How to Win Your First Sale MIT Enterprise Forum October 17, 2006 Andrew Rudin, MS Managing Principal

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How to Win Your First SaleMIT Enterprise Forum/
October 17, 2006 Andrew Rudin, MSManaging
Principal, Outside Technologies,
Inc.www.outsidetechnologies.com703.255.3732arud
in_at_outsidetechnologies.com
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Objectives

• Learn how to align sales activities with company
  goals
• Learn basics of discovery, qualification, product
  strategy, pipeline development, and pricing as
  they relate to your first sale
• Develop your own sales readiness checklist
• Learn from Andys actual, real-world mistakes

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• The challenge
• I dont know who you are.
• I dont know your company.
• I dont know your companys product.
• I dont know your companys customers.
• I dont know your companys record.
• I dont know your companys reputation.
• --Now, what was it you wanted to sell me?

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• True marketing starts out with the customer, his
  demographics, his realities, his needs, his
  values. It does not ask what do we want to
  sell? It asks what does the customer want to
  buy?
• --Peter Drucker

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What are the root causes of sales failures?

• Inability to define the value sales provides to
  the organization
• Inability to connect value produced with outcomes
  customers seek
• Failure to identify and manage risk

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How do these issues show up day-to-day?

• We have no competitors in our space right now.
• Once we get a meeting, our product can sell
  itself.
• Everythings in placewe just need someone with
  a rolodex to start calling.
• To be successful, a salesperson must be a good
  talker and outgoing.
• I want solutions, not problems.

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Sales risk management starts with discovery

• Discovery is the process of revealing, exposing,
  or uncovering facts or information, and it is the
  genesis of all learning.
• Effective discovery results in action taken that
  would not have been before discovery.

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• What markets should we target?
• How should we price our solution?
• Who is the best person for us to talk to
  in your company?
• Where will we find our best opportunities?
• What risks do we face?
• Who are our competitors?
• If you could describe the ideal solution, what
  would it be?
• When do you plan to decide?

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Voice of the Customercategories of questions

• Can my company as Producer and my target company
  as Consumer generate mutually beneficial value?
• Qualification
• Networking
• Sentiment
• Validation

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What are the key questions to ask for
qualification? 4 Green Lights

• Outcome. Does the prospective customer seek an
  outcome that can be enabled with my product or
  service?
• Access. Can I get access to the people who can
  enable me to achieve the outcome I want?
• Timeframe. Does the prospective customer plan to
  purchase my product or service in a timeframe
  that is within my operating horizon?
• Resources. Does the prospective customer have
  the resources (money/time/people) to purchase and
  implement my solution?

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What other qualification questions are there?

• Profile (what are the attributes of my customer
  and his/her situation?)
• Consequence/impact () (what is the current state
  of the challenge and does it matter?)
• Trade off (if I pursue strategy x, what do I get
  and what must I give up?)
• Red flag (how should I address a material change
  in my fact base?)

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Your competitive position is strongest when your
prospect requires your product to

• Execute strategy
• Exploit new opportunities
• Manage efficiently
• The Challenge can you uncover these issues
  through your qualification questions?

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What are the critical success factors for
discovery?

• Begin with a foundation of trust, but expect
  anomalies
• Establish connected, transparent goals predicated
  on open exchange of information from the start
• Structure questions to offer an out
• Always bring questions to your meetings
• Focus early qualification questions on outcomes,
  not features

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What are the critical success factors for
discovery?

• Cultivate multiple sources of primary information
  
• Know what information you require
• Be assertive about asking for what you need after
  earning the right to ask
• Start with your top-level questions and then
  decompose them
• Ask strategic questions and connect your
  operational-level questions to strategic issues
• Provide proposals and pilot systems only when the
  financial impact AND criteria for judging are
  made known

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What should be our product strategy? How does it
relate to sales?

• Provide high purchase motivators
• Lower price and/or greater benefits
• Eliminate purchase barriers
• Easy-to-use (low/no switching costs) and/or
• Readily available (easy to buy)

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What is a sales funnel? Why is it important?
How does it relate to risk?

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Are you ready to sell?a checklist

• Figure out your risks and their likelihood and
  impact Eliminate/Reduce/Accept
• Develop a specific target (use scenarios) and
  know how to qualify
• Understand the value your product represents in
  financial terms
• Be able to communicate that value
• Have a compelling sales statement
• Possess situational awareness relative to
  competition
• Have a sales process
• Have a way to record, measure, and report on lead
  activity
• Have a customer that you can reference by name

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Now, were ready for our first sales call . . .
Formal Structure
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Pre-sales call checklistorhow to avoid hey,
lets stay in touch

• Objective and desired next step
• Your top questions to answer (5 minimum)
• Hypotheses on solution/need connection
• Description of your solution roadmap (high-level)
• Anticipated concerns
• Known risks directly related to meeting
• Model for evaluating scope of business problem
• Benefits/differentiators/financial value of what
  you provide AS THEY RELATE TO Howard/Denise
• Reference story that will likely connect with
  customer

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Possible discovery questions for the first meeting

• Could you share what your top three challenges
  are? What else could be added to the list?
• How do these connect to achieving your corporate
  strategy?
• Who else besides you is impacted by this problem?
• What are the most important capabilities and
  attributes for your solution provider?
• In the past, how have you solved problems
  relating to (my outcome)?

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Discovery lessons learned 1

• I cant share that information with you.

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Discovery lessons learned 2

• Your proposal is (way) too expensive for what we
  need.

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Discovery lessons learned 3

• Weve decided to put the project on the back
  burner.

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Discovery lessons learned 4

• Over my dead body will we ever install anything
  that uses (fill in your technology platform
  name)!

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What should I consider for pricing my
product/service?

• Risk
• Business objectives
• Perceived value
• Target marketing
• Financial resources
• Financial targets
• Competition/substitutes

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Questions?Or--Send them to me!
Andrew Rudin, MSManaging Principal, Outside
Technologies, Inc.www.outsidetechnologies.com703
.255.3732arudin_at_outsidetechnologies.com