Speaker 1: Don't worry about inexperience, don't be intimidated first, make it
Speaker 1: all about discovering the customer problem and earn the right
Speaker 1: to talk about what you do for a living.
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 katt Miller, joined today by John Kaplan.
Speaker 1: Hi. John, Hi, Rachel.
Speaker 3: So today we're going to tackle a topic that really
Speaker 3: comes up a lot in our negotiation trainings, but it
Speaker 3: also relates to just straight selling, and it has to
Speaker 3: do with general experience. Many of you out there listening
Speaker 3: are finding yourselves just a few years out of school
Speaker 3: trying to sell to much more experienced executives professionals. I
Speaker 3: say it comes up in negotiation because we get questions
Speaker 3: a lot from less experienced reps who are trying to
Speaker 3: negotiate with seasoned procurement professionals. We've all been there, right,
Speaker 3: It can be intimidating, but also a bias that you're
Speaker 3: a bias your buyer has of you that you have
Speaker 3: to overcome. So John, we've all been there, no matter
Speaker 3: our current age.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think this is a really great
Speaker 1: question and topic. I think it comes up and I
Speaker 1: like this point because I think you always want to
Speaker 1: be respectful and prepared, but you don't want to be
Speaker 1: intimidated or overwhelmed by experience. Period. You want to respect experience,
Speaker 1: but you don't want to be intimidated. So I think
Speaker 1: the thing to remember is the most elite seller, they
Speaker 1: first make it all about the buyer, and that's all
Speaker 1: the buyer cares about because what they don't believe is
Speaker 1: they don't believe we understand their business, and they don't
Speaker 1: believe we're going to listen to them. That's what all
Speaker 1: the data says. So if you just focus your energy
Speaker 1: and attention to first make it all about the buyer,
Speaker 1: then you earn the right to make it all about
Speaker 1: your company. And I think that's a really good frame
Speaker 1: that we should kind of hang on to as we
Speaker 1: continue to discuss this.
Speaker 3: Right focusing on the buyer helps you in all things
Speaker 3: is selling, but especially if you're a greener wrap selling
Speaker 3: two more experienced professionals. And it starts with something you
Speaker 3: say all the time, John, having confidence and conviction and
Speaker 3: what you sell for a living. And that comes down
Speaker 3: to not necessarily always understanding your product, but also related
Speaker 3: to the buyer understanding the problems that you solve.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like, nobody cares how experienced you are
Speaker 1: if you can solve their problem. So if you understand
Speaker 1: how you can solve the problem, it helps your confidence
Speaker 1: and conviction around what you do for a living. So
Speaker 1: let me give you a quick example. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of the listeners know that I started Force Management
Speaker 1: after a great career, in my opinion, a great career,
Speaker 1: So sorry it sounds a little bit, it sounds a
Speaker 1: little bit of boasting, but I thought it was a
Speaker 1: great career at PTC, and I was selling engineering software
Speaker 1: to engineers. So a couple of problems. Number one, I
Speaker 1: wasn't an engineer. Number two, I'd never sold software before,
Speaker 1: so I came from a hardware company at Xerox. But
Speaker 1: I was a fairly good seller, and I was prepared
Speaker 1: with how my company had prepared me in What I
Speaker 1: mean by that is they helped me understand the art
Speaker 1: of discovery. And so the first thing I would do
Speaker 1: is that would ask customers, design engineers and manufacturing engineers.
Speaker 1: I'd ask them to walk me through their process. And
Speaker 1: as I walked through their process, I started to ask
Speaker 1: additional questions about where bottlenecks were and how often those
Speaker 1: bottlenecks happened, and what were some of the challenges that
Speaker 1: were associated with that, How did that impact the company,
Speaker 1: how did that impact the customer, How did that impact
Speaker 1: things like pricing on products and delivery on products? And
Speaker 1: inside of that, I had huge confidence and conviction that
Speaker 1: our company had solutions. I'm not telling you don't have
Speaker 1: to understand your solutions. You have to understand your solutions.
Speaker 1: But what I did to get my comfort level was
Speaker 1: to start uncovering the problems first and then seeing the
Speaker 1: reaction of how big those problems were and how challenging
Speaker 1: those problems were. I made the customer always hungry to
Speaker 1: learn more about what I could do to solve them.
Speaker 1: And later on in my career, when I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: when I knew more about the products and services and
Speaker 1: I was feeling more and more comfortable. I actually started
Speaker 1: doing less discovery and started to tell people about my
Speaker 1: products and services because I wanted to prove to everybody
Speaker 1: how smart I was and how I had made the transition.
Speaker 1: I did understand engineering, I do understand manufacturing now, and
Speaker 1: a really cool lesson happened to me. The more that
Speaker 1: I knew about the products and services and the more
Speaker 1: that I told them about their problem, the more they
Speaker 1: resisted me. And so it was a really good learning
Speaker 1: experience for me. My maturity came from first understanding their problems,
Speaker 1: and then I earned the right to talk about what
Speaker 1: we did and how we did it differently. And so
Speaker 1: I just want people to remember that nobody cares about
Speaker 1: how mature you are or how much experience you have.
Speaker 1: They only care if you understand their problem and if
Speaker 1: you can articulate a solution that meets or solves that problem.
Speaker 3: I know we have people that listen to this podcast.
Speaker 3: You know, they're driving, they're working out, they're sitting at
Speaker 3: home on their computers. Take a step back, ask yourself,
Speaker 3: are you truly positioning your selling activities today, this week,
Speaker 3: this quarter around what is important to your buyer? Get
Speaker 3: clarity around those business problems you solve. John, I'm sorry
Speaker 3: were going to say something.
Speaker 1: No, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just love that
Speaker 1: so much. It's like just sitting with that and reflecting
Speaker 1: on it and say, before I open up my mouth,
Speaker 1: I actually have a little enemy within that says, you know,
Speaker 1: why are you talking? Why are you talking? And if
Speaker 1: my brain can't answer because the customer said this was
Speaker 1: the problem, then I shut up. And it's really it's
Speaker 1: not much more difficult than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I pause there for effect because I wanted everyone
Speaker 3: listening to.
Speaker 1: You did it well. You did it well, and since
Speaker 1: I'm not comfortable with silence, I jumped in there like
Speaker 1: every other sales rep would. That's well done.
Speaker 3: So really think about think about that to all of
Speaker 3: you listening out there. Get clarity around those business problems
Speaker 3: you solve. If you're a command of the message customer,
Speaker 3: make sure you are owning that value framework. Understand the
Speaker 3: problems you're solving as they have meaning to this specific buyer.
Speaker 3: Another simple way for you to gain clarity around those
Speaker 3: problems in a way that you can articulate them back
Speaker 3: in your sales conversations is that concept we have done
Speaker 3: the essential questions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for me, this is what helps me get my
Speaker 1: mind right. So and PTC did such a good job
Speaker 1: for me, and so many companies are doing this such
Speaker 1: a good job. And if you're a company listening, listen
Speaker 1: up to this. If you're a manager listening, or a
Speaker 1: leader listening, listen up to this. If you are a seller,
Speaker 1: listen up to this, because it's got a perspective for
Speaker 1: all of you. Is that when I contemplate the answers
Speaker 1: to the four essential questions, doesn't matter how much experience
Speaker 1: I have, whether I'm inexperienced or whether I'm a truly
Speaker 1: ten yeared employee, the four central questions are incredibly solid,
Speaker 1: and I wake up in the morning and really get
Speaker 1: my mind focused around this, which gives me confidence and conviction.
Speaker 1: What problems do I solve for my customers? What problems
Speaker 1: do I solve for my customers? And we always talk
Speaker 1: about being audible ready, so that means when I speak
Speaker 1: about problems, I have to speak about technical problems. I
Speaker 1: have to orb depending upon what type of sales you're in.
Speaker 1: If you're not in a technical sale, I have to
Speaker 1: think about end user problems. I need to think about
Speaker 1: process problems. I need to think about business problems. And
Speaker 1: so when we answer that question, what problems do we
Speaker 1: solve for our customers? We have to be audible, Eddie,
Speaker 1: no matter who we're speaking to. How specifically question number two,
Speaker 1: how specifically do we solve those problems? Here is where
Speaker 1: we get to talk about our goods and services, but
Speaker 1: only as they relate to solving those problems. How do
Speaker 1: we solve it differently or better than anybody else? How
Speaker 1: do we solve it differently or better than anybody else?
Speaker 1: This answers the question of what is your differentiation and
Speaker 1: where have you done it before? Where have you done
Speaker 1: it before? Are the proof points? And when I'm a
Speaker 1: new seller or I'm an inexperienced seller, that's one of
Speaker 1: the first things that I would do is go to
Speaker 1: those proof points and really understand what have we actually
Speaker 1: done for customers? What problems did we solve, How specifically
Speaker 1: did we solve them, How do we do it differently
Speaker 1: or better than anybody else? And what was the outcome?
Speaker 1: And now I believe, because that's the evidence I need.
Speaker 1: And when you believe, you will get confidence in conviction,
Speaker 1: which will come across as experience, which will come across
Speaker 1: as people wanting to lean into you. Stay focused around
Speaker 1: the answers to the four central questions. If you don't
Speaker 1: think you can answer them. If you're a leader and
Speaker 1: you're listening to this podcast and you don't think your
Speaker 1: company can answer them, you better get squared away, get
Speaker 1: the answers aligned answers to those questions. If you are
Speaker 1: a seller, wake up in the morning and say, I'm
Speaker 1: going to consume the content that my company gave me
Speaker 1: around these four essential questions, and it's my job to
Speaker 1: execute them and show my character as it relates to
Speaker 1: being able to execute them with great skill. And I
Speaker 1: think those four essential questions can get you really, really focused,
Speaker 1: and I see people just skyrocket and their confidence. Whether
Speaker 1: they're new in an industry or whether they're a new seller,
Speaker 1: it really doesn't have any bearing. Once you get your
Speaker 1: arms around the answers to those four essential questions, you're
Speaker 1: good to go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you talk about executing on the essential questions, John,
Speaker 3: I think that's a really important point because when you
Speaker 3: wrap your head around the answer to those questions, it's
Speaker 3: not enough to just rattle the answers off as bullet points.
Speaker 3: You need to make them meaningful for your buyer. We
Speaker 3: set it at the top, what is important to your buyer?
Speaker 3: That is how you get that confidence a conviction you're
Speaker 3: talking about. You need to customize those answers in your
Speaker 3: conversations to what matters to the buyer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, with the world we live in now, the buyers
Speaker 1: are multiple buyers. Most of us are selling complex solutions
Speaker 1: that have multiple buyers. We're either selling things as a
Speaker 1: service or it depends upon the usage and insights into
Speaker 1: that usage and what Normally you just sum all that up,
Speaker 1: it's typically multiple on ramps to a customer conversation, which means,
Speaker 1: no matter who I speak to, no matter what the
Speaker 1: problem is that they're experiencing, I have to be ready.
Speaker 1: And like we just said, I think the answers to
Speaker 1: those four es central questions are a great way for
Speaker 1: us to get ready. Okay, I'm going to go talk
Speaker 1: to a network administrator. Okay, what problems do they typically
Speaker 1: experience and how do I solve those? Well? How do
Speaker 1: I solve them differently? Are better than anybody else? And
Speaker 1: where have we done it before? Okay, I'm going to
Speaker 1: go talk to a CIO or an executive. What problems
Speaker 1: and I'm going to elevate those problems and connect them
Speaker 1: to business issues. The whole point is you have multiple
Speaker 1: on ramps. You have to be audible ready, and you
Speaker 1: have to approach. Like we said at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the podcast, you have to make an approach which is
Speaker 1: outside in I'm first going to make it all about
Speaker 1: you before i make it about me and my company.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the other topic I wanted to make sure we
Speaker 3: covered a little bit more, and it's one of those
Speaker 3: essential questions, what's your proof Where have you done it before?
Speaker 3: Proof points people want to know you can do what
Speaker 3: you say you can do, and they're helpful for all salespeople,
Speaker 3: but they can really be essential in gaining the trust
Speaker 3: and respect of seasoned decision makers.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think they're really kind of twofold.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: First and foremost people want to know you can do
Speaker 1: what you say you can do. So if you say
Speaker 1: that you drove a specific result for a similar type
Speaker 1: of company, that's going to get their attention no matter
Speaker 1: how many years of work experience you have. People also
Speaker 1: want to mitigate, you know, mitigate risk, so they want
Speaker 1: to know there's some assurance that you're going to deliver
Speaker 1: the same result. And that's how proof points can help.
Speaker 1: The second thing that proof points can do, and I
Speaker 1: said this a little bit earlier, but I love to
Speaker 1: see people utilize proof points to really gain their own
Speaker 1: confidence and conviction, to really read these proof points and
Speaker 1: really sit and reflect with these proof points, to say
Speaker 1: to yourself, what I do matters? And so you should
Speaker 1: dig into the story and understand the problems that were solved,
Speaker 1: how you solve them or how your company solved them,
Speaker 1: and what was the result, and connect the result all
Speaker 1: the way to the business outcome. And if you didn't
Speaker 1: do the deal, it doesn't matter. Don't just throw out
Speaker 1: a logo. You know, we do business with Bank of America,
Speaker 1: what have you. Nobody cares about logos. What they care
Speaker 1: about They do care about logos, But what I mean
Speaker 1: by that is they want to know what happened, What
Speaker 1: problems were you addressing, how did you solve them, how
Speaker 1: did you solve them differently or better? And what was
Speaker 1: the outcome. Now you'll do two things. If you consume
Speaker 1: those proof points in that way, you will instantly raise
Speaker 1: your credibility with a customer, and you will lower ri
Speaker 1: Like you talked about Rachel but you will also build
Speaker 1: your own confidence and conviction that what you do for
Speaker 1: a living matters because you.
Speaker 3: Have proof Yeah, and as a company, it's really important
Speaker 3: to get a process around gathering those proof points and
Speaker 3: having a process to transfer that knowledge, to transfer that
Speaker 3: story to other reps. I mean it's critical and mitigating
Speaker 3: risks in all your deals. But when you talk about
Speaker 3: enabling greener reps, I mean those stories, those metrics can
Speaker 3: be the negative information that gets an experienced buyer to
Speaker 3: open up and have and further the sales conversations. It's
Speaker 3: really important.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: Okay, John, wrap it up. Let's give a closing bottom
Speaker 3: line on.
Speaker 1: This topic, this couple of things. First thing I want
Speaker 1: to say is if you're listening to this podcast and
Speaker 1: you're having a oh crap moment, an oh crap moment means, Okay,
Speaker 1: I understand the four cents of questions, but we don't
Speaker 1: have the answers. Nothing is more critical for you right now.
Speaker 1: If you are a sales leader, if you are a CEO,
Speaker 1: if you are a seller, if you do not have
Speaker 1: the answers to those four essential questions, you're going to
Speaker 1: be compromised out in the field. And you want to
Speaker 1: couple that with bringing on new people into an organization,
Speaker 1: maybe that don't have the maturity in the organization or
Speaker 1: in the industry, or just basically maybe even in selling experience.
Speaker 1: If you don't equip them with that, you are really
Speaker 1: putting the outcomes at risk. So that's kind of first
Speaker 1: and foremost for me. Now let me speak to the
Speaker 1: people out there that this podcast was really kind of
Speaker 1: intended for. You know, first is, Hey, sometimes I get
Speaker 1: a little intimidated with talking to executives or whatever. Don't
Speaker 1: worry about inexperience. Don't be intimidated. First, make it all
Speaker 1: about discovering the customer prop and earn the right to
Speaker 1: talk about what you do for a living. When you
Speaker 1: first make it all about the customer's problem, you are
Speaker 1: solving something that we call the seller deficit disorder, which
Speaker 1: executives don't believe that you understand their business and they
Speaker 1: don't believe that you're going to listen to them. The
Speaker 1: very active going through discovery to understand and uncover and
Speaker 1: validate those problems will give you the equivalent of experience
Speaker 1: and maturity in front of any executive. Prepare yourself by
Speaker 1: understanding your company's value by understanding the answers to the
Speaker 1: four essential questions. And if you can't do it, if
Speaker 1: you don't know it, talk to your boss. Talk to
Speaker 1: your manager. If you're a manager and you don't have
Speaker 1: it and you can't do it, talk to your executive team.
Speaker 1: Executive team. If you guys can't do it from an
Speaker 1: aligned perspective and you don't have common language around these,
Speaker 1: get busy and get common language and alignment around the
Speaker 1: answers to the four central questions. It's critical.
Speaker 3: Boom, mic drop, John Kaplin, thank.
Speaker 1: You, Thanks, Rachel all right, thank.
Speaker 3: You to all of you for listening to the Audible
Speaker 3: 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 us at forcemanagement dot com.
Speaker 2: You've been listening to the Audible Ready podcast. To not
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Speaker 2: podcast player. Until next time,