Why You Should Let Your Buyer Design Your Sales Organization
Craig Rosenberg
blog.topohq.com@funnelholic
TOPO
“The best sales leaders understand that they have to have the right people, the right behaviors, the right technology, the right coaching and infrastructure to be able to sell how their customers want to buy”
Dave Stein
TOPO
“Sophisticated customers are not interested in traditional sales models. They demand faster, more seamless, and even enjoyable sales experiences.”
Homayoun Hatami, McKinsey
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Sales Leaders who adopt a buyer-centric sales philosophy are thriving:• Exceed their revenue goals: 150% of
quota• Job security: 3-4 year job cycles
Sales Benchmark Index
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“Companies that provide great buying experiences grow >2X faster than companies that provide average experiences”
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Understand the Buyer and the Buying Process
Image by wilgengebroed TOPO
Truly understand the buyer
© 2013 TOPO
Buyer Demographics1. Who are you personally (married, children, etc)?2. What’s your background and career path?3. How long have you been at your current job?4. What industry is your company in?5. How many employees does your company have?
Buyer Role6. What is your role in the organization?7. What is your title?8. What are your responsibilities?9. What skills do you possess?10. Who are you accountable to?11. What does your team look like?
Buyer Psychology12. What are you most excited about at work?13. What are your main opportunities (biggest)?14. What are your main challenges (biggest)?15. Do you like to make things happen?16. What motivates you to make something happen?17. What defines success in your role?18. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about work?
Day in the Life19. What does a typical day look like?20. How would you describe your work environment?21. What obstacles do you commonly encounter?22. Who do you interact with the most?23. What’s your preferred mode of communication?24. What tools do you use at work?25. How do you gather information to make decisions?
Purchasing Decisions26. How would you describe the way you buy products?27. What are the major phases of a purchasing process?28. What’s an example of a purchase you recently made?29. Who is responsible for purchasing decisions?30. Who influences purchasing decisions?31. What causes you to begin a purchasing process?32. What criteria do you use to evaluate products?33. What causes you to purchase a product?34. What causes you to purchase one product over another?35. Is product, price, or service more important?36. How long does it take to make a purchase?37. What information is valuable to you during a purchase?38. How do you prefer to consume that information?39. How do you prefer to interact with vendors?40. How can vendors help you the most?
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Demographics
Gemma Hodge, Office Manager
25 year old millennial
Works at 30 person CAD engineering firm
Likes her job and the CEO, but it’s only a job
Buyer Role
Does a lot of different things at the office
Primary role as office administrator
Also acts as CEO’s admin
Spends time on accounting and HR stuff as well
Helps CEO with special, tactical projects
Has experience buying mission critical technology
Psychology
Really likes her job
But it’s not what defines her – she has a life
Still takes immense pride in her work
Wants to do the best she can within work hours
Feels like the CEO really depends on her
Values personal support she provides to him
Day in the Life
Office admin activities take up a lot of time
Also spends time on bookkeeping and HR
Can get buried with accounting some times
Is on call to support CEO whenever required
When assigned a project, spends a lot of time on it
Takes work hours very literally
Does not take work home with her
Purchasing
Is not the ultimate decision-maker
Plays support role to CEO/management
She does have strong influence over decision
Triggered by service outage, big bill, K expiration
Question 1 – is service reliable?
Question 2 – how big will the bill be?
Question 3 – how long will it take to get going?
Gathers facts and presents to CEO
Comparison shopping is important to her
Needs simple service level guarantee
Needs to present workable economics to CEO
Needs process to be straightforward and easy
Values straightforward, responsive salespeople
Small Business Office Manager
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Awareness Consideration Purchase
Phase Identification Requirements Comparison Shortlist Negotiate Purchase
Objective Identify problem or opportunity requiring attention
Understand requirements and business case
Find products that can meet requirements
Shortlist products that meet requirements
Negotiate best terms for product, price, and support
Purchase product and quickly move to rollout
Key Activities Managing businessEvent or trigger occursProblem or opportunity IDDecide to pursue issue
Identify stake-holdersGather requirementsFormalize requirementsDevelop business case
Understand solution universeEvaluate universe of productsFocus on product, price, supportRefine requirementsDevelop shortlist of options
Conduct detailed evaluationDeep dive on product, price, supportDevelop initial recommendationMake final recommendation
Create deal “strawman”Negotiate key termsSubmit for internal approval
Make final purchase decisionExecute signed agreementMove to rollout/ implementation
Information Consumed
General informationMarket Information
Stakeholder inputAnalyst researchWhitepapers
Peer inputProduct sheetsVideosDemo
DemoTrialReferences
Business caseContract
ContractRollout plan
CommunicationUsed
Internal collaborationInternet
Internal collaborationInternet
EmailInternetPhone
PhoneEmailInternet
PhoneEmail
PhoneEmail
Move to Next Phase When…
Problem/ opp identifed
Final requirements and business case
Shortlist completed
Comparison completed
Material terms negotiated
Agreement executed
Map the Buying Process
TOPO
“Evaluate and assess how the selling process overlaps with the buying process. If an organization finds that 60 percent of the sales process maps to the buying process, then the other 40 percent is a gap that needs to be addressed.”
Dave Stein
Photo by Brendan Lynch TOPO
Phases of the Inside Sales Process
Buying StagesProblem
IdentificationUnderstand
RequirementsCompare Vendors
Shortlist Vendors
NegotiationPurchase Decision
Sales Stage ApproachQualify,
Agree on Need, Sell XO
Presentation Refine Negotiation Close
Description
Approach buyer with goal of setting meeting
Gather requirements; agree on solution
Present first proposal; set next meeting
Present final solution based on feedback
Negotiate key terms; enter order
Executed SOA and paperwork received
Factor 1% 10% 25% 50% 75% 90%
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Buyer-Centric Sales Plays
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Awareness
Issue/Question Why do I need this product?
Messaging Soundbyte(s)
“Buyers prefer to consume content then listen to a sales person”“Legacy selling approaches are not as effective today?
Sales Play Focus on the problemUnderstand current environmentDeliver “Changing Buyer” presoSend Ultimate Guide to Content Selling
Content The Changing Buyer (Preso)The Ultimate Guide to Content Selling (Preso)
Process Next Step -Identify persona in CRM for nurturing-Set Follow
Prospect advances when
They identify there is a problem
Build Plays for Each Buying Step
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Design buyer-responsive plays
Buyer Stage
Buyer Activity
Status Quo Understand
Requirements/ Options
Engage Vendor(s)Identify Problem/Opportu
nity
Make Decision/Purchase
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Play Provide primary contact with champion content that allows contact to guide, influence, and dictate internal meeting
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Details Champion content is a toolkit that provides buyers with short preso, talking points, and due diligence checklist to show all work that’s been done as part of eval
Why CEO will make final decision, but has not been engaged thus far – need to arm primary contact with tools to get CEO over finish line
Owner Marketing owns creation of content; inside sales owns delivery/training
Champion Content Play
© 2013 TOPOTOPO
Buyer-Centric Messaging Design
Photo by Todd Hansen TOPO
Messaging Design
Industry/Persona
Challenges Solution Benefits Company
Persona #1
Persona #2
Persona #3
Persona Based Messaging
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"In the future, a great piece of content will out-sell the average sales rep.”
Greg Alexander, Sales Benchmark Index
Image by TexasEagle TOPO
Sales Stage Approach Qualify, Agree on Need, Presentation Refine Negotiation Close
Buying Stage
Problem Identification
Understand Requirements
Compare Vendors
Shortlist Vendors Negotiation Purchase
Decision
Persona #1 • Changing Buyer
• Content Selling 101
Persona #2 • Executive’s guide to Content Selling
• 10 Habits of Top Sales Leaders
Content mapping happens here
Content and Sales Process Mapping
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Organizational Design
Image by Marcel Douwe Dekker TOPO
“The key for sales leaders is to look at the buyer variables that will impact their ability to be successful. How do their buyers want to buy? Do their buyers utilize online resources to educate themselves? Do their buyers feel comfortable communicating over phone or email? Can their buyers be educated over phone or online?”
Trish Bertuzzi, The Bridge Group Inc
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“We…literally need to convince prospects to turn their sales and marketing process on its head. To do so… Sales reps need to be sophisticated enough…[Based on this criteria} we started off by writing down a set of attributes that we thought would be important, and used these during interviews to evaluate candidate”
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The Hiring Profile/Scorecard
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Technology
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The Social Selling Question
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Questions?
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© 2013 TOPO
blog.topohq.com
@funnelholic
We design and deliver remarkable buying experiences