Speaker 1: Sit in the customer's moment of pain, and if you
Speaker 1: don't understand the pain, find someone in your own company
Speaker 1: who can explain it to you. Sit with it for
Speaker 1: a moment, and ask yourself, so, what if that happens
Speaker 1: to the customer.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the audible Ready Podcast, the show that
Speaker 2: helps you and your teams sell more faster. We'll feature
Speaker 2: sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create
Speaker 2: a sales engine that helps you fuel repeatable revenue growth.
Speaker 2: Presented by the team at Force Management, a leader in
Speaker 2: B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started.
Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm
Speaker 3: Rachel klet Millard, joined by John Kaplan.
Speaker 2: Hi.
Speaker 1: John, Hi, Rachel.
Speaker 3: So today we are going to talk about aligning your
Speaker 3: solution to the right part of the company. We've all
Speaker 3: been in those situations where we are aligned to a
Speaker 3: departmental initiative and not a corporate one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're selling a premium solution, you need to
Speaker 1: be talking to the people who have access to discretionary funds.
Speaker 1: The people release those discretionary funds. Those people that have
Speaker 1: the power and influence release those discretionary funds when the
Speaker 1: problem has a large enough business implication.
Speaker 3: Right, there's the golden ticket, right, a large enough business implication,
Speaker 3: and that requires us to align with these corporate initiatives,
Speaker 3: not just departmental one offs. So the first step to
Speaker 3: do that is to really look at the outcomes you're
Speaker 3: trying to drive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you always begin by asking yourself, what
Speaker 1: problem am I trying to solve? What problem is the
Speaker 1: customer trying to solve? And then you've always got to
Speaker 1: ask yourself how big is the problem? I find that
Speaker 1: sellers just don't do that. They don't think about the
Speaker 1: negative consequences of the problem. They just look at the
Speaker 1: surface level of the problem and say, Okay, that's a
Speaker 1: problem I relate to, and therefore I can switch and
Speaker 1: talk about my solutions. Go deeper, Go deeper. Always ask
Speaker 1: yourself how big the problem is, Like what are the
Speaker 1: implications of the problem? Are they technical problems or do
Speaker 1: they impact the corporate landscape as a whole. And even
Speaker 1: if you only know the departmental impact, that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: it doesn't have higher level implications. You need to go
Speaker 1: find them.
Speaker 3: Right, it's looking at the outcomes that pain. But the
Speaker 3: other piece of this is really getting to the economic buyer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, your economic buyer is the person who has the
Speaker 1: influence as it relates to this business issue. They have
Speaker 1: power and authority in the organization. They can say yes
Speaker 1: when others can say no. They can say no when
Speaker 1: others can say yes. They have direct access to money,
Speaker 1: discretionary use of funds, profit and loss responsibilities. You know,
Speaker 1: whenever I have trouble identifying the economic buyer, it's typically
Speaker 1: because I'm dealing with a technical buyer or a budget
Speaker 1: holder who is kind of masquerading as the economic buyer.
Speaker 1: So when we speak about a corporate initiative, this is
Speaker 1: who you have to align with. In addition to knowing
Speaker 1: who the person actually is, you need to understand the
Speaker 1: strategic priorities that they care about the corporate initiatives.
Speaker 3: Right. I love giving some examples of questions when we
Speaker 3: give those types of tips, John, So let's talk about
Speaker 3: what questions am I asking that helps me find out
Speaker 3: about those corporate initiatives that an economic buyer cares about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Rachel, I think people make this like much harder
Speaker 1: than it is, and I want to break I do.
Speaker 1: I think it's I think they just get a little
Speaker 1: bit intimidated buy it. Let me see if we can
Speaker 1: break it down a little bit. So first, as I
Speaker 1: often talk about the difference between stress and pressure, is
Speaker 1: prepared now, It is preparedness. And so sit in the
Speaker 1: customer's moment of pain. And if you don't understand the pain,
Speaker 1: find someone in your own company who can explain it
Speaker 1: to you. Sit with it for a moment and ask yourself,
Speaker 1: so what if that happens to the customer, So what
Speaker 1: what's the impact to the business. So I think it's
Speaker 1: about first getting your mind right too, before you even
Speaker 1: come up with questions. First understand the problem. The questions
Speaker 1: become easier. So many times I'll reverse engineer the problem.
Speaker 1: And let me just give you kind of an example.
Speaker 1: So I draw a bullseye on my piece of paper,
Speaker 1: often just to get started in my pre preparation, you know,
Speaker 1: with outside circles leaning into inside circles to a bullseye.
Speaker 1: And what I mean by reverse engineering is I start with, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's going on in the industry. Okay, those are industry pressures. Okay,
Speaker 1: those industry pressures are creating company pressures. So how are
Speaker 1: those industry pressures creating company pressures, and then those company
Speaker 1: pressures are creating departmental pressures, and then I earn the
Speaker 1: right to ask about personal pressure and personal impact. And Rachel,
Speaker 1: I think one of the fundamental mistakes that I see
Speaker 1: young sellers do today, or inexperienced sellers, what they wind
Speaker 1: up doing is they reverse that. They try to start
Speaker 1: with the personal, and they haven't earned the right think
Speaker 1: about industry pressures, and the industry pressures creating company pressures,
Speaker 1: the company pressures creating departmental pressures, and then you earn
Speaker 1: the right on the personal. So questions like what feedback
Speaker 1: are you getting from So if I'm talking, let's say
Speaker 1: I'm talking to like a technical buyer in software, and
Speaker 1: let's say that that technical buyer is creating technical solutions
Speaker 1: that are impacting other departments like sales and finance and
Speaker 1: then outside like customer, And so I just ask questions like, Hey,
Speaker 1: what feedback are you getting from the sales organization or
Speaker 1: from the finance organization, or from the customers or from
Speaker 1: your customers. What's the voice of the customers saying what
Speaker 1: do they like most about what you're doing? A lot
Speaker 1: of times I'll start with a positive question and then
Speaker 1: they'll tell me the negative about So what is your
Speaker 1: sales organization like most about the technical solutions that you're
Speaker 1: providing for them? They kind of tell me something and
Speaker 1: then they immediately go to the negative, and I wind
Speaker 1: up realizing that when I'm asking people to tell me
Speaker 1: about positive situations, whatever it is about human nature, they
Speaker 1: wind up telling me the negative things. And so give
Speaker 1: that a try. But sit with it first and ask yourself,
Speaker 1: so what if this doesn't work out? So what if
Speaker 1: there are problems? What are the implications to those around them?
Speaker 1: The questions are easy. The mindset is first, Oh.
Speaker 3: That's great, And I know we've talked about this and
Speaker 3: other podcast episodes, but I just want to hit it
Speaker 3: here at the end. Having the questions is great, right,
Speaker 3: we need to know what the question is to ask,
Speaker 3: But we can't ask them if we don't have the
Speaker 3: right access to the person. So how am I making
Speaker 3: sure I have the right access? John just hit that
Speaker 3: real quick for us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean best access is from someone inside the company.
Speaker 1: And what I mean by that A lot of times
Speaker 1: people are saying, Okay, I need to get higher inside
Speaker 1: of an organization, and they're looking for ways to like
Speaker 1: you know, Hopscott jump over people like I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's frogger or whatever that thing is when we
Speaker 1: were kids. You're not as old as I am, Rachel,
Speaker 1: but you know you leap frog these things, and people
Speaker 1: think about leap frogging people. I got to get over
Speaker 1: that person. I got to get above that person. And
Speaker 1: I've always thought that the best way to get people
Speaker 1: to get somewhere is from somebody who already knows the way,
Speaker 1: and to get them to take me there. So what
Speaker 1: I like to think about is getting people connect. Did
Speaker 1: emostally connected to what they do for a living matters,
Speaker 1: For example, the example I just gave you getting them connected.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to the VP of sales, but
Speaker 1: yet I'm talking to a technical buyer in it, let's say,
Speaker 1: but I want them to set up the conversation for me.
Speaker 1: Not just set up the conversation for me with a
Speaker 1: warm intro, but I'd like them to be on the
Speaker 1: call because I want this new person I'm talking to
Speaker 1: in sales to know that I am connected to others
Speaker 1: inside the account. And it's this concept of always making
Speaker 1: it warm, always making it warm. I'm more likely to
Speaker 1: receive if somebody calls me at Force Management, you tell
Speaker 1: me that Rachel suggested that you give me a call,
Speaker 1: and not only that Rachel's on the call. When we
Speaker 1: are going to have the conversation or the meeting, I'm
Speaker 1: more likely to spend more time being prepared. Probably reach
Speaker 1: out to Rachel and say, hey, what's this meeting about.
Speaker 1: Always bring people along your journey. So think about connecting
Speaker 1: those lower life people to bigger business issues, helping them
Speaker 1: be seen as a hero to the organization. Give them
Speaker 1: ownership and empowerment. You don't need the credit, you need
Speaker 1: the money.
Speaker 3: Amen. So John, wrap it up. That's a great way
Speaker 3: to end it. But I'm sure that you have a
Speaker 3: final thought for us here, and.
Speaker 1: I always you gotta you have time limits here, Rachel.
Speaker 1: You know I always have finnal thought. But all right,
Speaker 1: let's let's just think about a bottom line here. So
Speaker 1: for me, it's always understand the problem you're solving. Ask yourself,
Speaker 1: how big is the problem. Don't hang on the surface
Speaker 1: of the problem. Go deeper, Go deeper, implicate the problem
Speaker 1: with big business issues. Follow the money, follow the money
Speaker 1: of the problem, and it will It will not only
Speaker 1: take you to the business issue, but it will take
Speaker 1: you to the people with the power and influence and
Speaker 1: responsibility to solve it. Lastly, prepare in everything you do.
Speaker 1: It's not always about can you get a meeting, It's
Speaker 1: about whether or not you'll be welcomed back. You get
Speaker 1: delegated to those that you sound like. That takes preparation
Speaker 1: to make sure you're messaging to people with the right messages,
Speaker 1: with the right problems and the right expectations. You do
Speaker 1: those things, and I think you'll have no problem linking
Speaker 1: yourself to corporate initiatives.
Speaker 3: That's great.
Speaker 1: Thank you, John, my pleasure go get them.
Speaker 3: Go get them. Thank you to all of you for
Speaker 3: listening to the Audible Ready Sales podcast.
Speaker 4: At Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into
Speaker 4: elite teams. Our proven methodologies deliver programs that build company
Speaker 4: alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the
Speaker 4: ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale.
Speaker 4: Our strength is our experience. The proof is in our results.
Speaker 4: Let's get started. Visit a stet forest management dot com.
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