November 18th, 2009 @ 5:30 am
SCENARIO: You’re tasked with selling CRM solutions to large enterprises. On a puddle-jump flight, you end up sitting next to the Sales VP for a big company. He asks what you do for a living and you tell him. He says that they “have one of those”, but he makes a wry face, so sense that he’s not satisfied with it. Your challenge: turn the situation into a sales opportunity.
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Geoffrey James, Sales Machine
My apologies to the first 35 voters. There was missing word in the setup that might have influenced your vote. It should have been "not satisfied" rather than "satisfied." Sorry.
Snukrd
I would have thought that 'What could your current system
be doing better?' would have been the perfect question as
you have already sensed his dissatisfaction. You could then
build on this and find all the issues that the prospect is
facing. Showing how your product addresses all of these
issues and provides him with the benefits he is after could
then seal the deal. I feel that going on to ask 'what do your
sales people do on a day to day basis' was a step
backward...
I would still approach the prospect with 'What could your
current system be doing better?'... Look forward to reading
other points of view...
globalsherpa
Salespeople are judged on end-results, not data entry skills, so I think Geoffrey is spot-on with choice of question. If a CRM can't help a salesperson with the immediate task of closing deals, it won't be adopted. The problem that most likely generated "the look" from the Sales VP was that the current CRM had added additional work without showing any tangible benefit to the bottom line.
If you can find out from the VP how his team works and if and how your CRM can assist that sales team in their quest to SELL (above just having their rolodexes in electronic form) you'll have a very interested prospect.
Geoffrey James, Sales Machine
Re Note 3:
Quote: The problem that most likely generated "the look" from the Sales VP was that the current CRM had added additional work without showing any tangible benefit to the bottom line.
Bingo. There's even a chance that CRM is just useless overhead in that environment, in which case the right thing to do -- if you're a consultant rather than a pusher -- is to suggest they pull out their existing system and "go commando."
Example: selling $10 million-plus luxury yachts. It's such a personal-contact driven business, and every sale is so different, that anything more than a rolodex is wasted effort.
Bob Wileman
I'm inclined to agree with Snukrd
He has already told you there's a problem, so why go back to the Situation Question?
Let's get him to elaborate - it's a short flight remember, and the Rolodex is still the baseline.
WhenHerbSpeaks
Who cares what kind of wristwatch the guys is wearing?
globalsherpa
If you go with the "pain" question, you're just going to position yourself as another CRM vendor making promises (see the latest PC vs. MAC commercial). You can probably be fairly certain that when they went to the current system, his team was promised a salesgasm of profits and efficiency.
If you go with "how do your salespeople work?" you start the conversation not as "another CRM vendor" but as someone who has gained some understanding of that individual Sales VP's business model. Therefore, you are able to position your own product in a way that makes most sense to him and how his team works.
And, if you've sold technology to sales teams for a while, you pretty much know the problems by heart: Adoption. Service. Downtime. Wasted time keeping data up to date. Low perceived benefit.
Malcolm Sask
Remember selling to displace a competitor is different than
greenfields.
So the decision to be made is am I looking for a short term
opportunity or long term relationship?
I would expect the 'qualifying' questions will lead to a short
term relationship, immediately feels like a sales pitch and
requires lots of talk that still may not result in a solution.
Whereas the direct 'solving a pain' approach will more likely
lead to a long term ability to come back to them, as we're
perceived as not a time waster. If I can't fix your pain now,
let's talk about football and I can still take the info away for
development and have a very strong entry point later.
My reaction would be to ask 'What CRM are you using?'
relying on my superior competitive knowledge to not only
answer their pain but be able to also identify other benefits
of my solution.
Juffowup
Asking "what is your CRM" or "what could your system be doing better" is assumptive. You may not know all the details surrounding WHY he's dissatisfied which you can use in the sales process and if your system hits those needs. Reminds me of so many times where salespeople ask me cliche questions and then start rambling about how their solution solves MY problem. As if they know what my problem is...
denis.lorinet@...
I parltly agree with Re 5 ...
Yes you should synchronize with both the disagreement expressed and the responsability level of a VP. As such, you should ask for what he would dream
No because once you've created the connection, to act as a consultant, you should understand the situation
In other world, being a true valuable adviser means be flexible and not to deploy a fixed questionning format ... this is for simple selling, not consultative one
Ger0n1mo
After reading the main post and the following comments, I still think the best option given is to ask what the VP does not like about the current CRM system. Geoffrey assumes he/she will get a very short answer for asking which system is being used or what the complaints are, but will get an elaborate answer if the question is ?What do your sales people do on a day-to-day basis?? . Come on, most likely, the VP will look at you like you are an idiot since you are a salesperson!!! You will probably get a curt answer like "They SELL!".
I think you'd like to find out right away if it is your CRM system that is being used. This question might be too easy of a target for a bad conversation. You will get more input about asking for complaints. I might not know much about how a jet flys, but I can sure tell you what I don't like about the plane, the airline, the service, the airports, etc.
Perhaps the best first question is to ask what industry the VP is in, what company he works for, or something similar to give you an idea of where to take the conversation.
Geoffrey James, Sales Machine
Re Note 11:
Actually, the response "They Sell!" is a perfect opening.
C: They sell!
R: Exactly! That's why I'm not surprised you made a face when you mentioned your CRM system. They don't usually help people to sell, and they can get in the way.
C: That's for sure!
R: Is there something unique about your selling process that makes you different from your competitors? (asking the same question in more detail)
C: Well, we have better extended discounts that we use tactically...
etc.
Geoffrey James
Geoffrey James has sold and written hundreds of features, articles and columns for national publications including Wired, Men's Health, Business 2.0, SellingPower, Brand World, Computer Gaming World, CIO, The New York Times and (of course) BNET. He is the author of seven books, including Business Wisdom of the Electronic Elite (translated into seven languages and selected by four book clubs), and The Tao of Programming (widely quoted on the Web as a "canonical book of... more »
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