What Drives IT Spending for CIOs on a Budget

Asking the right questions during the prospecting process, whether it be through outbound marketing, like e-mail blasts, or on a prospecting call, can help you save time and money by shortening your sales cycles and freeing up more time to spend with qualified leads and prospects. Understanding how decision makers qualify spending their limited budget is invaluable for two reasons: one, being empathetic to your prospect’s needs will build more trust with your potential client, and two, aligning your solution with a defined need within the company will show a clear-cut and more accurate ROI.

The best way to approach your research to ask the right questions is “backwards,” from the point of view of the buyer rather than the seller. Mark McDonald highlights the four drivers of IT budget that CIOs consider when making spending decisions on the Gartner Blog—approaching your pitch from the standpoint of the person that is spending the money will only strengthen your case. McDonald cites that:

• customers and markets,
• products and services,
• business process, and
• organizational structure

are the main drivers of IT spending. In creating a pitch, you should focus your research on which of these business problems your solution helps to resolve. Then, determine much as you can about the specific issues your prospect is having, whether it be a management restructuring or a new product implementation that is not going smoothly.

When you finally get a decision maker on the phone, you can fill in the blanks by asking specific, targeted questions. This will not only save you and your prospect time by avoiding introductory and basic questions, but your understanding of their needs will be clear, and your pitch will automatically be empathetic rather than “pitchy.”

Even in 2009, CSO Insights found that buyers felt that more than 25% of reps “needed improvement” in aligning their solution with the buyer’s needs, and less than 25% exceeded their expectations. Taking this approach to your sales pitch will not only ensure that you avoid falling into the “needs improvement” category, but it will help you to impress your prospect, earn their trust, and bring you that much closer to finding a perfect match and closing the sale faster.

- Carolyn Sebasky
carolyn . sebasky@salesquest.com
978.749.9999 ext. 107