Промышленный лизинг Промышленный лизинг  Методички 

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A Focus of dissatisfaction: Referred to as the users, these are the people with the day-to-day problems to be solved.

A Focus of power: These are the decision influencers and decision makers.

When you meet with the people who are at the focus of dissatisfaction, the idea is to find a sponsor who will either introduce you to or represent you at the focus of power. Rackham goes on to caution the sales consultant not to be discouraged if your sponsor will not let you meet directly with the decision-maker. 1

It is not always necessary for you to be able to schedule a meeting with a decisionmaker; it can be just as effective to have someone else to schedule that meeting for you. Besides, in a large and complex sale, there is probably no such thing as one decision maker.

Heres a story that serves as an example of this.

A friend of mine, Steven, had a university-oriented project that he knew would interest the chancellor of a Midwestern state university (focus of power, focus of dissatisfaction). Steven was unable to set up a meeting with the chancellor. He had written letters and made telephone calls, with no results, and he had contacted almost everyone he knew.

Steven asked me if I knew the chancellor. I didnt, but I knew an associate dean (focus of receptivity) and called him. The associate dean told me that he didnt know the chancellor well, but that he played racquet-ball with a friend named Ted, who was a direct report to the chancellor (focus of receptivity, but possibly also focus of dissatisfaction and focus of power).



I asked the associate dean to arrange a meeting between Ted (the direct report to the chancellor) and my friend Steven. The associate dean set it up. When Steven met with Ted, he probed to assess Ted in terms of his being a focus of receptivity, focus of dissatisfaction, and focus of power. Ted turned out to be a diamond in the rough. He not only believed that Steven offered a solution that created value for the university, but also offered to set up a meeting of the chancellor, himself, and Steven to discuss the project. From there, the sale proceeded well for Steven.

ACTION POINTS

4Not reaching the decision maker doesnt mean failure. Whats important is that the decision maker is presented with your ideas in a concise and articulate manner. You dont always have to be the messenger.

4 Develop other relationships within the account. Develop relationships with people in the account who are receptive to your approach or knowledgeable about the problems the product may solve. Wide and deep relationships within the account are useful, since people and positions change over time.

SALES TRUTH 9: Develop other areas in the account and let them influence the decision maker.



sales trap 10:

Rank Decision Criteria Relative

to Competitors

Many salespeople believe that you need to identify and rank the customers decision criteria. This is a fallacy that misses the mark in creating value for the customer. Just because the customer ranks your offerings as stronger than your competitors according to certain criteria does not mean you will get the business. What matters is whether the areas in which youre stronger are the areas that the customer ranks as the most important.

AN EXAMPLE

Three banks, Bank 1, Bank 2, and Bank 3, are competing for a lending project. Bank 1 is perceived by the client to be strong relative to the competition in terms of rate, flexibility, and reputation. (Banks 2 and 3 are perceived as weaker on these three criteria.) But what happens if rate, flexibility, and reputation arent important to the customer? Lets say, for instance, that what really matters to the client is the loan officers expertise and the banks expertise. If this is the case, then Bank 1 may very well lose the business to Bank 2 or Bank 3 if Bank 1 is perceived as weaker in loan officers expertise and bank expertise, since these are the areas that matter most to the client.

SALESPEOPLE DONT ASK CUSTOMERS TO RANK CRITERIA

My field observation studies reveal that sales consultants normally do not ask the customers how they rank their decision criteria. They should. Questions that they need to ask include:

A Which criteria are most crucial?



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