Partners in Excellence

NOVEMBER 16, 2021

We’ve long known (whether we use it or not) about the “sales process.” ” Virtually every organization has some variant of a sales process with stages we move through and, possibly, critical activities we should be executing within each stage. Then we go through some sort of discovery process.

Process 131

Process Customers Manufacturing Sales 131

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

One of the core issues in understanding and influencing our customers’ buying processes is to make sure we are working with the right people, doing the right things at the right time. Traditional wisdom says, “Work with the decision-maker!” ” Sometimes that manifested itself with further wisdom, “Call at the top.”

B2B 92

B2B Process Presentation Customers 92

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 1, 2021

We’ve long known (whether we use it or not) about the “sales process.” ” Virtually every organization has some variant of a sales process with stages we move through and, possibly, critical activities we should be executing within each stage. Then we go through some sort of discovery process.

Process 118

Process Customers Manufacturing Pipeline 118

Partners in Excellence

JANUARY 22, 2018

How many people are involved in the customer buying decision? If you are a fan of CEBs research, the answer is 6.8. Other research says there is always a single dominant decision-maker. Still other research suggests there is a dominant influencer (or mobilizer), that drives the decision-making. So what’s the right answer?

Finance 60

Finance Contract B2B Contact 60

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 19, 2012

” But as I review many sales situations, finding the decisionmaker (s) is a critical issue. ” There’s only one answer that a customer will give to that question–it’s “Yes,” or the variant, “Yes, I’m involved in making the decision.”

Up-sell 92

Up-sell Pitch Technique Sell 92

Lead Fuze

JULY 5, 2023

BusinessSuccess #DecisionMaking” Click to Tweet Cognitive Biases That Can Derail Rational Thinking Humans are often subject to cognitive biases that can lead to faulty judgments. Making sound decisions is an imperative aptitude that all sales reps, recruiters, startup founders, advertisers and entrepreneurs must excel at.

Negotiate 52

Negotiate Gaming Lead generation Contact 52

Partners in Excellence

JULY 15, 2015

Now here’s where it starts to become complicated–from a B2B perspective. I’m a great fan of Jeff Shore. Recently, he wrote a post, The Buying Formula: Here’s How Your Customers Make Purchase Decisions. Jeff, makes several critical points. He poses the question, Why does anyone buy anything?

B2B 95

B2B X-functional Finance Drivers/motivators 95

SalesLoft

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Rainmaker is the sales engagement conference where industry-leading thought leaders gather to exchange ideas and learn. The unique opportunity to increase brand awareness and showcase your offering to 1500+ decisionmakers in leading sales organizations. Salesloft Rainmaker 2019 is only 80 days away! Why Become a Sponsor?

Contact 52

Contact Represent Prospecting Sell 52

Partners in Excellence

AUGUST 18, 2014

We’ve all heard some variation of the same story: Two hunters are in the woods, they’re separated. All of a sudden one hunter runs by the other at top speed screaming his head off. He’s being chased by a bear. As he passes the other hunter he yells, “I caught him, you skin him!”. We sales people think “they” don’t care.

B2B 93

B2B Sales Customers Follow-up 93

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 10, 2019

Naturally, statements like these provoke the question, “What is it about that person’s behavior that causes you to draw that conclusion?” ” Usually, there is a lot of hemming, hawing, and hand waving, followed by, “I can’t get to see them!” ” or “They won’t do what I need them to do!”

Customers 82

Customers Meeting Sell Prospecting 82

SalesLoft

JANUARY 6, 2016

The champion’s job is to take what you as the rep sell to them, and turn around and sell it to the decisionmaker. The time may come where your champion needs to tell you no — and you need to know up front that they are going to be comfortable doing so. Will you be my champion? They fight for the budget.

Trust 52

Trust Sales Up-sell Prospecting 52

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 6, 2014

We try to align ourselves with their buying process, but focus on the part where they are deciding what to buy. Customer Decisionmaking, Like Herding Cats Selling And Order Taking. As sales people, our focus is to convince the customer to buy our solution. Most of it, if we don’t look for it, is invisible to us.

Contract 90

Contract CRM Process Sell 90

SalesLoft

MAY 23, 2016

If you reach a gatekeeper, find the decisionmaker. Top of the funnel Sales Development Reps are the frontline sellers. They’re in the trenches, arming the gates of your sales organization and acting as the ambassadors and protectors of your customers, product, and company. We’re calling it The Sincere Seller’s Manifesto.

Education 52

Education Sales Growth Process 52

SalesLoft

JUNE 27, 2016

The champion’s job is to take what you as the rep sell to them, and turn around and sell it to the decisionmaker. The time may come where your champion needs to tell you no — and you need to know up front that they are going to be comfortable doing so. And how you consume content will highly impact your success as a sales leader.

Negotiate 52

Negotiate High impact Up-sell Sales 52

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 13, 2012

“No Decision Made,” is increasingly what we are hearing on deals in which we’ve invested time and effort. In extreme cases, we are seeing as much as 35% of the qualified deals people pursue ending in “no decision.” ” This outcome is, perhaps, more frustrating than an outright loss.

Strategize 91

Strategize Sell Customers Presentation 91

Adaptive Business Services

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Product Marketing Community: The Toronto Conference (Friday, April 22): I’m very excited to be a keynote speaker and panelist at this first-ever conference, where I’ll be speaking on “Sorting Out Product Marketing and Product Management” and other product marketing related topics. Upcoming Events: Spring 2016.

Technology 48

Technology Technology Presentation Product 48

Lead Fuze

JUNE 29, 2023

As a sales rep, recruiter, startup owner, marketer or small business proprietor, understanding this concept can significantly enhance your success in today’s competitive market. We also explore how an understanding of how the business operates aids effective decision making. What is a good example of business acumen?

Strategize 52

Strategize Profit margin Strategic planning Trust 52

Partners in Excellence

JULY 21, 2013

I’m the proud “father” of Sammy and Harley—that’s them in the picture. It took my wife and I 30 minutes to get them to “pose.” ” You can see the picture is out of focus–I had to take it quickly, Harley is ready to jump and run. In the group things are different, behaviors change.

Customers 93

Customers Cross-sell Meeting Process 93

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 20, 2012

I received a frustrated email from a colleague the other day. He described a sales situation—he’s selling a solution that creates a tremendous return for this customer. The return is about 4 times the investment – a business case that seems compelling on the surface. There are a couple of challenges in these types of deal.

Cross-sell 86

Cross-sell Strategize B2B Sell 86

Partners in Excellence

JULY 18, 2023

While we work with the buying group, we tend to look for the “decisionmaker,” directly influencing them. While we might have some influence, in complex B2B buying processes, there is seldom a single decisionmaker. ” They must understand the consequences of not implementing the solution by the date they have targeted.

Customers 62

Customers Strategize Up-sell Sell 62

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 10, 2020

But let’s dive into this a little: First, as an executive, I’m not sure I’ve ever really been the decisionmaker. Purchases where there are educated buyers who buy frequently, where the risk is low, where the importance to the organization is low. As sales people, we learn that we are to call high.

Manufacturing 101

Manufacturing Government B2B Sell 101

Partners in Excellence

MAY 12, 2022

The days of “the decisionmaker,” influencers, and financial buyers, technical buyers, and so forth are gone — even though achieving consensus requires many of those players. We know that complex B2B decisions are driven by consensus. Likewise, we know the number of people involved in the buying process continues to increase.

B2C 77

B2C B2B Strategize Process 77

Partners in Excellence

AUGUST 9, 2023

They included the usual things, understanding budgets, understanding who is involved, identifying the key decisionmaker and influencers, determining their needs, demoing their solutions, providing references, and so forth. Recently, sitting with a sales management team, we started discussing the “Sales Process.”

Process 96

Process Sell Customers Trust 96

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

One that jumped out to me was the advice to make sure you ask, “Are you the decisionmaker?” So asking if an individual is the decisionmaker isn’t very illuminating, we still have to determine who the other 4.4 Our experience should inform us that it’s very unlikely a single individual is the decisionmaker.

B2B 93

B2B Process Closing Customers 93

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 5, 2022

There’s seldom “A Decisionmaker.” We know some things to be true about modern complex B2B buying. ” For a complex decision, it’s a group of individuals, with differing priorities and interests. There may be people that exercise more influence in the process, but it is rarely a single person.

B2C 52

B2C B2B Process Customers 52

Martech

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

The marketing team spent its budget dollars wisely. But management can’t see the results. When business spends money on anything, it expects to see a “return on investment”— a lift that has some correlation with the spend. This would be fine if marketing was a machine, with fixed, measurable inputs and outputs. ROI for marketing is not there.”

Angle 101

Angle Technique Drivers/motivators Government 101

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

Initially, most companies start by focusing their marketing on where they have the most product market fit. PST, Kady shares the ten things that change in marketing as you scale. The most basic principle in marketing is that it should never be a static function. The answer isn’t simple. The answer isn’t simple. This is the core ICP.

GTM 78

GTM Growth Education Strategic planning 78

SalesLoft

OCTOBER 26, 2023

Customer churn is a big problem for SaaS companies because it impacts so many different parts of the business. And while it’s natural for a certain percentage of customers to churn during a specific period, a higher turnover rate can cause panic. You need a long-term strategy in place.

Objectives and Key Results 52

Objectives and Key Results Legal Trust Conversion 52

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 30, 2020

We’ve always been taught to “call high.” ” We are supposed to reach “The Decision-maker,” perhaps leveraging our influencers. But complex B2B buying has changed profoundly, “The Decision-maker” has become a buying/decision-making group. Some years ago, I had was the new EVP of Sales for a tech company.

Sell 133

Sell Manufacturing Appointment Trust 133

Partners in Excellence

AUGUST 16, 2016

These models work very well with relatively simple phenomena–for example, dealing with individuals as customers or single decisionmakers. But what happens in the complex sale or decisionmaking process? Each of them may be relying on advice from several people indirectly involved in the decisionmaking process.

Follow-up 49

Follow-up Start-ups Process B2B 49

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 24, 2019

I’ve never been comfortable about the hunter/farmer notions around selling. I’ve always maintained every sales person is a hunter. If you aren’t, you don’t belong in sales. If we could, we would expand, we’d grow our users, we’d upsell, adding more products, but never rocking the boat.

Account management 79

Account management Prospecting Up-sell Start-ups 79

SalesLoft

OCTOBER 17, 2016

This is where the true cadence begins and lead nurturing comes into play. From sending them valuable content, to question answering and objection handling — this is where you’re building a rapport that eventually leads to qualification. Know How to Identify and Treat Your Prospects Accordingly.

Process 52

Process Drivers/motivators Objection handling Sales 52

SalesLoft

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Depending on where they are in the buying process, a certain amount of nurturing may need to take place to get them sales-ready. This is where the lead nurturing comes into play. These are the points in the process where you are building a solid case for your tool. This is where pre-qualification comes in.

Prospecting 52

Prospecting Objection handling Cold Call Sales 52

Partners in Excellence

MAY 22, 2014

I wrote The Not So New Principles Of Sales , identifying some of the underlying and enduring principles of great selling. I thought I’d dive into each of the principles a little more deeply. I’m still formulating my thinking in these areas, so I’d really like to stimulate a discussion. But then we struggle to connect.

Trust 93

Trust Sales Up-sell Sell 93

Partners in Excellence

JULY 5, 2016

All of us, customers, sales people, marketing, customer service—everyone, daily face a number of converging forces which adversely impact our own and our organizations’ performances. The result is we are overloaded, overwhelmed, and probably not accomplishing what we should or could achieve. The same work was spread across fewer people.

Networking 50

Networking Technology Technology Engineering 50

Partners in Excellence

JUNE 27, 2016

Without going deeply into these, I wanted to try to provide some clarity about the models, where they fit, and whether we can/should exploit them. SaaS as a payment model: This is where a lot of excitement occurs. This is where much of the excitement and new opportunity around SaaS as a sales model.

Retail 49

Retail Manufacturing Sales B2B 49