Stellar
Sales
How to Sell Proposals to Top Management
Keys to Success
By Jeffrey Hansler, CSP
Everyday
you sell yourself, your company and your ideas to someone…
somewhere. Top management is made up of economic and
technical buyers. Initially your selling will be to a
technical buyer. Ultimately, you’d like to be selling to
the economic buyer. In either case, there is an easy to
follow process that will help your selling be successful.
The
economic buyer is person responsible for growth of the
company. They, by definition, are responsible for taking the
company into new territory and that requires an investment.
What they look for is a return on that investment. If you
can show them a return, they will invest their resources
with you.
The
technical buyer has a mission to accomplish: Get what has
been requested. Their job is to make sure they get the most
for the least. They make their decision within a range of
cost and value that is established by the offering in the
market. They make decisions through comparisons, and their
objective is to make a good decision so they don’t look
bad.
Selling
to top management requires a focus on values. You must
discover the values of your prospects to effectively
communicate with them at their level. This requires that you
establish yourself as a peer and guide the conversation
through a five-step process. I call this process Directed
Communication™.
Values
are personal measurements of what we find important for our
happiness in life. Values are your internal ‘judge and
jury’. They are like internal cups that we want
filled. These cups are constantly filling and being emptied.
Difficulties, conflicts, and pain that we experience empty
our cups and acquiring things and involving ourselves in
activities fill our cups.
To
find out what your values are, look at recent items you have
purchase or activities you are involved in, and ask ‘What
do I get from this?’ or ‘How do I feel with this?’ For
example, you may find having money gives you a sense of
‘power’ or a sense of ‘security’. These are
distinctive values and a person with either of them would
have a different focus and motive for taking action.
Maybe
you decided to have your spouse and co-workers accompany you
to a convention, or maybe you opted to set up a website.
What do these decisions say about your values? Plenty! You
value relationships, visibility, and communication. Whether
your decisions revolve around your family life or your
business, they both reflect the same values.
Here
are the five key steps to follow when selling to top
management:
- Contact
– What are your assumptions about them and their
company?; What do you think their assumptions are about
you and your company?; What results do you want?; What
results do they want?; What actions can get those
results?; What are the values you feel the above choices
infer?; What will be the measurable return on
investment?; What would that be worth?: What would it
mean to them if it was achieved?
- Qualification
– Your time is your most important asset. It is
irreplaceable. To know where you stand in the sales
process requires that you have the critical information
in five key areas (RADAR): Rapport in that they answer
your questions as a peer; Acknowledged an interest in
solving their problem; Decision-maker and
decision-making process are evident to you; Acknowledged
the funds, energy, and time they are willing to devote
to achieve a solution; Risk co-efficient has been shared
about positive and negative experiences related to
making similar decisions.
- Needs
Analysis – This is where you focus on finding the
areas that you will need to focus on to create the trust
necessary with the buyer for them to make a decision. It
involves communicating in a way that builds on trust
with each action. It involves asking hard questions,
communicating in a style they are comfortable with,
stating a clear opinion based on your expertise, and
establishing your credibility on all fronts. It is more
than gathering the facts. It is about gathering the
underlying values that are important in relationship to
those facts.
- Agreement
– Reaching an agreement is the result of a
communication process that links the actions you will
take to contribute to their values and the compensation
they will provide you for those actions.
- Follow-up
– It is important to do this with your clients and
with yourself. You follow-up with your clients to
determine if you have successfully delivered what you
promised in a manner that you promised, any additional
areas you can supply, and determining others that can
utilize your solutions. You follow-up with yourself
after your sales call to see how you did in applying the
first four steps. Were your assumptions correct?; Did
you explore and gain information on RADAR?; Do you know
their needs, values, and how to deliver what they are
looking for?; What agreements did you reach?; Are they
the agreements you wanted.
Follow
these steps and you will develop more effective proposals,
close more sales, talk with more top management, and make
more money. After all, you do this every day, so why not do
it in a new way?
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Biography
Moment: Jeffrey Hansler, at 46 years old, was the oldest
rookie in the National Rugby Union in 2003, as a rookie who
had never played rugby. The Orange County Bucks, the team he
joined, has been part of Union for 20 years. He plays lock
and last year broke two ribs and fractured a vertebra –
and loved every minute of it. He’s at it again this year
and feels he’s in better shape than ever.
Jeffrey
Hansler is a professional speaker, author, and consultant.
He is a frequent speaker at association events and is the
author of Sell Little Red Hen! Sell! He can be reached at jhansler@oxfordco.com.
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2004 Jeffrey Hansler All rights reserved
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