Partners in Excellence

MARCH 18, 2024

.” That is, we present all the capabilities of our products and solutions, the “how” of achieving a goal or solving the problem. These things have nothing to do with “How to solve the problem/opportunity?” We provide endless content, demos, and discussions focused on the capabilities of our products.

Presentation 114

Presentation Closing Product Customers 114

Iannarino

JULY 4, 2021

Too Committed to Identifying a Problem. For a very long time, salespeople were taught that doing discovery means identifying a problem. Once you discover the problem, you open up the opportunity to insert your solution, solving the problem. The first thing you need to do is to create value for your prospective client.

Contract 339

Contract Contact Clients Conversion 339

Iannarino

JULY 21, 2021

The email continued with a list of “pain points,” a menu of the kind of problems that could compel me to change. These problems, he concluded, should motivate me to fire my current partner and switch to his company. The Gist: There is never a reason to trash your competition. His email began by asking me (i.e., Nothing to Teach.

Cold Call 301

Cold Call Cross-sell Gaming Clients 301

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 6, 2024

We seem to be on diverging paths, and this creates problems for both buyers and sellers. They are focused on solving a problem. So they may not know there may be a better way to do things, or there may be a competitive threat, or that they have a problem and should change. What don’t buyers need from sellers?

Education 119

Education Trust Sell Product 119

Iannarino

JULY 8, 2021

Finding the presenting problem is now a superficial, commoditized level of discovery. You create value when you uncover a problem’s root causes and promote deeper understanding. Identifying a prospective client’s problem is a tried and true approach, the core of legacy solution selling. The Problem Behind the Problem.

Clients 227

Clients Gaming Presentation Contact 227

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 30, 2024

Can I show you what results you might realize…” Sometimes, the product pitches are thinly veiled by a problem: “Is lead/demand gen a problem for you? What would happen if we changed our outreach strategies to focus on problems? They need to understand the problem before they can even think about the solution.

Product 92

Product Sell Pitch B2B 92

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 8, 2024

Our fixation on mechanizing everything in selling, minimizing the human connection, and our failure to connect with customers on their problems/challenges. Every quarter there is the inevitable rush to close deals, to hit our numbers. Yet there are so many challenges and barriers. ” But, we shouldn’t be shocked or surprised.

Quota 107

Quota Trust Pitch Up-sell 107

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 2, 2024

Without this, we wander aimlessly, perhaps without understanding what we are trying to achieve. The problem is, the “end in mind” for our customers is seldom about buying a solution. More often, it’s around solving a problem, addressing an opportunity, driving a change. As a result, we have a giant dilemma.

Customers 111

Customers Closing Presentation Product 111

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 24, 2024

Properly used, with the right prompt engineering, AI can help us better understand potential issues our customers face. In the old days of Telecom, it was called the “last mile” problem. The “last mile” problem exists in all sorts of industries. The LLMs will provide ideas, insights.

Represent 110

Represent Presentation Up-sell Engineering 110

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 9, 2024

Selling conversations, problem solving conversations are about change. They are about raising problems, concerns, fears, doubts. We should probe to understand what the customer is asking and why they might have a concern or disagreement. We and the customer must take the time to understand, align, and move forward.

Conversion 106

Conversion Customers Sell Sales 106

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 25, 2024

In this post, I’m going to make the argument, that based on what I see in too many selling initiatives, is that we, as a community, have migrated from focusing on helping customers solve their problems to just beating the competition. While we claim to want to help the customer solve their problems, we aren’t.

Customers 107

Customers Objectives and Key Results Growth Objection handling 107

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 17, 2024

At it’s simplest level is is mis-diagnosis is an incorrect identification of a problem. For instance, as sellers, we are looking for customers that have the problems we solve. We ask the questions to identify “the problem.” Customers mis-diagnose their problems. So our diagnostic process is very biased.

Manufacturing 77

Manufacturing Clients Contract Presentation 77

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 29, 2024

Why do you think we have this problem? The conversation is either an outright pitch for the product, or it starts with a provocative assumption of a problem, then focuses on the product that solves that problem. They want to talk about their problems. It was a provocative outreach. They want to discuss.

Start-ups 81

Start-ups Conversion Pitch Prospecting 81

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 25, 2024

What are their problems, how do we help them better understand them? Keenan sums it up well! “When you look at selling, good selling, it’s all about helping teaching and solving problems. Solving problems, I’m a problem solver. How do we help them close that gap, achieving their goals.

Sell 107

Sell Up-sell Consult Drivers/motivators 107

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 24, 2024

They are buying to solve a problem or address an opportunity. Too often, we don’t know or understand what they are trying to do and why it’s important. The customer has gone through their change/problem solving process, basically made their decision and are looking choosing between alternative products.

Price 77

Price Contract Presentation Consult 77

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 23, 2023

It requires us to listen, probe, understand. So often, particularly as leaders and sellers, we are looking for the problem. After all, that’s what we do—solve problems. But the problem is not a person. Or without understanding where they are at, we focus on where we want them to be.

Meeting 110

Meeting Pitch Prospecting Product 110

Heinz Marketing

APRIL 30, 2024

By Win Salyards , Senior Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing When delving into B2B marketing, understanding the pivotal role of technical personas such as programmers, engineers, and IT professionals is key. Understanding the Technical Persona To craft effective marketing strategies, you must grasp the essence of the technical persona.

B2B 90

B2B Niche Strategize Trust 90

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 2, 2024

Early in my career I started engineering roles like electronic engineer and applications engineer and realized what motivated me most was help people solving problems that allowed them to continue or improve their business. Preface: I first met Rene Voorhost years ago when he was the Nordics/Benelux sales manager for National Instruments.

Sell 102

Sell Education Territory Engineering 102

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

We may know the “problem” they solve. But does this mean we really understand our customers’ problems? Our customers are thinking about the following…… What causes these problems to occur? Our customers are thinking about the following…… What causes these problems to occur?

Customers 99

Customers Follow-up Start-ups Product 99

Martech

MARCH 8, 2024

Before starting any initiative, you need to identify the specific problem you’re trying to solve. A common mistake is stating the problem as something you’ll solve with generative AI. It’s better to identify the problem without immediately suggesting generative AI as the solution. Can you also sustain those changes?

Objectives and Key Results 119

Objectives and Key Results Strategize Government Technology 119

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

He researched others, understanding their roles and what their companies did, creating personalized emails. How do you know if he has the problem? Like all of us, he was struggling to get the engagement he wanted. Let’s call him “Stephen.” ” We talked about some of his strategies. How do you know if he cares?

Pitch 117

Pitch Prospecting Start-ups Conversion 117

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

The tools themselves are evolving quickly, but having gone through a several of these technology disruptions in the past, I recognize we usually find the mediocre to poor uses first, but as we gain experience we improve our understanding and start to leverage the technology to its full potential. We will move beyond this.

Manufacturing 107

Manufacturing Engineering Technology Technology 107

Martech

APRIL 22, 2024

“A lot of our very big enterprise customers are very concerned about using generative AI without understanding how it was trained,” Adobe chief strategy officer Scott Belsky told TechCrunch last year. This has created a big marketing problem for Adobe and potentially a big legal problem for Firefly’s users. million pictures. “It

Legal 107

Legal Technology Technology Trust 107

Martech

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

There will be a significant movement toward improving people’s problem-solving skills as they learn to use automation with their human brains. I remember when the web was brand new, unknown and scary to many people. The company I worked for was extremely traditional and vowed never to have a website or allow employees to use email.

X-functional 110

X-functional Cross-sell Territory Retail 110

Search Engine Land

APRIL 26, 2024

While this is a good indication of how a core update has impacted your site’s visibility in the SERPs, you’ll need to dig deeper to really understand the update’s effects. Review changes in SERPs If you want to improve your understanding, manually check the SERPs for your key terms. It’s been a long and turbulent road for some.

X-functional 120

X-functional User Experience UX Follow-up 120

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 9, 2024

But a reverse problem has been accelerating. We don’t try to understand who they are, what they face, what they stand for, or their dreams. We don’t engage them in the specific problems, situations, challenges, issues they are facing, we don’t understand the fears, concerns, dreams, aspirations they have.

Presentation 114

Presentation Follow-up Customers Trust 114

Partners in Excellence

MARCH 1, 2024

Then there are those that are thinly disguised as being issues or customer focused, but are really all about them: “Let us tell you how our products solve these problems… [Insert prospecting, pipeline quality, revenue generation, to name a few.]” They’ve done no research to understand what our challenges might be.

Sell 73

Sell Pitch Quota Up-sell 73

Search Engine Land

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

But there is palpable fear in the industry, and understandably so. Dig deeper: 10 ways to leverage generative AI for advanced SEO Limitations of AI in the workplace At first glance, it seems like AI could solve many commercial problems. It’s a topic concerning many in the SEO industry at the moment. Will AI replace SEO professionals?”

Engineering 124

Engineering Pitch Growth Strategize 124

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 17, 2024

If we don’t understand change, how can we ever expect our customers to understand it and want to navigate the change process? I’ve written about collaborative conversations and problem solving–how we help our customers think about and assess the performance of their business.

High impact 109

High impact Service Growth Conversion 109

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

What business problem is your customer solving? Hopefully, it’s the problem you are the best in the world at solving. At best, they obliquely address a real business problem. But then, we have to first know what types of organizations have these problems? How does the problem manifest itself?

Customers 104

Customers Territory Manufacturing Finance 104

Salesforce

MARCH 19, 2024

You understand the pivotal role technology plays in shaping the future of customer service. A Serviceblazer is a team builder, problem solver, and customer advocate. When you’re a Serviceblazer, staying ahead of the curve isn’t just an advantage — it’s an absolute necessity. Table of contents What is a Serviceblazer?

Networking 135

Networking Negotiate Service Contact 135

Sales Gravy

JANUARY 23, 2024

Curiosity Is the Fuel of Story Getters Top sales professionals understanding the human element. It's about understanding the customer's journey, their challenges, and what they truly value. Story Getters understand that curiosity is a gateway to understanding their business needs, challenges, and even apprehensions.

Sell 93

Sell Up-sell Engineering Conversion 93

Search Engine Land

APRIL 5, 2024

Why we must do SEO audits Before we dive into the problems with SEO audits and what you can do about them, I would like to provide three arguments for why we need them. Especially if no SEO team has a deep understanding of what you are dealing with, an SEO audit will help you to get up to speed. You want to know about the status quo.

Hospitality 99

Hospitality Consult Clients Construction 99

Martech

APRIL 10, 2024

The beat drops, the lights flash and a charismatic salesperson struts across the stage, extolling the virtues of their latest martech solution. It’s a scene from a bygone era when companies could woo clients with flashy presentations and empty promises. But those days are over. I’ve been there, in the trenches of corporate procurement.

Pitch 103

Pitch Product Electricity Healthcare 103

SaaStr

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital and 25-year C-level veteran, shares the top 14 signs that you have a SaaS metrics problem, the five reasons those symptoms exist, and a SaaS metrics maturity model with five layers to help you move the needle at every stage. By understanding the problems, you can extract the solutions.

X-functional 121

X-functional Trust Presentation Drivers/motivators 121

Membrain

MAY 14, 2023

In the latest episode of the Art and Science of Complex Sales podcast, Paul Fuller sits down with David Brock , Author of "Sales Manager Survival Guide,"​ & CEO at Partners In EXCELLENCE to chat about his problem-solving mindset and curiosity helps him understand problems and explore solutions.

Sales 135

Sales 135

Partners in Excellence

OCTOBER 26, 2023

The problem with pitches is, as ChatGPT suggests, is we are “throwing” information at the prospect. It communicates our dis-interest in engaging our customer, understanding them, understanding their goals. The word “Pitch” has dominated selling language. It is one way! Pitching is strictly one way!

Pitch 111

Pitch Promote Up-sell Prospecting 111