I can't believe it has already been a month since my last post. Summer is supposed to be a relaxing time. Those who have traveled with small kids know that is not always the case... But so be it. Summer in the IT sales game has always been a slow time for business. This has two impacts, the first is the numbers always kind-of-suck this time of year, the second is you have more time to do the things you can't do when sales volume is high. This is kind of like New Years for VARs. That being said how about a New Year's Resolution... Make your customer's business critically important to you.
My opinions on many things about the technology industry, raising three daughters, volunteering my time and anything else that strikes my fancy.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Please remove my handcuffs they hurt (my sales)
Understanding your customers needs, challenges and objectives is the first step to selling a solution. I am not sure how many times we, as an industry, forget that.
I have been asked to give a talk several times that focuses on how to increase the solution sales traction in a company. The presentation is universally well received. The reason, I believe (based on the feedback I have been given), for the success of the message is this:
"The challenge has been identified over years of research, the message is clear, concise and in terms the target audience can understand."
This has lead me to the recognition that the most important thing we can do to sell solutions is understand our customers needs completely. Not partially, not kind-of, not almost 100%, but completely. I realize this is easier said than done but it is not too hard either. It's not as though you need to understand every aspect of your customer as well as they do, but you do need to demonstrate your understanding of the aspects of what you impact well enough so your customer can trust you.
What we have found in our research is, most of the time the challenges to doing boil down to the same thing...
I have been asked to give a talk several times that focuses on how to increase the solution sales traction in a company. The presentation is universally well received. The reason, I believe (based on the feedback I have been given), for the success of the message is this:
"The challenge has been identified over years of research, the message is clear, concise and in terms the target audience can understand."
This has lead me to the recognition that the most important thing we can do to sell solutions is understand our customers needs completely. Not partially, not kind-of, not almost 100%, but completely. I realize this is easier said than done but it is not too hard either. It's not as though you need to understand every aspect of your customer as well as they do, but you do need to demonstrate your understanding of the aspects of what you impact well enough so your customer can trust you.
What we have found in our research is, most of the time the challenges to doing boil down to the same thing...
Monday, July 16, 2012
A Matter of Responsibility
I was reading an article today that said layoff's in the tech sector have reached a 3 year high for the first half of this year. This is a trend I hate to see continue. I know many people affected by these layoffs and I am hopeful for their speedy entry back into the productive job force. Now onto the actual post...
For those companies who make money the old fashioned way... Your sales people are your channel to market, without them there are no sales. I see so many tech companies laying off their sales people right now and I wonder, how do you reach the customers those reps reached? I know, so reps under-perform and some hit incredibly difficult dry spells. That's the nature of sales, not everyone can be a rain-maker. But still, if those reps are your channel to market and they are no longer there, how do you maintain or grow your market penetration?
For those companies who make money the old fashioned way... Your sales people are your channel to market, without them there are no sales. I see so many tech companies laying off their sales people right now and I wonder, how do you reach the customers those reps reached? I know, so reps under-perform and some hit incredibly difficult dry spells. That's the nature of sales, not everyone can be a rain-maker. But still, if those reps are your channel to market and they are no longer there, how do you maintain or grow your market penetration?
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