“There’s a better way to engage stakeholders and then do your product pitch. Use sales insights to engage critical stakeholders and use these meetings to better understand their goals and concerns. ” – Chris Ortolano in today’s Tip 200
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today Chris Ortolano of Outbound Edge is back to help us all eliminate the “muddle” in the middle of the sales pipeline. Here he is with today’s tip:
Chris Ortolano: Do you lead sales meetings first with a demo, then pivot to case studies and white papers? That may leave your audience in the dark, especially if they don’t really understand what or why they need to change. There’s a better way to engage stakeholders and then do your product pitch. Use sales insights to engage critical stakeholders and use these meetings to better understand their goals and concerns. Influencers and decision-makers are more willing to evaluate new products once they understand the market forces, technology trends and how similar companies are adapting. First, you’ve got to know who’s who in your buying group? There are four groups of stakeholders in almost every complex buying decision Advocates, Influencers, Adversaries, and Partners. Use an integrated account mapping solution or a simple worksheet to quickly identify the key contacts in each of these four groups. Next, develop a stakeholder engagement plan. The first round of conversations in any sales process must convey something compelling about market forces, technology trends and how specific companies are adapting to change. Don’t drone on with facts and figures, case studies or white papers. By tailoring your sales insights specifically for someone in the decision making role, you quickly open up a two-way conversation that is both relevant and personal. To connect with an influencer. First, reach out and connect with a potential advocate in your prospect company or an existing account. Ask them, what problems are you working on solving these days. Be sure not to pitch your product or services at first. The key to stakeholder engagement is to build relationships based on mutual understanding, benefit and ultimately trust. You have to be patient and persistent, not spammy or salesy. To differentiate from the many other vendors who are hungry to set demos but not building trust. Then what’s the ask? Ask your advocate for an intro to one of the influencers inside their company and reference the sales insights you wish to share. You might reveal a few insights, but not all as it’s important to get the meeting with the influencer first and bonus use video or a product narrative to really make your insights pop. Let your advocate know the sales insights meeting is only 10 minutes. Reach out to decision-makers in series and gather there company-specific insights with each new meeting. Keep building relationships, sharing your sales insights and gathering knowledge. When your stakeholder engagement is complete, you are now prepared to report back to the buying group. Your report should reflect a blend of your sales insights and there are current states that allows you to propose a product or service your stakeholders are ready to use.
Scott Ingram: As always you can click over to DailySales.Tips/200 for more, and be sure to connect with Chris on LinkedIn if you haven’t already and ask him for another complimentary template to help you develop your own sales insights process so you can start engaging influencers and decision-makers today.
Thanks for listening and be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip from Jeff Bajorek