Want to sell on value instead of price? Sell to the C-level!

One of the most challenging activities for salespeople is getting appointments with C-level managers. At this level, managers are tough to approach and won't quickly agree on a meeting.

The question then arises, why would you try to get an appointment at this level. You can easier call and get an appointment with a professional buyer within the prospective organisation and try to sell.

Well, there is an excellent reason why you should consider trying: selling to C-level managers is often more sustainable because their decision-making process is different to those of professional buyers.

Why? Let's look at the differences between C-level and professional buyers.

The differences are more straightforward than we might think.

C-level managers usually make decisions based on other criteria than those of most professional buyers within organisations.

At C-level, managers often look at the following aspects:

The organisational strategy, long-term effects of the purchase, company objectives to be met, growth perspectives, competition, and the purchase fit with workers, users, influencers, etc.

At the level of professional buyers, price plays a critical role next to quality. The average buyer might have less insight into what the C-level might find important. But they are very good at negotiating price!

So, when the salesperson establishes a good understanding with the managing director or Vice President, it makes it easier to sell them on value. Afterwards, if you have to deal with procurement or purchasing, chances are, you might have a stakeholder at the top who is aware of the value you are selling.

I'll share some examples here to clarify:

1. If you are selling cybersecurity solutions, your conversation with the IT person would be about technicalities and price. With the company's CEO, your discussion would be about the risk of data leakage and its impact on public image. Guess what impact you will have.

2. Supposing you are selling healthcare products to a healthcare organisation. If you are dealing with the procurement or purchasing department, chances are their focus would be on quality and price. If you were talking to the Managing Director, you might be talking about patient's care and the impact on their convenience. If you ask the right questions, you could also focus on the working conditions of nurses and how the use of your products could impact this.

3. In a situation where you sell a diversity of (non) alcoholic beverages to restaurants chains, you would be discussing taste, assortments and type of guests. With C-level managers, you could help them grow their business, looking at strategies, customer retention, attracting new guests, etc.

In all three examples above, when talking to C-level, the long term effects and value of your offering would impact your chances for success and "stick" much better! In the end, you could end up creating a customer for life!

To become the C-level manager's most trusted advisor, you need to develop skills and mindsets that will help you discuss at the C-level. Here are some recommendations:

• Change your focus from products to solutions.

• Understand what is essential for top managers.

• Research your prospect and get under their skin and in their shoes.

• Ask (open-ended) questions conversationally and listen with your ears, nose, mouth and skin.

• Have a sales process in place and use it.

• Last advice: do not manipulate, but understand, react and offer the best solution!

Are you ready to approach managers at C-level and sell value? Would you like to know more about how to develop your sales capabilities? Contact me here or call me at +31 (0)642713033. I'm happy to assist!

P.s. in one of my next postings, I’ll tell more about how to reach C-level managers and get the appointment.

Book a call with me here: https://calendly.com/robert_peterson/30min

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My toolbox to power-up your sales team in 2021

Covid-19 took the world by surprise and shocked most people by the impact and consequences. The effects on people and business are continuing through 2021! Social distancing and lockdowns are the new norms for many countries. Some industries, like the travel and conference market, are suffering most, whereas others are thriving.

Through creativity and thinking out of the box, we also see markets where people can stabilize their business and even grow. Creativity in selling comes in many forms and today, I would like to share my sales toolbox, which can help ramp-up your sales team and help grow your business. 

In my following postings, I will share some of the best practices that help organizations to thrive during challenging times.

Here they are:

Tools will only work when salespeople can adapt their mindset and try different approaches.

For that, they need the desire to achieve success and commitment to do all that is required ethically to achieve it. In times of crisis, some people react like rabbits blinded by headlights in the dark and freeze. When confronted with an emergency, you survive best by analyzing the situation and acting by using the best solutions available. Leadership is critical here.

Evaluate your Sales team’s DNA. People talk a lot about sales DNA, but what is it? Sales skills are not sufficient enough to be successful in sales. Sales DNA represents our way of thinking and our behaviour that impacts the way we use our sales skills. Sales DNA helps achieve the results needed during challenging times and difficult market conditions.

Embracing Technology is vital to be effective and efficient now and in the future. Remote selling has become a new standard during the pandemic for most professional salespeople. Still, more than 80% depend on the traditional way of selling. Embracing technology also means using a wide array of solutions that have a significant impact on results. Some examples:

Using CRM to manage sales processes, which includes customers, prospects and the whole sales process. And there is more: it helps you communicate with your markets effectively and efficiently. Your marketing efforts are made easy and the system will allow you to manage your whole work scope with much ease.

Many salespeople believe that CRM is meant for management to know what they are doing. That should not be the idea! CRM is used to help manage your processes and connect and communicate expertly with your market. One good example is the CRM by SAP, which we checked out recently.

Discover Membrain. On Tuesday the 24th of July 2012, I had my first contact with a Swedish organization by the name of Membrain. They claimed to have developed an advanced tool that would impact the way sales teams would work in the future. Membrain, now, is revolutionizing the way sales teams work and increase their performance.

We are a certified partner of Membrain. Click here to book a demo.

Virtual Selling. Stimulate video conferencing apps like ZOOM to have sales calls with prospects and customers and sell. ZOOM became one of the most popular video-conferencing tools during the pandemic. It is easy to use, communication is clear and the security has been upgraded to a high level.

LinkedIn connects business people from all over the world and at any level with each other. Spend at least 30 to 60 minutes a day analyzing the LinkedIn information to approach the right people who can be interesting to you. It is considered the number one Business Social Media.

Audionote 2 is an app that you download on your mobile phone or tablet. It has a linked index of your recordings that quickly provides invaluable audio context for your notes. Your recordings and notes can also be downloaded when working on your computer.  

Calendly is a tool that makes it easy to set appointments. Calendly connects with outlook. By sending out a link to your contacts, they can schedule a meeting or call with you when you are available. Calendly avoids wasting time trying to set appointments. It is easy to use and people only see when you are available. It is entirely safe to use.

Microsoft To Do is a task list app that helps you focus and plan efficiently. You can set up different to-do lists for private and business. After Microsoft took over Wunderlist, it was integrated with the To-Do app. Integrated with Microsoft Onenote, you have at your disposal a powerful suite of tools to plan and take notes and increase your efficiency.

ConstantContact is one of the best direct-mail apps. ConstantContact comes with predesigned templates to use when you want to be in contact with your market. They provide tutorials, Webinars and a knowledge base to help you create the most impact-driven mailings and grow your business.

Birthday Alarm is an app that is used to congratulate your business contacts. Most people appreciate it when you remember and congratulate them on their birthday or other events. It brings added value to your relationship with them. The app reminds you on time when you need to congratulate people. It has a ton of different free e-cards for different occasions and the possibility to adapt the message you want to send.

A nice feature is that you can send a request to your contacts requesting to add their names and birthdates to your list. These are then uploaded automatically.

For Business and Sales Leaders wanting to increase sales team performance

Objective Management Group OMG has developed the only existing sales assessment with a predictive validity of 92%. With the data of more than 2.100.000 profiles, the test provides accurate insights that will tell you exactly what to do to develop your sales team and optimize revenue growth and increase efficiency. The OMG sales test is also instrumental when recruiting salespeople and sales leaders. One aspect that sticks out is the predictive validity, which tells you if salespeople will perform now and in the future.

There are many more useful tools available for sales teams. The above mentioned are some of the best which will deliver relatively fast results.

If you want to know more, please reach out to me here or call me at +31 (0)642713033.