Success Factor: Learning from Losses
Question 1: When we lose a deal, we identify deficits in our own sales approach and build these learnings into future sales opportunities.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
When they lose a sale, most Sales people take what the customer gives as a reason at face value. They do not dig deeper to identify deficits in their own sales approach. This results in mistakes being repeated and resources being wasted.
Success Factor: Focusing Resources On Deals You Can Win
Question 2: In RFP situations, we use a set of formal criteria to make a sound go/no-go decision. We then successfully introduce requirements which we fulfil better than the competition.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Customers are required to evaluate alternative solutions and encourage you to participate in RFPs. But if a preferred supplier is in the pole position and has established relationships it will be difficult to win if you are the challenger.
Investing resources in the wrong opportunities can hurt in more ways than one. You might be so busy chasing no-hope opportunities that you lack resources to win the good ones.
Success Factor: Quantifying The Benefits Of A Solution
Question 3: We have a good understanding of the KPIs affected by our solutions and work with our customers to quantify the benefits.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
The quantification of benefits takes the focus away from price and connects your solution to the finance and senior business executives whose KPIs your solution will impact. It accelerates the customer’s buying process and improves your negotiation position.
Success Factor: Generating leads through referrals
Question 4: We continuously generate leads by asking satisfied customers to introduce us to new ones.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Most customers you have done a good job for are more then happy to make a recommendation. Based on our recent research, nearly two-thirds of survey participants (63%) said that they would be willing to introduce a trusted person to their network. And customers say that an introduction from a trusted person is the second most effective way to get a first meeting with them.
Success Factor: Supporting your Customer in Internal Selling
Question 5: We always influence the final customer decision by preparing our contacts for internal selling.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Projects are receiving increased scrutiny by top management before being approved. But the CEO and the rest of the C-suite in a large modern company are very busy. Highly competent people surround them and key tasks like selecting vendors are usually delegated. Depending on the size or importance of the business, the CXO signs off, but they don’t want to spend lots of time sitting through meetings with vendor Sales organisations.
Success Factor: Running good Opportunity Reviews
Question 6: The way we do Opportunity Reviews today, is perceived as a positive experience.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
B2B sales cycles are getting longer and more complex, so the cost of pitching is rising. The increased investment you have to make means it’s more important than ever to make sure your Sales Process is under control. The management tool you use is an Opportunity Review.
Success Factor: Company Sales Process
Question 7: Our company Sales Process helps us win business.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Many Sales people yawn or think of control when they hear the words Sales Process. They don’t get any value from it or even feel that it gets in the way of selling.
This comment from a frustrated Sales Professional sums up what many people feel “Every hour spent meeting a customer seems to require 1 hour in front of the computer putting information into the CRM system”.
Success Factor: Responsiveness
Question 8: The quality and speed of our responses to customer requests for information sets us apart from the competition.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
From the customer’s point of view, vendors are all starting to look very much the same. Things like quality, price and reputation get you on the short list but you be up against competitors who are offering virtually the same at a similar price. At this point not “What you Sell” but “How you Sell” becomes the key competitive differentiator. That’s why Responsiveness (getting back to people quickly with the information they need and in high quality) is a significant factor in winning business today.
Success Factor: Developing and Executing a Competitive Strategy
Question 9: We carefully assess our competitive strengths and weaknesses in each sales opportunity and then develop and execute the best competitive strategy. We consistently outwit the competition.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Most Sales people only apply one strategy and that is to put their best solution forward. Even if your solution is superior to the competition and you are the front-runner, you need a strategy because your competitors will try to catch you out. And what if you are in a weak position? How can you outwit the competition and win?
Success Factor: Interviewing candidates
Question 10: When we recruit new Sales people, we use a structured interview guide to assess the competencies required to execute our Sales Process, thereby minimising hiring mistakes.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
In an interview you want to assess the candidate’s experience and more important their ability to work within your Professional Sales Process. You want to find out how big the gaps are.
Success Factor: High Quality Proposals
Question 11: We fully understand how our customers define good proposals and always fulfil these expectations.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Based on our survey of 300 customer executives, a high percentage on respondents said that vendor proposals do not meet their expectations:
- 57% feel that the solution is not described clearly and that too much generic text is used
- 62% are dissatisfied with the Management Summary, the first thing they read
- 48% feel that specific benefits for key stakeholders are missing
Success Factor: Meeting Preparation
Question 12: We fully understand how our customers define good first meetings and always fulfil their expectations.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
More than half of the customer executives we recently surveyed said that they are not satisfied with the quality of first meetings. These quotes show why:
- “I am sick and tired of educating Sales people about our business and industry”
- “Sales people should focus on the issues I am facing, not just bring standard presentations”
- “If I feel my time is being wasted, I just switch off”
Success Factor: Understanding the Buying Center
Question 13: We always have a thorough understanding of the Buying Center and individual customer needs before we submit a proposal.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
In complex B2B Sales there are a lot of people involved, you have to discover who they all are. This important part of the Sales Process is rarely part of the customer’s buying process. Then you have to discover what each person’s role in the decision making process is and what relationships they may have with your competitors. The individual Business Goals, Personal Goals and Decision Criteria can be many and vary greatly from person to person. Failure to do all this effectively is the cause of a great many failed pitches.
Success Factor: Individual Value Propositions
Question 14: We always tailor our value propositions to the different needs of the key stakeholders.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
An Individual Value Proposition focuses on one person, perhaps a key decision maker or an important influencer. Depending on the complexity of the customer’s buying process, there may be many people involved. This means you have to develop multiple Individual Value Propositions – one size does not fit all.
This type of customisation sets your communication apart from the competition. Remember “How you sell is why you win”.
Success Factor: Taking Control of the Sales Process
Question 15: I think that we are always in control of the sales process.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Mostly you will start off not being in control of the Sales Process. Buyers will ask you for prices up front, solutions straight away or for presentations to people you don’t know. All perfect common sense for the customer. All potential disasters for you.
Success Factor: Preparing Negotiations
Question 16: We never make a price concession without getting something in return.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Whether you are trying to win a new customer, close new business with an existing account or renegotiate an annual contract, you will almost always end up facing a tough Buyer demanding a price reduction. They use all the tricks in the book to put you under pressure and get a better deal.
Success Factor: Filling the Pipeline with New Leads
Question 17: We have a robust pipeline i.e. we make the numbers even if our largest opportunities fail to close.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
What happens when you lose the biggest deal in your pipeline, the one you have been focussing all your effort on? Life as a Sales person can become very uncomfortable if you don’t have enough opportunities to compensate for the loss. It is easy to pass the buck for lead generation to Marketing but at the end of the day Sales is responsible for making the numbers.
Success Factor: Team Selling
Question 18: The way we engage as a team is seen by our customers as a competitive differentiator.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Did you watch the last World Cup? The host country Brazil had a proud history of footballing success and a team of international star players. But in the semi final they suffered a massive defeat, going down 1-7 to Germany who went on to win the cup. Brazil may well have had the better players, but Germany were the better team.
In the world of B2B selling, a well aligned team can clearly differentiate you from the competition and be a deciding factor in winning deals and developing accounts.
Success Factor: Developing Relationships in Existing Accounts
Question 19: We have good relationships with all the different and relevant Buying Centers in customer organisations for our portfolio of products and services.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
Winning new customers is great but unless you expand your relationship into other Buying Centers at a customer, revenue can quickly dry up after the first project is completed.
Success Factor: Making Sales Training Stick
Question 20: Our Sales Trainings are relevant and have a fast and sustained impact on business results.
Your Answer:
Why This Is Important:
A significant amount of time and money is wasted on Sales Training. Despite good evaluation scores there is often no change in the way people work.
But if you do a few crucial things right you can get adoption to above 80%.