Putting sales 2.0 to work

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Putting Sales 2.0 to work

Scott Miller

District Vice President of Sales – Ceridian


The world of selling is changing and the change is wrapped up in the

catch phrase, “Sales 2.0.” On the buyer’s side, best practices are more

readily available, as well as information about solutions and competitors.

In some cases, buyers no longer rely on a sales people for product demos

or access to their customer base.

Barry Trailer, co-founder of CSO Insights frames the phenomenon: “. . . essentially universal

Internet access provides unprecedented (some might argue unlimited) insights to product features,

benefits, applications, pricing, successes and failures—even before a sales rep is involved in the

conversation. This shifts the dynamics (i.e., power) in the buy-sell equation. Sellers unwilling, or unable,

to leverage the various communication channels available to facilitate buyers' investigations will

increasingly find themselves less successful in their sales efforts.”

Sales people can no longer use traditional techniques as effectively as they

once did. Picking up the phone, making a cold call, scheduling an

appointment, doing discovery, demonstrating capabilities, competitive


differentiation, handing a proposal, providing references, and negotiating

a deal were once done on the sellers terms because they had all of the

information. The irony is that many of us have been selling information

technology that would eliminate manual process; but, we were never

affected by it on a personal level. With tools like Google, Facebook,

Wikipedia, Podcast, Blogs, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn, consider that

chapter of selling closed. The information is now, quite literally, at your

finger tips.

Forward-looking sales organizations are embracing this change. Terms

like social networking, mobility, online presence, and search engine

optimization have given marketing a well-earned seat in the board room.

Now, sales people need to be able to compliment marketing’s efforts by

selling to buyers the way they are buying today and, most certainly will

buy, tomorrow.


As Anneke Seley and Brent Holloway, authors of the book Sales 2.0 state, “Sales 2.0 practices

combine the science of process-driven operations with the art of collaborative relationships, using the most

profitable and most expedient sales resources required to meet customers’ needs.”

The Evolution of Selling

The evolution of selling began as B2C: business to consumer. I have a

grainy image of pioneering Americans flipping through a catalog back in

the old west. Then, as the world began to industrialize, businesses were

created specifically to sell to other businesses, hence the genesis of B2B

selling.

At first, B2B selling was as simple as you need “X” and I have “X,” sign

here. Then, Neil Rackham created the SPIN selling mechanism while

working for Xerox. He found that the most successful sellers were the

ones that listened. They pointed their focus on the customer and away

from the product.

Sometime later, Michael Bosworth created the Solution Selling method to

help sellers understand that pain is fluid. Pain can start high and trickle

down or osmose from the bottom to the top. He also taught us to align


with our buyers’ vision of addressing that pain. Jim Holden taught us

organizations have a few key personalities with power when he

introduced Power-based Selling.

Rick Page ties the concepts of pain and power together and adds the third concept:

preference. Preference gives deeper insight in respect to competition and politics, ideas

once thought taboo by earlier methodologies. He then added prospect, part and plan to

create the ground breaking R.A.D.A.R.® methodology to win the complex sale.

Our challenge is quite simply this: How do we take the new reality that is

Sales 2.0 and marry it with the best practices of winning the complex sale?

After all, if buyers don’t need sellers, how can we at least stay relevant

and KEEP OUR JOB?

Lucky for us, buying rarely has an altruistic and utilitarian decision-

making process. In a complex selling environment, there are multiple

decision-makers and multiple vendors. Each decision-maker will be

impacted by the selection differently and they make their decision based

upon that impact! Stated otherwise, complex sales have risky, political

ramifications for the decision-makers.


The marriage of leveraging emerging technologies and selling the greatest

amount of impact to powerful people is Sale 2.0.

Putting Sales 2.0 to work

The purpose of this e-book is to expose emerging technologies that allow

us to communicate with buyers in the new age. Then, we must use these

emerging technologies to incorporate a strategy to win a complex sale. It

might read like a sprint, and it should. Keeping up with the speed of

information is critical to our success. In this e-book, I will introduce 2key

concepts:

1. Consolidate emerging technologies and strategy into the CRM to

create a sustainable competitive advantage for your sales force

2. Add value beyond the traditional buyer/ seller paradigm to gain

trust and relevancy and sell peer to peer (P2P)


Consolidate Emerging Technologies and Strategy into the CRM

One thing all sales leaders should know is that poor CRM (Customer

Relationship Management) adoption from the field is the rule, not the

exception. Most sale professionals see very little value in the CRM

because there is very little value in recapping their activity. In their eyes,

the CRM is for management oversight. As Rick Page, CEO of The

Complex Sale, Inc. states, “the last thing we want to do is turn six figure

big game hunters into data entry clerks.”

We, as sales leaders, need to change that perception by equipping our

reps with the best possible tools available for success. With emerging

technologies changing the rules of buying behavior, the CRM must keep

pace. It must be a single source of competitive advantage and the first

place your sales force goes for strategic selling information.

There are many CRMs to choose from, but I recommend and use

Salesforce.com because of its ease of use and wide adoption within the

profession. More importantly, I recommend Salesforce.com because of the


App Exchange. The App Exchange is where users can install pre-

integrated tools to make the database into the strategic arm of your sales

team. Think of it like the iPhone, where hundreds of applications are

available to choose from.

For a CRM to work optimally, it needs to mirror your sales cycle. For a

sales cycle to work optimally, it needs to match your customer’s buying

cycle. As an example, every natural milestone in your sales process needs

to be reflected as a stage in your CRM:

Buying Cycle Selling Stage Understand and Develop Need Territory Coverage

Sponsor Project First Call

Research Vendors Discovery

Evaluate Solutions Proof of Concept

Select Vendor of Choice Proposal

Submit for Funding Approval

http://sites.force.com/appexchange/apex/home


Within each stage, we need to come to agreement upon and document the

tactical best practices that will progress the sale to the next stage. These

best practices should be embedded inside the CRM as reference points, or

even check points, as to whether we continue working an opportunity. As

the buyer becomes less and less dependant upon the seller, sellers must

become more and more insistent that they are doing the right things to

progress the sale.

Create (Demand Creation) Win (Opportunity Management)

(Phase 1) Territory Coverage

(Phase 2) First Call

(Phase 3) Discovery

(Phase 4) Proof of Concepts

(Phase 5) The Proposal

Webinar

Cold Call

Web Visits

Trigger Event

Trade Shows

Social Network

Research:

Individual

Position

Company

Industry

Pain

Prospect

Preference

Process

Power

Plan

Demo Solution

Link Pains

Sell to Power

Differentiate

Will we win

Will it close

How much

What’s our plan


As a salesperson, I know I am doing the right things to progress the sale

to the next stage by documenting the best practices. As a sales manager, I

can feel comfortable that my rep has an understanding of my

expectations. It might be easy to do a “quick online demo” or submit a

template pricing proposal, but we shouldn’t without reciprocity that will

help us win.

A Sales Culture of Accountability – KPIs

A recent survey from the Complex Sale found that 93% of sales leaders

thought that having a sales culture of accountability was the number one

cause for success! Oftentimes, sales organizations use revenue attainment

goals as the key metric for success. The revenue attainment objective is

owned by one person and divided among that individual’s direct reports.

This process continues throughout the sales organizations down to

individual sales representatives quotas.

Revenue, however, is a lagging indicator of success. The best practices

implemented by the world’s greatest sales forces also attach leading key


performance indicators as goals. The goals start at the top and cascade

down to the field, just as revenue attainment quotas.

Leading Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are specific to individual

sales organizations based upon their clients buying cycles and revenue

generation targets. Most successful organizations start with how much

revenue they need to attain from the base of accounts and create metrics

around account penetration and retention. An example of leading

indicators for account management would be net new opportunities,

renewal rates, and percentage of growth, as applied to each account. We

prescribe other goals for opportunity management and demand creation.

These companies track the progress of these KPI’s on a continual basis

(monthly or quarterly) through a KPI dashboard inside of the CRM.

We see that the most successful companies use this process to hold sellers

accountable for the correct activity and management accountable to the sellers.

This practice leaves out any uncertainty in expectations throughout the sales

organization.


Peer to Peer Selling (P2P)

A new study by Forbes finds that 53% of C-level executives do their own

research online, well before they delegate a project or contact vendors.

Therefore, sales people need to add much more value than the standard

discover, present, pricing method that permeates our business. The buyer

wants to buy from someone who can add value well beyond your

offering. They want advice from a peer who has seen everything and

provided a solution to a problem, not a product.

Successful sales forces are able to take their operational features and

functionality and translate their benefits into a compelling value

proposition for non-technical buyers. As you begin to sell more complex

solutions, more stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process.

These stakeholders often do not have the technical expertise to

distinguish your solution from the competition or other in-house

alternatives.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=108099


Inherent in a value proposition is a keen understanding of the pains of the

non-technical buyers and a linkage of your solution to solving those

pains. Many organizations make the mistake of having one generic value

proposition; when in fact, the value proposition must be tailored to the

individual to whom you are selling.

As a go-to-market strategy, successful sales organizations take a census of

every potential stakeholder in their sales process. They uncover every

potential pain this individual could have and link their solution to solving

that pain. If they don’t have a solution for a pain, they stay involved and

recommend someone who does. They also take inventory of every

potential competitor and create competitive position statements and ways

to handle objections. They lean upon the expertise of their best

practitioners and marketing departments to create an easy-to-access tool

kit or playbook for the sales force.

With this knowledge and confidence, they become more of a peer to their

prospects. With social networking, they can communicate with them as a

peer.


Territory Coverage

Demand creation in a Complex Sale 2.0 world can be summed up in one

word: touches. You don’t know how your prospects want to be

communicated with, so you cast as wide of a net as possible. You don’t

know what message will resonate, so you offer many. Additionally, you

don’t know when your prospects are ready to hear from you, so your

outreach is constant. The medians available to you will not replace the

telephone as the primary means of communication – they will enhance it.

Sellers don’t want to make a cold call as much as buyers don’t want to

take them.

Your buyers need your information. They just don’t want to talk until

they are ready. Brian Carroll of InTouch writes an excellent e-book

entitled Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. Carroll explains the

multimodal approach to engage prospects in a manner that they prefer,

before they are ready to make a purchasing decision.

http://www.startwithalead.com/downloads/StartWithALeadEBook.pdf


Steve Woods, CTO at Eloqua, wrote a great white paper, Digital Body

Language. The premise is that by using Eloqua’s tracking capabilities,

sellers can know when prospects hit their website, what pages they go to,

and how often they do so. By creating an algorithm that weigh all three,

the prospects score themselves and sellers use that score to triage their

selling efforts, all inside of the CRM. For example, pages on your website

that indicate cursory interest, like the home page, result in a low score.

Pages that reflect deep interest, like an online demo, reflect a much higher

score.

Buying Cycle Selling Stage Web Page

Understand / Develop Need Territory Coverage E-books / Blog / Webinar

Sponsor Project First Call Online Assessment / RFP

Template

Research Vendors Discovery Product Datasheets / About Us

Evaluate Solutions Proof of Concept Online Presentation / Trial Offer

Select Vendor of Choice Proposal ROI Calculator / Clients

Submit for Funding Approval Terms & Conditions / Financials

http://www.eloqua.com/resources/whitepapers/Digital_Body_Language_whitepaper.html

http://www.eloqua.com/resources/whitepapers/Digital_Body_Language_whitepaper.html


Social Networking

Peer to Peer salespeople understand that building your personal brand is

just as important for you as building a corporate brand is for the

marketing department. The first place to build an online presence to

network is LinkedIn. Using social networking sites like LinkedIn is peer

to peer selling. My LinkedIn profile is a virtual billboard about my

accomplishments, people who network with, and recommend me.

LinkedIn allows you to view up to three degrees of separation to see the

mutual contacts you have with your connections. It also allows you to

communicate with your network en masse or one-off. There are a number

of applications one can add to their profile that raise awareness about

what you are reading, shared presentations, polls, and personal blogs.

LinkedIn also allows its members to form and become members of other

liked-minded groups. The Complex Sale, Inc. has created its own group

called the R.A.D.A.R.® Alumni Association. Our members are updated

via e-mail on group discussions, shared best practices, news links, job

openings, and Complex Sale points of interest. Afterall, the best prospect

http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=15102833&trk=tab_pro

http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=application_directory&trk=hb_side_apps

http://scottymiller.wordpress.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=93836&trk=anet_ug_hm


is one who has bought from you in the past. In sum, social networking

tools like LinkedIn are a great way to stay connected.

I also have an account on Twitter for those that prefer communication in

that median. This is an emerging technology that has gained controversy.

The median has grown well beyond a way to tell your friends what you

are doing. While twitter may not be the median of choice for your buyer,

it can most certainly be used to gain information about their interests and

company. Simply type in the key words that your target buyer would

care about and see the results. (As an example, try this key word search

on sales 2.0 and see all of the thought leaders tweeting on the topic.) I

recommend following thought leaders in your industry and sharing their

insights with your buyers in a median that they prefer. It is a source of

endless competitive advantage.

By following your customers, competitors, and industry, you will become

a better resource to your buyers, perhaps even becoming their peer. But

remember, for social-media to be effective, it must be relevant and

http://twitter.com/scott__miller

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%22sales+2.0%22

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%22sales+2.0%22


consistent. You must be willing to connect and follow people that connect

and follow you.

Today’s buyer needs to hear from you well before they need your

solution. WebEx and Gotomeeting.com are both great tools to share

thought leadership via a webinar or podcast. The webinar is a central

focal point for a campaign-based demand creation strategy. Like all

social-networking, webinars need to be relevant, thought provoking, and

consistent. Try to deploying polls to keep the attendees engaged and keep

the dialogue conversational with panelists instead of a one-sided

infomercial. Invitees that accept share their interest in your topics/

service, and those that accept multiple invites show allegiance to your

http://www.webex.com/

http://www.gotomeeting.com/


brand. Attendees that express they want to be contacted at the end of the

webinar should be put into the CRM as a lead. Recorded webinars should

be on your website and catalogued to pique the interest of your visitors.

Trigger Events

Jill Konrath, in her best selling book, Selling to Big Companies, coined the

phrase, “use the news.” What she refers to is allowing your prospects to

tell you when they are ready to buy. Organizations offer press releases

about new position appointments, quarterly earnings, partnerships, new

initiatives, etc. in an effort to generate public relations and investor

interest.

Google allows its users to create a personalized home page to consolidate

social networking sites and RSS feeds of industry content. The Google

reader feature allows for centrally located content to be catalogued under

various headings without having to go directly to a variety of news,

industry, or trade websites. I recommend Google alerts to be created on

all of your top prospects, competitors, and industry.

http://www.google.com/


About the Author

Scott Miller is a District Vice President of Sales at Ceridian Corporation.

He has worked in Sales, Sales Consulting, Sales Management, and Sales

Training for over a decade. His passion is optimizing the sales process so

that his sales team can be in front of the right buyer, to say the right thing

at the right the right time. That is what Sales 2.0 is really all about.

Putting sales 2.0 to work

Education

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