It’s Not What You Say…It’s What You Ask How to Sell Software in the 21st Century

 Sales Champions, 2001 Published by Sales Champions, P. O. Box 32458, Knoxville, TN 37930 All rights reserved. No part of this handbook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

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Note from the Author At the time this handbook was to be published, Software Success was acquired by another company. This new organization didn’t see a target for this handbook written in its current format. They asked if I would rewrite the handbook from a “sales management” perspective. I didn’t agree to do this, so the handbook was never published by Software Success. I have retained the rights to the work, am publishing it myself, and changed to the title to “It’s Not What You Say, But What You Ask.” My dream is to be going through the Atlanta airport one day and see one of these little books left behind by a traveling and weary sales professional. From heavy use, it would be worn, dirty, and filled with notes inside and out. Then I would know when I was asked to write this book, that what I really wanted had happened. That is--to help another sales professional be his or her best! Good selling, Cathy Jackson

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Dear Reader, If you are reading this book, then you are most likely a life-long learner pursuing a successful profession in software sales. At the age of nine, I saw in a comic book where I could win a ring made with a buffalo nickel by selling a case of all-purpose salve. Once I received the salve, I went door to door in my neighborhood and failed miserably. I got my ring anyway and my parents got a lot of threatening letters to send the money for my sales or the salve back. Well, you know the rest of the story! Growing up among six brothers and sisters, I was always convincing my siblings to share their food and toys with me. I’m sure that it was my art of persuasion that sold them on my ideas and not that I was the older sister. When I began my “real” sales career selling word processors, I was grateful that I was given sales training and didn’t have to rely on my door to door selling experience or my “art of persuasion.” As most professionals, I continued learning and practicing selling skills and methods. I knew what worked and what didn’t. I understood whom my “ideal” customer was and how to sell to that person. People have always bought from people they liked and trusted. This is essential today, more than ever. Even with business-to-business “E-Commerce,” the professional salesperson performs a key role in organizations. The purpose of the software sales professional is to build new relationships, become a consultant to the customer, and gain commitments from customers. Sales Champions was formed to combine years of “real-world” experience with proven sales skills and processes to help salespeople and their organizations achieve their goals and become the best they can be. We invite you to contact us and tell us about your sales challenges. Good selling, Cathy Jackson Sales Champions P. O. Box 32458 Knoxville, TN 37930 865-693-0578 [email protected] www.saleschamps.com

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Acknowledgements

I have been selling software for more than 20 years. I have sold applications to business and industry, government, and education. As a believer in lifelong learning, I continuously study the “art of selling.” This handbook represents a culmination of what I have learned from many effective sales training programs, coupled with real-world, inthe-trenches, just doing it. My favorite motivational sales trainer is Zig Ziglar. In case you aren’t familiar with Zig’s most often quoted philosophy on sales, I want to share it with you. It goes, “You get everything you want in life when you help others get what they want.” That has always summed it up for me. If you truly believe that what you are selling is going to help someone improve his or her current situation, then you will enjoy your sales profession and be good at it. In the past five years, some of the skills that had proven successful for me were becoming ineffective and uncomfortable to use. Selling is about finding people who have a need that you can answer with your product or service. Selling is fun when you are building trusting relationships with your customers. It was difficult to find off-the-shelf sales training programs that focused on skills that were needed for selling software systems. Business-to-business software solutions usually have longer sales cycles, multiple decision makers, and are more complex than a one-time event sale. Needless to say, I was excited when I was introduced to Neil Rackham’s “SPIN Selling” which focuses on using effective questioning skills. I adapted SPIN principals and concepts for my company’s software product and trained the sales force using this methodology. Subsequently, I found Action Selling that is published by The Sales Board in Minneapolis, MN. Action Selling is an “open” sales training system that uses similar SPIN concepts and focuses on using a sales process to advance the sales campaign. Some of the terms used in this handbook come from SPIN Selling and Action Selling. All in all, since my first sales training which was a Lee DuBois training program adapted by Lanier Business Products to Zig Ziglar Top Performance Selling to Action Selling, I have learned that effective sales training teaches people skills and how to be effective communicators and problem solvers. I thank all of the “masters” of sales that I have studied and the many mentors who have helped me get to where I am today.

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Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. “New School” Sales Skills 3.

Your Sales Process

4. Preparing Your Sales Call 5. Making a Difference Through Questions 6. Opening the Sale 7. Gaining Commitment 8. Handling Stalls and Objections 9. Instant Replay

Appendices Questions, Questions, Questions--a handy reference tool with frequently asked questions and responses.

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1. Introduction More than ever organizations are facing increasingly more competition, rapidly changing technology, slower growth markets, slimmer margins, more informed buyers, and less product differentiation. This trend requires the software sales professional to manage more accounts, build longterm relationships, sell to multiple buying influences, and coordinate company resources needed to close a sale. Does any of this sound familiar to your sales efforts? Organizations are empowering teams to make decisions resulting in multiple sales calls and building relationships with many buying influences. And how do you uncover the “real” decision-maker, anyway? What about competing with the vendor that your prospects repeatedly comment that their software has a better “look and feel?” How many trips did you make to visit a “hot” prospect only to find out that they don’t have a budget or funds to pay for your solution (even though “it’s the best one they’ve seen”)! Have you ever heard this question, “let’s see how much you can sharpen your pencil and lower this price?” Have you ever had a campaign on your pipeline report for so long that your sales manager actually quits asking about it? What about getting access to anybody in the prospect’s company? The new breed of administrative assistant is the “automated attendant.” How many voice mail messages have you left that were never returned? This handbook is for the software sales professional who wants to: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Have fun selling. Meet sales quotas more consistently. Beat the competition more often Advance sales campaigns without being manipulative.

Before any new skill becomes a natural behavior it has to be practiced, practiced, practiced. Vince Lombardi once said “practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.” I recommend that you work on one new skill at a time and practice it with your sales campaigns. For this training to be most effective, you must apply this new knowledge to actual sales activities and develop a method for feedback on how you’re doing.

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What is the “New School” of Selling Have you ever attended a sales or motivational seminar and left feeling charged up and itching to use the newfound skills? Then, within a few weeks, the excitement wears off, the books you bought go on the shelf, and so do your good intentions to practice and use the new techniques. You quickly and easily fall back into the tried and true ways of doing things like you always have. What happened? Most traditional sales skills training taught in the last decade focused on transactionbased selling. Selling software solutions consists of more than a one-time event with a customer. Successful software sales professionals solve customer’s problems and become an invaluable resource to their customers. Manipulative techniques like knowing when to use open-and close-ended questions and alternative closing statements (i.e. would you like delivery on Tuesday or Thursday?) are not effective with the informed software buyers of today. Your customers want your help to understand them and solve their business issues. This means gaining their trust and becoming their partner and trusted ally. The sales profession has realized the importance of using a “sales process” to be effective in sales today. Using a sales process will help you put the buying-decision steps in sequence. Like any process, when you leave out a step you minimize your chances of success. Using a sales process is also important with team selling. With the speed of technological changes, software sales professionals more often than not include their technical peers in demonstrations, needs analysis, problem solving, and responding to request for proposals (RFP). (Which, by the way, if you didn’t board that train (RFPs) before it left the station, then spend your time finding opportunities that you can influence!) What is the “purpose” of your sales call? What behaviors are you using that make your customers feel understood? Are you advancing your sales campaigns or do you find your sales campaigns in a “continuous” cycle? How are you differentiating your company and products over the competition? Do you understand your customer’s decision process and how to sell to multiple buying influences? Performing effectively as a software sales professional will require learning how to use skills and behaviors that answer these questions.

“Old School” Characteristics

“New School” Characteristics

Transaction oriented Makes lots of calls on new prospects “Wings it” Manipulative techniques One-size fits all

Relational oriented Repeat business Prepares for each call Sales process and well-developed questions Team selling

Now, let’s get started.  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

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2.

Your Sales Process

How Do I Develop A Sales Process? The first step to understanding your sales process is to develop a list of all the tasks and activities you do to make a sale starting with the initial inquiry to the final commitment.

For example; 1. Initial inquiry made (i.e. prospecting call, trade show contact, they call you) 2. Initial call to pre-qualify (do they meet with your “ideal customer profile,” timeframe to buy) 3. Further qualify and gather information (ask questions to build rapport, uncover problems and needs, decision-making process, buying influences, budget available) 4. ….

This list is usually based on some historical experience of successful campaigns. Once this bulleted list is completed then you can use a software tool (i.e. Visio) to produce a flow diagram of the sales process. A flow diagram will help you and others in your organization to visualize your sales process. Documenting the sales process will improve communications with your peers and management. The whole organization will have a better understanding of where you are with your campaigns and what your next step is with the customer. This process should be reviewed continually and changed based on its effectiveness. Key Learning Tips ♦ Following a sales process will keep the buying decision process in sequence ♦ Leaving out a step in your sales process will result in unanswered questions (or objections) when you ask for the final commitment ♦ Documenting your sales process gives you a map to follow that will maximize your sales efforts The table below is an example of a typical software solution sales cycle.

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Sample of Software Sales Process Inquiry

Call and PreQualify

Send Information Packet

Followup Call

Understanding the customers problem

Identifying and covering all the buying influences

Meets qualification criteria

Schedule on-site visit to gather information (needs assessment)

Ask for Commitment

Schedule Demonstration

Send Final Quote

Prepare References

Negotiate Final Contract

Prepare and Send Price Proposal (Budgetary)

Get Feedback

No

Update Database Interview for reasons not selected

Yes Identifying decision making process, timeframe, budget, competition

Get commitment funds are available and decision process in place

A Prepare Demo

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4. Preparing Your Sales Call Why Is Preparation Necessary Before Making a Sales Call? It’s Monday morning and you get to the office a few minutes late. Your first hour is spent getting your coffee and finding out how your officemates spent their weekend. The next hour is reading all your email, checking voicemail, and reorganizing the papers on your desk. Just as you pull out your daily planner and start to plan for this week’s calls, you remember you wanted to check out a new competitor on the Internet. You also promised to get back to a customer on a technical question that you had to discuss with one of the software developers so you arrange to meet with him at lunch. By this time it’s already 11:00am and it’s too late to start prospecting and making calls. Might as well wait until after lunch. To make good use of the “spare” hour before lunch, you decide to brush up on the new software features just being released . . . Sound familiar? All of the activities described in this scenario are appropriate and relevant to your sales function. A software sales professional’s job is to gain commitment from prospective customers. Making the best use of your “prime” sales time (when customers are available) is an essential element of being successful in software sales. What Can I Do to Overcome Call Reluctance? Why are software sales professionals reluctant to prospect? Knowing what your sales process is and what the purpose of each step in your sales cycle is will contribute significantly to reducing your call reluctance. Most software sales professionals fail to set “commitment objectives” for each step of their sales cycle. A commitment objective advances your sales campaign and keeps you out of the “continuous” sales cycle that never moves forward.

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Here’s an example of what that sounds like: 1 Good morning, Mr. Prospect. My name is Sally Sales and I represent “Really Cool Software.” Our company has helped many businesses such as yours to improve their productivity and I’m calling today to see if we can help you too. Our software runs in a client/server environment and offers all of the latest features…blah…blah…blah

2 Well, Sally that sounds good but we are just gathering information now. Send me an information package describing the costs and I’ll get back to you.

3 Sure, Mr. Prospect, I’ll get that in the mail to you today.

Have you been there and done that? How did that conversation advance the sales campaign? What’s the next step with the prospective customer? You can improve the effectiveness of your calls when you have a purpose to your call and a prepared commitment objective.

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Here’s an example of a “Sales Cycle” with an appropriate commitment objective.

Example

Identify your Sales Cycle Milestones

Appropriate Commitment Objective

Milestone #1: Initial Phone Call

Commitment Objective: Set Up First Appointment

Milestone #2: Meet at the Customer’s Office or Make Telephone Call

Commitment Objective: Schedule a Needs Assessment with Users

Milestone Milestone #3: #3: Conduct Needs Assessment Needs Assessment With Users

Commitment Objective: Schedule a Demonstration

Milestone #4: Presentation of a Proposal

Commitment Objective: Schedule a Meeting to Review Proposal

Milestone #5: Demonstrate Software

Commitment Objective: Gain Commitment to License Software

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Using the sales cycle in this graphic and the appropriate commitment objective, let’s see the difference in the effectiveness of this sales call. Good morning, Mr. Prospect. My name is Sally Sales and I represent Really Cool Software. Our company has helped many businesses such as yours to improve their productivity and I’m calling today to see how we may be of service to you. I wanted to schedule an appointment with you and any other appropriate people at your company to ask you a few questions. Can we schedule that today?

I will be glad to give you information Mr. Prospect about our “Really Cool Software” when I know a little more about your needs. We call this a “needs assessment” and it helps us to understand how to match up our solutions to your problems. May I meet with you next week to ask a few questions?

Well, Sally that sounds good but we are just gathering information now. Send me an information package describing the costs and I’ll get back to you.

Well then Sally, let me transfer you to my assistant. He keeps all of my appointments.

Thanks for your time today Mr. Prospect. I look forward to learning more about how we can help you. See you next week. Bye.

In this sales call, Sally’s commitment objective was to get an appointment. She was not going to “start selling” until she had learned more about the company and its needs. She did her job—she gained a commitment. Gaining commitments along each step in the process takes you to a natural conclusion—that is the final commitment to do business. Until you involve your prospective customer into the buy-sell process, advancing campaigns will not happen naturally. Key Learning Tips ♦ Prepare for each sales call by setting a commitment objective that you want to achieve ♦ A commitment objective involves the customer acting on a request from you that advances the sales campaign to the next step (i.e. schedule demonstration) ♦ Knowing the purpose of your sales call reduces call reluctance

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♦ Asking your prospective buyer “what’s the next step” is what is expected from professionals

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5. Making a Difference Through Questions How Do I Develop Questions That Make A Difference? Let’s review what you have learned. First of all, you have developed a sales process that leads you through the buying decision process of your customer. You also mapped out your sales milestones and understand what your commitment objective is at each step. You have an appointment with the prospective customer so instead of “winging it” let’s prepare questions that will differentiate you from your competitors. Before you get started, let’s look at the five buying-decisions your prospective customer will go through.

1. You (Software Sales Professional)

2. Your Company

3. Your Solution 4. Investment Required

5. Timeframe

Does your prospect trust you? This is the most important buying decision he/she will make. If this trust isn’t established at this step, you will have trouble gaining commitments from the buyer. Does your company have a good reputation, who are its customers, is it a good match with my company? Does your product or services solve my problems? Does the perceived value of your solution to my problems outweigh the investment needed? Does the customer have a sense of urgency to solve his problems with your products and services now?

What Questions Should I Ask to Gain Trust and Uncover Needs? Spending time doing some basic research on your prospective buyer and preparing effective questions are essential elements to a successful sales campaign. Sally has prepared questions to help gain Mr. Prospect’s trust and uncover needs in which her software can provide benefits. Scenario Really Cool Software, Inc. markets sales force automation software and that is the software solution that Sally wants to sell to Mr. Prospect. Let’s see how she uses questions to gain Mr. Prospect’s trust and uncover needs that match her solutions. Now that Sally has the opportunity to interview the prospective customer, her commitment objective is preparing a proposal based on the needs she uncovers during her needs assessment.  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

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Asking questions that gain trust and understand needs... Sally Sales Hi, Mr. Prospect, I want to thank you for scheduling time with me today. I know your time is valuable. That’s right, Mr. Prospect. This will help me understand your business better and determine if our Really Cool Software solutions can help with your needs. As I understand it, you are general manager for the company? What do you enjoy most about this position? How long have you been with the company? That’s a long time with one company. What changes have you seen in those 15 years? That’s exciting! What do you attribute to this increase in growth?

Mr. Prospect Well Sally on the phone you said you had a few questions for me?

That’s right. I like the interaction with customers and helping them to solve their business problems. 15 years.

Quite a few! We have increased our business by 100% and continue to expand our branch offices. We have stayed focus on our customer’s needs and continue to provide them with products they ask for. We also have visionary leadership that is always planning for tomorrow. What personal challenges or opportunities I struggle to find the time to plan are you experiencing with this rapid appropriately and have trouble growth? remembering details about sales and customer issues. How does this affect the amount of time It means that I’m in a reactive mode instead you have solving customer problems? of proactively helping customers before problems arise. Can you explain that a little more? As I mentioned before, we care about our customers and want to anticipate their needs before they do. That is getting harder to do. Mr. Prospect, can you tell me more about We are a restaurant equipment supply the types of products and services you offer company that distributes every major piece to your customers? of equipment, appliance, or utensil needed by restaurants. We also do project designing and management for larger restaurants. It sounds like you are a one-stop shop. We have been in business for more than 50 What sets you apart from your years and have a reputation as a “full competitors? service” supplier. We aren’t the lowest price but we give the best service.

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Asking questions that help you understand how to sell to your prospective customer… What process will you use to evaluate systems and make a decision?

In addition to yourself, who else will be involved in making a final decision? What other providers have you considered so far? What did you like most about these options?

How open are you to other options? What have you budgeted for this project?

What would the process be to change the budget if necessary? How are you justifying the purchase of this system? What will that gain look like?

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I want my accountant to review how this system may overlap with whatever we already have. I also want some of the salespeople who are currently using their personal computers to have input. Based on input from my staff, I will make any final decision. We have received information from two other companies. One company, XYZ, Inc. is the same company from which we got our accounting system so we already know these folks. ABC has a customer service module that links to the sales force automation piece but we didn’t like their salesperson…. talked too much! We’ll give a fair evaluation to any solution that will meet our needs. We have done some ballpark pricing on this sort of software and realize we will have to spend $10,000 to $20,000 for a full implementation. I would have to submit a new capital equipment budget that would have to wait until next budget year. We think automating sales contacts will increase sales to customers that will lower our cost of new sales. We are predicting a 15-20% increase in profits the first year.

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Asking questions that leverage your initial questions to elevate the pain of the problem uncovered… Sally Sales Mr. Prospect, you mentioned the challenge of keeping up with information about sales and customers’ issues. What type of systems do you have in place that help capture information about customers? How does this system help with keeping up with customer contacts and potential new business opportunities? How do your salespeople manage their customer contacts and information about prospective new business? What type of access do you have to this information? What are the consequences of not always having this information about customers easily available? How do salespeople and your customer service department share information about customers? What problems have you experienced because of this inability to communicate effectively?

What process do you use for forecasting and reporting future sales potential?

How much time are salespeople spending out of the field working on these reports?

Mr. Prospect We have an accounting system that keeps up with customers’ purchases and account history.

Well, it really doesn’t do much for developing new business. Well, some of them use their personal computers with a contact management system and some just use their card files. Not much. Well, this is part of the “reactive” problem I have. We have grown so fast that I can’t keep up personally with our customers and this really bothers me. I’m not sure that they do all the time since the salespeople are out of the office most of the time. Sometimes, the customer service folks know of potential business opportunities that are a result of a customer problem. If salespeople had quicker knowledge of this information, they could be following up and making sales that would also solve problems. Salespeople have to submit their sales pipeline reports monthly and then I review and “sanitize” them before I submit to the VPs. Sally, you’ve hit on a sore spot. Salespeople hate doing reports and I’d rather them be spending the time with customers but we have to know what’s going on.

Let’s review what has happened so far in this call. Sally started the conversation by asking questions that built rapport with Mr. Prospect and showed her interest in his company as well as him personally. Did you also notice that her questions were openended and started with What, How, Why, When, Who, Explain more about that…, Can  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

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you describe… Remember—until Mr. Prospect trusts Sally the rest of the sales process will not continue successfully. Open-ended questions can’t be answered with a “yes or no” answer. These types of questions get your prospective customer talking. Research has shown that the number one thing customers want is to be understood and that can be accomplished by listening. By designing questions that relate to your product or service and really listening to your customers, you can uncover needs and “raise the level of pain” that your customer feels about his/her problems. This differentiates you from the competition who is probably spending most of their time doing a “data dump” about how great all the bells and whistles are in their products or services. Situation questions like “how many employees do you have,” or “what was last year’s revenues” are relevant and necessary. You want to minimize the number of these kinds of questions and maximize questions that uncover problems. The most effective kinds of questions are those that “leverage” the problem to create a sense of urgency for solving the problem. Sally’s questions have uncovered at least three needs. Mr. Prospect has a genuine concern about solving customer problems head on but because of the rapid growth he can’t get a handle on those issues like he used to. He has also explicitly stated that if there was effective communications between sales and customer service that salespeople could close more sales quicker while at the same time solve customer problems. She really felt some emotion being expressed about the required sales forecasting and reporting. When questioning your prospective customer there are two key points to remember: ♦ Design open-ended questions that uncover needs that can be solved with the use of your company’s product or service. ♦

Uncover at least two or three needs before you stop asking questions. You want to keep one in reserve in case you need it for dealing with stalls or objections.

Sally wants to make sure that Mr. Prospect agrees with the needs that she has uncovered. Let’s see how she does this.

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Asking questions to confirm the needs uncovered… Sally Sales Mr. Prospect, as I understand it you need to have a way to easily access information about customers, is that right? You also expressed your concerns about lost sales from existing customers due to poor communications between customer service and salespeople. Is that correct? I also heard you say that getting sales reports is necessary but you would rather salespeople spend the time doing reports with customers instead. Is that an accurate understanding?

Mr. Prospect Yes, because I can’t keep up with it like I use to. You listen well, Sally. That’s right!

Absolutely!

When summarizing and confirming your prospective customer’s needs, use “closeended” questions. Close-ended questions can be answered with a yes or no response. It’s important to get the prospective customer to agree with the uncovered needs. When you begin presenting your product or service, you will link features and benefits to these confirmed needs. At this time, you will also need to decide if your commitment objective needs to change based on the information you received about the decision-making process. For example, if Sally had been talking to a “buying influence” but not the final decision-maker then her commitment objective may be to schedule a meeting with this person and the decision-maker instead of scheduling a proposal review. Here’s examples of how to start these questions: ♦ As I understand it … ♦ You mentioned that … ♦ You described a problem with … Close with one of the following: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Is that right? Is that correct? Did I understand this right? Is this the way you see it?

Key Learning Tips ♦ Effective questions take time to prepare ♦ Open-ended questions are designed to get your customer talking and you listening ♦ Listening is the most important characteristics of professional software salespeople  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

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♦ Use questions that uncover problems and “leverage” questions to elevate the level of pain about the problem ♦ Buying decisions are made emotionally and justified with reasoning and logic ♦ Effective questioning skills can differentiate you from the competition

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6. Opening the Sale How Do I Convince The Prospective Customer To Buy My Products Or Services? In our scenario, Sally has met all of her commitment objectives and the next steps in her process are to demonstrate the software and prepare a proposal for Mr. Prospect and his staff. Remember the buying-decision process. Sally has done a good job getting Mr. Prospect to like her and she has started building a relationship because he is beginning to feel that she really understands his problems. She also told him about Really Cool Software and why the company would be a good match with his. Mr. Prospect is beginning to see value in talking with Sally and is probably getting curious about what she will propose to him. Because of the needs Sally has uncovered she is well prepared to demonstrate the features and benefits of the software that can solve Mr. Prospect’s problems and present a proposal. Let’s see how she does. Sally Sales Mr. Prospect, how much do you know about Really Cool Software? Let me cover a few things about Really Cool Software that I think are important. Okay? (Tell the unique key points about your company) Really Cool Software has been in business for 10 years and focuses on building solutions for sales and customer service teams for companies your size. In the last 10 years we have doubled our client base and have an award-winning customer service process. Like your company we are dedicated to “customer delight.” (Need #1) Mr. Prospect, one of the areas that we discussed that you are interested in improving is to easily access information about customers. (Feature) Really Cool Software is designed to capture data about your customers and uses friendly windows and icons for finding information quickly. (Sally demonstrates the software showing this capability.)  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

Mr. Prospect Just what I read on your web site. Sure, Sally.

That’s right, Sally.

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(Benefit) What this means to you is that this information is at your fingertips so when customers call, you can quickly access the latest information about this customer. (Feedback Question) How do you feel this capability would help with “getting a handle” on customer issues and anticipating customer needs?

(Need #2) Another need that we talked about was making communications between customer service and salespeople more efficient and effective. (Feature) No, I can’t work miracles, Mr. Prospect but with the networking and common database design of Really Cool Software we can start making a difference. Customer service reps and salespeople will have access to the same customer information instantly. Here, let me show you how this works (Sally demonstrates this capability.) (Benefit) Because customer service reps and salespeople now share the same information, salespeople can react quickly to follow-up with customers and sell services or additional products that solve problems. (Feedback Question) What advantages do you see in enhancing communications by sharing customer information instantly?

I see all kinds of ways this could help. If I had customer information in one place I could save time in looking for files or calling a customer service rep or salesperson to find out the last time they talked to the customer. Boy Sally, I don’t expect you to work miracles! Ha, Ha!

If we work this right, we may be able to work a miracle after all. We can enter customer problems right in the system and make notes and comments to the customer’s file that salespeople can see anytime, anywhere. If I understand the system right, we can also get reports on customer problems so we can see what patterns are emerging. This will help with being more proactive solving problems instead of being reactive.

What did you observe in the exchange above? What, if anything, was different about this demonstration and feedback from the prospective customer than what you are doing now? There’s an old saying “you can’t argue with your own data.” Mr. Prospect actually used his own words to describe how he values Sally’s software solution. Because these  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

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are his words he won’t forget how this solution will solve his problems and when he describes this software to others in the organization he will remember and use his own words. Sally also learned directly from Mr. Prospect some new perceived benefits of her solution. This skill is particularly useful when selling to buying influences that recommend products and services. Have you ever competed in a sales campaign and the prospective users confuse the benefits of your product or service with your competitors? More and more, features and benefits are harder to differentiate unless they are linked to a need that is important to your customer. When your customer tells you the advantages of using your software, then he/she begins separating you from the competition. In contrast, if Sally had started describing every feature about her software and didn’t tie it back to the needs she had uncovered, how much value do you think Mr. Prospect would place on those features? Key Learning Tips ♦ Always back up a feature of your product or service with a benefit. A benefit tells the prospective customer how he/she will win personally if they use this product or service. ♦ Link the needs you uncovered to the features and benefits you demonstrate. ♦ Your prospective customer is looking for value—the more value he/she perceives in you and your product or service, the more willing they are to make an investment in solving the problem. ♦ Don’t “outsmart” your prospective customer by trying to impress him/her on how much you know by doing a “data dump.”

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7. Gaining Commitment How do I “close” the sale? After 20 years in sales, I am convinced that gaining a successful commitment for the sale should be a natural evolution to the sales process. If you leave out a step in the process and aren’t successful gaining commitments along the way, then you may default to manipulative techniques to “close” the sale. These are techniques like: “Mr. Prospect, let’s compare the pros and cons of why you should do this (of course the pro side will have more reasons for saying yes than the con side.)” This is called the “Benjamin Franklin” close. “Mr. Prospect, would you like to start this implementation in May or June?” The old “alternate choice” close. To have more fun in sales and feel more like a software sales professional, I promote using a straight forward question like, “would you like to go ahead?” Let’s see how Sally gets a commitment to prepare a proposal on her sales call. Sally Sales Mr. Prospect let me summarize for you what we have covered: -The ability to capture customer information that is easily accessible and gives you knowledge about customers and their needs. This also saves you time because you’re not tracking down files or looking for people to give you the latest information. -A common database that is shared by both salespeople and the customer service team will enable salespeople to quickly follow up with customers to sell them products or services that can help solve their problems. - Sales reporting takes less time because the system will do it for them freeing them to spend more time with customers. What’s your opinion about this?

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Mr. Prospect That’s right, Sally.

Sally, this sounds like something we should do right away! What’s this going to cost?

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What a go, Sally! Did you catch Mr. Prospect’s buying signal—“how much will this cost?” Sally’s commitment objective after demonstrating the product is to prepare a proposal and present to Mr. Prospect and the other buying influences (the accountant and salespeople). That is the commitment she’s after.

Sally Sales Mr. Prospect Mr. Prospect, I would be glad to prepare an Okay, Sally. Let’s get my administrative investment proposal for you. When can we assistant in here and look at schedules. schedule a time that I could present this to you and any other appropriate people in your organization that will be involved in using this product?

When the prospect asked Sally “what’s this going to cost,” she could have asked for the buying commitment then. However, she knew she had other buying influences in which Mr. Prospect would consult and get their input. She wanted to meet these other buying influences and be able to present her proposal to the entire decision-making team. She knew her success rate was higher when she kept her sales cycle in sequence so she stuck with her plan to set up an appointment with Mr. Prospect and the other team members involved with this decision. Key Learning Tips ♦ Before asking for the commitment, summarize the features and benefits of your software tying them back to the problems you are solving ♦ Keep your sales cycle steps in sequence ♦ Use a straightforward question to gain commitment not a manipulative technique (i.e. do you want to get started?) ♦ Remember that commitment questions are used throughout the sales process to advance the sales campaign to a natural conclusion.

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7. Handling True Objections What do I do when the customer starts to “crawfish” or object to moving ahead? An objection is an “unanswered” question. If you prepare effective questions and cover all the areas that we discussed in the previous chapters, then you should have already dealt with potential objections. Then to “smoke” out the true objection, what should you do? You’re right—ask more questions! Sally has presented her proposal for Really Cool Software to Mr. Prospect and is going to ask for a commitment to start the installation. Sally Sales Mr. Prospect (Summarize the Needs, Features and Benefits) Mr. Prospect, you wanted to easily access information about customers. You also mentioned the need to improve communications between sales and customer service. You mentioned that reducing your costs on new sales by increasing sales to existing customers would yield you a gain of 15-20% increase in profits. Mr. Prospect, with Really Cool Software current customer information is at your fingertips and alerts your salespeople to business opportunities from existing customers. To get started, your investment will be $500 a month for the next 60 months. (Ask for personal opinion) It seems a little high. How does this sound to you? (Use a “cushion” and add another benefit) I understand. In addition to these benefits, you also mentioned that you could see how this system could monitor customer patterns and trends that will help with future planning. Would you like to get started? (After this Yes, when can we schedule installation? close-ended question, do not say another word until your prospective buyer answers.) What Sally experienced was a “stall” not a true objection. She used a “cushion” response, “I understand” to help her transition to a new benefit statement. We talked  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

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about keeping needs and benefits in reserve in case we needed one for the close. Sally reminded Mr. Prospect about his own benefit statement about using the system with identifying customer trends that could be used for future planning. In the following scenario Sally gets a negative response to her commitment question.

Sally Sales (Summarize the Needs, Features and Benefits) Mr. Prospect, you wanted to easily access information about customers. You also mentioned the need to improve communications between sales and customer service. You mentioned that reducing your costs on new sales by increasing sales to existing customers would yield you a gain of 15-20% increase in profits. Mr. Prospect, with Really Cool Software current customer information is at your fingertips and alerts your salespeople to customer business opportunities. Your investment will be $500 a month for the next 60 months. (Ask for personal opinion) How does this sound to you? (Use a “cushion” and add another benefit) I understand. In addition to these benefits, you also mentioned using customer information to help spot patterns and trends. Because Really Cool Software tracks customer information from sales and customer service, this data is easily available to help with future planning. (Feedback Question) How else would you use this type of information? Would you like to get started? (After this close-ended question, do not say another word until your prospective buyer answers.) (Understand the objection) What ideas do you have about the implementation plan?

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Mr. Prospect

It seems a little high. You’re right Sally. I have to prepare a market plan for the company and I can see how this customer data would support the need for new product features.

Sally, I need to think about this some more. It will involve an investment of our time and I want to make sure that we plan for this right so we can realize a timely return on this purchase. That’s a good question, Sally. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about companies buying sales force automation systems and never getting them off the ground. I can’t 28

(Summarize and quantify objection) I see, Mr. Prospect. So what you’re saying is you have a concern about the implementation and you want to know how your staff will be trained to get the most effective use of the software. Is that correct? (Confirm that this is the “true” objection) Setting aside your question about how much time is needed to implement Really Cool Software, what other questions do you have? (Re-tell your company story or use referrals) Really Cool Software has been in business for 10 years and focuses on building solutions for sales and customer service teams for companies your size. In the last 10 years we have doubled our client base and have an award-winning customer service process. Like your company we are dedicated to “customer delight.” Really Cool Software works closely with you and your staff during the implementation and training. We plan the installation and training according to your schedule and don’t leave your side until you feel comfortable that your staff is using the software efficiently. Even after the implementation, our support staff is just a call away to help with questions and problems that may occur. (Feedback Question) How would you see this type of service helping with your implementation?

afford this to happen to me. Before I make this investment I want to make sure we can get trained effectively and have time to apply what we learn. Well, yes it is, Sally.

That’s it, Sally.

(Clarify questions before answering)

We would want to take advantage of your expertise in helping to plan the implementation and the ongoing training. When we take salespeople out of the field for training, we want them to be able to use the software effectively. What happens if a salesperson has a problem with the software when they are in the field? I don’t think I want them calling your help

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That’s a good question. What kind of support do you think will be the most effective?

Would you like us to include advanced training for that person? Should we go ahead and get started so we can start planning the implementation? (After this close-ended question, do not say another word until your prospective buyer answers.)

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desk every time they get frustrated because they can’t get something done. What about assigning a person here to support salespeople’s questions. Can you train one of our people to do that type of support? Yes, I think so. Yes. Let’s get started.

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Congratulations! Sally has a new customer and has gained a new relationship for her and the company. Let’s review what she did.

She summarized the “agreed upon” needs and tied them to the features and benefits of Really Cool Software.

She asked for a personal opinion about the proposal.

She received a negative response so she used a cushion statement, “I understand.”

She then summarized the features and benefits and asked a “feedback question.”

She asked a straightforward commitment question, “would you like to get started?”

She received another negative response so she asked a question to better understand the objection. . She again summarized and quantified the objection.

She confirmed that she was handling the “true” objection.

She described the benefits of doing business with Really Cool Software (she could have also used referrals). She asked another “feedback question.”

She asked for commitment again and received a positive answer—Yes!

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Key Learning Tips ♦ An objection is simply an unanswered question that wasn’t covered in the initial steps of your sales process when you were asking questions about needs, opportunities, timeframes, decision-making process, and budgets ♦ Determine if the negative response is a “stall” or a “true objection” before handling it ♦ Understand and quantify the objection ♦ Re-tell your company benefits and use referrals ♦ Ask “feedback questions” to help identify potential solutions ♦ Ask for a commitment at least three times. The “true” objective usually comes out by the third commitment question. ♦ Always clarify a question with a question. Knowing the reason behind the question will help you respond with an answer that helps move the sale forward ♦ Never challenge an objection

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8. Instant Replay What’s the Best Way to Improve My Selling Skills? It’s the day after the big playoff game, and the football team is sitting around the TV in the coach’s office. Peering at the screen with intense frowns etched in their foreheads, they are watching the video taped at the big game hoping to see mistakes that were made so they can improve their skills. As a software sales professional, you don’t have someone taping your sales calls to get this instant feedback on your performance. Thomas Edison wrote a memo to his salespeople with this thought: “The art of selling goods is as difficult to acquire as any other art. The proper methods can be acquired only by a multiplicity of actual experiments, and the one who tries the greatest variety of experiments will become, finally, a master of the art.”1 Selling is a profession and like any other profession it takes training, practice, and continuous learning. After a sales campaign, I recommend you review what you did right as well as areas where you could improve. If you were working with a team of people on the campaign, then doing a team review would be beneficial. Without feedback on how you are doing it’s hard to know where you should hone your skills. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 1

How well did I prepare and meet my commitment objectives? How well did I listen and take notes? Did I spend enough time building trust with each buying influence? How many needs did I uncover that my product or service could solve? How well did I prepare the software demonstration to link my product’s benefits to the needs uncovered? If working with other team members, how well did I consult and strategize with team members. Did I use enough customer referrals? How well did I understand the customer’s position, decision-making process, timeframe, and budgets? Was I able to identify and assess the status of the buying influences (i.e. technical influences, user influences, and financial influences)? How well did I understand how the buying influences would win personally by using my product or service? Did I use my “coaches” inside the account to give me information and guidance?

Quoted in “The Wizard of Ads” Copyright 1998 Roy H. Williams

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♦ What evidence did I have that the prospective buyer understood my company’s unique differences? ♦ What would I do differently?

Now, go sell something!

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What to Say When Your Prospect Says… Here’s a reference tool that may come in handy when responding to your prospective customer’s questions. Remember the tip about answering questions—answer a question with a question. Always clarify the question to better understand the reason behind the question. Of course, if you have practiced the skills shared in this handbook, you should have uncovered most of these questions in the first stage of the sales process. Since you are still honing these new skills, you may find the following responses helpful. The responses are general in nature. The important elements to learn about these responses is clarifying questions, using “cushions,” tying the answer back to a need, and getting a reaction to the answer. You will want to modify your responses to reflect your specific business climate.

When Your Prospect Ask… Company Reputation How many clients do you have? How many clients have you sold in recent years? How many clients has your company lost?

Are you financially sound?

What attributes or actions do your most successful clients exhibit?

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Respond With … These are interesting questions. What’s most important to you about the number of clients we have? (Prospect: We want to make sure that the company we do business with will be around for the long haul.) I understand. Many of our customers had the same questions when selecting our software system. Since starting our company 15 years ago, we now have more than 100 clients with 99% retention. We are proud of our growth and ability to keep our customers happy and are eager for you to join our family too. How important is it to you to talk to some of our clients? (Prospect: I think it would be very helpful to get a feel from your users of their track record with you. Can you give us a list of folks to call?) We have had 15 years of profitability and revenues have increased by 20% each year. What else is important to you about our financial health? (Prospect should list benefits.) What a good question! Are you looking for a specific pattern? (Prospect: we’re just matching up our current resources with what it will take to have a successful 35

What other kinds of clients do you have? (x = banking, manufacturing, healthcare, Education, government etc.)

For what reasons have you lost clients (not prospects)?

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implementation.) Our most successful clients are those who give us the opportunity to learn all we can about their business and what they want to achieve with our software. Like you, customers who spent time planning for the new system and understand the importance of ongoing maintenance and training have been the most successful. How do you see learning from our customers helping you with your implementation? (Prospect should list benefits for you.) Can you give me a little more information about what you are looking for? (Prospect: we feel it’s to our advantage if you have customers who are in the same business as we are. It also tells us where you focus product development and that is important to us.) Thanks for enlightening me more. I see why that would be important. As you know, any company that wants to improve productivity and sales performance can use our software. We have found that because we do market to a variety of organizations, we get a broader perspective on features and functions that all our customers can take advantage of. Our professionals are experts on solving your problems with our software applications. This frees you to run your business and leaves the software development to us. How does this sound to you? (Prospect: I guess it would be advantageous to get ideas from other companies.) You get the award for a first-time question! (Prospect: Well, we think this is a good indicator of client satisfaction with your software.) Making customers happy is the number one priority for us and we do all we can to prevent customer attrition. That’s why our customer retention is so high. The few clients who have discontinued using our software did so because of management changes, 36

What's your mission statement?

How many employees do you have?

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budget deficits, turnover in personnel, or inadequate resources to maintain the system. We don’t want to lose customers and work hard to keep communications open. What does your company do to retain clients? (Prospect: We work very hard not to lose clients—and we expect the same kind of treatment from our suppliers!) I see that your organization has a mission statement and understand how important it is for everyone in the organization to be working toward that mission. You’ll be happy to learn that our mission is very similar to yours. That is--our mission is to give our customers the best software and the best customer service—whatever it takes. How do you think this matches your company’s values? (Prospect: That’s what we wanted to hear!) We currently have 50 employees and recruit on a continual basis to keep up with demands from new clients. Were you looking for specific information about our employees? (Prospect: Your competitor has 100+ employees. What assurance can you give me that you can support our needs with half the number of employees?) I see. To clarify, are you saying that you have questions about our customer service and support? (Prospect: Yes, that’s right.) This is important and I’m glad you have brought it to my attention. We are proud of the customer service processes that we have been able to implement that streamline our Help Desk and increase our productivity per employee. Our new processes and systems have enabled us to continue giving the best customer service with less resources. We have been able to pass these savings on to our customers by keeping our service fees very reasonable. What’s your opinion about being more effective and more efficient with less resources? 37

What is the ratio of support and product development personnel versus administrative personnel?

Do you have an established users’ group?

How long have you been in business?

That’s a good question. Most of the 50 employees are in software development and customer support. Since we use our software, we have very efficient administrative processes and have a minimal administrative staff. Can you tell me why this is important to you? (Prospect: We want to make sure of continued product enhancements to our software.) I see. You will also be happy to learn about our annual enhancement program and users involvement in adding features to the software. Would you like to know more about this? (Prospect: Absolutely!) A users’ group is a very important benefit to any company using information technology. Our users’ group is very active and in addition to holding an annual conference it also meets regionally. How involved would you like to be with the users’ group? (Prospect: Very involved.) We started 15 years ago and are proud of our continued profitability and growth. This amount of time spent developing software and serving customers is reflected in our feature-rich software and superior customer support. What would it mean to your organization to do business with a customer-centric company? (Prospect should list benefits.)

Competition Who are your competitors?

What things differentiate your product and service from your competition?

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We compete with some excellent software companies and if my company and products weren’t superior to them, I would recommend them to you. What other options have you considered so far? I appreciate this question. You mentioned that doing business with a vendor that spent time understanding your business was important to you. Is that correct? (Prospect: This is very important to us and feel it will help with our ongoing relationship.) We are committed to 38

Why should I select your system? What makes your product unique from other vendors?

Why are you using this technology, isn't X better or more accepted in the industry?

Your competitor gave us names of some of your clients to call. Would you like to give us some of theirs?

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understanding your business problems and matching our solutions and services and that makes us standout in comparison to our competition. What’s your opinion about that? (Prospect: I guess that’s our goal, too.) You shared with me that having an easyto-use system that your users could operate effectively is a high priority in your selection criteria. Is this true? (Prospect: Yes, this is a major investment and we want to make sure our people can use this software to its fullest capabilities.) Many of our users tell us how much they appreciate how easy our software is to learn. They also appreciate our training process and ongoing support. What other advantages do you expect from an easy-to-use system? Your technology decision is important and can be confusing with technology changing so fast. You expressed earlier that it is important to you to do business with a solid company that has a vision for the future. Did I understand this right? (Prospect: Yes, you did. We don’t want to make this major investment in the wrong technology.) I can understand that. Our company is a leader in providing the best software that solves your business problems and is dedicated to using leading edge technology. What this means is that no matter what the “latest” technology is, we are going to keep solving your problems by keeping up with the changes in your business and upgrading our software to meet your needs. How does that sound to you? That’s interesting. I’ll be glad to give you names of our clients to call. We believe that customer lists are proprietary and it’s not our policy to give out other vendor’s customer names. Will that work for you?

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Your competitor told us that your company is being bought. How will that affect us if we select your system?

That’s news to me! Acquisitions and mergers are becoming a common practice in today’s economy so I’m not surprised when companies explore this practice as a way to grow and take advantage of economies of scale. I have no knowledge of this and can assure you that if my company is acquired or merged it would be done with customers in mind. What further data do you need about this subject? (Prospect: I would hope that if anything like this is going on that you will let us in on it.) If this is important to you, then of course I will.

Pricing, Licensing, and Payment Terms Why should I pay for that up front needs I understand why you would think that. A assessment? It sounds like a sales call to lot of companies do “free” needs me. assessments as part of their sales process to uncover needs that are solved with their products. This free needs assessment is usually done for the benefit of the provider to help sell their products and services. We can do the same “free” needs assessment that would be comparable. The purpose of our needs assessment is to do an in-depth study of your business processes and prepare a report that documents our findings. We use expert systems analyst to analyze the information and provide you with a detail blueprint that you can use to contract with us or any other systems company to implement your network. This blueprint is much like the work an architect would do to lay the foundation for a building. Based on our earlier discussions, we feel that your requirements go beyond a “free” needs assessment. What has changed about your requirements that we should consider? (Prospect: Nothing has changed. You have given more information that I didn’t have before.) Can you show me a return on my I appreciate your concern about showing a investment if I purchase this from you? return on your investment. Earlier you told me that you expect to increase  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

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Why can't you install it free, your competition does?

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revenues by 15%-20% by implementing our software, is that correct? (Prospect: Well, that’s right. We expect to see an increase in business with this new software system. That’s how we are justifying this investment.) Other than that return on your investment, what else would you need to justify the purchase of this software? (Prospect: I wondered if you had any actual documentation showing how companies can increase productivity by using this software?) That’s a very a good question. I’ll ask some of our customers if they have done any work like this and let you know? Will that be okay? (Prospect: Yes, that would be great! We can always add it to our own numbers.) Can you tell me more about this option? (Prospect: One of your competitors prices the software free. You download it from a web site. You only pay when you start to use it.) So what you are saying is that the software is free and you pay fees once you activate a license? Does that sound right? (Prospect: Yes, I believer that is right.) There are a variety of models in which to price software. After looking at how our clients use our software, we decided to use a one-time license fee with annual software maintenance fees. Our clients appreciate this method because they know what to budget for every year and there is no administration hassle to deal with. With the per usage fee your costs may continually rise over time and you will probably end up paying more for your software. You will also want to review your monthly billing statements for accurate billings which can be additional administration work. What are your thoughts about this? (Prospect: I didn’t understand how this would work and I think now I would prefer a simple onetime license fee.) 41

How much does it cost?

What other items do I need to budget that are not included in your proposal?

I don't understand why your price is so much higher than your competitor.

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How much do you want to pay? (Just kidding—this is a great buying signal!) To start receiving the benefits (list all the needs and benefits that were uncovered earlier in the sale) of using our software immediately, your investment will be $500 a month on a 5-year lease. How does that sound to you? That’s a very good question. As a service to our customers, we will review your current resources and establish a list of requirements for which to budget. When would you like to get started on this review? (Prospect: Let’s get started right away.) I see. (Understand the position) Putting price aside for a moment how does the competitor compare to the features and benefits (list actual benefits) of our software? (Quantify) What is the difference in price? (Prospect: It’s about a 20% difference.) So what you’re saying is that you prefer our software solution and are concerned about the difference in price, is that correct? (Prospect: Yes, it is.) What possible solutions do you see that would convince you the value of our software and services outweighs the difference in price? (Prospect: In looking at the difference, it seems that you have included more training days and consulting services. Can you do a successful implementation if we cut some of these services back. I can explain what happens during the training and consulting and will give you my opinion based on my experience how cutting these out will affect your implementation? We can then compare the value of a successful implementation to the 20% difference before we reduce any services. How does that sound to you? (Prospect: That’s a good idea. The 20% is not a significant enough difference to jeopardize our implementation.) 42

This is going to cost more than we had expected!

Our lawyer is reviewing your license agreement and has a few points to modify. How flexible are you in changing your license agreement?

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I understand. How much more is this investment than you expected? (Prospect: $10,000!) You mentioned that you were justifying the purchase of this software because of the revenue gains you expect to receive. You also want the software to be easy-to-use and most importantly you want to make sure that training is effective. Are these still important to you? (Prospect: Yes, it is but we only budgeted for $30,000. Your solution is more.) I understand. Putting aside the price difference for a moment, would you like to get started with our software? (Prospect: Yes, I think your solution and services are the one we want.) If we break the $10,000 down over 60 months which is the terms of your financing, then we are only looking at about $170 difference a month. For this small difference you will be getting the best solution and best support. What’s your thoughts about this? (Prospect: I guess we could do that. Can’t you give us a little discount to help?) What type of a reduction were you thinking about? (Prospect: I didn’t have anything in mind. What can you do for us?) If I discount the price, then we will also have to reduce some of the services to compensate. What areas would you like to reduce in services? (Prospect: I don’t what to cut out anything. Let’s keep everything and give me a 10% discount.) You’re a tough negotiator, Mr. Prospect. If you can go ahead and sign our agreement today, then I’ll give you the 10% discount. How does that sound? (Prospect: You gotta a deal!)

(Ugh! -don’t you just hate it when lawyers get 43

We like your solution and may have difficulty coming up with the capital required to make the investment. What payments options do you offer that would reduce our up front costs?

involved!) I’m sure we can work through these changes and negotiate a win-win for you and us. How does that sound to you? (Don’t you love getting this question!)? I’m very excited that you have selected our software. We have helped many of our clients with finance options. When could we meet to explore these with you?

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What are your payment terms?

(Another great question that you like to hear!) What terms are you looking for? (Prospect: Just your standard terms.) Our payment terms are in line with standard industry terms for software licensing. A deposit on contract signing and then full payment at time of delivery of the software. How does that sound to you? (Prospect: That’s fine.) We have decided on your system but will (This prospect must have been lying have to raise the funds? Can you hold when you asked him/her if budgets these prices for 12 months?!!!! were approved for this purchase!) That’s great that you have selected our software and we know that you will be happy with this decision. Tell me more about how you plan on raising these funds? (Unless this prospect represents potential volume business, I would politely walk away from this one for now!) Service, Support, Implementation, and Training How many people do I have to hire to What questions do you have about support this software in my environment? staffing resources for this software? (Prospect: We don’t want to have to hire programmers to support this software.) I understand. What your saying is that the software you select will have to be operated and managed by your existing staff. Since your staff is already using Microsoft Windows products, they will be comfortable in this environment. After our project management review, should you need additional resources, then we have a consulting team that can help you. This means you shouldn’t need to hire additional staff. How do you see this helping with resource needs? (Prospect: That’s great!) How long will it take to implement? Implementation planning is important. Describe for me what an ideal implementation timeline would look like. (Prospect: We would like to get everything up and running within six months.) We will make sure that this timeline is incorporated into the  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

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How many of your personnel will be supporting my installation?

Are there other sources of support, or maintenance other than your company?

Why did you recommend the services (or the amount of services) in our proposal?

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installation schedule. Would you like to get started? Can you clarify that question for me? (Prospect: I want to know that when we call for help, that you can respond quickly.) Thanks. So you are concerned about getting timely response time when you need help with problems, is that right? Keeping customers delighted with our customer service is vital to the continued growth of our company. We continually review our support processes and refine them to meet the needs of our customers. Would you like to go ahead and plan for the installation? (Prospect: Let’s hear a little more about your services first.) I’m not sure I understand your question. Can you expand upon it for me? (Prospect: We want to consider all our options.) Let me restate this back to you to make sure I understand what you’re saying. If you aren’t satisfied with our customer service, then you want to know who else can service your installation. Is that correct? (Prospect: Yes, that’s right.) We are proud of our customer service and if at any time you aren’t satisfied with your service, then we want to make it right. Having service from one source for your software, hardware, and networks will be more cost effective and efficient for you. What advantages do you see in getting your service from one source? (Prospect: I think eliminate finger pointing, be easier to solve problems, and leverage the relationship better.) Thanks for asking this question. It gives me a chance to review each of the services with you and explain their benefits. Before I get started, are there any specific areas you have questions about? (Prospect: No, go ahead and explain.) The services proposed represent what we think you will need to have a 46

What does the software maintenance agreement really include?

How long does it take to learn to use it?

How much training will we get?

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successful implementation based on our experience installing more than 50 systems. It also matches up with our understanding of your needs and goals for this software implementation. In what ways do you see these services being helpful to your organization? (Prospect: Now that you have explained this more, I think it will help us get started quicker and also getting a payback on our investment earlier than expected.) What questions do you have about the software maintenance agreement? (Prospect: If you come out with a whole new product, will we get it under this agreement?) I see. Our software maintenance agreement includes help desk support and annual upgrades to the software licensed under the agreement. If we develop a new software module that is not an extension of the software you purchased, then it would not be considered an annual upgrade. For example, If we release a Customer Support Maintenance package, it would be considered as a “new” software system and you would have to purchase a license for it. Does that answer your specific question? (Prospect: Yes it does, thanks.) What questions do you have about our training methods? (Prospect: Tell me about your training.) You expressed to us that getting your people trained on the software immediately was a priority. Right? That’s why we have recommended our “quickstart” training programs that are designed for people on a fast track. How’s that sound to you? (Prospect: That’s great and exactly what we want.) Training is important to the success of your software implementation and use. This was also one of the concerns you expressed to us during our initial assessment of your needs. We have 47

How often do you send out upgrades?

Will we have to purchase new versions or is it included in the annual software maintenance fee?

Once you make this sale, will I ever see you again?

What about data conversion?  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

proposed a substantial number of training days per software module. We feel this is more than adequate to get your people on the right foot with the software. If any days aren’t used, then we will credit them to your account to be used for additional services you may need in the future. What do you think about that? (Prospect: I’m glad to hear you will credit any unused days. When can we get started?) Keeping clients on the newest version of software is a goal we have set for ourselves. What is your experience with software upgrades? (This one is important to clarify because if you say four times a year then the prospect may panic! If you say once a year then that may not be enough.) We have found that customers like to take advantage of small problem fixes more often. So we send out these types of updates quarterly. Substantial changes in the software are sent annually. How does this compare to what you are used to? (Prospect: This will work out good.) Can you define for me what you consider a “new version.”? (Prospect: I would describe a new version as having major enhancements to it.) I see. Your annual software maintenance fee covers a major update to a current module. That is one of the added values you receive with our software. What’s your opinion? Would you really like to see me again? (Ha, Ha) The relationship I have built with you is important to me too. We will be transitioning a project manager to your account who is better qualified to take over the implementation. We are a team and I will continue to keep tabs on how you are doing. If you agree, I will also be calling on you for referrals to new customers in which I begin to work. Will that be okay with you? (Prospect: Sure, and we will miss you.) How much of your data do you plan on 48

Are you using the Web for support?

How soon can we begin?

converting? (Prospect: We aren’t sure yet but as much as possible so we don’t have to re-key stuff in.) We have a process for doing data conversions that includes giving you an estimate for the data conversion layout. At that time you can decide how much of the data is worth converting to the new system. How does that sound? (Prospect: That sounds doable.) What type of support would be important to you on the Web? (Prospect: We want to have access to information about the software anytime.) Great! We do have a Web site for customers to look at frequently asked questions, download upgrades, submit help questions, and download documentation. What additional benefits do you see from using the Web? I like your enthusiasm! Let’s look at our schedules and decide on the best time to get started. When can we schedule a time to review the license agreement and get it signed?

Features and Functionality Can you guarantee that the functionality you showed me in your demonstration will work in my environment?

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I don’t believe I have ever been asked this before! What questions do you have about the functionality that we covered? (Prospect: Sometimes it’s hard to really see what’s going in a demonstration.) I see. What you’re saying is that it’s hard to trust what you are seeing in a sales demonstration. Is that an accurate interpretation? (Prospect: No offense, but yes.) Many of our customers have often told us how straightforward and honest our product demonstrations were and that weighed heavily in their decision to select our software company. One of your first statements to me when we first met was you wanted to build a long-term relationship with your new software provider. We have been working together now for three months and I feel I have become your ally in this software project. 49

We want to make sure we are investing in software that will not be “out of date” as soon as we get it implemented. What assurances can you give us that we will always be using the state of the art technology?

I liked the way the other product looked and how easy it seemed to move around the screens.

If we select your software, we want you to  Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

Would you like to move ahead with this project? I really appreciate this question. Why is this important to you? (Prospect: Because, we are making a large investment that we want to pay off.) So what you are saying is that this is a large investment for you in time and money and you don’t want to go through this process again any time soon. Is that what you are saying? This is a very legitimate concern considering the fast pace of technology today. Our company has been built on its ability to respond to customer needs quickly. Since our first product launched 10 years ago, we have migrated clients to two new technology platforms. These clients did not loose any of their original investment. How do you see this type of migration planning working in your situation? I understand. Can you tell me more about this demonstration so that I can make sure I’m comparing apples to apples? (Prospect: The other product seemed easier to use because it’s like the Microsoft office products we use.) So what you are saying is that you liked the pulled down windows and tabs used in the other product. Is that right? You’ll be pleased then to be reminded that our product also has pull down windows and tabs. You have seen two other demos since ours so I’m not surprised that you are confusing products. In addition, one of your main requirements was being able to do reporting easily. Remember how excited your staff got when they saw how they would be able to do their own reporting without having to ask the IT guy? How soon would you like to get started on the implementation? (Prospect: We want to start by next month? If we signed with you, can you get us started then? I am so glad you asked this question. 50

make a few customizations. Can you do that?

Easy-to-use reporting is very important to us. Tell us how your system will handle this?

We want to make sure we are using products that are easily compatible with other applications. How does your software meet this requirement?

Can you change the color of the screens?

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(Actually, you hate getting this question because it makes your development guy’s toes curl up!) What type of customizations are you thinking about? (This is to clarify the quantity of customizations). Since we have installed over 50 systems, we know to expect some customizations in our standard system. We have built tools in the software to allow you to add data fields; change report formats, and adds new menus. How soon would you like to get started on estimating your customizations? All of our customers tell us the same thing. Have you seen reporting tools that you like? What did you like about them? What didn’t you like about them? (Prospect: There was one vendor who had all types of reporting tools depending on the type of user. We liked those options.) I think you will be happy then with our reporting tool. We provide three reporting capabilities: power user reporting, user reporting, and executive level reporting. Who might benefit most from these different reporting tools? Please explain a little more about what you want to accomplish with this? (Prospect: We don’t want to get a system that can’t talk to other systems.) I understand. What you are saying is that if you install a third-party software product you want to be able to share the information from our software system. Is that correct? Our software uses industry standards and an “open” database. What that means to you is that data is written in a format that can be shared with other industry standard systems using nonproprietary databases. How does this meet your requirement? What color did you have in mind? (Prospect: Nothing really, I just thought I would ask the question.) Actually, since we use the Windows environment you can use the Windows display options to 51

Does your software work on the Web?

What questions have I not asked that I should ask?

 Sales Champions 2001-All rights reserved

change the color of your screens. Would this be important to you? What areas of the application would you want to be on the Web? (Prospect: We have been thinking about giving some of our customer access to our system for looking at products, ordering, and getting status of their shipments.) Very interesting! We have been developing a Web interface for our software and are looking for sites to help test it. Would your organization be interested in this type of co-development? You are serious, aren’t you? You have asked some great questions and I feel that you have covered the essential points. We have discussed; our company’s history and reputation, our customer support process, our technology vision, our management team, we have talked about implementation and training, data conversion and upgrades, you’ve seen the software work, looked at reporting, and reviewed our proposal and license agreement. I think the only question you haven’t asked is “where are you taking me to dinner?” Would you like to go now?

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