Imagine that you run a canteen service. You want to sell your services to a large IT company. How will you go about it?
Remember, you have to give your prospective customer a reason to give you an appointment – that’s where your elevator pitch comes in! Once you have your foot in the door, you need to tell him or her why you are different – that’s your positioning.
So now you need to actually sell it.
You may not actually make the sale the first time, you may make the pitch and nothing may happen. But that doesnt mean you haven’ t sold it, he may call you back when he needs you. IF he remembers you! Give your customer a reason to remember you. People will usually remember you if they feel that they learned something from you.
So, start by telling him something he doesn’t know – it may be a story, it may be some data on what other companies are doing. The story may be completely unrelated to what you’re actually trying to sell, but if it is interesting or thought-provoking, it will ensure that you have his attention. As a vendor, you deal with companies across several industries. Tell your prospect something that somebody else is doing – it doesn’t have to be in the same industry. Does some company you know provide only organic snacks, for instance? Does anyone provide dietary guidance? Vitamin supplements?
You could tell a prospect from a credit card company what MakeMyTrip is doing. They may be from different industries, but their customer is the same, they are both selling through the same channels. That’s something that he’ll be happy to learn.
The next thing is to identify your prospective customer’s need. If you’re trying to sell your canteen service, find out if the existing vendor provides round-the clock service. Are there some slots in the day during which there is a need for snacks or meals, but which the existing vendor doesn’t service? Maybe you could meet that need. A need will exist – it’s up to you to find it.
Are you talking to the right person? Are you trying to sell canteen services to somebody in charge of IT infrastructure? Remember, the CEO does not usually make these decisions, even in a medium-sized company – he will have a head of administration who will make the decision – but if the CEO sends you to him, he will give you a hearing..
Does he have the budget to buy your service and does he have the authority to spend that budget? What is the timeline that he needs to make his decision in?
When you sell a product – and this is especially true of products, rather than services – who defines what the product is used for? Is it you or is it your customer?
Case:
GS Lab created a product called K-Point. K-Point was intended to be a knowledge management tool. However, one of the main uses that its customers found for it was as a powerful support tool for sales engineers in remote locations. Sales engineers found that they could access valuable information – trouble-shooting manuals, videos and so on – that enabled them to fix problems no matter where they were. A sales engineer assigned to fix a tractor in the middle of a desert could quickly look up manuals and watch tutorial videos – all via K-Point. K-Point was never envisaged as a tool for sales engineers, but that’s what its customers were using it for.
No matter how you may position your product, your customers will find uses for it that you never dreamed of. Find out how your customers are using your product. To my mind, this is the CEO’s job. In a small company, only the CEO has credibility. And only the CEO can make a commitment on his company’s behalf. Your salesperson may open some doors for you, but it’s up to you, as the CEO, to walk through those doors and close the deal.
Customers too expect to deal with the CEO, especially in small companies. As a CEO, you may think of yourself as a techie, not a salesperson – but, make no mistake, selling IS the CEO’s job.
If you’re not already convinced, here’s another good reason why only the CEO can sell – when you meet a prospect, always leave an offer on the table. That’s something only the CEO has the authority and risk-taking ability to do. Only a CEO can say something like, “Yes, I can do that for you. I can do it for Rs. 20 lacs in the next thirty days.” You may not actually be able to do it, but you have to be able to take that risk and leave an offer on the table. If you make a sales call and walk away without leaving an offer on the table, consider the deal lost.
If your competition is a big company and you are CEO of a small competitor, remember the odds are on your side, if you are willing to be creative enough – the best the big competitor can put up is a junior, harried salesperson who was hired yesterday. How can he possibly compete with the depth and ingenuity you have? The customer understands this too, they would often rather do business with a small company who will give them the attention they think they deserve, than with a big company for whom they are the second decimal place on the P&L.
Of course, your team, which is ultimately going to have to execute your audacious offers, needs to know what you have promised. Always follow up with your team after a meeting so that they are aware of what you have offered the customer.
Exercise:
Think back to your latest attempt to sell something to a prospect.. did you identify the right person? Did you give him/her some reason to remember you? Did you leave an offer on the table?
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: But I don’t really like sales, I am no good at it..
A: We always insist that, until the company gets to a certain size, sales is the primary job of the CEO. It cannot be delegated, because, when buying from a small company, customers always want to deal with the promoter, not some minion. Our advice is – grit your teeth and do it.
Anand has this personal story: a major turning point in the history of Persistent came when he realized that, though he was in fact the best techie in the company, it was really sales that he could not delegate to anyone – only when he more or less forced himself to become the chief salesman of the company, did it really begin to grow.
Q: How important is it to get endorsed by the Gartners/Forresters of the world?
A: Certainly it helps, if only to establish your positioning. But remember, if you cannot get such endorsements, all is not lost. It is about winning trust and credibility. Any way you can do that, will help. Referrals from other people he knows and trusts, will take you a long way to winning a prospect’s trust.
Second Orbit 