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 174
Exercise: Review of (Potential) Power Sponsor Letter/ e-mail
Purpose:
 To review the attached letter and find the missing or misstated qualification
components
Activities:
 As individuals:
 Assume the following scenario:
• You are the manager of the salesperson who wrote the following letter
• The salesperson is requesting that one of your very busy and expensive Support
Resources / Product Managers accompany him/her on the next call
 Review the letter and highlight the qualification components
 Determine what you would ask the salesperson and why
 Be prepared to share your thoughts with the other group
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 175
Potential Power Sponsor Letter / e-mail: Example
“What is Wrong With This Letter?”
Jim (VP Facilities),
Qualification Components:
1 Pain
2 Reasons for the Pain
3 Buying Vision
4 Organizational Impact
5 Agreement to Explore
6 Evaluation Plan Set-up
Thank you for meeting with Steve Jones and me earlier today. I believe it was time
well spent for both Alliance and Office Depot.
We discussed the following:
Your primary critical issue is that you need consistent cleaning and break room supplies at all of your locations.
Our understanding of the reasons you are having this critical business issue is:
• Every location has their own ordering process
• Challenging to maximize on volume discounts with multiple vendors
Capabilities you said you needed:
• Consistent ordering process
• Same supplies in every location
We discussed that if you had these capabilities, then you would be able to decrease your costs.
Our next steps
We mutually agreed to move forward with the project.
I have reserved one of our Cleaning and Break Room Supplies Specialist to come and visit you next week. I will brief him
on your situation, so he is prepared to discuss our products in detail. I am confident you will like what you hear and
introduce us to the rest of Alliance. I will call you on Monday to discuss this further.
Sincerely, Bill Hart
Attachment: Draft Evaluation Plan
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 176
Evaluation Plan – “The Path to Win”
Power
Sponsor Sponsor
Evaluation Plan
Contract & Close
TYPICAL SALES CYCLE
Start
Close
The majority of selling activity occurs during the
execution of the Evaluation Plan
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 177
Evaluation Plan
Common Problems
 The plan is not sent as a “Draft” plan
 The draft Evaluation Plan:
 Is sent to non-power people
 Does not contain events to interview all key beneficiaries before resource
commitment
 Is not a joint plan requiring customer commitment of resources
 Does not include events that promote the “three sales within a sale”
• Operational (line-of-business), transitional, financial
 Does not specify key approval events such as legal / technical /
administrative
 Has the proposal being delivered too early in the sell cycle
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 178
Exercise: Review of the Evaluation Plan
Purpose:
 To review the attached Evaluation Plan and find the missing or misstated
components
Activities:
 As individuals:
 Assume the following scenario:
• You are the manager of a salesperson who is new to your organization
• This is the first chance the salesperson has had to meet with the Potential Power
Sponsor
• The salesperson has been trained and is proud of the fact that he/she is following
the company’s sales process. He/she wants you to put this opportunity into your
sales forecast.
 Review the Evaluation Plan and highlight the areas where you have
concerns
 Determine what questions you would ask the salesperson
 Be prepared to share your thoughts
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 179
Evaluation Plan: Attached to the Potential Power Sponsor Letter / e-mail
“What is Wrong with This Plan?”
EVALUATION PLAN
Event
Responsible
Week of
Interview with procurement and accounting
OD/Alliance
Feb 14
Summarize findings to top management team and agree to
evaluation plan
OD/Alliance
Feb 14
OD
Feb 21
OD/Alliance
Feb 21
Alliance
Feb 28
Send agreements to legal
OD
Feb 28
Present proposal for approval
OD
March 7
OD/Alliance
March 14
Provide CBS samples / product evaluation and conduct delivery
match-ups
Discuss pricing
Gain approval of implementation plan
Interview IT about back-end systems
Go/No
Go
* Mutual decision to proceed
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 180
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support the sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Review
 Determine Gap by Sales Unit and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 181
Pipeline Review Through Opportunity Analysis
1
What is the accurate status of
the opportunity?
Inspect the Verifiable Outcomes
2
What opportunity details reveal
how well the sales process has
been executed?
Re-Grade Opportunity As Needed
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 182
The Successful Sales Formula
Five Key Factors to Develop
Sale =
Pain X Power X Vision
X Value X Control
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 183
Focus Questions
Using the Successful Sales Formula
Pain:
“What high priority pain has the prospective
buyer admitted to you?”
“What is it costing them today?”
Power:
“Have you met with the person you believe is the
Power Sponsor and why do you think he/she is
Power?”
“Can we gain access to and influence them?”
Vision:
“What is the vision you created or reengineered with
Power?”
“How is it differentiated from competition?”
Value:
Control:
“What is the quantifiable value of the solution?”
“Is that quantifiable value sufficient for them to
act?”
“What have you done to get a Evaluation Plan in place
or otherwise control the buying process?”
“Who is in control of the buying process?”
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 184
Key Cadence Event – Pipeline Review
APPROACH
TOOLS
Opportunity Review Checklist
1
What is the accurate status of
the opportunity?
Inspect the Verifiable Outcomes
PPVVC Questions
2
What opportunity details reveal
how well the sales process has
been executed?
Re-Grade Opportunity As Needed
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 185
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support a sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Review
 Determine Gap by Sales Unit and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 186
Yield
 Definition:
 An estimate of the revenue value in the pipeline that is expected to be realized
 Calculation:
 Yield is calculated by multiplying the revenue associated with each milestone by the
milestone yield percentage.
Potential revenue at completed step:
Potential revenue at completed step:
Potential revenue at completed step:
Diagnose
Propose &
Close
Implement
X
25%
+
X
75%
+
X
100%
=
YIELD
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 187
Pipeline Analysis Worksheet
Annual View
A
Quota:
C
Average opportunity size:
E
Year-to-date attainment not reflected in the completed step “Fulfill”:
Step completed
B
Revenue
Average sell cycle length:
D
Months left in the year:
X
Yield %
=
Diagnose
X
25%
=
Propose & Close
X
75%
=
Implement
X
100%
=
Pipeline revenue total:
F
Pipeline yield total:
=
G
Projected yield for the year (F / B) x (D):
H
Gap * (A – G – E):
I
Additional “Diagnose” opportunities required to close the gap (H / C)
x 25:
www.solutionselling.com
Yield
* Gaps are negative
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 188
Exercise: Pipeline Volume Analysis
Purpose:
 To practice analyzing a pipeline and determining appropriate actions
Activities:
 As individuals use the Sample Pipeline Report and Pipeline Analysis Worksheet that
follow and analyze the business unit pipeline to answer the following questions:




What is the yield?
Is there a gap? If so, what is the size of the gap?
Will the unit’s quota be made?
What are the recommended actions if a gap exists?
 Be prepared to share your observations
Notes:
 For this exercise, only analyze the “total yield” line
Additional information:
 The business unit’s quota is $5 Million
 The year-to-date (YTD) attainment is $500K
 The average deal size is $10,225
 The average sale cycle length is 3 months
 The current date is 1 March
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 189
Pipeline Analysis Worksheet
Annual View
A
Quota:
C
Average opportunity size:
E
Year-to-date attainment not reflected in the completed step “Fulfill”:
Step completed
B
Revenue
Average sell cycle length:
D
Months left in the year:
X
Yield %
=
Diagnose
X
25%
=
Propose & Close
X
75%
=
Implement
X
100%
=
Pipeline revenue total:
F
Pipeline yield total:
=
G
Projected yield for the year (F / B) x (D):
H
Gap * (A – G – E):
I
Additional “Diagnose” opportunities required to close the gap (H / C)
x 25:
www.solutionselling.com
Yield
* Gaps are negative
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 190
Defining Key Sales Management Pipeline Habits
“5 Ways to Close Pipeline Gaps”
1
Increase your focus on
latent opportunities
2
Find more opportunities
during “planning” and
“prospecting”
3
Increase the size of your
current opportunities
4
IN
THE
FUNNEL
Shorten your average sell
cycle length
5
www.solutionselling.com
ABOVE
THE
FUNNEL
Improve your win odds
(Qualify or Disqualify)
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 191
Group Discussion: “Filling the Gap” Best Practices
What are the best practices for
filling a gap…
for individual sellers?
For the sales team?
Others?
Prospecting
Account
and
Territory
Planning
www.solutionselling.com
Corporate
Marketing
Execution
Field
Marketing
Execution
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 192
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support a sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Review
 Determine Gap by Sales Unit and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 193
Opportunity Review Through Opportunity Coaching
1
What is the accurate status
of the opportunity?
Inspect the Verifiable Outcomes
2
How well has the selling
process been executed up
to this point?
Analyze Opportunity Details
3
www.solutionselling.com
What coaching is required to
advance the opportunity?
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 194
Opportunity Review Checklist
Check these items and outcomes below to verify status
Plan and
Engage




Conduct opportunity planning
Conduct opportunity assessment
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
 Name and title of potential Sponsor
 Business development approach and job aids used
 Appointment or call logged in calendar
 Opportunity Created In Sales Online
0%
 Get pain admitted
 Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or
reengineer vision of Sponsor
 Negotiate access to power




Pain articulated by potential Sponsor
Differentiated vision and value articulated by Sponsor
Power Sponsor’s name and title
Sponsor Letter/e-mail sent and content agreed upon
 Diagnose and document admitted pain and create or
reengineer vision of Power Sponsor
 Determine evaluation criteria and propose next steps
 Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next steps




Pain articulated by potential Power Sponsor
Differentiated vision and value articulated by Power
Power Sponsor Letter/e-mail & draft Evaluation Plan sent
Evaluation Plan modified or agreed upon
Diagnose
 Gain agreement with Power Sponsor to next steps
25%
Propose and
Close







Execute Evaluation Plan steps
Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
Agree upon transition plan
Identify success criteria
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators or
Respond to RFP or Bid
 Engage bid team
 Finalize T’s & C’s
 Customer approval process understood?
 Customer key players identified and engaged (as
applicable)?
 Transition issues identified and addressed?
 Negotiating Worksheet and Get-Give List
 Who is negotiating? What is agreed upon?
 Signed contract / Gain verbal agreement to buy
75%
Implement
 First step accomplished (Go/No Go Step Letter)




100%
www.solutionselling.com
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
 Implementation activities have been followed up
 When? Who? Status?
 First Orders Placed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 195
Strength of Sale Check
Measuring Incremental Progress
Strong
Weak
Pain
www.solutionselling.com
Power
Vision
Value
Control
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 196
Strength of Sale Check
Measurable Progress with “Pain”
PAIN SCALE
www.solutionselling.com
0
No identification of need or pain by customer
1
Salesperson assumes Sponsor’s needs
2
Sponsor admits needs
3
Sponsor admits reasons / symptoms for pain
4
Sponsor admits pain
5
Salesperson documents pain, Sponsor agrees
6
Salesperson assumes Power Sponsor’s needs
7
Power Sponsor admits needs
8
Power Sponsor admits reasons / symptoms for pain
9
Power Sponsor admits pain
10
Salesperson documents pain, Power Sponsor agrees
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 197
Strength of Sale Check
Measurable Progress with “Power”
POWER SCALE
www.solutionselling.com
0
Power Sponsor not identified
1
Decision process revealed by Sponsor
2
Potential Power Sponsor identified
3
Bargain for access to Power agreed upon with Sponsor
4
Access to Power Sponsor achieved
5
Buying and decision processes confirmed
6
Power Sponsor agreed to explore further
7
Power Sponsor agreed to Evaluation Plan
8
Power Sponsor agreed to proposal content
9
Power Sponsor provided verbal approval
10
Power Sponsor approved/provided contract signature
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 198
Strength of Sale Check
Measurable Progress with “Vision”
VISION SCALE
www.solutionselling.com
0
No vision or competitive vision established
1
Vision for Sponsor created in product terms
2
Vision for Sponsor created in situational terms
3
Differentiated vision created with Sponsor
4
Differentiated vision documented to Sponsor
5
Documented differentiated vision agreed by Sponsor
6
Vision for Power Sponsor created in product terms
7
Vision for Power Sponsor created in situational terms
8
Differentiated vision created with Power Sponsor
9
Differentiated vision documented to Power Sponsor
10
Documented differentiated vision agreed by Power
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 199
Strength of Sale Check
Measurable Progress with “Value”
VALUE SCALE
www.solutionselling.com
0
Customer wants to explore solution, value not identified
1
Salesperson identifies customer value proposition
2
Customer agrees to explore the value proposition
3
Value discovered associated with Pain
4
Value discovered associated with Vision
5
Customer confirms or modifies potential value
6
Additional beneficiaries included in value potential
7
Value analysis conducted – driven by salesperson
8
Value analysis conducted – driven by customer
9
Value analysis conducted – jointly driven
10
Value of solution meets decision criteria
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 200
Strength of Sale Check
Measurable Progress with “Control”
CONTROL SCALE
www.solutionselling.com
0
No follow-up documentation of client conversations
1
Lead Letter (email) sent
2
Lead Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
3
Sponsor Letter (email) sent
4
Sponsor Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
5
Salesperson gained agreement to pre-proposal review
6
Power Sponsor Letter (email) & Evaluation Plan sent
7
Letter and Evaluation Plan agreed upon or modified
8
First Go / No-Go Step completed
9
Pre-proposal review conducted
10
Evaluation Plan completed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 201
Strength of Sale Check
“September 17th” Example
Customer Rocket
Opportunity
Data Base
Date Updated 17 Sep
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
17-Sep
Pain
www.solutionselling.com
Power
Vision
Value
Control
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 202
Strength of Sale Check
“October 1st” Example
Customer Rocket
Opportunity
Data Base
Date Updated 1 Oct
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1-Oct
17-Sep
Pain
www.solutionselling.com
Power
Vision
Value
Control
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 203
Strength of Sale Check
Worksheet
PAIN SCALE
0
No identification of need or pain by customer
1
Salesperson assumes Sponsor’s needs
2
Sponsor admits needs
3
Sponsor admits reasons / symptoms for pain
4
Sponsor admits pain
5
Salesperson documents pain, Sponsor agrees
6
Salesperson assumes Power Sponsor’s needs
7
Power Sponsor admits needs
8
Power admits reasons / symptoms for pain
9
Power Sponsor admits pain
Pain
0
Customer:
__________
Opportunity:
__________
Power 0
0 Control
__________
10 Salesperson documents pain, Power agrees
POWER SCALE
Power Sponsor not identified
Decision process revealed by Sponsor
Potential Power Sponsor identified
Bargain for access to Power agreed by Sponsor
Access to Power Sponsor achieved
Buying and decision processes confirmed
Power Sponsor agreed to explore further
Power Sponsor agreed to Evaluation Plan
Power Sponsor agreed to proposal content
Power Sponsor provided verbal approval
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 Power approved/provided contract signature
VISION SCALE
0 No vision or competitive vision established
1 Vision for Sponsor created in product terms
2 Vision for Sponsor created in situational terms
3 Differentiated vision created with Sponsor
4 Differentiated vision documented to Sponsor
5 Documentation agreed to by Sponsor
6 Vision for Power created in product terms
7 Vision for Power created in situational terms
8 Differentiated vision created with Power
9 Differentiated vision documented to Power
10 Documentation agreed to by Power
www.solutionselling.com
Date Updated:
10
0
Vision
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
VALUE SCALE
Customer explores solution, value not identified
Salesperson identifies customer value proposition
Customer agrees to explore the value proposition
Value discovered associated with Pain
Value discovered associated with Vision
Customer confirms or modifies potential value
Additional beneficiaries included in value potential
Value analysis conducted – driven by salesperson
Value analysis conducted – driven by customer
Value analysis conducted – jointly driven
Value of solution meets decision criteria
0
Value
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
CONTROL SCALE
No follow-up documentation of client conversations
Lead Letter (email) sent
Lead Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
Sponsor Letter (email) sent
Sponsor Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
Seller gained agreement to pre-proposal review
Power Sponsor Letter (email) & Evaluation Plan sent
Letter and Evaluation Plan agreed upon or modified
First Go / No-Go Step completed
Pre-proposal review conducted
Evaluation Plan completed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 204
Strength of Sale Check
Worksheet – “September 17th Example”
PAIN SCALE
0
No identification of need or pain by customer
1
Salesperson assumes Sponsor’s needs
2
Sponsor admits needs
3
Sponsor admits reasons / symptoms for pain
4
Sponsor admits pain
5
Salesperson documents pain, Sponsor agrees
6
Salesperson assumes Power Sponsor’s needs
7
Power Sponsor admits needs
8
Power admits reasons / symptoms for pain
9
Power Sponsor admits pain
Pain
0
Customer:
Rocket
Opportunity:
Database
Power 0
0 Control
Sep 17
_____
10 Salesperson documents pain, Power agrees
POWER SCALE
Power Sponsor not identified
Decision process revealed by Sponsor
Potential Power Sponsor identified
Bargain for access to Power agreed by Sponsor
Access to Power Sponsor achieved
Buying and decision processes confirmed
Power Sponsor agreed to explore further
Power Sponsor agreed to Evaluation Plan
Power Sponsor agreed to proposal content
Power Sponsor provided verbal approval
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 Power approved/provided contract signature
VISION SCALE
0 No vision or competitive vision established
1 Vision for Sponsor created in product terms
2 Vision for Sponsor created in situational terms
3 Differentiated vision created with Sponsor
4 Differentiated vision documented to Sponsor
5 Documentation agreed to by Sponsor
6 Vision for Power created in product terms
7 Vision for Power created in situational terms
8 Differentiated vision created with Power
9 Differentiated vision documented to Power
10 Documentation agreed to by Power
www.solutionselling.com
10
0
Vision
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
VALUE SCALE
Customer explores solution, value not identified
Salesperson identifies customer value proposition
Customer agrees to explore the value proposition
Value discovered associated with Pain
Value discovered associated with Vision
Customer confirms or modifies potential value
Additional beneficiaries included in value potential
Value analysis conducted – driven by salesperson
Value analysis conducted – driven by customer
Value analysis conducted – jointly produced
Value of solution meets decision criteria
Date Updated:
0
Value
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
CONTROL SCALE
No follow-up documentation of client conversations
Lead Letter (email) sent
Lead Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
Sponsor Letter (email) sent
Sponsor Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
Seller gained agreement to pre-proposal review
Power Sponsor Letter (email) & Evaluation Plan sent
Letter and Evaluation Plan agreed upon or modified
First Go / No-Go Step completed
Pre-proposal review conducted
Evaluation Plan completed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 205
Strength of Sale Check
Worksheet – “October 1st Example”
PAIN SCALE
0
No identification of need or pain by customer
1
Salesperson assumes Sponsor’s needs
2
Sponsor admits needs
3
Sponsor admits reasons / symptoms for pain
4
Sponsor admits pain
5
Salesperson documents pain, Sponsor agrees
6
Salesperson assumes Power Sponsor’s needs
7
Power Sponsor admits needs
8
Power admits reasons / symptoms for pain
9
Power Sponsor admits pain
Pain
0
Customer:
Rocket
Opportunity:
Database
Power 0
0 Control
Oct 1
_____
10 Salesperson documents pain, Power agrees
POWER SCALE
Power Sponsor not identified
Decision process revealed by Sponsor
Potential Power Sponsor identified
Bargain for access to Power agreed by Sponsor
Access to Power Sponsor achieved
Buying and decision processes confirmed
Power Sponsor agreed to explore further
Power Sponsor agreed to Evaluation Plan
Power Sponsor agreed to proposal content
Power Sponsor provided verbal approval
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 Power approved/provided contract signature
VISION SCALE
0 No vision or competitive vision established
1 Vision for Sponsor created in product terms
2 Vision for Sponsor created in situational terms
3 Differentiated vision created with Sponsor
4 Differentiated vision documented to Sponsor
5 Documentation agreed to by Sponsor
6 Vision for Power created in product terms
7 Vision for Power created in situational terms
8 Differentiated vision created with Power
9 Differentiated vision documented to Power
10 Documentation agreed to by Power
www.solutionselling.com
Date Updated:
10
Sep 17
_____
0
Vision
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
VALUE SCALE
Customer explores solution, value not identified
Salesperson identifies customer value proposition
Customer agrees to explore the value proposition
Value discovered associated with Pain
Value discovered associated with Vision
Customer confirms or modifies potential value
Additional beneficiaries included in value potential
Value analysis conducted – driven by salesperson
Value analysis conducted – driven by customer
Value analysis conducted – jointly driven
Value of solution meets decision criteria
0
Value
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
CONTROL SCALE
No follow-up documentation of client conversations
Lead Letter (email) sent
Lead Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
Sponsor Letter (email) sent
Sponsor Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
Seller gained agreement to pre-proposal review
Power Sponsor Letter (email) & Evaluation Plan sent
Letter and Evaluation Plan agreed upon or modified
First Go / No-Go Step completed
Pre-proposal review conducted
Evaluation Plan completed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 206
Exercise: Strength of Sale
Purpose:
 To practice assessing the status of an opportunity using the Strength of Sale Check
Activities:
 Form into groups of two
 The following describes the situation:
 One of your salespeople has been working on an opportunity for three months
 You have this opportunity on your forecast to close this quarter, 60 days from now
 Please read the information found on the next page “Opportunity Status”
 Complete the Strength of Sale Check worksheet
 Be prepared top debrief the results
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 207
Exercise: Strength of Sale
Opportunity Status
Pain:
Power:
The power sponsor has openly shared a high priority critical
business issue they need to address.
At the close of the meeting with the salesperson, the Power
Sponsor seemed very eager and indicated a desire to further
explore the potential solution.
Vision:
In an email to the Power Sponsor, the salesperson has documented
the details of the potential solution. The email was careful to
reconfirm the capabilities of the solution the Power Sponsor is
looking to acquire including unique solution functionality and how
it can help the Power Sponsor solve the admitted pain.
Value:
In a follow-up voicemail right after the meeting, the Power Sponsor
said he/she was optimistic about the benefits that the capabilities
being recommended might provide but realized they “had not
discussed metrics enough”. The Power Sponsor suggested he/she
would like to investigate what the seller thinks the potential value
would be to his/her department.
Control:
The salesperson followed up the conversation with the Power
Sponsor by recapping the dialogue including all key components
in the Power Sponsor Letter (email). Attached to the email was a
draft Evaluation Plan recommending mutual next steps. Follow up
to discuss the draft plan has not yet occurred .
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 208
Strength of Sale Check
Worksheet
PAIN SCALE
0
No identification of need or pain by customer
1
Salesperson assumes Sponsor’s needs
2
Sponsor admits needs
3
Sponsor admits reasons / symptoms for pain
4
Sponsor admits pain
5
Salesperson documents pain, Sponsor agrees
6
Salesperson assumes Power Sponsor’s needs
7
Power Sponsor admits needs
8
Power admits reasons / symptoms for pain
9
Power Sponsor admits pain
Pain
0
Customer:
__________
Opportunity:
__________
Power 0
0 Control
__________
10 Salesperson documents pain, Power agrees
POWER SCALE
Power Sponsor not identified
Decision process revealed by Sponsor
Potential Power Sponsor identified
Bargain for access to Power agreed by Sponsor
Access to Power Sponsor achieved
Buying and decision processes confirmed
Power Sponsor agreed to explore further
Power Sponsor agreed to Evaluation Plan
Power Sponsor agreed to proposal content
Power Sponsor provided verbal approval
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 Power approved/provided contract signature
VISION SCALE
0 No vision or competitive vision established
1 Vision for Sponsor created in product terms
2 Vision for Sponsor created in situational terms
3 Differentiated vision created with Sponsor
4 Differentiated vision documented to Sponsor
5 Documentation agreed to by Sponsor
6 Vision for Power created in product terms
7 Vision for Power created in situational terms
8 Differentiated vision created with Power
9 Differentiated vision documented to Power
10 Documentation agreed to by Power
www.solutionselling.com
Date Updated:
10
0
Vision
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
VALUE SCALE
Customer explores solution, value not identified
Salesperson identifies customer value proposition
Customer agrees to explore the value proposition
Value discovered associated with Pain
Value discovered associated with Vision
Customer confirms or modifies potential value
Additional beneficiaries included in value potential
Value analysis conducted – driven by salesperson
Value analysis conducted – driven by customer
Value analysis conducted – jointly produced
Value of solution meets decision criteria
0
Value
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
CONTROL SCALE
No follow-up documentation of client conversations
Lead Letter (email) sent
Lead Letter (email) agreed upon or modified
Sponsor Letter (email) sent
Sponsor Letter (email) agree upon or modified
Seller gained agreement to pre-proposal review
Power Sponsor Letter (email) & Evaluation Plan sent
Letter and Evaluation Plan agree upon or modified
First Go / No-Go Step completed
Pre-proposal review conducted
Evaluation Plan completed
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 209
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support a sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Review
 Determine Gap by Sales Unit and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 210
Management and Leadership
Philosophies of Coaching
 Fundamental sales manager competency
 Protects the investments made in training and personal development
 Not intuitive - it is an acquired skill
 Salespeople have competencies; managers must coach them to “stretch”
 Building a top performing sales force requires continuous coaching
 Most effective management skill with which to positively impact sales
performance
Don’t Wait – Coach Now!
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 211
Management and Leadership
Coaching Principals
 Before Coaching Sessions
 Schedule coaching reviews regularly, don’t leave coaching as an ad hoc activity
 Be aware, each individual reacts differently to coaching – apply the appropriate level
 Remember, it is easier if you prepare for coaching
 During Coaching Sessions
 Make sure the environment is conducive to coaching
 Base coaching on facts, not opinions
 “Ask, don’t tell” - use self-discovery as a tool for learning
 Examine alternative resolutions
 Allow seller to take and retain ownership of action and results
 Conclude Coaching Sessions
 Ensure reviews result in an appropriate action plan
 Keep in mind, managers must be willing to take an assignment as well
 After Coaching Review
 Follow-up on a timely basis
 Consistently encourage the individual
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 212
Situational Coaching
Coaching Action
Coaching Examples
Model
“If it would make sense for me to
go with you on the next call to
help you create the buyer’s
vision, how would you use me.”
Rehearse
“Let’s role play the actual
discussion with the prospect. I’ll
play the buyer and you play the
seller using the 9-Block Model
and Pain Sheet for this
situation.”
Review
www.solutionselling.com
“Recall that the 9-Block Model
has three types of questions open, control, and confirm… in
three areas - reasons, impacts,
capabilities - and uses a Pain
Sheet as a prompter for the
difficult (control) questions.
How would you use this in the
next customer meeting”
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 213
GRAF Coaching Model
GAP
REASONS
Understand / acknowledge
the GAP between what is
wanted or expected and
the reality of the situation
(Admit the Pain)
Understand / acknowledge
the REASONS for
the GAP
FOLLOW-UP to
ensure that the
ACTIONS were
satisfactorily completed
(Determine if the GAP
has been addressed)
Commit to a joint
plan of ACTION to
address the GAP (What will
be accomplished to remedy)
FOLLOW-UP
www.solutionselling.com
ACTION
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 214
GRAF Coaching Preparation: Notes / Worksheet
Salesperson Name:
Coaching Type: Opportunity 
Skill 
Date of Coaching Event:
Opportunity Description:
GAP
REASONS
What is the GAP between performance expectations and
actual results?
What are the REASONS for the GAP?
Expectations:
Reasons:
Results observed:
Who is involved:
Salesperson’s perspective:
Salesperson’s perspective:
FOLLOW-UP
ACTION
What FOLLOW-UP will you and the salesperson agree to
in order to close the GAP?
Specifics of follow-up actions (evidence of
completion):
What ACTIONS does the salesperson
agree and commit to do?
Options to close the gap:
Salesperson’s commitment:
Date for completion:
Time for follow-up:
www.solutionselling.com
Help needed:
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 215
Exercise: Coaching Preparation and Application
Activities:
 Get into groups of two (Person A and Person B)
 Conduct the Coaching Preparation and Application exercise
www.solutionselling.com
Person A
Person B
Coaching
(Part 1)
Manager
Seller
Coaching
(Part 2)
Seller
Manager
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 216
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support a sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Review
 Determine Gap by Sales Unit and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 217
Key Pipeline Metric
Speed
Are all opportunities
moving through the
pipeline at a speed that
will produce enough
revenue in a timely
fashion?
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 218
Evaluation Plan – “The Path to Win”
Power
Sponsor Sponsor
Evaluation Plan
Contract & Close
TYPICAL SALES CYCLE
Start
Close
The majority of selling activity occurs during the
execution of the Evaluation Plan
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 219
Ideal Time in Step
Ideal Time in Step (approximate # of days)
Step
3 month
sell cycle
4 month
sell cycle
6 month
sell cycle
8 month
sell cycle
9 month
sell cycle
12 month
sell cycle
Plan & Engage
9
15
15
15
15
15
18
24
40
40
40
40
30
42
80
120
150
180
33
39
45
65
65
125
0%
Diagnose
25%
Propose &
Close
75%
Implement
100%
Note: When a salesperson spends “days in step” they are allotting those number of days toward
executing the sales activities leading to the next milestone (denoted here by win odds)
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 220
Exercise: Identifying Stuck Opportunities
Purpose:
 To practice analyzing a pipeline milestone report to identify stalled
opportunities
Activities:
 Form into groups of two
 Review the pipeline milestone report (Pipeline Milestone Worksheet™) on
the page that follows
 Circle the opportunities that appear to be stalled
 Be prepared to debrief
Notes:
 The sample opportunities found on the Pipeline Milestone Worksheet are for
a salesperson with an average sell cycle length of 6 months
 The current date is 1 March
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 221
Pipeline Milestones Worksheet™ (Date: March 1st)
Time in Step
9
1
Plan &
Engage
2
Cradel
Johnson &
Industrie
Company
s
A
L
10
5
15 Jan 15 Dec
15 Jan 15 Dec
15 Jan 15 Dec
OPPORTUNITIES
3
4
5
6
Health Electroni
Tapestry
Source c Data Sonitron
Inc.
Inc.
Parts
A
A
A
L
20
50
16
60
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb 8 Dec
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb 8 Dec
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb 8 Dec
7
Vortex
A
85
6 Feb
6 Feb
6 Feb
8
Tandy
Paper
Mfg.
L
20
31 Jan
31 Jan
31 Jan
PIPELINE MILESTONES WORKSHEET™
Latent or Active (L/A)
Potential sale amount ($K)
Conduct planning activities (new or existing)
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
0%
18
Diagnose
18 Jan
18 Dec
21 Jan 18 Jan
1 Feb
18 Jan
18 Dec
21 Jan 18 Jan
1 Feb
18 Jan
21 Jan
18 Dec
24 Dec
21 Jan 18 Jan
21 Jan 18 Jan
1 Feb
1 Feb
1 Feb
24 Dec 23 Jan
5 Jan
28 Jan
5 Jan
28 Jan
1 Feb
14 Feb 14 Feb Get pain admitted
Diagnose admitted pain and create or
14 Feb 14 Feb
reengineer vision of Sponsor
14 Feb Negotiate access to power
16 Feb Confirm dialogue and agree upon next steps
Diagnose admitted pain and create or reengineer
15 Jan
18 Feb
vision of Power Sponsor
Determine evaluation criteria and propose next
15 Jan
20 Feb
steps
Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next
20 Jan
21 Feb steps
25%
5 Jan
4 Feb
5 Jan 11 Feb
8 Jan 15 Feb
10 Jan 22 Feb
30
Propose &
Close
28 Feb
28 Feb
17 Feb 28 Feb
28 Feb
28 Feb Execute Evaluation Plan steps
28 Feb Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
15 Jan
28 Feb
Agree upon transition plan
20 Jan
1 Mar
Identify success criteria
26 Jan
1 Feb
5 Feb
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators
Engage bid team
Respond to RFP or bid (if appropriate)
Finalize T’s & C’s
75%
33
Implement
12 Feb
12 Feb
17 Feb
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
100%
* Premature delivery of a proposal is not a sign of progress
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 222
Stuck Opportunity Report
Why, When and How to Leverage This Report
Why This is Important?
 To identify opportunities that require attention
in order to move them ahead in the pipeline
When To Use?
 Evaluate weekly
 Communicate weekly
How to Use?
 Identify large opportunities that are not
moving as expected
 Determine prevalent patterns – Where are
opportunities getting stuck?
 Assess prevalent patterns as possible skill or
competency issues
www.solutionselling.com
Key Questions to Ask

Where are opportunities losing
momentum or “getting stuck”?

Are appropriate customer
communications (verifiable outcomes)
occurring?

Is the customer urgency sufficient for
action?

Are sellers managing (in control) of the
process with an Evaluation Plan? (If not,
why?)
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 223
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support a sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Review
 Determine Gap by Sales Unit and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 224
Skills in the Selling Process
Selling
Skills
Prospecting
Key
Evidence
Plan &
Engage
Need Development
(Sponsor)
Appointment
Sponsor Letter
Diagnose
Power Sponsor
Letter &
Evaluation Plan
Need Development
(Power Sponsor)
Control
Propose &
Close
Negotiating and
Closing
Evaluation Plan
(Go/No Go Events)
Negotiating
Worksheet
Implement
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 225
Pipeline Milestones Worksheet™ (Date: March 1st)
OPPORTUNITIES
1
Plan &
Engage
2
3
Health
Johnson & Cradel
Source
Company Industries
Inc.
A
L
A
810
5
785
15 Jan 15 Dec 20 Dec
15 Jan 15 Dec 20 Dec
15 Jan 15 Dec 20 Dec
PIPELINE MILESTONES WORKSHEET™
Latent or Active (L/A)
Potential sale amount ($K)
Conduct planning activities (new or existing)
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
0%
Diagnose
18 Jan
18 Dec
21 Jan
18 Jan
18 Dec
21 Jan
18 Jan
18 Jan
18 Dec
20 Dec
21 Jan
21 Jan
21 Jan
5 Jan
23 Jan
5 Jan
8 Jan
28 Jan
28 Jan
10 Jan
12 Jan
19 Jan
26 Jan
16 Feb
28 Jan
28 Jan
4 Feb
11 Feb
Get pain admitted
Diagnose admitted pain and create or reengineer
vision of Sponsor
Negotiate access to power
Confirm dialogue and agree upon next steps
Diagnose admitted pain and create or reengineer
vision of Power Sponsor
Determine evaluation criteria and propose next steps
Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next steps
25%
Propose &
Close
Execute Evaluation Plan steps
Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
Agree upon transition plan
Identify success criteria
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators
Engage bid team
Respond to RFP or bid (if appropriate)
Finalize T’s & C’s
75%
Implement
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
100%
www.solutionselling.com
* Premature delivery of a proposal is not a sign of progress
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 226
Skill Coaching Guide: Prospecting
Potential Skill Issue: Prospecting
Verifiable Outcome
or Evidence
Potential Reasons

 Schedule blocks of time or
events for business
development (i.e. protect their
calendar)
Low quality of business
development job aids and
tools

 Coach to develop improved
business development job
aids and tools (Look for
appropriate value and pain
messaging)
Inaccurate call lists (poorly
targeted audience)

 Update and check lists

 Conduct role plays and
provide feedback
 Concentrate on focused
specific job titles with
repetition
No follow-up to “leads” or
interest shown by prospects

 Review call logs, tickler
(reminder) files and
communications
 Review dropped opportunities
and develop a plan of followup activities for specific ones
No follow-up to “leads” or
interest shown by prospects

 Review “Stimulating Interest”
module in Solution Selling for
Sales Execution™
Not enough “sacred” business
development or prospecting
time scheduled
Business
Development
Strategy (plans)
Prospecting / Call
logs
Business
Development
Activities, Letters
& emails
Potential Sponsor
Letters
www.solutionselling.com
Potential Remedial Activities
Poor execution
Notes
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 227
Opportunity Coaching or Skill Coaching?
Characteristics
Opportunity Coaching
 Problem identified in opportunity
 Short-term, immediate actions
 Specific to opportunity
 Quick results
 Goal: Opportunity Win
 Often done coupled with
Opportunity Analysis
Skill Coaching






 Problem is pervasive across
multiple opportunities
 Long-term sustained actions
 General
 Delayed Improvement
 Goal: Competency Improvement
 Often done as a result of Pipeline
Analysis
Key Question:
What is needed by this person at this time?
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 228
GRAF Coaching Model
GAP
REASONS
Understand / acknowledge
the GAP between what is
wanted or expected and
the reality of the
situation
(Admit the Pain)
Understand / acknowledge
the REASONS for
the GAP
FOLLOW-UP to
ensure that the
ACTIONS were
satisfactorily completed
(Determine if the GAP
has been addressed)
Commit to a joint
plan of ACTION to
address the GAP (What will
be accomplished to remedy)
FOLLOW-UP
www.solutionselling.com
ACTION
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 229
Exercise: Identify and Coach Skill Issue
Purpose:
 To practice identifying a skill issues and applying coaching techniques
Activities:
 Form into groups of at least 4
 Use one of the assigned cases which follow:
1. Review the Pipeline Milestone Worksheet™ and identify potential skill issues for the
seller
• Consider possible reasons for the skill issue
• Record notes on the GRAF Worksheet (Gap and Reasons portions)
2. The team should dialogue and agree upon possible actions that might address the skill
issue
• Record notes on the GRAF Worksheet (Actions portion)
3. Discuss possible follow-up actions and dates
• Record notes on the GRAF Worksheet (Follow-up portion of the worksheet)
Group Role Play:
 Facilitator will play the seller. Each group will play the manager for each part of the case
 Beginning with the first case, each group collectively progress through the G R A F Model.
 After completing the first case, the next cases will be reviewed as needed.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 230
Exercise: Identify and Coach Skill Issue
Case A: “Jack”
Background:
 Jack is relatively new to your company (7 months), but not new to sales.
He prides himself at only talking to “decision-makers.” For each of his
opportunities he feels he is connected to people who have assured him
that this decision is “theirs-to-make”. They have implied that those above
them in the company will “rubber stamp” their decision.
Status:
 Jack has worked hard to create five “good” opportunities. Progress
through the pipeline has been reasonable to date.
 He has Evaluation Plans for each opportunity.
 He has involved others in your company to provide proof and prepare bid
proposals for each opportunity.
 As a manager, you like Jack’s attitude and provide him plenty of freedom.
He says he likes that freedom. You haven’t personally been involved in any
of these opportunities.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 231
Case A: “Jack” - Pipeline Milestones Worksheet™ (1 May)
Time in Step
9
1
Plan &
Engage
2
Cradel
Johnson &
Industrie
Company
s
A
A
10
5
15 Jan 15 Dec
15 Jan 15 Dec
15 Jan 15 Dec
OPPORTUNITIES
3
4
5
Health Electroni
Source c Data Sonitron
Inc.
Parts
A
A
A
20
50
16
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb
6
7
8
PIPELINE MILESTONES WORKSHEET™
Latent or Active (L/A)
Potential sale amount ($K)
Conduct planning activities (new or existing)
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
0%
18
Diagnose
25 Jan
5 Jan
28 Jan
28 Jan 13 Feb
25 Jan
5 Jan
28 Jan
28 Jan 13 Feb
1 Mar
10 Jan
4 Feb
5 Mar
5 Mar
19 Mar
1 Apr
15 Apr
12 Jan 15 Feb 15 Mar 25 Feb
19 Jan 22 Feb 29 Mar
26 Jan 22 Feb 8 Apr
16 Feb
15 Apr
20 Feb
Get pain admitted
Diagnose admitted pain and create or
reengineer vision of Sponsor
Negotiate access to power
Confirm dialogue and agree upon next steps
Diagnose admitted pain and create or reengineer
vision of Power Sponsor
Determine evaluation criteria and propose next
steps
Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next
steps
25%
30
Propose &
Close
Execute Evaluation Plan steps
Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
Agree upon transition plan
Identify success criteria
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators
Engage bid team
Respond to RFP or bid (if appropriate)
Finalize T’s & C’s
75%
33
Implement
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
100%
* Premature delivery of a proposal is not a sign of progress
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 232
GRAF Coaching Preparation: Notes / Worksheet
Salesperson Name:
Coaching Type: Opportunity 
Skill 
Date of Coaching Event:
Opportunity Description:
GAP
REASONS
What is the GAP between performance expectations and
actual results?
What are the REASONS for the GAP?
Expectations:
Reasons:
Results observed:
Who is involved:
Salesperson’s perspective:
Salesperson’s perspective:
FOLLOW-UP
ACTION
What FOLLOW-UP will you and the salesperson agree to
in order to close the GAP?
Specifics of follow-up actions (evidence of
completion):
What ACTIONS does the salesperson
agree and commit to do?
Options to close the gap:
Salesperson’s commitment:
Date for completion:
Time for follow-up:
www.solutionselling.com
Help needed:
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 233
Exercise: Identify and Coach Skill Issue
Case B: “Sally”
Background:
 Sally has been with the company for four years and has been in sales for
three of those years. She is an average performer in terms of quota
attainment. She has commented several times that “Sales is ‘Luck’ – You
have to have the right territory at the right time”. Over the past years you
have coached Sally to increase her prospecting activities. She seems to
have gotten the message and her pipeline is now the largest in your unit.
Status:
 Sally’s pipeline was “thin” until she increased her prospecting activity and
started working with Electronic Data Parts (EDP). She has uncovered a
very large opportunity at EDP.
 She knows that if she can close the EDP opportunity, she will go to the
President’s Club for the first time. She calls it her “Big ticket to Maui”.
 Sally is a hard worker. She is in the office early and leaves late.
 As her manager, you have been supportive and given her some “tips &
pointers”, along the way. You have accompanied Sally on several calls at
EDP.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 234
Case B: “Sally” - Pipeline Milestones Worksheet™ (1 May)
Time in Step
9
1
Plan &
Engage
2
Cradel
Johnson &
Industrie
Company
s
A
L
10
5
15 Jan 15 Dec
15 Jan 15 Dec
15 Jan 15 Dec
OPPORTUNITIES
3
4
5
6
Health Electroni
Tapestry
Source c Data Sonitron
Inc.
Inc.
Parts
A
A
A
L
20
50
16
60
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb 8 Dec
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb 8 Dec
20 Dec 10 Jan 1 Feb 8 Dec
7
Vortex
A
85
6 Feb
6 Feb
6 Feb
8
Tandy
Paper
Mfg.
L
20
31 Jan
31 Jan
31 Jan
PIPELINE MILESTONES WORKSHEET™
Latent or Active (L/A)
Potential sale amount ($K)
Conduct planning activities (new or existing)
Create interest
Gain initial meeting
0%
18
Diagnose
18 Jan
18 Dec
21 Jan 18 Jan
1 Feb
18 Jan
18 Dec
21 Jan 18 Jan
1 Feb
18 Jan
21 Jan
18 Dec
24 Dec
21 Jan 18 Jan
21 Jan 18 Jan
1 Feb
1 Feb
1 Feb
24 Dec 23 Jan
1 Feb
5 Jan
28 Jan
1 Feb
5 Jan
28 Jan
7 Feb
1 Feb
14 Feb 14 Feb Get pain admitted
Diagnose admitted pain and create or
14 Feb 14 Feb
reengineer vision of Sponsor
14 Feb Negotiate access to power
16 Feb Confirm dialogue and agree upon next steps
Diagnose admitted pain and create or reengineer
15 Jan
18 Feb
vision of Power Sponsor
Determine evaluation criteria and propose next
15 Jan
20 Feb
steps
Confirm dialogue and agree upon plan of next
20 Jan
21 Feb steps
25%
5 Jan
4 Feb 1 Mar
5 Jan 11 Feb 1 Mar
8 Jan 15 Feb 1Mar 17 Feb
10 Jan 22 Feb 14 Mar
30
Propose &
Close
28 Feb
28 Feb
28 Feb
28 Feb
28 Feb Execute Evaluation Plan steps
28 Feb Engage appropriate overlay
Present solution
Refine value proposition
15 Jan
21 Mar
28 Feb
Agree upon transition plan
20 Jan
1 Apr
1 Mar
Identify success criteria
26 Jan
12 Apr
20 Apr
25 Apr
1 Feb
5 Feb
Create RFP to reflect Office Depot differentiators
Engage bid team
Respond to RFP or bid (if appropriate)
Finalize T’s & C’s
75%
33
Implement
12 Feb
12 Feb
17 Feb
Engage implementation manager
Execute implementation plan
Engage IT Integration manager
Test order placement and billing
100%
* Premature delivery of a proposal is not a sign of progress
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 235
GRAF Coaching Preparation: Notes / Worksheet
Salesperson Name:
Coaching Type: Opportunity 
Skill 
Date of Coaching Event:
Opportunity Description:
GAP
REASONS
What is the GAP between performance expectations and
actual results?
What are the REASONS for the GAP?
Expectations:
Reasons:
Results observed:
Who is involved:
Salesperson’s perspective:
Salesperson’s perspective:
FOLLOW-UP
ACTION
What FOLLOW-UP will you and the salesperson agree to
in order to close the GAP?
Specifics of follow-up actions (evidence of
completion):
What ACTIONS does the salesperson
agree and commit to do?
Options to close the gap:
Salesperson’s commitment:
Date for completion:
Time for follow-up:
www.solutionselling.com
Help needed:
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 236
Course Agenda
 Discuss Key Management Roles and Activities that support a sales process
Pipeline Management Standards
 Manage to Verifiable Outcomes
 Perform Opportunity Analysis and Pipeline Verification
 Determine Gap by Sales Unit and by Seller
Opportunity Coaching
 Use Strength of Sale Check
 Conduct Opportunity Coaching
 Review Stuck Opportunity Reports
Personnel Development
 Identify Skill Gaps and Conduct Individual Coaching
 Personalize approach to Development Planning
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 237
The Challenge with Getting Started
BANDWIDTH
 Leverage new information to:
 Identify opportunity and
skills problems
 Improve forecasting
 Coach sellers
 Win key opportunities
 Implement effectively
 Manage pipeline
Executive
Focused
Management
and Coaching
Process
Seller
Manager
SALES PROCESS
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 238
Management and Leadership
Adaptability to Coaching
CAN’T DO IT
CAN DO IT
Coach,
Support and
Lead
Lead and
Coach
Can’t
Can’t
Won’t do it
Might do it (Priority)
Want to do it (Skill)
Just do it
Support and
Coach
(Attitude)
Counsel
and Coach
Priority, Skills and Attitude
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 239
What Do World-Class Sales Managers Do?
 Interpret and use timely and accurate
sales performance metrics
 Focus on sales process and
encourage Sales Online system
usage
 View coaching as a learning,
motivation and performance
improvement vehicle
(SPI, ESR Research, CSO Insights)
 Focus most of their coaching efforts
upon middle performers
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 240
Getting Started – Managers: Example
First 30 Days
Second Month
Third Month
1. Prepare for and schedule team / unit meeting to
review Solution Selling Implementation .
2. Communicate expectations to unit members:
• Use of “language” and selected “tools”
• Proper grading and entry of opportunities into
management system (CRM)
• Format and agenda for pipeline and
opportunity reviews
3. Conduct pipeline reviews for each seller:
• Properly grade and update CRM for 2 key
opportunities
• Coach next-steps for each
4. Set targets for individual sellers:
• 50% of opportunities graded to standard and
CRM updated
• Follow-up coaching within a week – next
steps if required
5. Checkpoint progress of opportunity grading
6. Confirm 50% grading complete
7. Set goal for next 30 days for remaining
opportunities to be graded and reviewed
8. Set goals and protect prospecting activities
1. Review all key opportunities ensure they are
graded correctly and reflected in CRM
2. Conduct opportunity reviews if issues are
suspected – Coach with GRAF
3. Conduct follow-up reviews as necessary
4. Checkpoint and verify progress against
remaining 50% of opportunities
5. Begin conducting pipeline reviews using SMC
approach and tools
6. Conduct opportunity reviews using SMC
approach and tools
7. Emphasize and continue to inspect key
verifiable outcomes (Sponsor Letter and
Power Sponsor Letter/Evaluation Plan) for all
strategic or key opportunities
8. Hold review / refresher sessions for suspected
unit difficulties (skill view)
9. Empower each seller to complete a Pipeline
Analysis Worksheet
10.Ensure all opportunities are graded properly
11.Establish cadence cycle and agendas
1. Continue to perform opportunity and pipeline
reviews using SMC approach and tools
2. Coach using GRAF as needed
3. Begin using cadence cycle and agendas
4. Continue empowerment of sellers to complete
Pipeline Analysis Worksheet and coach to fill
Gaps
5. Identify and summarize competency
improvement areas for each seller as
necessary
6. Institute forecasting procedures based on a
clean pipeline report
7. Use monthly summaries of cadence calls and
pipeline reviews to communicate to next level
management – report on exceptions
Ongoing
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Use Solution Selling language / techniques when discussing opportunities, pipelines and coaching
Monitor Solution Selling tool usages and encourage further use
Emphasize importance of control letters and evaluation plans
Emphasize the skill and competence of Vision Creation and Reengineering using differentiators
Provide follow-up education / reinforcement avenues for the unit (webinars, conference calls, etc.)
Key Focus Areas
Common Seller Competency Issues:
Specific Sellers & Objectives:
Your Competency Improvement Focus:
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 241
Exercise: Develop Your Personal Adoption Plan
Purpose:
 To identify specific activities which over the next 30, 60, and 90 days will support and
accelerate deployment and adoption of Solution Selling and the sales process
Activities:
 Consider the following:
 What goals / objectives will you set for yourself and unit?
 How will your goals be communicated to the people in your unit?
 Imagine your unit in three months:
• How would you like to be conducting reviews? (Form, format and cadence)
• How will you communicate upwards in the organization
• How will you identify and remediate possible selling skills?
• How will you identify and remediate shortfalls in attainment?
 Think about the people in your unit / team:
• What across-the-board issues do you deem prevalent? – How will you address them?
• How will you use opportunity and pipeline reviews to attain your end goals?
 How will progress to the end goals be measured?
 Also consider:
 Challenges identified earlier
 Unique needs of individuals in the unit – how are they different?
 Getting started - Example
 As individuals complete the Getting Started – Managers template on the following page
 Be prepared to share your plan with the group
Notes:
 Upon return, share these action Items with your manager to ensure understanding and
support of your plans.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 242
Getting Started – Managers: Example
First 30 Days
Second Month
Third Month
Ongoing
Key Focus Areas
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 243
Impact of Management Involvement
Phase I:
“Easy”
Phase II:
“Work”
Phase III:
“Habit”
Business Results
Desired Results
Morale
Effort
“Organizational
Support”
Shared information,
Collaboration
“Manager support”
Coaching, Mentoring,
Skills Development
Time
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 244
Next Steps
Participate in the post workshop assessment:
 You will receive an e-mail after the workshop with the link below
 https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5pK661Ze3_2bhu9QaFwDQejg_3d_3d
Continue to use Solution Selling® and Sales Management & Coaching eLearning:
 Take additional modules for areas that need improvement
 Will be used for reinforcement
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 245
Effective Habits
Integration of Knowledge, Skills and Desire
KNOWLEDGE
(What to do, why to)
“Creating a habit requires work in all
three areas…
-----------------------------------------------
HABITS
SKILLS
(How to)
DESIRE
(Want to)
it is sometimes a painful process. It’s a
change motivated by a higher purpose,
by the willingness to subordinate what
you think you want now for what you
want later.”
Source: Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. Used with permission.
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 246
APPENDIX
www.solutionselling.com
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 247
Skill Coaching Guide: Prospecting
Potential Skill Issue: Prospecting
Verifiable Outcome
or Evidence
Potential Reasons
Potential Remedial Activities

 Schedule blocks of time or
events for business
development (i.e. protect their
calendar)
Business
Development
Strategy (plans)
Low quality of business
development job aids and
tools

 Coach to develop improved
business development job
aids and tools (Look for
appropriate value and pain
messaging)
Prospecting / Call
logs
Inaccurate call lists (poorly
targeted audience)

 Update and check lists

 Conduct role plays and
provide feedback
 Concentrate on focused
specific job titles with
repetition
No follow-up to “leads” or
interest shown by prospects

 Review call logs, tickler
(reminder) files and
communications
 Review dropped opportunities
and develop a plan of followup activities for specific ones
No follow-up to “leads” or
interest shown by prospects

 Review “Stimulating Interest”
module in Solution Selling for
Sales Execution™
Not enough “sacred” business
development or prospecting
time scheduled
Business
Development
Activities, Letters
& emails
Poor execution
Lead Letters
Potential Sponsor
Letters
www.solutionselling.com
Notes
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 248
Skill Coaching Guide: Need Development with Sponsor
Potential Skill Issue: Need Development (Vision Processing) with Potential Sponsor
Verifiable Outcome
or Evidence
Potential Reasons
Potential Remedial Activities

 Role play vision creation
dialogue (Look for good
control and “drill down”
questions and well-written
capability vision questions)

 Coach to develop improved
Pain Sheets®
 Review Sponsor Letter for
qualification components

 Conduct role plays and
provide feedback
 Concentrate on focused job
titles for repetition
No follow-up after vision
processing conversation

 Ask key debriefing questions
 Set deadline for sending
Sponsor Letters / emails (ask
to be copied or blind copied)
 Reward well-written letters
 Restrict use of resources
Access to power not asked for
and/or not documented

 Role play “bargain for access
to power” dialogue

 Review “Vision Creation”,
“Vision Reengineering” and
“Buyer / Process
Qualification” modules in
Solution Selling for Sales
Execution™
Discussion focuses on
products and services instead
of creating a “vision of a
solution” that addresses a
business issue
Low quality of need
development job aids and
tools
Poor execution
Pain Sheet®
Potential Sponsor
Letter / email
General
www.solutionselling.com
Notes
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 249
Skill Coaching Guide: Need Development with Power Sponsor
Potential Skill Issue: Need Development (Vision Processing) with Potential Power Sponsor
Verifiable Outcome
or Evidence
Potential Reasons
Discussion focuses on
products and services
instead of creating a “vision
of a solution” that addresses
a business issue
Low quality of need
development job aids and
tools
Pain Sheet®
Potential Power
Sponsor Letter /
email
Evaluation Plan
Poor execution
No follow-up after vision
processing conversation
No Evaluation Plan or poorly
written (i.e. “one-sided”
Evaluation Plan”
General
www.solutionselling.com
Potential Remedial Activities

 Role play vision creation
dialogue (Look for good control
and “drill down” questions and
well-written capability vision
questions)

 Coach to develop improved Pain
Sheets®
 Review Power Sponsor Letter for
qualification components

 Conduct role plays and provide
feedback
 Concentrate on focused job
titles for repetition
 Interview existing clients

 Ask key debriefing questions
 Set deadline for sending Power
Sponsor Letters / emails (ask to
be copied or blind copied)
 Reward well-written letters

 Role play “qualify power and
buying process” dialogue
 Review sample plans
 Provide resources only for
opportunities where plans have
been written

 Review “Buyer / Process
Qualification” modules in
Solution Selling for Sales
Execution™
Notes
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 250
Skill Coaching Guide: Process Control
Potential Skill Issue: Process Control
Verifiable Outcome
or Evidence
Evaluation Plan
Go / No Go Step
Completion
Letters
Potential Reasons
No Evaluation Plan

 Role play “qualify power and
buying process” dialogue
 Provide sample Evaluation Plans
 Provide resources only for
opportunities where plans have
been written
Evaluation Plans are not
maintained and updated
during execution (i.e. lose
momentum and focus)

 Review use of Go/No Go Step
Completion Letters / emails

 Review Evaluation Plans for critical
elements (operational, transition
and financial proof)
 Examine timing and sequence of
events within the plan
 Check balance of mutual activities
between seller and buyer

 Develop a “refocus” plan that
minimizes commitments /
resources devoted and attempts to
get the Power Sponsor involved in
the evaluation process

 Review “Buyer / Process
Qualification” and “Elements of
and Evaluation Plan” modules in
Solution Selling for Sales
Execution™
Incomplete Evaluation
Plan or poorly written (i.e.
“one-sided” Evaluation
Plan)
Evaluation criteria is
negotiated with someone
other than Power Sponsor
General
www.solutionselling.com
Potential Remedial Activities
Notes
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 251
Skill Coaching Guide: Negotiating and Closing
Potential Skill Issue: Negotiating and Closing
Verifiable Outcome
or Evidence
Potential Reasons
Not all of the events within
the Evaluation Plan are
complete (i.e. the
opportunity may not be
closeable)
Evaluation Plan
with progress
documented
Go / No Go Step
Completion
Letters
Poor planning and
execution of earlier
process steps hindering
later process steps
Potential Remedial Activities

 Review all events within the
Evaluation Plan for completeness
 Review Go / No Go Step
Completion Letters to ensure
progress was agreed upon

 Review value cycle or value
analysis for compelling reason to
take action
 Review Negotiating Worksheet to
review “stands” developed
 Review Get / Give list
 Discuss timing of the intended
close
 Role play negotiation scenario
 Have manager negotiate the close

 Review need to maintain margins
on opportunity
 Review value analysis indicating a
reasonable return (i.e. no need to
discount)
 Include “reach final agreement” as
event in the Evaluation Plan

 Review “Elements of and
Evaluation Plan” and “Reach Final
Agreement” modules in Solution
Selling for Sales Execution™
Value Analysis
Negotiating
Worksheet
Get-Give List
Using discounts as a leadin to negotiation (too
early)
General
www.solutionselling.com
Notes
© Solution Selling, Inc. • 2009  PAGE 252