3. 3
While closing is important
itâs too short term a concept in our
environment so should probably be
âalways be helpingâ instead ...
4. 4
Simple sale vs. complex solution sale
A sale is the exchange of a commodity or money as the price of a good or a service.[1]
Sales (plural only) is activity related to selling or the amount of goods or services sold
in a given time period. >>> TRANSACTION
Solution selling is a sales methodology. Rather than just promoting an existing
product, the salesperson focuses on the customer's pain(s) and addresses the issue
with his or her offerings (product and services). >>> SOLUTION
Relationship selling is a sales tactic in which the seller works on building relationships
with people instead of using traditional sales tactics. When enough people in your
marketplace know, like, and trust you, sales are the natural result. Relationship selling
is based on authenticity, genuine concern, and honesty. >>> RELATIONSHIP
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Building trust is
not as simple as
that - itâs actually
harder in data as
the area is less
subjective ...
10.
11.
12. Words: Honesty, credentials Actions: Keeping promises Emotions: Feeling safe to
raise difficult agendas
Caring: Focus, us or them
14. 14
Exercise: Creating trust
How can we create trust with prospects and clients by focusing on ...
â Credibility
â Reliability
â Intimacy
â Self-orientation
15.
16. 16
Treat initial emails like landing pages
â Headline: Why Datalicious
â Key Selling points: Benefits
â Social proof: Case studies
â Call to action: Next steps
25. 25
Different kinds of questions
In his book "Unconscious Branding," author Douglas Van Praet
says that if you want someone else to completely believe in
your idea, you must make them believe that it was their own
idea all along.
In terms of sales this means asking questions to find out
more information about the prospect but also to ask strategic
leading questions that you already know the answer to (and
have a solution for), i.e. the prospect identifies the challenge(s)
(which the salesperson probably has heard before) and the
salesperson shows the solution to the challenge (and maybe
not even in the same meeting) without specifically telling the
the prospect so they can work it out themselves ...
35. 35
Proposal template
While the term "solution selling" has become somewhat generic in the marketplace, the core brand of solution
selling still carries distinct characteristics. Followers of "solution-selling"[11] generally apply a consultative
sales approach to all aspects of their sales process (or during a sales cycle) including:
1. Prospecting
2. Diagnosing customer needs
3. Crafting a potential solution
4. Establishing value
5. Understanding the buying center / DMU decision making unit
6. Bargaining for access to decision-makers
7. Positioning proof, ROI and the total solution
8. Negotiating a win-win solution
9. Following up to ensure customer success
Proposal
template
38. 38
Closing deals by building trust and relationships
-Credibility-
- Research prospects even before the first email
- Research prospects in-depth before the first meeting
- Prepare questions showing you understand challenge(s)
- Prepare a slide deck for every meeting as a rough agenda
- Take detailed notes during meetings and share with team
- Use your notes to ask the wider team for help and ideas
- Find and attach relevant client case studies to emails
- Find and attach relevant and useful reports to emails
- Roll in your CEO or senior resources to help close
- Get client testimonials & case studies where possible
-Reliability-
- Call people back as fast as humanly possible
- Respond to emails as fast as humanly possible
- Even just to let the prospect know that you respond later
- Always send follow-up emails to every meeting or phone call
- Always agree on next steps and then action yours promptly
- Write quality internal briefs to reduce deliver problems
- Try to under-promise while selling so team can over-deliver
- Manage client expectations and agree on realistic timelines
- Set tasks and reminders in the CRM so do not forget anything
- Keep the CRM updated with contact details and notes
-Intimacy-
- Ask questions, even more questions and then listen
- Customise your questions to the contact type and time
- Research your key contacts, find similarities and use them
- Get your key contacts to talk about themselves personally
- Focus your energy on making your contacts feel important
- Set-up news alerts for your key prospects as talking points
-Self-orientation-
- Always have the best interest of the prospect at heart
- Work with them to identify barriers and help to remove them
- Be proactive and always try to go the extra mile for the prospect
- This could include writing of the solution business case for them
- Try to always provide various options to give (illusion of) choice
- But also provide a clear recommendation as to the best solution
