How to handle customers beset by internal contention? When your sales team lets you know deals aren’t going to close at the rate included in their forecast, you should ask them for specific details. Often an unexpected slow down in… Read more ›
No answer is an answer – usually “no”. After a number of meetings, a technical demonstration, lengthy conversations with all known stakeholders in a purchase decision, conversation just stops. The key contact stops replying to email, won’t take a call,… Read more ›
A very important task required of any sales person leading a meeting with prospects is to “know the room”. This task amounts to as quickly as possible familiarizing oneself with each of the meeting attendees: Who am I meeting with?… Read more ›
During the pandemic of 2020 it is not possible to field an outside sales operation. For enterprise software – including software platforms – this handicap is a big one. But a combination of online meetings and telephone calls can simulate… Read more ›
Are you relying solely on reactive marketing to drive opportunities for your complex product? There are at least 2 tactics you should add to content marketing, inbound marketing, response based marketing for the sales you need for your complex product.… Read more ›
Proposing credible return on investment is not something a sales person selling enterprise software should do early in the sales process. Why? Because any calculation of return on investment a prospect will find believable depends upon accurately portraying costs unique… Read more ›
What makes a sales qualified lead (SQL)? Not all leads are the same. If you consider HubSpot a reliable website, the following definition of a “sales qualified lead” helps us get started: “A sales qualified lead is a prospective customer… Read more ›
A lot of what an enterprise software sales team does with leads depends on qualification. Deciding which leads to pursue requires sales people to successfully use qualifiers. The most promising of these is some version of “this prospect’s job to… Read more ›
During the 2014 Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, hosted by JP Morgan, Judson Althoff, President of Microsoft, North America made clear the importance of “consultative” skills, rather than product presentation, to the success of sales of Microsoft software to enterprise… Read more ›
On Friday, August 23, 2013, Steve Ballmer, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Microsoft® announced his intention to resign his position within the next 12 months, subsequent to a replacement coming on board. A lot of pundits expressed opinions on this… Read more ›
