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Solution Selling®

Keith M. Eades

Founder and CEO

Sales Performance International

Best Selling Author of:

The New Solution Selling

The Solution Centric

Organization

The Solution Selling Fieldbook August 2, 2012

Driving Revenues, Profits and Predictability

http://www.comptia.org/home.aspx

Sales Performance International

SPI helps clients create measurable

and sustainable revenue growth.

◄ Over 500 global clients

◄ Solution Selling suite of sales and

marketing best practices

◄ 1,000,000+ alumni

◄ Established 1988

◄ HQ in Charlotte, NC

◄ Serving 54 countries in14 languages

◄ Widely recognized by industry analysts

as a sales training/consulting leader

www.spisales.com 3 2012 ©Solution Selling, Inc.

Salespeople Have:

◄ One of the overall best incomes - #5

◄ The highest overall job satisfaction - #1

◄ The lowest divorce rate - #1

◄ The lowest suicide rate - #1

Professional Selling Today


◄Motivate you to engage in

Solution Selling®

◄Why?

Revenues

Profits

Predictability

Today’s Objectives


http://www.comptia.org/home.aspx

Key Trend: Performance is Slipping


© 2011 CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Survey

2011 Sales Performance Optimization Survey

(2011 vs. 2010)

2011 2010

IBM’s Solution Selling Results

Problems Addressed

• 3 divisions: software, hardware, services – with three different sales approaches

• Inconsistent and inefficient “face to the customer”

• Customer confusion: lost business

Results of the transformation

• For every $1 invested, $94 of revenue

• 3 X incremental revenue by Sellers using a unified process

Key Metrics Impacted

• Pipeline Growth by Increased Number of Opportunities

• Increased Average Selling Price

• Increase Win rate

• Shorter Sale Cycle

• Reduce Number of Losses To “No Decision”

• Lower Cost of Sales by Disengaging Earlier From Poor Opportunities – “Qualify Out”

www.spisales.com 2012 ©Solution Selling, Inc. 7

Building a High Performance Solutions Sales Culture

Solution Selling® Works

Very Satisfied

Dissatisfied

Source : Microsoft WW customer satisfaction survey, internal interviews

More successful

sales reps

Setting customer

expectations

satisfaction

Yr 01 Yr 02

+44%

16% 23%

Yr 01 Yr 02

- 16%

19% 16%

Using MSSP MSSP Impact Worldwide Avg.

Yr 01 Yr 02

15% 16%

+ 6%

Yr 1 Yr 2

+19%

16% 19%

Yr 02

140% of Quota

100% of Quota

<100 % of Quota

69%

23%

9%

Yr 1

140% of Quota

100% of Quota

<100 % of Quota

15%

30%

55%

Customer

satisfaction

Quota

Attainment


6 Keys to World Class Sales Performance



A buyer-aligned sales process

Sales and marketing alignment – messaging, sales tools, and

sales conversations

Technology enablement that explicitly supports process,

methodology, and management practices

Management “system” and disciplines that foster and sustain

process and methodology adoption

A continual “learning framework” (skills assessment, training and

multi- year reinforcement) that aligns with process and sales

methodologies

Adoption of a customer and solution centric philosophy

What is a “Solution”?

Solution:

Answer to a problem, critical business issue or business opportunity

that provides customer value

After: Measurable delta or difference

Before: Baseline of Current Situation


Situational Fluency – What Buyers Expect

Situational

Knowledge

Capability

Knowledge

People

Skills

Selling

Skills

Situational

Fluency


Situational Fluency:

Integration of knowledge and skills by the salesperson for “eagle” performance

Integrate?

Why Process?

Two Kinds of Salespeople

Make

presentations

Make product-

based statements

Process is key to

success

Behave

intuitively

Have business

conversations

Ask customer-

focused

questions

Journey People

80% 20%

Eagles

• Generate 80% of all sales

• Intuitively apply a process

• High “situational fluency”

• Opportunity “creators”


Why Process?

The 64% Dilemma

B

U

Y

E

R

S

SALESPEOPLE

Innovators

Early Adopters

Pragmatists

Conservatives

Laggards

20%

80%

Eagles

(20%)

Journeypeople

(80%)

4% 16%

16% 64%


What is a Buyer Aligned Sales Process?


BUYING PROCESS

SALES PROCESS STEPS

KEY SALES ACTIVITIES

VERIFIABLE OUTCOMES

% % % % %

OPPORTUNITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM – WIN ODDS

OTHER COMPONENTS (TOOLS, ROLES, METRICS…)

Solution Selling® Sales Process – Sales View


Buying Process

Define business strategy and initiatives

Determine needs / requirements

Evaluate options Select solution and evaluate

risk Resolve any issues and

finalize contracts

Sales Process Steps

CREATE QUALIFY DEVELOP PROVE CLOSE

Key Sales Activities

Identify potential opportunity

Conduct pre-call planning and research

Identify potential beneficiary

Identify potential pain Stimulate interest Confirm dialogue and

agree upon next steps

Get Sponsor’s pain admitted

Diagnose admitted pain of Sponsor

Create or reengineer vision for potential Sponsor

Gain agreement to explore further

Negotiate access to Power Confirm dialogue & agree

upon next steps

Get Power’s pain admitted Diagnose admitted pain of

Power Sponsor Create or reengineer

vision for potential Power Sponsor

Gain agreement to explore further

Determine evaluation criteria

Propose a plan of next steps

Confirm dialogue & agree upon next steps

Begin execution of next steps

Present preliminary solution

Prove capabilities Conduct review of

proposal Ask for the business Issue proposal (decision

due) Receive verbal approval

Prepare for final negotiations

Reach final agreement Get necessary documents

signed

Verifiable Outcomes

Next steps agreed upon Sponsor Letter Agreed Upon Power Sponsor Letter and

Evaluation Plan Agreed Upon

Verbal Approval Received Signed Documents

Opportunity Management System - Yield %

10% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Motivation Through Sales Process


◄ Sales process provides a roadmap to get from

where you are to where you want to be

◄ The process provides your sales team with a

series of closes / wins throughout the sales

process

◄ Your sales team will be motivated by having

more control over the sales process

◄ Performance improvements = more revenue =

higher motivation on the sales team

◄ Sales process ensures:

Higher individual quota attainment

Higher team quota attainment

Increase in average deal size

Improved time to productivity

The Impact of Sales Process

Significantly

Improves35.1%

Modestly Improves

53.7%

No Impact

6.2%

Negative Impact0.8% Do Not Know

4.2%

Sales Methodology Impact on Sales PerformanceImpact of Sales Process on Company Performance

2011Sales Performance Optimization Report by CSO Insights


Sales Process Impact on Sales Performance

SPI Customers vs. Other Sales Training

Source: Aberdeen Group Study December, 2010


Key Components for Sales & Marketing Alignment

Targets and Critical Business Issues (Pains)

Critical Business

Issues (Pains) Targets

Differentiated

Capabilities Value


Basic Principle

No Pain, No Change

Pain = Problem, Critical Business Issue or Potential Missed Opportunity

BASIC PRINCIPLE


Example: Targets and Critical Business Issues

Information Systems Example


Key Players (Job Title) Potential Pains / Critical Business Issues

Director Information Systems

Inability to meet internal user demand

Inability to keep up with technology change

Growing application backlog

Legacy systems no longer support business

Application Development Manager

Too much of staff dedicated to maintenance

Applications take too long to get to market

Inability to make minor changes in a timely fashion

Inability to deliver adhoc requests

Systems and Network Manager

Distribution control of new version of software is not a well-defined

process

Growing network with conflicting protocols

C/S will overload the network

Increasing cost of administering C/S model

Application Developer

Application not on target with user requests

Inability to contribute to business goals

Too much time spent on maintenance items

Inability to satisfy user demand

Lack of application development tools

Programming Manager

Inability to deliver applications in a timely manner

Need to get product to market quicker

Inability to manage increasing complexity

Difficulty maintaining control of multiple versions

Example: Targets and Critical Business Issues

Manufacturing Example



Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Not meeting investors expectations

Declining stock price

Decreasing EPS / shareholder value

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Rising operational costs

Declining margins

Inability to consistently reach productivity goals

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) / VP Finance

Declining cash flow

Declining ROI and ROA

Eroding profits

Chief Information Officer (CIO) / VP Information

Technology

Inability to meet users' technology demands

Trouble keeping up with technology change

Difficulty implementing new technologies

Lack of resources

VP Sales Missing revenue goals / new account sales targets

Inability to accurately predict sales revenue

Declining customer satisfaction

VP Manufacturing Not meeting manufacturing and shipment schedules

Excessive inventory levels

Lack of capital for equipment

VP Engineering Inability to get new products to market on timely basis

Escalating design costs

Inability to develop a new product plan

Exercise: Build a Key Players List

◄Purpose:

To develop a repeatable, sales tool for selling additional services. The objective is to identify the key players and likely critical business issues that a solution or other packages services can solve.

◄Activities:

Identify, by title, the targeted key people within an organization to which your capabilities could be sold

Identify the critical business issues faced by each of these key players

◄Notes:

Use the template that follows (or flipchart if applicable)

Everyone should record the example created, in their handout

Be prepared to share your work


Key Players List: Template




Differentiated Capabilities


Critical Business


Differentiated

Capabilities Value

Differentiation Grid Worksheet


Differentiated Capability Unique Value

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

VALUE

U

N

I

Q

U

E

N

E

S

S

Differentiation Grid

Differentiation Grid: Example



A Access to a talent pool of

fully trained and certified

application developers

3 7

B Access to application

programmers who follow

development methodology

1 9

C Enterprise application

expertise

9 1

D On demand global resources

6 6

E Company has 15 years experience

3 3

F Resources in 14 different languages

8 8

G

H

I

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

VALUE

U

N

I

Q

U

E

N

E

S

S


A E

D

C

B

F

Exercise: Differentiation

◄ Purpose: To practice identifying your business unit’s key differentiators

◄ Activities: Use the Differentiation Grid Worksheet on the page that follows to capture

your work

Develop a list (7-10 items) of your most valued differentiating features or capabilities

Plot each item on the Differentiation Grid in terms of “uniqueness” and “value”

Use the following scale

• 0 = no value, no uniqueness

• 5 = average in comparison to the industry / market / competitive standard

• 10 = highest value, most uniqueness


◄ Note: Be sure to include differentiators outside of just traditional product and

service features

Everyone should record the example created, in their participant manual


Differentiation Grid Worksheet



A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

VALUE

U

N

I

Q

U

E

N

E

S

S


Basic Principle

Diagnose Before You

Prescribe

BASIC PRINCIPLE


“Situational Fluency” Tool


Situation:

Key Player:

Critical Business Issue (Pain):

Offering:

REASONS DIFFERENTIATED CAPABILITIES

“Situational Fluency” Tool: Example


Situation:

Key Player: Director Information Systems

Critical Business Issue (Pain): Increasing application backlog

Offering: Application Development Outsourcing


High turnover in application development staff Access to a talent pool of fully trained and

certified application developers

High user demand for application changes Access to a talent pool of application

programmers who follow well-defined

development methodologies

Increasing complexity in applications Enterprise application expertise

Exercise: Create a “Situational Fluency” Tool

◄Purpose:

To develop a repeatable, sales tool to understand how your capabilities address key targets’ critical business issues

◄Activities:

Based on your offering, identify situations, key players, critical business issue, and supporting capabilities

◄Notes:

Use the template that follows (or flipchart if applicable)

Everyone should record the example created, in handout



“Situational Fluency” Tool


Situation:

Key Player:

Critical Business Issue (Pain):

Offering:


Consultative Sales Conversation Tool


Diagnose Reasons Explore/Position Capabilities

Pain

What is causing you to have this (pain)?

Could a reason be because…

So, the reasons for your pain are…?

Is that correct?

What ideas do you have that will

allow you to (address this pain/achieve your

goal)?...Could I suggest some ideas?

You mentioned (reason)…

would it help if…

So, if you had the ability to… (recall capabilities),

then could you (address this pain/achieve your

goal)?

Cu

sto

me

r

Pe

rsp

ective

S

elle

r

Pe

rspe

ctive

Com

bin

ed

Pe

rspe

ctive

R1

R2

R3

C1

C2

C3

1

2

3

4

5

6

Buying Vision

Exercise: Practice a Consultative Sales Conversation

◄Purpose:

To practice using your situational fluency tool to conduct a diagnostic, consultative sales conversation with a “prospect”

◄Activities:

Pair up with someone beside you

Each person should debrief the other on the Situational Fluency Tool they just built (who the target buyer is and their pain)

Each person should take a turn being the “buyer” and the “seller”

Begin the role play by assuming the buyer just admitted his pain, the seller should follow by asking the question in Box “R1”

Sellers should use their Situational Fluency Tool to assist in exploring reasons (Box R2) and positioning their differentiating capabilities (Box C2)


Consultative Sales Conversation Tool


Diagnose Reasons Explore/Position Capabilities

Pain

What is causing you to have this (pain)?

Could a reason be because…

So, the reasons for your pain are…?

Is that correct?

What ideas do you have that will

allow you to (address this pain/achieve your

goal)?...Could I suggest some ideas?

You mentioned (reason)…

would it help if…

So, if you had the ability to… (recall capabilities),

then could you (address this pain/achieve your

goal)?

Cu

sto

me

r

Pe

rsp

ective

S

elle

r

Pe

rspe

ctive

Com

bin

ed

Pe

rspe

ctive

R1

R2

R3

C1

C2

C3

1

2

3

4

5

6

Buying Vision


Value


Critical Business


Differentiated

Capabilities Value

Building a Compelling Value Proposition


Your Offering Your Offering Customer B

Situation

Customer A

Situation

Initial Value

Proposition

Reference

Story

Projected

Results

Measured

Results

EXTRAPOLATE

Components of an Initial Value Proposition

◄A simple, clear statement of:

Your target prospect

Key quantified benefits you may offer them to address their

potential critical business issue(s)

The projected total investment of providing the benefits

◄Based on:

Your knowledge of the specific value already achieved by an

existing customer

Your company’s experience / knowledge of the prospect with a

comparable situation

Your initial projection of the value to that prospect


Initial Value Proposition: Example

“We believe that ACME Inc. should be able to

decrease application backlog by 75% over the next 6 months

by backfilling spots created by staff turnover

and by leveraging our outsourcing services

for an investment of approximately $200K.”


Exercise: Build a Value Proposition

◄ Purpose: To practice constructing a value proposition message that can

be use to stimulate interest and establish credibility with prospects

◄ Activities: Build upon the example used during the Reference Story exercise

Extrapolate the metrics from the successful client upon the prospect client

Be sure to record assumptions being made

◄ Notes: Use the template that follows (or flipchart if applicable)




Initial Value Proposition: Format and Template

VALUE PROPOSITION TEMPLATE

“We believe that _____________________________ should be able to

__________________________________________________________

(by $_______________ or _______________%)

through the ability to ________________________________________

as a result of ______________________________________________

for an investment of $_______________.”

Value Proposition assumptions being made:

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

Value Proposition Format:

We believe that [ Client name ]

should be able to [ improve what ]

by [ how much, what %? ]

through the ability to [ do what? ]

as a result of [ what enabling capabilities? ]

for an investment of [ what relative cost? ] .


Reference Story: Template


Situation:

Critical Business

Issue (Pain):

Reason(s):

Capability(s):

We provided…

Result:

Reference Story: Example


Situation: Director Information Services

Critical Business

Issue (Pain):

Increasing application backlog

Reason(s): High turnover in application development staff

Capability(s):

He told us he needed to have access to a talent pool of fully trained

and certified application developers who could backfill spots

previously turned over

We provided… …this service

Result: Over the last six months, the application backlog has decreased by

80%

Reference Story: Format


Situation: A customer job title and vertical industry

Critical Business

Issue (Pain):

The pain of the title above (Anxiety words and phrases are very

powerful here).

Reason(s): One of the reasons for the critical issue biased to your product or

service

Capability(s):

In the words of your customer, the business event, the player(s) and

specific capabilities needed to address the critical issue -

“He/she/they told us when… who… what they needed”

We provided… If the “solution” is described properly above, all we have to do here

is say that we (our product / service / company) provided them

those capabilities

Result: Specific measurement is best, $ or %

Exercise: Build a Reference Story

◄ Purpose:

To practice developing the elements of a customer success that can be leveraged to stimulate interest and establish credibility with prospects

◄ Activities:

Create a Reference Story using an opportunity your group is familiar with and from which you have measurable results

◄ Notes: Use the template that follows (or flipchart if applicable)




Reference Story: Template


Situation:

Critical Business

Issue (Pain):

Reason(s):

Capability(s):

We provided…

Result:

Win Odds

Code Sales Process

Step Sales Execution Activities and Verifiable Outcomes

PLAN Identify potential opportunity

0% T Territory / Account / Opportunity Plan

CREATE

Identify potential beneficiary Stimulate interest Get pain admitted Confirm dialogue and agree upon next steps

10% S Lead Letter

QUALIFY

Diagnose admitted pain of Sponsor Create or reengineer vision for potential Sponsor Gain agreement to explore further Negotiate access to Power Confirm dialogue & agree upon next steps

25% D Sponsor Letter

DEVELOP

Diagnose admitted pain of Power Sponsor Create or reengineer vision for potential Power Sponsor Gain agreement to explore further Determine evaluation criteria Propose a plan of next steps Confirm dialogue & agree upon plan of next steps

50% C Evaluation Plan

PROVE

Begin execution of next steps Present preliminary solution Prove capabilities Conduct review of proposal Ask for the business Issue proposal (decision due) Receive verbal approval

75% B Verbal approval

NEGOTIATE Prepare for final negotiations Reach final agreement

90% A Terms and Conditions agreed upon

CLOSE Get necessary documents signed

100% W Signed documents

Pipeline Management

A

D

C

B

S

W

T


Pipeline Analysis Worksheet


A Quota ($)

B Average Sales Cycle Length (# months)

C Average Size of Opportunities ($)

D Months Left in the Selling Year (# months)

E Year-to-Date Attainment (Revenue) Not Reflected in the Completed Step “Close” ($)

Step completed Revenue Yield % Yield

Create X 10% =

Qualify X 25% =

Develop X 50% =

Prove X 75% =

Negotiate X 90% =

Close X 100% =

F Total Yield in the Pipeline

G Projected Yield for the Year (F / B) x Months Left in the Selling Year (D):

H Gap * (A – E – G): * Gaps are negative

I Additional “Create”s Completed Needed to Close the GAP (H / C) x (1 / 10%)

Sample Pipeline Report (CRM)


Date of Report: March 1st

Step Completed Total Revenue by Step # Opportunities

Create $3,000,000 40

Qualify $2,750,000 26

Develop $1,200,000 15

Prove $360,000 7

Negotiate $570,000 11

Close $300,000 13

Total Revenue: $8,180,000 112

Total Unit Quota: $6,000,000

Pipeline Analysis Worksheet (Calculations)


A Quota ($) $6,000,000

B Average Sales Cycle Length (# months) 6

C Average Size of Opportunities ($) $73,000

D Months Left in the Selling Year (# months) 10

E Year-to-Date Attainment (Revenue) Not Reflected in the Completed Step “Close” ($) $500,000

Step completed Revenue Yield % Yield

Create $ 3,000,000 X 10% = $ 300,000

Qualify $ 2,750,000 X 25% = $ 687,500

Develop $ 1,200,000 X 50% = $ 600,000

Prove $ 360,000 X 75% = $ 270,000

Negotiate $ 570,000 X 90% = $ 513,000

Close $ 300,000 X 100% = $ 300,000

F Total Yield in the Pipeline $ 2,670,500

G Projected Yield for the Year (F / B) x Months Left in the Selling Year (D): $ 4,450,833

H Gap * (A – E – G): * Gaps are negative $(1,049,167)

I Additional “Create”s Completed Needed to Close the GAP (H / C) x (1 / 10%) 144

Technology Enablement


Access to Sales Tools (Wiki)

On-Demand “Quick Lessons” (Mobile)

Sales Process Integration / Management Dashboards (CRM)

Continual Learning


Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6

Skills

Assessments

Scheduled Push Reinforcement (Questions and Tips)

Virtual Review

Sessions

Sales

Knowledge

Center

Discussion

Forums

Webcasts ,Videos, Short MicroLessons

eLearning Modules Sales Tools / Templates

On-Demand Learning and Reinforcement Library

Initial

Training

Advanced

Training

Revisiting the 6 Keys to World Class Sales Performance



A buyer-aligned sales process

Sales and marketing alignment – messaging, sales tools, and sales

conversations

Technology enablement that explicitly supports process, methodology,

and management practices

Management “system” and disciplines that foster and sustain process

and methodology adoption

A continual “learning framework” (skills assessment, training and multi-

year reinforcement) that aligns with process and sales methodologies

Adoption of a customer and solution centric philosophy

Thank You

4720 Piedmont Row | Suite 400 Charlotte, North Carolina 28210 t: 704.227.6500 | f: 704.364.8114 email: [email protected] www.spisales.com www.solutionselling.com

Keith M. Eades

Sample Sales Process


Buying Process

Identify who to target

Identify potential business issues to address

Stimulate interest Diagnose

business issues Create a

customer buying vision of your solution

Prove solution delivers capabilities

Refine value proposition

Reach final agreement (close with value)

Measure success

Key Players Lists

Reference Stories Value Propositions Situational Fluency

Tools Consultative Sales

Conversation Model

Reference Stories Refined Value

Propositions

Refined Value Propositions (Measure Success:

Create New Reference Stories)

Sample Job Aids

Sample Activities

TARGET DISCOVER PROVE CLOSE

Exercise: Build Your Sales Process


Buying Process

Sample Job Aids

Sample Activities