B2B Software Sales Advice Needed

10 years ago

How many sales presentations have you done over the past week? Four weeks?

Do some time to research Sandler's Training methods.

Thanks

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dunkinbbb

10 years ago

Originally Posted by hewlett

When I was a kid, I sold (first) phonebooks and then fax machines. Either one would often take less than three minutes to sell once I was in front of a prospect. If they happened to need a fax machine, and something I had was within their price-range, I could sometimes have them in line at the check-out counter in less than a minute. I wasn't even that good - that's just the nature of retail sales. Now I'm selling software consulting services, and the sales cycle is a *lot* longer than three minutes, in fact it's closer to four months! I realize that if I'm going to be able to expand my business I need to cut this down. Here is the current process: Meet person (either through social media, networking events, referrals or cold-calling). I make a good impression and then call the next day to request an appointment, and often receive one. Then I make the pitch. Usually they want to "think it over." Then I don't hear from them for a week - when I follow-up they will request for something in writing to show their manager. No problem, I'll send them a proposal. But from here it drags on - typically a software manager will need managerial approval, approval from the CFO and sometimes legal review of the contract. While I understand that those things take time, there is a lot of waiting and follow-ups involved. Somewhat frustratingly, not everyone buys at this point and I haven't found a good way to distinguish the time-wasters from people who are genuinely likely to buy. Anyone think of a way to speed this up? I'd be *so* much ahead of my competition if I could find a way to expedite this, even by a factor of two. Thanks in advance!

Hi Hewlett,

Just a couple of thoughts - some of which you might not like.

I assume you're a small company selling to larger companies.

I spent 20+ years successfully in B2B sales - selling big ticket software, fwiw.

1 - I would try to restructure my services so they don't need approval so far up the chain. Perhaps monthly payments.

2 - Anytime you introduce a contract into a corporation, you automatically introduce a whole new source of friction.

Consider what might happen if you replaced the contract with a Terms of Service letter - or something that would not automatically trigger the legal department's participation -

They have no incentive to say yes - only no.

If they want out of the contract early , consider what your options are realistically - are you really going to sue a large company? And win?

Perhaps its better to get more business more quickly - and if they cancel prematurely - well, that's the way it is - and something for you to reflect upon.

One more thing - and I'm going to sound like an ass for bringing it up - but in the spirit of trying to be helpful.

You post is 25+ lines of solid text - do you have any idea how hard that is to read?

Especially if you are requesting help - gratis - from others.

I now design sales funnels for offline companies - and a lot of it is reducing the "friction" in the sales process.

I took 20 seconds to look at your other posts - same style.

I don't know you nor your company or sales process - but these posts show a certain lack of "empathy" with the intended audience.

I have to wonder how that carries over to your sales process.

Actually, one might say that both issues point to the same thing:

Make your company as easy to do business with as possible.

Eliminate or reduce possible sources of friction - as seen from your prospect's point of view.

When I'm not sure what to do, I always look to copy what's working for others.

Amazon "One-click"

I think

I click

Purchase made

HTH,

Bill

[ 2 ] Thanks

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Jason Kanigan

10 years ago

Originally Posted by hewlett

When I was a kid, I sold (first) phonebooks and then fax machines. Either one would often take less than three minutes to sell once I was in front of a prospect. If they happened to need a fax machine, and something I had was within their price-range, I could sometimes have them in line at the check-out counter in less than a minute. I wasn't even that good - that's just the nature of retail sales. Now I'm selling software consulting services, and the sales cycle is a *lot* longer than three minutes, in fact it's closer to four months! I realize that if I'm going to be able to expand my business I need to cut this down. Here is the current process: Meet person (either through social media, networking events, referrals or cold-calling). I make a good impression and then call the next day to request an appointment, and often receive one. Then I make the pitch. Usually they want to "think it over." Then I don't hear from them for a week - when I follow-up they will request for something in writing to show their manager. No problem, I'll send them a proposal. But from here it drags on - typically a software manager will need managerial approval, approval from the CFO and sometimes legal review of the contract. While I understand that those things take time, there is a lot of waiting and follow-ups involved. Somewhat frustratingly, not everyone buys at this point and I haven't found a good way to distinguish the time-wasters from people who are genuinely likely to buy. Anyone think of a way to speed this up? I'd be *so* much ahead of my competition if I could find a way to expedite this, even by a factor of two. Thanks in advance!

Are you...screening?

Good impression? Send them a proposal? You are presenting to unqualified prospects.

Start over.

What key problems in this niche does your software solve? What situation are companies in that makes them rabidly NEED this solution ASAP? (What does your software DO? That would be helpful to know.)

Find out. Then screen like crazy for companies in that situation.

Now THEY have a serious problem. They desperately need a solution.

Do you think selling will be a little easier under these conditions?? Do you think the sales cycle might be a little shorter?

Right now you are presenting to everything and anything under the sun. Stop doing that. You are just spinning your wheels and wasting energy. Be cautious about giving quotations. Only spend your energy on prospects who are likely to buy. Uncover their hidden reasons for wanting to buy, instead of throwing your proposal at them and hoping it sticks.

Your quotes have sunk into bureaucratic quicksand so far because those companies really don't have a serious enough problem to want to get your solution. Filter better.

Also, start at the top. Stop presenting to low-level Yes-People. Go straight to the decision maker. If they put their arm around you and steer you down to a lower level, saying, "Talk to John; he takes care of this stuff," that's fine: now you come with the authority of The Boss, and you can bet the Yes-Person will jump.

[ 4 ] Thanks

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helisell

10 years ago

Originally Posted by hewlett

When I was a kid, I sold (first) phonebooks and then fax machines.
Problem 1.
THAT WAS BEFORE THE INTERNET....
the world has changed

Here is the current process: Meet person (either through social media, networking events, referrals or cold-calling). I make a good impression and then call the next day to request an appointment, and often receive one. Then I make the pitch. Usually they want to "think it over." Then I don't hear from them for a week - when I follow-up they will request for something in writing to show their manager. No problem, I'll send them a proposal.
Problem 2. NOT ALL DECISION MAKERS AT THE APPOINTMENT.
Not qualified correctly and therefore not closable.

Anyone think of a way to speed this up? I'd be *so* much ahead of my competition if I could find a way to expedite this, even by a factor of two. Thanks in advance!
Problem 3. YOU'LL SPEED UP BY SLOWING DOWN. QUALIFYING CORECTLY

Sorry for the all caps but I HAD to emphasise the points. Your whole process needs an overhaul I'm afraid.

.

[ 2 ] Thanks
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Making Calls To Sell Something? What are you actually saying?
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hewlett

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Rearden

How many sales presentations have you done over the past week? Four weeks?

In the past week I've done four pitches. In the past four weeks I've done ten pitches. Thanks for referencing Sandler's. Most of my work incorporates his methods. Usually I deliver my pitch in what probably passes for conversational English. I'm subtle.

Originally Posted by dunkinbbb

Hi Hewlett,

Just a couple of thoughts - some of which you might not like.

I assume you're a small company selling to larger companies.

I spent 20+ years successfully in B2B sales - selling big ticket software, fwiw.

1 - I would try to restructure my services so they don't need approval so far up the chain. Perhaps monthly payments.

2 - Anytime you introduce a contract into a corporation, you automatically introduce a whole new source of friction.

Consider what might happen if you replaced the contract with a Terms of Service letter - or something that would not automatically trigger the legal department's participation -

They have no incentive to say yes - only no.

If they want out of the contract early , consider what your options are realistically - are you really going to sue a large company? And win?

Perhaps its better to get more business more quickly - and if they cancel prematurely - well, that's the way it is - and something for you to reflect upon.

One more thing - and I'm going to sound like an ass for bringing it up - but in the spirit of trying to be helpful.
...

Bill

No, you don't sound like an ass. I struggle to get direct feedback and criticism from people, so I thank you.

You're correct in that I work for a small company selling to bigger companies. I work in New York and sell network security consulting service. I've been lurking here for about four months and was inspired by a post that someone wrote. One guy said, "Hey, I'm having trouble selling web sites."

To which someone else responded, "Having trouble selling web sites? Hell, web sites sell themselves. If you can't sell a web site, you can't sell." Why am I having trouble selling security? Clearly the problem is me. After reading this, it took me about a week to improve my canvassing and prospecting process. After I fixed that, it took me about a month to fix my pitching.

Now it's down to closing, and this is where so many enterprise sales guys fail. Nine months is considered standard and a year is considered tolerable. Six months is considered good and three months is considered fantastic. But three months is too long for me. My goal is to get it down to two.

You were wrong about the empathy thing. This site has a (minor) javascript problem that was deformatting my posts. I've got a temporary fix in place but I might have to email the site owner at some point.

I've put some thought into what you've said, and you're right. I need to work on a funnel. I need to cut legal out of the process. Probably I need to cut senior management as well.

What draws Legal into a situation? You're right, contracts. Okay so I need to axe the contract and maybe issue a TOS. As far as documentation goes, it's company policy that we can accept a signed purchase order. That's fairly benign and shouldn't excite legal.

Next, senior management? I think early on in the process, the second time that they request a meeting maybe I should offer to do a "Lunch and Learn" with them but ask them to pay $1.00. If they balk at paying a dollar, maybe it's safe to conclude that they're deadbeats? They shouldn't need managerial approval to spend a dollar.

It sounds like you've conquered all of the same problems that I'm attempting to conquer, so if you have *any* further advice, please believe me that I'm all ears.

Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan

Are you...screening?

Good impression? Send them a proposal? You are presenting to unqualified prospects.

Start over.

What key problems in this niche does your software solve? What situation are companies in that makes them rabidly NEED this solution ASAP? (What does your software DO? That would be helpful to know.)

Find out. Then screen like crazy for companies in that situation.

...

.

Thanks. You're right. My first year doing this, I tried selling to everyone and anyone, especially doctor's offices. Then I realized why it's so hard to sell to a doctor. They're rational people, astute businessmen, spending *their own* money. I shifted to enterprise sales where the decision maker will be spending their employers money, which they do much more liberally.

And then I started to get results. I refined it even more, to Fortune 500 companies. How can I further refine this?

Originally Posted by helisell

Sorry for the all caps but I HAD to emphasise the points. Your whole process needs an overhaul I'm afraid.

.

Thanks. I'll work on getting all decision makers in the meeting.

[ 1 ] Thanks
1 reply

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Blase

10 years ago

I could write pages based on your post, but I'll keep it short.

First off I've sold software and IT equipment to businesses, I worked for NCR.

The first thing you have to do is take a survey of the present system.
You have to know what they are doing now, you have to know where all of the problems are and where all of the costs are.

During this process you have to find out who in the company can be your coach,
your inside man that will tell you what's going on. You also must, must, find out who the decision maker is or you are screwed.

Now take all of the data you've collected and flow chart it out to show their system.
Next show all the areas that are inefficient and cost money. Then make a side by side comparison of your software and how it solves their problems and save them money.

You only make your presentation in person, you don't mail it in.
You only make your presentation if the decision maker is in the room.

You are a consultant, you are going to make an impact on their business, if you don't have their respect for what you do and they don't see the value, don't even start with them.

Thanks
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dunkinbbb

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Blase

I could write pages based on your post, but I'll keep it short.

First off I've sold software and IT equipment to businesses, I worked for NCR.

The first thing you have to do is take a survey of the present system.
You have to know what they are doing now, you have to know where all of the problems are and where all of the costs are.

During this process you have to find out who in the company can be your coach,
your inside man that will tell you what's going on. You also must, must, find out who the decision maker is or you are screwed.

Now take all of the data you've collected and flow chart it out to show their system.
Next show all the areas that are inefficient and cost money. Then make a side by side comparison of your software and how it solves their problems and save them money.

You only make your presentation in person, you don't mail it in.
You only make your presentation if the decision maker is in the room.

You are a consultant, you are going to make an impact on their business, if you don't have their respect for what you do and they don't see the value, don't even start with them.

Blase has given you lots of excellent, real world advice about the sales process.

I'm old enough to remember NCR - LOL.

With that, here are some additional thoughts:

I'd create a very focused USP if you don't already have one.

Try to niche it down a couple of times - - comparing it with the leaders in your industry...

There's a book from the 80's or 90s - Positioning by Trout and Ries

Talks about how to find your niche in the marketplace

Every market wants multiple players.

McDonald's job - especially back then - was to convert the world to eating fast food burgers

Burger King's role was to find the already converted McDonalds customers who wanted a broiled burger instead of fried -
"Have it your way"

Wendy's was to find the McDonalds customer who wanted a bit more "upscale" burger

Where's the Beef?

You should find your narrow USP - and then your job becomes marketing/selling to those companies that value what you do best.

We sold software into the large call center space - banks, insurance companies, QVC, etc.

More by default than design, we became the "reliable " solution.

Others were the "high tech" solution, the "easy to use solution. the "inexpensive"solution, etc.

So, over time , we realized our job was to quality the prospects - not sell them

I think Jason calls this "qualifying out" -

to see if they were indeed a fit.

So - no more "sales" conversation - but rather - as Blase says -

asking probing questions about their problems and values

( a good way to do this is to ask about previous, unrelated purchases - and discover that they value ease of use above all, or 24 hour support or ...as evidenced by their previous purchases)

Understand their problem

Someone once said

"If you understand their problem better than the prospect does - they'll most likely buy from you"

I'm not saying this transition is as easy as I make it sound here - but

once you transform into the consultant who is looking to see if there is enough of a fit to move forward to the next step - you transform yourself from the guy who is looking for any girl to take home tonight - to the guy who is screening for his potential wife - and the person at the other end of the conversation instantly feels the difference - if you really mean it - and are not just using it as a sales tactic.

Another thing we learned.

Even multi billions dollar institutions often (at least back then ) did not do lifetime cost of ownership analysis when comparing vendors - since the support and maintenance fees often came out of different budgets.

Since you are a small, private company, you might want to reconsider how you distribute your revenue across these various buckets - to make going with your company an easier choice.

Good Luck,

Bill

one more thing

regarding your funnel

you might want to start writing some whitepapers in your area - to establish yourself as an authority - and to get them into your funnel.

8 hours of google research - and a couple of days of writing - should produce an excellent paper on just about anything.

Perry Marshall has some good, free info on this tactic - and others regarding B2B sales

Thanks

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shockwave

10 years ago

First off, I'm going to agree with Jason and Blase. In fact, this specific thing was brought up in another thread a couple of weeks ago.

I sell ERP, CRM, and Managed IT Services all day, every day in my regular 9-5 gig. We're talking SMB-Mid Market solutions with 3-6 month sales cycles....but not Enterprise Solutions.

1. Start at the TOP of the Decision maker chain. Call that CEO, CFO first and get referred down the chain. If you are calling in and asking for some IT Manager or Director, you're already on the wrong path - these are Influencers....not Decision Makers who write the check.

2. When you call that CEO, CFO make that conversation short and sweet - and about what impact you, your firm, your solutions can bring to their organization (ie. Lower Costs, Increase Productivity, Scalability...etc). These guys don't care about the technology. And remember, you are only trying to schedule and appointment (in-person or conference call)...you're not trying to sell them.

I could go on and on....but you've already been given plenty of good advice in this thread.

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hewlett

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Blase

I could write pages based on your post, but I'll keep it short.
.
.
.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Thanks. I like your advice, especially the idea about the inside man. This reminds me so much about my previous experience as a project manager – I always had a friend in accounting, always had information coming from human resources, always had a couple of buddies down in QC to keep me informed about anything going on. Why haven't I cultivated this inside of my prospect companies? Of course you are correct. I've decided that in the overhaul that I'm giving my sales process, that one of the core components will be the development of an inside man.

You mentioned that you could write pages, but honestly, even if you were to write volumes I'd be interested to learn.

Originally Posted by dunkinbbb

Blase has given you lots of excellent, real world advice about the sales process.
.
.
.

Thanks.

We are a high-end, ultra-high tech boutique security consulting company focusing on Fortune 100 companies, specializing in quality and customer service. We like to think we provide a "southern hospitality" level of customer service. Our projects typically are delivered at triple the level of engineering as something you'd see from the leading brand.

None of this tends to really hook a customer so much as the fact that we are the security company to other security company. Why hire another security company when you can hire the people that have trained them?

We've trained some NSA people, for example.

Originally Posted by shockwave

First off, I'm going to agree with Jason and Blase. In fact, this specific thing was brought up in another thread a couple of weeks ago.
.
.
.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Thank you. We've had limited success with this tactic and it's wonderful, as you must know, to have your ideas ratified by an expert.

Let me ask you something, because I've got just a bit of anxiety about exploring this technique further. Let's suppose that you got a promotion to CFO at some company which might include making decisions about network security. A couple of weeks later, your boss walks me into your office. Don't you resent the fact that I've gone over your head?
I tried to imagine this myself, but since I run the company the best analogy I could think of, would be if my father recommended a vendor to me. But that's funny, because if my father recommended *anything* to me, I'd absolutely be interested.
I rather like your idea but I think I would be a lot better at it if I were just a bit more confident in it. Any insight you could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks
2 replies

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dunkinbbb 10 years ago

"None of this tends to really hook a customer so much as the fact that we are the security company to other security company. Why hire another security company when you can hire the people that have trained them?

We've trained some NSA people, for example. "

That's a pretty damn good start on a USP, IMHO.

Keep answering the question from their point of view -

Why should they do business with you - instead of everyone else - or even doing nothing.

And I'd also come from the position that not everyone feels they need (appreciates) that very high level of security -

and your job in the sales conversation becomes to determine whether or not they are one of the companies who appreciates how dangerous the online world has become and can commit the level of resources needed to have you design a security protocol for them.

Also, I would consider narrowing down my focus a level or two.

Dan Kennedy talks about MDs:

the GP get paid at a certain level

the cardiologist gets paid a multiple more

the open heart/transplant guy get a multiple higher

and the celebrity MD in the field writes his own ticket.

Something to think about in your field - since it would appear that you know what you are doing re: security.

Perception is important.

Best,

Bill
- [ 1 ] Thanks
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AlexTee

10 years ago

Originally Posted by hewlett

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Thanks. I like your advice, especially the idea about the inside man. This reminds me so much about my previous experience as a project manager - I always had a friend in accounting, always had information coming from human resources, always had a couple of buddies down in QC to keep me informed about anything going on. Why haven't I cultivated this inside of my prospect companies? Of course you are correct. I've decided that in the overhaul that I'm giving my sales process, that one of the core components will be the development of an inside man.

You mentioned that you could write pages, but honestly, even if you were to write volumes I'd be interested to learn.

Thanks.

We are a high-end, ultra-high tech boutique security consulting company focusing on Fortune 100 companies, specializing in quality and customer service. We like to think we provide a "southern hospitality" level of customer service. Our projects typically are delivered at triple the level of engineering as something you'd see from the leading brand.

None of this tends to really hook a customer so much as the fact that we are the security company to other security company. Why hire another security company when you can hire the people that have trained them?

We've trained some NSA people, for example.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Thank you. We've had limited success with this tactic and it's wonderful, as you must know, to have your ideas ratified by an expert.

Let me ask you something, because I've got just a bit of anxiety about exploring this technique further. Let's suppose that you got a promotion to CFO at some company which might include making decisions about network security. A couple of weeks later, your boss walks me into your office. Don't you resent the fact that I've gone over your head?
I tried to imagine this myself, but since I run the company the best analogy I could think of, would be if my father recommended a vendor to me. But that's funny, because if my father recommended *anything* to me, I'd absolutely be interested.
I rather like your idea but I think I would be a lot better at it if I were just a bit more confident in it. Any insight you could provide would be appreciated.

"We are a high-end, ultra-high tech boutique security consulting company focusing on Fortune 100 companies, specializing in quality and customer service."

Fortune 100 companies are more exclusive than Fortune 500 companies.

You have to change your approach if you want to succeed. You should be presenting at the C-Level only!

If you are a high-end, ultra-high tech boutique security consulting company then you have to position yourself as such.

Specializing in quality and customer service is nothing more than a platitude that won't get you anywhere.

Can you and/or do you site CSI reports or anything from the SANS Institute
in your marketing collaterals?

Are you a VAR for tier 1 vendors?

Does your company follow ITIL Best Practices?

How well versed are you on Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act, HIPPA, etc.

Does anyone in your company carry certificates such as GIAC, CSSP and others?

Have you authored any white papers?

Does your company mitigate risks, solve problems or both?

There is so much more.......

Thanks

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Jason Kanigan

10 years ago

Let me ask you something, because I've got just a bit of anxiety about exploring this technique further. Let's suppose that you got a promotion to CFO at some company which might include making decisions about network security. A couple of weeks later, your boss walks me into your office. Don't you resent the fact that I've gone over your head?

Be assured, if you won't call at the top and get referred down with the mantle of authority, someone else will. That is a much faster process.

Are you trying to be friends with these people? They are not your buddies. They are prospects. You are offering a solution to a problem, not inviting them over for dinner. This is business.

Can you be friendly? If you wish. But this is business. It is about results, not kicking back and having a few beers and shooting the breeze. Not about avoiding stepping on toes. It's going to happen from time to time I suppose; that's human nature, though it has never been a deal-killer issue for any project I worked on. Frankly, there were bigger problems than that. It hasn't been the big deal you think it might be. If there's hidden resentment when you come from the top officer on down, that's an issue within their company and a potential personality fit issue I hope you uncover. But I would still rather be directed down than have to fight upwards.

The top officer is the ONLY person in the organization who doesn't have to follow the plan...who can reallocate resources at any time...who doesn't need rules or procedures to help make up their mind. Who would you rather have advocating and championing your project? An empowered Yes-Person, or the real decision maker?

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shockwave

10 years ago

Why don't you show your prospects how you've solved the CryptoLocker problem. If companies get hit with that, it's going to cost them a lot of time and money to get it fixed - if they can even get it fixed at all.

Thanks

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