ProActive Selling Control the Process— Win the Sale phần 9 docx

The I-Plan is a one-page document, typically written invalue-based language Russian, to help the upper management Justify 189 Today’s Date Implementation Plan I-Plan Buy/Sell Cycle Durat

starts using the solution he has purchased and begins a tomer relationship with your company.

cus-If customers work hard to use the goods/service they havepurchased from you in the first 30 to 90 days after implementa-tion, it goes a long way in determining how satisfied the buyingand selling organizations are going to be The customers who

do a great job of planning and spending time in the first 30 to 90days, really stretching the solution they have purchased, end upbeing the most satisfied customers It is very important, then,that prospects have a plan of action for those first 30 to 90 daysafter they take delivery You now need to develop an Implemen-tation Plan to help the buyer through those first 30 to 90 days.You need to develop it not only for the sake of a satisfied cus-tomer, but also for you to win the sale What is an Implementa-tion Plan, or I-Plan?

The I-Plan is a one-page document, typically written invalue-based language (Russian), to help the upper management

Justify 189

Today’s Date

Implementation Plan I-Plan

Buy/Sell Cycle Duration

First 30/60/90 Days after Implementation

Figure 8-2 I-Plan time frame

of the buying organization determine whether it is effectivelyusing its resources as well as using you, the selling organiza-tion, to its maximum return on the investment The I-Plan out-lines the top five or so areas that management of the buyingorganization should focus on internally to make sure its imple-mentation team is doing its job effectively You have gatheredthis information by working with individuals in the prospect’sorganization and by referencing successful implementations ofyour product or service with previous customers You are giv-ing the management of the buying organization a list of itemsthat they need to oversee to ensure their people are going to dotheir job well Senior management is always looking for a map

of what measurable objectives it should focus on to maintaintop performance in its organization, and you have taken some

of the guesswork (and therefore some of the risk) out of it

In addition, your I-Plan includes the five or so objectivesthat the customer management team should hold you, the ven-dor, to Your prospect’s management is spending a lot of re-sources on you and your organization They want a return onthis investment, and they want the return to have low risk andyield a maximized amount of money in the shortest amount oftime By giving the buying management a list of objectives itneeds to hold you to, you are helping them to accomplish thesegoals

Many organizations have implementation plans that areassembled after the purchase has been made It is a customerservice document that companies work on with their customers

to implement the solution at the user level How does an I-Plandiffer from other user-centric implementation plans?

• An I-Plan is a selling document It is used during thesales process, not after It should be used to assess yourposition in the sale and help determine your competitiveposition and your next step

• An I-Plan is written in Russian You use it to get back in

to see the vice president You have been working with alllanguages, and you need to make sure the top executive

in the process is on board Even if you are being blocked

by a manager (Spaniard), you can use an I-Plan to get

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back up to the decision maker, since it is written invalue-based language, and for 15 to 20 minutes of theirtime, you are going to maximize their investment andlower their risk What Russian would not give you 15 to

20 minutes of their time? It’s probably the one who is notgoing to be buying from you

• An I-Plan is used to help managers look good If yourmanager or user is an up and comer in the organization,they will appreciate an I-plan because it shows they werethorough, prepared, and had a strategic rather than just

a tactical look at the project It makes them look good to

Justify 191

Figure 8-3 Executive implementation plan worksheet

Developed exclusively for: _

their boss and also makes the boss look good to the nization.

orga-• An I-Plan is a mutually beneficial document for transfer

of ownership It shows prospects their risks and whatthey should keep an eye on to minimize those risks,since risks can cost money It helps you because it givesyou insight into what is important to the senior execu-

ven-to discuss an executive implementation plan

On any project like this, the first 30–90 days after implementation arecrucial for you and your team to maximize the benefits and the ROI on theinvestment you are making.We have had experience with these types of pro-jects and can identify for you what the key items are from both your team’sand your selected vendor’s perspective We look forward to a brief meetingwith you to identify at an executive level the key items you can keep track ofduring the implementation of project XYZ to maximize the investment youare making and minimize the amount of time it will take for you to start reap-ing the benefits of this solution

Regards,

S Smith

Sales Representative

M3 Learning

tive and lets you assess how serious they are regardingyour solution.

• An I-Plan can be used in the final closing step to ask for

an order As part of your proposal, it can be used to showyour professionalism and thoroughness It can incorpo-rate the Implementation Date, which combined withyour SalesMap lets you control the buy/sell process towhich the prospect has already committed

The I-Plan is a sales document positioned in between date and the final proposal that gives you information at a keyjuncture in the buy/sell process It lets you test out the processyou have gone through already, allows you access to seniormanagers to get their buy in, and sets the stage for you control-ling the outcome of the final proposal

Vali-A final note: The I-Plan and SalesMap are two of the mostpowerful tools in this book, but we have observed that, of thesalespeople who have been through ProActive Selling, fewerthan 30 percent actually implement these two tools Why? Thereason is they take some work Unlike the Flip or Three Levels

of Why tools, they require some actual preplanning and tailed work Like anything else, the things that take the mosttime usually yield the biggest rewards Use the tools

de-Tool Drop, Push, Pull Tool

It is now decision time, and the decision is yours to make Youhave gotten to this stage by following a process, and with skillsand tactics, you have arrived in a strong sales position If youfeel you are in a strong position, one where you believe youhave a better than 50 percent chance of winning, you shouldSBP to the next step called Close If you do not think you are inthe best competitive position, you have three choices You can:

1. Drop it: Any more time or effort by you is just throwinggood resources after a bad situation

2. Push to a Close: Pushing is not the most desirable tion, but owing to time constraints, competitive pres-

op-Justify 193

sure, or the prospect wanting to make a decision ASAP,you may have to push When you push you are out ofcontrol, so it usually costs you something, and it usuallycosts you money You end up discounting, matching acompetitive offering, or giving something away to getthe order Whatever it is, pushing a deal is risky, doesnot ensure a victory, and in the long and short run, costsyou margin.

3. Pull: The third option is to go back and start pulling Goback to the Educate process and start again to pull theprospect through the buy/sell process and create thevalue for your product or service Going back throughthe Educate/Validate/Justify process is different forevery sale In some cases, it may take 5 minutes In oth-ers, it may take 5 hours, five meetings, 5 days, 5 weeks,

or 5 months The point is, you have to go back and getcontrol of the buy/sell process If the prospects do notunderstand your solution and take ownership of it, theyare not going to understand your price If they do notunderstand your price, you have violated the Law ofValue Creation

THE LAW OF V ALUE CREATION

If all things are equal, people will buy on price The job of a ProActive salesperson is to create a value dif- ference so prospects do not see things as equal, be- cause they are not.

ProActive salespeople know that if all things are equal, andthe prospect is deciding based on price, they have not done theirjob

In the Justify phase, you are asking prospects to do thing they hate doing and will avoid doing at all costs You areasking them to change; and people for the most part hate to

some-194 ProActive Selling

change Your best chance to finalize this sale is to stay thecourse Stay with the strategies you started out with and havecontinued with during the entire process By staying the courseand using the tools described in this chapter, you will put your-self in the position of greatest return, and that return is theorder.

Justify 195

Go Back and Educate

Initiate

Initial Interest

Rationalize

Education

Transfer ofOwnership

Figure 8-5 Pull/Go back to the Educate chart

What Is a Close?

The close means something different to a prospect than it does

to a salesperson To a prospect, it is the final logical step in abusiness evaluation process Prospects and their team havebeen involved every step of the way through an evaluation thatwill require an investment of resources to change a processwithin the organization They also may be purchasing goods orservice by themselves, and the need for a committee and a pro-cess may be minimal In this case, the prospect has evaluatedthe need to invest resources, their own money, to change some-thing: the car they drive, their appearance, the place they live, orwhere they will go on a vacation Whatever the size or scope ofthe effort, the prospect sees this step as a decision, either yes or

no It’s why it is called Decide on the Buyer side of the buy/sellprocess They are now ready to make a decision

A reactive salesperson views this step as the time to “close

a deal.” It’s time to get ink on paper, bring it home, get a ture, a John or Jane Hancock, or whatever else you call gettingthe prospect to commit to your solution A reactive salespersonsees this as time to get the order, chalk it up in the win column,and get paid This is one-dimensional thinking

signa-The obvious problem is that the prospect and the son are going into the final step with different agendas With twodifferent agendas, there is bound to be some confusion, and thereare two different potential outcomes The ProActive salespersonsees this final step just as the prospect sees it It is a chance tomake a decision However, the prospect, in the eyes of the sales-person, has three choices, not two The prospect can say yes, no,

salesper-or maybe, where a maybe is anything that prevents a yes salesper-or nodecision A maybe could be competition, a delay, a move to tablethe decision to a higher source—anything that prevents a yes or

no Maybes are never good for a salesperson, since by definition,

a maybe means the salesperson is not in control of the process

So how can a salesperson control the final step? Just like inall the other steps Control the process, and think like a buyer

Define the Process

The art of closing can fill another book by itself There are merous negotiating tactics you can use in a sale that is in theclosing phase to try to get an order

nu-• Good Cop, Bad Cop: One person takes the side of thecustomer and is very empathetic, and the other person isthe “bad cop” and plays someone who is very hard todeal with

• Split the Difference: The two sides in the negotiation are aset difference apart, and you agree to split the difference

• Nibbling: Offer small increments of something Give thecustomer a discount, then offer no sales tax, then givefree delivery, then gift wrap it for free, and so on

The Skill of Closing the Deal 197

• Agree, Deflect, Agree: This is a tactic to move someone “Iagree with you Mr Jones Some people would also thinkthis way, which I am sure you would agree would ”

• Puppy Dog: Take something and try it out Like a puppy,once you get it “home,” the odds of a return are minimal

• Written Word: Once something is in writing, it is hard toargue with Think when you shop for something at theshopping mall Once something has a price tag on it, yourarely think of negotiating from that asking price

There are many, many more negotiating tactics you can use

in a closing situation to try to get the order In ProActive Selling,you have already done all the hard work by controlling the pro-cess It is now up to you to have the buyer make a yes or no de-cision, and you do this by working the process you have usedalready to get the sale to this point and by thinking like a buyer

Use the Tools

You have many tools at your disposal that you can use to SBPthis final meeting to a decision

The 30-Second Speech

Start the meeting out with a 30-second speech: Introduction, threediscussion points from the last meeting or the entire buy/sell pro-cess, three final issues or points, suggest the outcome of the meet-ing, gain agreement, then get into the agenda of the meeting

3 0 - SE C O N D SP E E C H

“Good afternoon, and thank you for attending today’s meeting We have gone through a process over the last few months, and together we have determined that:

198 ProActive Selling

1. The need for a solution in this area is critical Wehave documented the steps both of us havetaken during this evaluation and arrived at a so-lution we are going to review today.

2. The solution you are evaluating from our pany seems to do exactly what you want

com-3. The budget for this expenditure has alreadybeen justified

You also stated that you:

1. Need this solution immediately,

2. Are concerned about the delivery and ramp uptime, since you want it up and running by thetwenty-second of the month, and

3. You wanted to have two financial options sented to you at this meeting

pre-This is what we are here to talk about today, and if we have

a successful meeting, we can get a 2-day head start by cuting the agreement that is in the proposal today, or we can execute the agreement by Friday, as planned to meet your Implementation Date of the twenty-second Is this your understanding of the meeting today?”

exe-This is a 30-second speech to begin a Closing meeting.Other tools you will be using in this Closing meeting includethe following

Implementation Date

In the above example, you already know the prospect wants tohave your solution up and running by the twenty-second The

focus of the sales person must be on what is important to the

prospect, the Implementation Date and BBB, not the date of thesigning of the contract

The Skill of Closing the Deal 199

Your SalesMap is in the proposal so prospects can remind selves how much work they have done to get to where they arenow It helps overcome their fears

them-“Have we done enough homework so we are comfortable with this change?”

“Are we sure this is the best investment of our resources?”

“Are we sure we can do this in the time required?”

200 ProActive Selling

Figure 9-1 30-Second Speech Worksheet