Sales Pitch

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This book digs a bit deeper into the sales process rather than simply positioning, which is tackled in [ @dunford2019 Obv!ously awesome: how to nail product positioning so customers get it, buy it, love it ]

"Helping customers buy"

It is often the case that salespeople forget about how customers feel during the journey that leads to a sale. "Selling is hard", should not makes us forget that "buying is hard" as well.

In complex environments, the financial decision maker may be different from the user, and from the technical decision maker (see: jobs theory , jobs theory and customer journeys , which is not referenced in this book but the ideas seem to be aligned.)

"How hard is it to make a decision?" Sometimes it is not only on us, but the entire context. When there's too much choice, and a high degree of uncertainty on how to make a decision, those who are willing to help customers are the ones who are going to end up winning.

Remember: do nothing is the most likely and strongest competitor.

How to help customers

Have sales representatives that are good teachers. The "Why pick you" question is rather "why pick you from the sea of alternatives out there?"

Show that you understand the context, not just your own brand and product.

Differentiated Value

Is the answer to the question "so what?". What is the offering doing that is different from everyone else?

Types of Pitch

1. Product Walkthrough
   1. Ideal when there are similar products in the market. The customer understands the value and sees what do you do which is different.
   2. Too much focus on features rather than "value"
2. Problem/Solution
   1. Ideal when customers are highly educated, understand the business context, but the largest competitor is the "status quo".
   2. The market (and problem) is defined by your competitors, it's hard to bring up your differentiated value
3. Vision Narrative (ideal for investment decks)
   1. Assumes that "new" is valuable
4. The Hero's Journey
   1. Has entertaining value, but does not help customers make a decision when they have many choices.

Sales Pitch Structure

" Help customers understand all their choices, the trade-offs between each, and when to pick your solution "

During a pitch, there are several things that should happen to make it "perfect":

1. Help customers understand the entire market, including alternatives to your offering
2. There should be a process of in-depth discovery
3. Prospects should understand your differentiated value
4. If possible there should be a product demonstration
5. Clear call to action for what the prospect should do next

Structure of the Pitch

The Setup includes insights, alternatives, and the "perfect world". Insights include what you have observed with other customers, the market, trends, etc. You are not afraid of talking about alternatives, because it shows you fully understand what is out there and what others are already doing.

The perfect world is where you make the synthesis between the insights you have gained, and the limits of the current alternatives. If all the cons are removed, you would be living in the perfect world, and this is what you should always aim for.

The Follow-Through is the longest section of the pitch: 1. The Introduction (the company/product/etc.): it is also where you define the market (the category you position yourself in) 2. Differentiated Value: this is something only your product can offer in the sea of alternatives. Ideally this could be done with a demo . 3. Proof: You say you can do, but you need to show it. 3rd party validations, awards, or any other proof-points you may have that contribute. 4. Objections (optional): If you anticipate common objections, don't let them sit, tackle them upfront. For example, how hard is it to deploy your solution, or barriers to adoption, etc. 5. The Ask: You finish by recommending a next step.

Positioning

1. Competitive Alternatives Other ways of solving the problem in the minds of customers, the "status quo"
2. Unique Capabilities Something that your offering has and the alternatives do not. Can be features, but also capabilities of the company.
3. Differentiated Value The value the product enables for customers. Things like "Helps customers save money by reducing development costs". "Speeds time to market by streamlining operations."
4. Best-Fit Customers: What is the target account that best fits the product. Things like company size, revenue, employees can be indicators, but also others such as they already work with X type of products, has a distributed team, etc.
5. Market Category: The answer to "What is it?". In which context you decide to position your offering, it's the starting point for customers to judge you.

Audience

These are the roles likely to be encountered during a sales process: - Economic buyer - Champion - End Users - IT Department - Legal and Purchasing

In early stages, the champion is crucial to get things moving. But if you don't manage to get the economic buyer on board, you won't succeed at moving forward. Legal and purchasing (procurement) normally get involved at later stages, but have the ability to veto any decision.

At this stage I would have loved to see more acknowledgement of 202303251644 Jobs to be done framework .

The Storyboard

Start by creating a storyboard of the pitch. You will need to gather information from different people who have different experiences and ideas.

1. Lead with insights . Problems are not unique, but insights are. They allow to establish your credibility, and orients the discussion towards your differentiated value. It sets up a discussion about the overall market .
   1. Insights should lead towards your differentiated value. They should push the discussion in a direction that serves you.
   2. Consider the best-fit customers and their perspectives. Frame the insights from that vantage point.
2. Practical tips. You should find ways of validating your insights so that they are not merely opinions. Your insight should be credible (not just obvious) in order to move on to the next step.
3. Alternatives : it is not about badmouthing competitors. Imagine you are the one who decided to purchase a tool and someone comes and says "that was a terrible choice". Would you open yourself to ideas or take a defensive stance? Likely a prospect is going through these stages:
   1. Clarify The problem
   2. Build a list of solution requirements
   3. Explore multiple vendors It would be useful to group competitors into categories, "approaches", which may help minimize the risk of pitching a competing product to a customer. Map out pros and cons of each competitor from the perspective of the customer you are talking to.
4. The Perfect World : if you stacked the deck on your favour in the previous steps, when you switch from talking about "the market" and start describing your company and solution, it should become clear that it's your product the one that creates the perfect world. During the setup phase of the pitch, you establish what are the relevant criteria and why no one else covers them all.
5. Introduction : This is the moment to introduce the company and its products. I am personally not too sure about introducing the company itself, that would depend on the context and what it brings to the discussion.
6. Differentiated Value : This is the reason why someone would by your product, what value do you bring to your customers that others would not bring.
   1. If you use a demo, make sure what you decide to highlight is aligned with the differentiated value you are pitching.
7. Proof : case studies, etc.
8. Objections : whether the customer has raised them or not. Sometimes you don't have all the stakeholders in the meeting and objections will be raised without you present to defend them. Give your champion all the information to defend you autonomously.
9. The Ask : this is what you want the customer to do for you as a next step. Misaligned prospects should be pushed out of the funnel at this stage, don't pursue something that you know won't work out.