Finding the decision maker and getting them to respond can be one of the hardest things a sales rep faces during the sales cycle.  Sales intelligence data can give you insights on who the decision maker might be, what questions to ask, and how to respond to his or her questions. However, you can’t expect to find the decision-maker easily. You must employ tactful strategies and ask questions to qualify that person as the budget holder or if he or she is just a user or influencer that wants your solution, but can’t sign on the doted line.

The decision maker is usually a VP- or C-level employee that likely won’t be using your solution, but the people reporting to him or her will manage and work with the solution. Sales reps first need to get three types of authorities on-board: the user, the influencer and the decision maker. The decision maker holds the key to the budget and has the power to say yes or no.

These executives are typically the hardest to identify and contact. If someone refers you to someone else, the person you were referred to is usually the decision maker. If the person you contact responds saying the solution is a great fit, they’re probably not the decision maker, but rather the influencer or user who needs or wants your solution. Also, if you get pointed to the same person multiple times, than they are usually the decision maker. Contacting all three is a must, but putting more energy towards finding the decision maker and aligning their business needs with your solution is most critical.

Decision makers want specific evidence of previous success so they can clearly understand how your solution is going to solve their business problem. They need to see a measurable ROI and want reference data in order to identify how the solution can affect their bottom line. If you can or have determined that the decision maker has a budget, you’re one step closer to qualifying a prospect. But, for the prospect to meet the necessary BANT criteria, you need to have answered two out of the three remaining criteria. Using sales intelligence data can decrease your research time in trying to find the prospect’s business problems, what people’s titles and functions are, and whether or not your solution is budgeted.

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- Mark Kilens
mark.kilens @ salesquest.com
978.749.9999 ext. 118

©2010 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.

With every aspect of life, there is an understood code of etiquette that determines how you should act to be “socially accepted.” These codes vary depending on if you’re with friends or at work, as well as if you’re out at a dive bar versus a formal event. The sales profession is no exception to these sets of standards; there is a manner of acting that will earn the respect of your prospects, strengthen your sales pitch, and help you to close more deals. That being said, straying from these protocols is how faux pas are formed.

While faux pas in the world of sales may not be as material as mismatching socks or flood pants, the implications of committing a sales faux pas are arguably more devastating. Committing these five “no-nos” will almost assuredly cost you the sale, or at the very least, will lengthen your sales cycle and hinder your ability to hit your quota.

1. Bashing the competition: Play fair; knocking down your competitors as the heart of your sales pitch only tells your prospect one thing—that you want their money. You should be selling AGAINST your competitors as a method of proving the value of your solution. It is not only classier and will earn you credibility, but when your selling points align with the problems within their organization, it will show that you truly understand their business needs.

2. Focusing on price: Only talking about price won’t convince anyone of ROI if you don’t prove value, no matter how much of an “awesome deal” you’re giving them. A sale means nothing without perceived value behind your product, and as a salesman, it is YOUR job to make that value understood.

3. Not taking the time to understand your prospect: Without a customer, your product is useless. Doing a little bit of research to make sure you solution is ACTUALLY a “solution” to you prospect’s problems can either help you close the sale or serve as a warning that you’re wasting your time trying to sell to someone who doesn’t need what you’re offering.

4. Pitching immediately: Getting the right decision maker on the phone is one of the hardest parts about selling; don’t waste both parties’ time by going straight to the pitch. Remember that this person is making a sacrifice to talk to you. They don’t want to hear about how great you think you product is, they want to know HOW your product can help them. Make sure you can answer that question before you get on a call, and catch his or her attention immediately.

5. Only talking about your product: No one cares! Delivering a standard pitch detailing how fantastic your product is accomplishes nothing, except likely annoying your potential customer. Taking the time to understand your prospect’s business needs before and even during an initial call will allow you to customize and tailor the value prop to their needs, which will greatly increase the probability that you close the sale.

These bad sales habits are a surefire way to annoy your prospect and potentially lose a sale; they have become no-nos for a reason. Of course, avoiding these bad habits will require extra time, effort and research in order to educate yourself before moving forward with an account. But, taking this strategic approach will allow you to ask appropriate questions, target your prospect in a way that will help them to trust you, and therefore make it easier for you to create a meaningful value prop and shorten your sales cycle. Just as you may cringe at someone walking down the street wearing socks with their sandals, a potential customer may write you off if you don’t make the effort to avoid these sales faux pas.

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

©2010 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.

One of the most under-utilized resources for sales research is a company’s quarterly earnings call transcript. Earnings calls are held four times a year to update investors on the performance of the company over the last quarter and their future outlook. They generally include financial information like operating expenses, capital expenditures, stock share prices, and GAAP analysis.

These reports are free and easy to find, but the amount of text and numbers in them can seem completely daunting at first glance. Admittedly, a majority of the information in these transcripts is not useful to a sales rep, but taking time to go through with a fine toothed comb will almost always yield at least a few “golden nuggets” of actionable information.

Tom Costa at Eyes on Sales notes that the CEO and CFO “talk candidly” about sales performance, initiatives, and new product announcements, and he discusses how to use the transcript to define prospects and competitors in your industry. Sales reps can (and should) use the information in these transcripts to fully-prepare for a prospecting call.

The CEO and CFO are generally the two company representatives that present to investors during a quarterly earnings call. Of course, much of the information they give is geared toward shareholders and is boring financials, but the one piece of helpful data that they generally give in the call is the company’s capital expenditures. They often discuss the expenditures for the year to date, as well as what their budget/goal amount is for the rest of the fiscal year. By pulling up the company’s earnings call transcript on and doing a search for “capital expenditure” or “capex” can give you insight into how much the company has been spending, and what their budget is for the coming months. This, of course, could prevent you from wasting time trying to sell to a company that doesn’t have the money to buy your product.

Understanding an account does not only mean knowing who the decision makers are and the company’s organizational structure; one of the worst things you can do is to go into a sales call and not fully-understand and be attempting to solve one of their business problems. Coming in to relieve a pain within a company is a much more effective approach to selling than pitching your product blindly to an exec that you have pegged as the exec with the money burning a hole in his pocket.

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

©2010 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The Aberdeen Group’s PACE Model defines the methods of success of Best-in-Class sales teams and outlines their abilities in the “C” section, titled Capabilities. This list is what sets successful sales forces apart from just average or failing ones and defines their best sales strategies. It consists mostly of processes that exist within the sales department that make a rep’s job easier while also saving time, as well as making the sales process more organized.

Structure and continuity are extremely important in keeping a sales team functional and the sales process successful. Aberdeen’s defined “Best-in-Class” companies have a “formal and documented sales process” in place.  Keeping things organized and requiring a specific progression of steps in the sales cycle ensures that corners are not cut, the prospect is well-qualified and well-nurtured, as well as making sure that no information is lost. The Commence CRM Blog does a great job of defining the reasons that standardization is crucial to a successful sales department. The steps of the process must be clearly defined and simple to follow; the more you can avoid confusion and make this process visible, the more it will actually be followed.

In conjunction with a documented process, Best-in-Class companies have a process for tracking prospect engagement, from e-mail to website visits. CRM systems are a perfect example of a repository for all of this information; phone calls and other correspondences can be tracked, saved, and viewed here, and the progress from lead to customer can be clearly seen. Also, when something goes awry in the sale and it becomes a loss, this data can be analyzed to help determine why the sale was not successful and thus avoid the problem with future opportunities.

Another capability of Best-in-Class companies, not surprisingly, is also a part of most CRM systems: “a centralized repository of account, contact, and opportunity information.” Keeping track of all activity within an account is essential in avoiding making mistakes like repeated calls to the same VP, or e-mail blasting an opt-out. It is also extremely informative to be able to see an account’s history if you are looking to for win backs with a former client so you can approach it with more sensitivity than a new account. Aberdeen also cites that having a “process for unifying customer information gathered through multiple disparate ‘customer touch points’” as a quality of Best-in-Class companies, and clearly, this is a function of a CRM system.

Another less obvious, but easy step to take in order to be more successful, is to encourage communication between reps. A central system like a CRM or even a live messaging functionality on the company intranet can provide an outlet for reps to talk to each other. The ability to share tips and strategies that have helped them close deals, as well as share common gripes and then collaborate to find a solution is invaluable; a two-man effort is always better than one.

In short, there are more than a few defined capabilities (mostly provided by software or SaaS) that can help your sales force hit their quota. By nature, people are lazy; just by implementing very clear and easy-to-follow strategic processes and centralized the information and resources, you will see results.

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

©2010 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.