How to Sell to a CIO? or anyone for that matter
When selling technology it is often the CIO you will have to sell to. Here are some tips on how to do this effectively..
Eric Goldfarb, CIO of recovery auditing firm PRG-Schultz International, describes the demands that executives like himself make of technology vendors these days. As he says: “Imagine making your living selling broken things and having to routinely promise features that don't exist at a price that's set independently of the value of the product or service being rendered!”
Now, he asks: “Imagine (on the other side of the table) being a CIO who is betting your company, your career and the livelihood of your staff on that product and the salesperson's promises. That's what a CIO does every day."
Many company's success depends entirely on their technology.
Here are some tips when selling:
1. “Respect the CIO’s time”:
"There are thousands of technology companies in the out there. If 5% think they have something to sell to me, they let me know either by voice mail, phone calls or in meetings. That's a lot of communications. To break through all that chatter, you need to tell a story that addresses my problems and intrigues me enough to schedule a 20-minute meeting with you. Tell me a story that shows how you address my problems, and intrigue me enough to get a 20-minute meeting. “If you can do that, I'll give you another 20 minutes and, maybe, a sale.”
2. “Put the right person at the table”:
“I'm looking for people who will listen to and understand the company's problems and the CIO's concerns. Only then can the person come up with the right ideas and solutions.”
3. “Understand that CIOs differ from salespeople”:
“We think we’re different to most salespeople. We’re analytical, not emotional - We want process, facts and figures.”
“Be insatiably curious … you should know my company’s weaknesses. Pitch your product as the best way to reduce that weakness. Your product should be a solution to existing problems. Connecting with the CIO and the company doesn't mean you'll close a sale right away. Follow up and reinforce your value proposition with voice mail, e-mail and in every subsequent meeting. This process mirrors how the CIO works. It matches the psychological profile.”
4. Differentiate with a service:
“Today's technology companies look a lot alike. They employ similar people with similar educational backgrounds; they produce similar things with similar prices and similar quality. What's different about you and your company? These days, building the best product isn't enough; it's simply the price of entry.”
“Use services to differentiate yourself from the competition. If you can sell your product along with a valuable service, you'll increase your odds of making your product sales goals.”
5. Solve, don’t sell:
“Every technology sale has five doors that must be opened in order to proceed:
need, money, urgency, desire and trust.
Once these doors are all open, then you can start being truly successful.
The key to the door of success means you're not selling a product; you're solving a problem.
Once you've identified the need, focus on making my organization better and my life easier.
“I don't expect you to know every detail in each module. Get the right resources in your own organization involved in solving my problem. The most successful salespeople can pluck the right resources out of their organization to help my company.”
6. Stand by your CIO:
“Over the course of implementing products or software, something's bound to break. The salesperson who stands by me over the years and doesn't run away at the first sign of trouble is going to be successful. John Keegan in The Masks of Command (Penguin USA, 1989) said, "The first and greatest imperative of command is to be present and in person. Those who impose risk must be seen to share it." Try mitigate the risk.
“You're not building customer satisfaction; you're building customer success. There's a difference, and the result will make us all winners.”
Some Tools to Clarify the Compelling Reason
Also, here is some tools from Moore's "Crossing the Chasm" that allows you to explain your product in a structured and concise manner to help the customer attain that Eureka factor:
Why Segment Markets? (and pick just 1 to target at a time - FoCus)
- Maximize benefit of resources... references, collateral, internal procedures and documentation (this is our biggest issue)
-Higher Critical Mass of Word Of Mouth (because if your early successes are all in different markets then those different stories don't add together - market consisting of buyers who reference each other)
-Big fish in a small pond: halo effect of 'being a winner' (this is more important in true Crossing The Chasm situations, where there is a real need for a Whole Product solution to be assembled from multiple vendors, and therefore the prospect wants to feel certain that you will have partners creating the supplemental pieces of the Whole Product)
User Scenarios
How the user's life will improve by using your product.
Header/thumbnail description of buyer
BEFORE OUR PRODUCT: day-in-the-life
scene/situation
desired outcome
attempted approach
interfering factors
economic consequences
AFTER OUR PRODUCT: day-in-the-life
new approach
enabling factors
economic rewards
Market Development Strategy Checklist
evaluate all the markets/User Scenarios you're considering targeting against this list of criteria. Outcome is to pick one as a beach-head.
showstopper issues: low score on any of these eliminates a market from consideration
Target customer: single, identifiable economic buyer for the offer. Accessible to sales channel, and sufficiently funded to pay.
Compelling reason to buy: Are the economic consequences sufficient to mandate any reasonable economic buyer to fix the problems called out in the scenario? If pragmatists can live with the problem for another year, they will.
Whole Product: Can we field a complete solution to the target customer's compelling reason to buy?
Competition: Has this problem already been addressed by another company such that they have crossed the chasm ahead of us and occupied the space we would be targetting?
-the market alternative is the company the target customer has been buying from for years - the old way of doing things
- the product alternative is another discontinuous innovation trying to solve the same problem you are (to the interfering factors), but not as well-targeted to your market segment
Partner and allies: Do we already have the relationships necessary to fulfill the whole product?
Distribution: Do we have a sales channel in place that can call on the target customer?
Pricing: Is the price of the Whole Product? consistent with the target customer's budget and the value gained by fixing the broken process? Do all the partners get compensated adequately to keep their attention and loyalty?
Our Positioning: Is the company credible as a provider of products and services to the target niche?
Next target customer: If we dominate this niche, does it have good "bowling pin"(knock on effect) potential? That is, will these customers and partners faciliate our entry into adjacent niches?
The Positioning Statement
This should drive you sales approach.
For ____ (target customers)
o
Who are dissatisfied with ___ (current market alternative),
o
Our product is a ___ (new product category)
o
That provides ___ (key problem-solving capability).
o
Unlike ___ (the product alternative),
o
We have assembled ___ (key Whole Product features to maximize fit for specific target market segment)
“Positioning is based on the target segment you intend to dominate and the value proposition you intend to dominate it with.”
Eric Goldfarb, CIO of recovery auditing firm PRG-Schultz International, describes the demands that executives like himself make of technology vendors these days. As he says: “Imagine making your living selling broken things and having to routinely promise features that don't exist at a price that's set independently of the value of the product or service being rendered!”
Now, he asks: “Imagine (on the other side of the table) being a CIO who is betting your company, your career and the livelihood of your staff on that product and the salesperson's promises. That's what a CIO does every day."
Many company's success depends entirely on their technology.
Here are some tips when selling:
1. “Respect the CIO’s time”:
"There are thousands of technology companies in the out there. If 5% think they have something to sell to me, they let me know either by voice mail, phone calls or in meetings. That's a lot of communications. To break through all that chatter, you need to tell a story that addresses my problems and intrigues me enough to schedule a 20-minute meeting with you. Tell me a story that shows how you address my problems, and intrigue me enough to get a 20-minute meeting. “If you can do that, I'll give you another 20 minutes and, maybe, a sale.”
2. “Put the right person at the table”:
“I'm looking for people who will listen to and understand the company's problems and the CIO's concerns. Only then can the person come up with the right ideas and solutions.”
3. “Understand that CIOs differ from salespeople”:
“We think we’re different to most salespeople. We’re analytical, not emotional - We want process, facts and figures.”
“Be insatiably curious … you should know my company’s weaknesses. Pitch your product as the best way to reduce that weakness. Your product should be a solution to existing problems. Connecting with the CIO and the company doesn't mean you'll close a sale right away. Follow up and reinforce your value proposition with voice mail, e-mail and in every subsequent meeting. This process mirrors how the CIO works. It matches the psychological profile.”
4. Differentiate with a service:
“Today's technology companies look a lot alike. They employ similar people with similar educational backgrounds; they produce similar things with similar prices and similar quality. What's different about you and your company? These days, building the best product isn't enough; it's simply the price of entry.”
“Use services to differentiate yourself from the competition. If you can sell your product along with a valuable service, you'll increase your odds of making your product sales goals.”
5. Solve, don’t sell:
“Every technology sale has five doors that must be opened in order to proceed:
need, money, urgency, desire and trust.
Once these doors are all open, then you can start being truly successful.
The key to the door of success means you're not selling a product; you're solving a problem.
Once you've identified the need, focus on making my organization better and my life easier.
“I don't expect you to know every detail in each module. Get the right resources in your own organization involved in solving my problem. The most successful salespeople can pluck the right resources out of their organization to help my company.”
6. Stand by your CIO:
“Over the course of implementing products or software, something's bound to break. The salesperson who stands by me over the years and doesn't run away at the first sign of trouble is going to be successful. John Keegan in The Masks of Command (Penguin USA, 1989) said, "The first and greatest imperative of command is to be present and in person. Those who impose risk must be seen to share it." Try mitigate the risk.
“You're not building customer satisfaction; you're building customer success. There's a difference, and the result will make us all winners.”
Some Tools to Clarify the Compelling Reason
Also, here is some tools from Moore's "Crossing the Chasm" that allows you to explain your product in a structured and concise manner to help the customer attain that Eureka factor:
Why Segment Markets? (and pick just 1 to target at a time - FoCus)
- Maximize benefit of resources... references, collateral, internal procedures and documentation (this is our biggest issue)
-Higher Critical Mass of Word Of Mouth (because if your early successes are all in different markets then those different stories don't add together - market consisting of buyers who reference each other)
-Big fish in a small pond: halo effect of 'being a winner' (this is more important in true Crossing The Chasm situations, where there is a real need for a Whole Product solution to be assembled from multiple vendors, and therefore the prospect wants to feel certain that you will have partners creating the supplemental pieces of the Whole Product)
User Scenarios
How the user's life will improve by using your product.
Header/thumbnail description of buyer
BEFORE OUR PRODUCT: day-in-the-life
scene/situation
desired outcome
attempted approach
interfering factors
economic consequences
AFTER OUR PRODUCT: day-in-the-life
new approach
enabling factors
economic rewards
Market Development Strategy Checklist
evaluate all the markets/User Scenarios you're considering targeting against this list of criteria. Outcome is to pick one as a beach-head.
showstopper issues: low score on any of these eliminates a market from consideration
Target customer: single, identifiable economic buyer for the offer. Accessible to sales channel, and sufficiently funded to pay.
Compelling reason to buy: Are the economic consequences sufficient to mandate any reasonable economic buyer to fix the problems called out in the scenario? If pragmatists can live with the problem for another year, they will.
Whole Product: Can we field a complete solution to the target customer's compelling reason to buy?
Competition: Has this problem already been addressed by another company such that they have crossed the chasm ahead of us and occupied the space we would be targetting?
-the market alternative is the company the target customer has been buying from for years - the old way of doing things
- the product alternative is another discontinuous innovation trying to solve the same problem you are (to the interfering factors), but not as well-targeted to your market segment
Partner and allies: Do we already have the relationships necessary to fulfill the whole product?
Distribution: Do we have a sales channel in place that can call on the target customer?
Pricing: Is the price of the Whole Product? consistent with the target customer's budget and the value gained by fixing the broken process? Do all the partners get compensated adequately to keep their attention and loyalty?
Our Positioning: Is the company credible as a provider of products and services to the target niche?
Next target customer: If we dominate this niche, does it have good "bowling pin"(knock on effect) potential? That is, will these customers and partners faciliate our entry into adjacent niches?
The Positioning Statement
This should drive you sales approach.
For ____ (target customers)
o
Who are dissatisfied with ___ (current market alternative),
o
Our product is a ___ (new product category)
o
That provides ___ (key problem-solving capability).
o
Unlike ___ (the product alternative),
o
We have assembled ___ (key Whole Product features to maximize fit for specific target market segment)
Value Proposition: Who it targets, What it does and How it benefits the user.
E.g. Azotel's solution targets local entrepreneurs. It allows them easily set up wireless internet services. This is done more easily and less costly than ever before.
“Positioning is based on the target segment you intend to dominate and the value proposition you intend to dominate it with.”
posted by the author at 3:03 AM
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