Technology-Assisted Opportunity Coaching
A contact manager is not adequate for opportunity management, and neither is the simple forecast that comes with most CRM systems. Among the best practices we see in opportunity management tools are:
• A lead prequalification checklist
• A prospect qualification checklist
• A competitive assessment
• A value linkage chart
• A stakeholder analysis
• An action plan
• Coaching questions
Lead Prequalification Checklist
Marketing tends to measure its success by the quantity of leads generated by any given campaign. But the sales department is frustrated when it receives a blizzard of unqualified “leads” from marketing, most of which will not turn into prospects even after hours of phone calls.
Research shows that a very large number of these leads are never followed up on at all, probably because of the lowquality experience of previous leads.
Jim Ninivaggi, director of the sales performance practice at SiriusDecisions, a sales effectiveness analyst firm, says:
In some organizations, up to 90 percent of leads don’t get followed up on at all. If I get 100 leads and only two pan out, the next time I get 100 leads, I’ll ignore them because they aren’t worth my time.
Of these leads that aren’t getting followed up on, most of those prospects will buy something in the next 12 to 18 months. They may not buy it from you, but the interest level was usually high enough that they will probably buy something.
It is more economic to have a marketing person nurture these leads than to have a field person follow them up. This is where marketing can play a very effective role.
Prospect Qualification Checklist
An agreed-on set of qualification criteria not only prompts the salesperson to identify the risks of proceeding but also removes the emotional issue of qualifying out versus quitting. In this way, you have the proper expectations for the forecast because everyone is using the same standards.
What are our agreed-on criteria for pursuing this opportunity? Will they buy from anybody? Will they buy from us? How does this prospect compare with our other opportunities? Do we have the resources?
Competitive Assessment
The key to competitive tactics is timing and anticipation. A technology that prompts our thinking promotes earlier action and competitive advantage.
How do we compare against our competitor in this account? Do we have a good chance to win? What are our relative strengths and weaknesses compared with their needs? Do we have any unique differentiators? What strategies can we anticipate from each competitor? How do we beat them out of the starting blocks?
Value Linkage Chart
A tool that helps us think through our value proposition allows us to present and focus benefits and messages to the right stakeholders without them having to figure it all out by themselves (and sometimes get it wrong). How do our solutions link into their issues and needs? Who cares? Does our value proposition link into strategic initiatives or issues? What cultural, financial, political, and strategic benefits can we offer?
Stakeholder Analysis
Who will be involved in the evaluation? Who matters? What part will they play? What is their current preference? How much power and influence do they have? How do we win their vote? How can we live without their vote?
Action Plan
This is the outcome of the analysis and strategy review. It is the purpose of a sales process. Without it, people wander in an account, waiting for things to happen. The most important impact of technology in this area is the ability to adjust the plan purposefully and dynamically through online strategy conferences with teammates who may be remote.
What actions are needed to win this opportunity? Who is the owner of each action item? When is it due? How will each competitor respond?
Coaching Questions
While there is no substitute for a manager’s coaching to challenge assumptions and blind spots, embedding the list of questions to ask the customer and yourself about your strategy is a useful tool to jog salespeople’s minds about all the issues they need to cover. This “coach in a box,” in an automated opportunity management system, not only reminds reps of the training concepts back in the binder in their office but also eliminates “ambush coaching” because all the questions have been previously defined. The result is competitive information earlier and fewer blind spots later.
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Sales
One of the most useful technology tools we have seen is color-coded organizational charts of the stakeholder analysis. These charts are generated automatically from the opportunity management tool that we use with our clients, and they help sales managers to immediately visualize who in the organization prefers us and how much power they have.
Most veteran managers can take one look at this and drill down to about a dozen questions that not only will purify the forecast but also will help to bring a value-added coaching session to the salesperson to improve his or her strategy.
Stop Flogging the Forecast—Start Coaching to Win
Too often, most sales coaching consists of little more than the basic questions of “how much and when” and brings no value to the salesperson whatsoever. In discovery for a recent speech in Europe, the sales executive of a Fortune 500 company admitted, “We are a very process-oriented company, but we are under such quarterly pressure that our account reviews focus too much on when we are going to get business and how much rather than what we’re going to do to win it.”
There are questions that the sales rep asks the client. There are questions that the reps should ask themselves. And then there are questions that a coach should ask the rep. There are over 100 in all that we have documented from some of the best salespeople in the world. This is how many it takes to win a complex sale.
Traditional questions asked of salespeople by sales managers typically include, for example: What are your differentiators that will cause them to buy from you? What is the source of urgency that will cause them to buy now? How will they make the decision? Whose votes really matter on the committee? Why would they buy from you? Do enough important decision makers prefer you to win? Who cares about your benefits, differentiators, and value?
This checklist can be automated as part of a drill-down forecast so that the vice president of sales can see the manager’s confidence level in the sales plan and the chances of winning.
This practice is spotty at best in most organizations and missing altogether in many others. Look for these organizations in the financial section of the newspaper when they miss next quarter’s earnings.
Coaching in Eight Simple Questions
Exactly what the 100 questions are needs to be validated by your sales managers for your industry and solution set. It is one of the first things we do with a client. But many managers have found it helpful to categorize them into eight universal questions that everyone can keep in their head or on a wallet card:
| 1. Why buy? | Pains, gains, needs, value, fit, budget |
| 2. Why us? | Differentiation, prior preference |
| 3. Why now? | Source of urgency |
| 4. How much? | Proposed solution, amount, approval process |
| 5. Why them? | Qualification |
| 6. Who matters? | Politics, roles, decision-making process |
| 7. Who cares? | Linkage, preference |
| 8. What next? | Strategy, action items, due date, owner |
| Copyright © 2005,The Complex Sale, Inc. |
