Sales Professionals
Age Old Problem in Sales
Study after study reveals that customers want salespeople to “understand my business”. And, Heads of Sales want their people to be business people first, and sales people second.
Consultative sales people need to have better business acumen.
The Solution: "Walk in your Clients' Shoes"™
So What?
Here's how it helps the sales person:
- Be able to take a client conversation down a “problem resolution path” rather than a “product/service sales path”.
- Be able to position a potential solution in terms of business value.
- Be considered a business advisor instead of a vendor.
- Understand the inter-relatedness of business functions.
- Discover cause and effect relationships of various business decisions.
- Become more familiar with the language of various functional groups: Finance, Operations, Marketing, etc.
- Understand the impact of various operational decisions on the financials.
- Discover the business problems that your solutions can impact
Common wish list of Heads of Sales:
- We want our people to be better at communicating the value of our products.
- We want our people to have more confidence in having business conversations with executives.
- We want to be viewed as a “partner” instead of a “vendor” by our customers.
- We want to maintain margins by minimizing price negotiations.
- We want our people to sell “solutions”.
Most companies have a selling process/model that is used by their sales people. But, without the foundational knowledge of why customers buy, the tactical know-how is useless.
And, the reasons for buying are rooted in business operations. So, sales people with a deep understanding of business operations will have a greater chance of success with their clients.
Quick Look!
- Improve Business Acumen
- Walk in the clients shoes
- Discover cause and effect relationships
- Walk the problem-resolution path