Sharpening Your Competitive Selling Skills Larry matte, SCORE Counselor, Co-founder: Cyber Marketing Services

“We Can Provide You With 650 Channels of Entertainment”

So What!

You Always Have Competition!

What’s Critical Focus - beware of distractions Business and marketing plans – implementation critical Create value added Key benefits – differentiation – know your competition Enthusiasm

Defining Your Market Big Enough? Narrow Enough? Need to Have vs Must Have Cost of Market Entry Sales Channels – Direct/Partners/Distribution

Defining Your Market ROI Market Trends Repeat Business Scalability

Criteria for Unique Benefits Match Target Audience Your Strengths vs Competitors’ Strengths Your Weaknesses vs Competitors’ Weaknesses

Criteria for Unique Benefits What are the substantial objections? Are they deal breakers?

Competition Who Wins?

The Basics Establish credibility – knowledge, language, professionalism Be consultative – sell solutions Strategize with associates – what works, what doesn’t Measure results Provide high quality customer service – repeat business, referrals

The Basics Don’t chase bad business Be concise Don’t assume – ASS U ME Be yourself! Dress appropriately

Prospecting Define greatest strengths – uniqueness Define target audiences – establish criteria; identify key contacts and titles References

Prospecting Where are the prospects? Competitive sites, Google alerts, industry directories, conferences/directories, associations, social media/LinkedIn, local online news sites and print, webinars  Provide legitimate reasons to contact somebody Current events, new products/services, special “deal”  People invaluable to get to right people Monitor quality and quantity of leads Use contact management software

Research company/people before contacting Prospecting Research company/people before contacting

Prospecting eMail Generate interest as early as possible – two or three unique benefits Mention references in same type of business Be concise – short and sweet Use some graphics Close with action item Monitor opens and click throughs

Prospecting Phone Generate interest as early as possible – two or three benefits Have additional benefits ready, if needed Mention references

Prospecting Phone Be concise – short and sweet Be yourself, use conversational tone Be respectful of prospect’s time Close with action item NEVER! – sound canned, confrontational, arrogant

Effective Follow-up Two messages in five business days, then once a week Keep it conversational, never get arrogant or upset, use humor if appropriate

I Understand …… How salespeople might be afraid to ask “difficult questions” Ask questions that might upset the prospect

Need to Know How you can not know how a decision is made Who is involved in making the decision Who you are competing with When a decision is going to be made If there is a compelling or impending event

Probing/Qualifying Identify needs - what is important to prospect Top priorities, consequences if not met  Listen, ask questions, control the discussion Avoid reacting, ask more questions if not satisfied Start broad and narrow down  Define influencers, time frames, budgets

Probing/Qualifying Identify Leverage Points Identify Pain Points

Probing/Qualifying Stress benefits in context of prospect’s needs Limit number of benefits – avoid “laundry” lists Stress differentiation Plant seeds to establish buying criteria – set traps for competition

Probing/Qualifying Avoid negativity – address competitive weaknesses in context of your strengths Do up front selling Create action plan with prospect Confirm next appointment

Presentation Skills - The Basics Be concise Modulate your voice, appropriate posture, use gestures, walk around, be enthusiastic! 4 to 5 bullets/slides – don’t read, no sentences Include case studies, stories, references Avoid the obvious, avoid clichés

Online Presentations Be concise Modulate your voice Be enthusiastic! Use video, if applicable

Presentation Skills - The Basics Get to the ‘meat” of presentation quickly Check products/equipment beforehand Turn off cell phone Sense of humor helps, smile, have fun Know roles of participants, have someone preview and critique presentation

Presentation Skills - The Basics Address priorities of decision maker/s first Audience involvement – what do they think Use support people as needed, i.e. technicians, must know roles beforehand Practice! Practice!

Presentation Skills - Flow Overview of your company Restate needs and current situation – prioritize Reiterate buying criteria Focus on key, unique functions and benefits – avoid “laundry” lists

Presentation Skills - Flow Reiterate benefits in different ways throughout presentation Keep some benefits in reserve, if needed Discuss investment and payback Next steps, close Control!

Objection Handling Use up front selling to diffuse objections Be quiet and listen, don’t overreact Acknowledge, don’t agree - ask questions if objection is unclear, get at real concern Agree on minor objections – establishes credibility

Objection Handling Respond - don’t over complicate, answer directly, use analogies if appropriate Go back to major benefits, put objection in perspective, see “Big picture” Confirm –is customer okay?

Objections You’re too expensive!

Objections You’re a start up with no proven track record!

Objections bad rating on Angie’s list! If you don’t reduce your maintenance cost I’ll give you a bad rating on Angie’s list!

Follow-up and Closing Use combination of email and telephone Consequences of not moving forward, timeline Something new each time – scheduling issues, price change, product enhancement Frequency of follow up - persistent but not annoying

Follow-up and Closing Keep in touch - send appropriate articles, events that may affect them, i.e. competition, industry info, webinars Don’t assume – constantly reinforce benefits Ask for the order after outstanding issues have been addressed “Are you okay?”

Follow-up and Closing Do not send proposal too early – pace deal Coach - what is happening? Negotiate face to face

Proposals Customize within standardization Concise – minimize boilerplate Video or audio summary

Identifying Problem Areas Marketing Product or Service Sales Skills Lack of Focus A combination of

Identifying Problem Areas Customer Feedback Surveys Sales Feedback -% of qualified leads Won/Lost Analysis Third Party Evaluations Focus Groups

Sales Skills? Prospects qualified, fit target market, budget Decision maker involvement Closing ratio Overcoming objections Deal breakers Drop off points in sales process

Marketing? Lack of feedback from salespeople Lack of qualified leads Lack of branding Not measuring results Marketing activities not synergized

Product or Service Product does not function properly Lack of functionality; incompatible with other products Services don’t delivery what’s promised Non competitive pricing

Customer Service Not responsive Not courteous Caught in phone transfer hell Issues not resolved

Customer Service First Call Resolution People Remember How Issue is Resolved Your Value Added!

Customer Service No referrals No repeat business Lousy reputation RESULT! No referrals No repeat business Lousy reputation

A Combination of Outside consultant – another set of eyes Create a roadmap of potential problem areas – prioritize with milestones, test Feedback from people involved

In Summary It’s You! It’s Your Company! It’s Your Solution!

Contact Information Larry Matte - lmatte213@gmail.com 201-370-8136 SCORE - www.bergen.score.org