Hello all,
I hope you are all in great spirits!
This week is difficult for me as my son has moved to Melbourne, Australia. Not as far as the US, where my daughter has been studying for the last four years, my heart still broke into pieces. I forgot what being heartbroken means!
That's life, and I know this is a step toward his personal and career growth. I am a certified empty nester with three kids out of the house.
Ok, back to business.
First, thank you to everyone who responded to my question last week on what B2B topics you are struggling with or find challenging.
For this week, I will answer this question:
"I am finding it difficult to crack sales in the B2B managed services vertical, where we offer Machine Learning as a service for organizations".
While I have yet to know all the context and constraints around the specific challenge and B2B sales is ever evolving, I will answer based on using proven basic sales frameworks.
When you initiate new business, there are three key factors that you need to understand from your client's perspective.
1. Opportunity or Project
You cannot help someone who has no NEED or WANT.
Develop an opportunity with your prospect by mutually answering the questions below:
What are the problems or outcomes the prospect is trying to achieve?
How did they define their problem?
How do they measure success? What does it look like?
What are the financial and intangible costs and benefits?
Who is affected by the problem, or who will benefit from the outcome?
2. Resources
The prospect is committed to investing their resources,
Time
People
Money
And there are situations where even if your prospective client understands their problems, they have insufficient resources.
And you cannot help a prospect who has insufficient resources.
3. Decision Making
Even if there is an opportunity and resources, you cannot help your prospects if they cannot or will not decide.
Do you have a clear understanding of how your prospect makes a decision?
What are all of the steps that your prospect will take to make a decision?
What decision gets made in each step?
Who is involved in each decision?
How will each decision maker decide?
What are their personal and business objectives?
Let's dig deep into the Opportunity.
You cannot help someone who has no NEED or WANT.
One of the most iconic sales gurus, Zig Ziglar quotes.
“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.”
Most prospects have either a latent need or expressed Need.
You need to identify where they are in the spectrum below.
Two types of Need:
Latent Need - the prospect does not understand and believe that they need your product or service
Expressed Need - the prospect understands and accepts the value of your product or service
When you initiate new opportunities with your prospects, it's either a need or a result.
What's the need?
What are the pain points?
What are the results they want?
What are the challenges they have?
For example, when I started my business, I hired an accountant to
help me with my accounting, financial reports and tax declaration.
She asked me to get Xero, the accounting software.
I said "What did I hire you for? I don't need Xero. That's another $80 per month!" (yes I was being stingy at the start of my business) .
She said, it's gonna be a good tool for you because you can understand your business better, you'll be able to understand your finance, your revenue, your profit and implement best accounting practices. I was skeptical at first, but Xero offered a 30-day free trial so I signed up.
Result? I used it. And I never looked back.
Did I have a problem that I was trying to solve?
Not really. But when I used the app, I couldn't let it go. It transformed how I run my business finance and is now one of my business's core functions.
Doing a demo or trial is one of the strategies you can implement.
Here are the 7 strategies you can deploy to move the client to understand the value of your product or services. I will use Machine Learning services for Managed Services as examples, but
the 7 strategies below will apply to any B2B products and services.
1. Identifying Pressing Problems:
Start by identifying the pain points that your service addresses.
You can consider the challenges of organisations in the managed services sector. Do they need help with data analysis, predictive insights, process optimisation, or anything else? To showcase the value of your service, you will need to explain these challenges clearly and create a foundation.
If you have built trust with your client, you can offer a 1-hour brainstorming or workshop session with your prospect, bring an expert on Machine Learning, and look at the opportunities your service can get if you address your prospect's current challenges.
2. Crafting a Results-Centric Approach:
In a competitive market, results speak louder than promises.
Develop a compelling narrative that outlines the tangible outcomes your Machine Learning can deliver. Whether boosting operational efficiency, enhancing decision-making, reducing costs, or improving customer experiences, paint a vivid picture of the positive changes your service can bring to an organisation.
3. Showcasing Transformational Opportunities:
Shift the focus from problem-solving to presenting transformative opportunities. Show how Machine Learning can help businesses surpass their current limitations. Explain how it can enable them to explore untapped revenue streams, innovate with data-driven insights, and stay ahead of the competition.
4. Tailoring Solutions to Specific Needs:
Recognize that each organization is unique.
Demonstrate how your product and service is not a one-size-fits-all solution but a versatile tool that can be tailored to address specific pain points and leverage existing strengths. Showcase case studies that illustrate how you've adapted your service to suit diverse business environments.
5. Quantifying Value through Data:
Numbers have a powerful impact.
Back your claims with quantifiable data. Provide real-world examples of how your product or service has directly contributed to revenue growth, cost savings, or improved efficiencies for previous clients. Data-driven success stories resonate deeply with potential buyers.
6. Customised Demo and Proofs of Concept:
Can you offer demos or trials? Engage your potential clients with hands-on experiences.
You can offer customised demonstrations and proofs of concept highlighting how your service aligns with their unique challenges. This provides concrete evidence of your service's capabilities and helps potential clients visualise its impact on their operations.
7. Show a Return on Investment (ROI) Projection:
In B2B sales, ROI is a pivotal concern.
Develop a clear projection of the ROI that your service or product can bring. Break down how the initial investment translates into long-term gains, making it evident that adopting your service is a strategic move with substantial returns.
B2B sales in Managed Services vertical demand a multifaceted approach that addresses core challenges delivers tangible results, and advocates transformational opportunities.
By identifying problems, articulating positive results, and showcasing the potential of your service to reshape businesses, you can carve a path toward successful sales.
Next week I will answer the following questions:
How to identify who in the organisation is the right person to connect with?
Processes to work with large companies during the sales cycle to keep the opportunity moving along.
What are your current challenges in B2B sales? Keep your questions coming!
What is your plan for the weekend?🌻It's a cracker day here in Auckland. The sun is shining, and I am running at my favourite Okura Track this afternoon.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate you!
Have a great weekend.
Ren
PS.
I am working on a project with the amazing Charlotte Crowther to build my B2B Sales Maturity Assessment.
The B2B Sales Maturity Assessment Software evaluates your sales teams and processes' EQ, IQ and XQ and benchmarks on proven frameworks providing actionable insights to optimise your B2B sales and drive growth. Please let me know if you want to be the first 100 users during the soft launch (no fees, it's my shout!). 😊
Just click on the button to confirm!🚀
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