C-Level, Relationship Selling Blog

C-Level Sell to Develop Large Accounts

Large accounts are cash cows for any business. We all wish we had more. We all go crazy if we lose one. However, large accounts require the most powerful selling skills –getting-to and selling profit center leaders and their staffs.  A large account is not only a place for lots of sales, it is the place where you're considered preferred. Preferred status carries with it, all types of financial advantages -- faster sales, better pricing, competitive advantage, no bidding, and more.

 

To attain this preferred status, you and your company must ........

 

Read on at C-Level Sell to Develop Large Accounts

Move from Vendor to Preferred Supplier by Relationships Selling Corporate Leader$

Purpose, Focus, Confidence, Credibility and Performance are the elements of relationship selling top level people. The sad truth is 90% of the sales people, no matter the company, don’t know how to get to, talk with, and perform to the standards of senior executives.  If this seems unbelievable, ask any Sales VP how many senior level relationships their sales people have that can be leveraged for price advantage and/or against competition.  You’ll find it is very few.

So here is what you have to have.

Purpose - realize the top is where the money’s at.  That’s were decisions are finalized.

Focus means think about the people you need to get to and you’ll figure out a way to get to them.

Confidence - you’ve got to believe you belong with top level people to begin and finalize your sale and you’re the best to present and discuss you offerings.

Credibility is the door opener meaning the person respects you, trusts you and believes you will deliver his/her results. 

Performance - you got to deliver what will make this person secure and happy.

Learn how to implement these and you’ll have an easy task selling.  Never stop networking to the top until they offer you your own office in their C-Suite.

For more: http://www.relationshipselling.info/RelationshipSelling%20VendortoPreferred.htm

Account Management and the Blue Ocean Strategy

I started reading Blue Ocean Strategy.  Although its intent is different, it applies directly to account management and selling them more.  It's what I preach and teach - Investigative Selling on steroids. 

The premise is that you have to develop value innovations that create new market space (or in the selling context, new sales opportunities) where you/your company can flourish.  That is, get into the heads of senior managers in your key accounts and find out what they value.  In other words what are they willing to pay anything to have?  For tips on how to do this see: http://www.sammanfer.com/Articles%20and%20PDF's/More%20Market%20Share%20is%20Two%20Questions%20Away.html

Once you know what these senior managers really value, you can start your creative juices flowing to figure how to give it to them.  Then if you do give them their desires, you’ve got all the access, referrals and sales you’ll be able to handle.  You may have to merge totally diverse services that don’t have to provide this value.  It’s not about repackaging your stuff, but rather merging very strange products and services together to create something new.

For example, let’s say you provide out-sourcing for food, maintenance, or engineering and the senior managers of your key account are wishing they could get more customers for their electronics.  Now, what if all your customers had a similar problem with their respective products/services?  What could you put together that brings them more revenue, works great, and cost you very little?  Here’s a thought. Hire me to manage or initiate their sales process.  They pay you nothing until their sales reach some level and then they pay you a lot.  The sooner the sales hit the desired level the more they pay.  That’s value innovation.

The key to value innovation is that you can not assume to know what senior managers value.  You’ve got to ask i.e. Investigative Selling - see my book Take Me To Your Leader$.  We’ll continue this in future postings.