Relevant Chews

Simon Cowell is a saint.  He is polarizing, opinionated, a great judge of talent, and arguably the most patient man in the world.

Could you sit through thousands of dreadful auditions and months of follow up presentations to pick the diamond in the rough, only to have an electoral board make the final decision?  How about doing that year over year?

The percentage of great companies to work with out there is less than the number you will pitch, and you have to work hard at being “Why you, why now?” relevant to a constantly changing audience.

In business we can be on either side of the audition table given the situation, and understanding that should help you draft a sustainable B2B sales strategy…  skip the dud clients, make it a point to audition for the companies you really want to work with, and be prepared to shine when given the opportunity.

Thank you Simon.  The cold hard truth never lies.

The funny thing about change is it does not adhere to any rules, and in business there is not a shared work calendar with CHANGE MEETING booked in the conference room on every other Tuesday. So remember that when you are selling change your audience is on the defense because they didn’t see you coming, and client insight and industry foresight are your elements of surprise.

Why this?
The four company frameworks (Structural, Human Resource, Political and Symbolic) will respond to your change proposal according to their culture. And before you pass GO and talk money, you must fully understand their situation. If in doubt, don’t even pick up the phone unless you can clearly communicate in 30 seconds or less how your solution is relevant to their business.

The litmus test: a compelling idea gets you to the next step, and nothing fails faster than a clumsy sales pitch.

Why now?
Timing is everything. When you sell change, be aware that you are rearranging priorities. Right now, companies are looking at 2010 initiatives and trying to figure out what will make the biggest impact for the least amount of investment. The logistics of your pitch better generate ROI in six months or less—or your odds of winning have dropped significantly.

In B2B sales your task is to be forever optimistic, because selling change to a client is a win-win scenario. And even if your best pitch fails, the lasting impression you should leave them with is… if not now, when?

Part Eight: It is never about YOU.

The Structural Company (ex: IBM, Microsoft, GM)

Structural companies perform well to task, but rarely see risk as an opportunity. They are typically public companies that have multiple channels and layers to their mix, and there are two ways you can pitch them: RFP or Non-RFP.

Getting on the RFP list is all about positioning and only half the battle. Any more than 8 respondents drops your odds of winning to less than 20%, providing the company is unhappy with the incumbent. And don’t shy away from the skeptics in the conference room, they can be your greatest influencers if you win them over.

The (fun) aggressive approach is to make a connection, help them recognize a need for change and bypass the RFP process. Either road you take should be relevant to the team making the decision and honor these 3 rules for alignment:

1. needs to solutions
2. innovation to task
3. cost to ROI

A common sales mistake, especially in this new economy, is hitting your next prospective client with your wish list of services. Social media marketing can help you have conversations with customers to discover their pains, and success with the Structured company will come with patience and flexibility.

Bottom line: Don’t sell a cost effective solution when you can sell the best solution. If your company leads in an area of expertise, then go directly after that piece of business from the customer’s perspective—and negotiate money over terms of agreement and deliverables.

Part Four: Selling Change to the Human Resource Company