The Challenges we tend to see:
When we investigate the different issues clients face, they may manifest themselves in different ways but here are ones we hear often:
- There is little or no common account and opportunity (sales) language across the organization. In other words, what is a qualified deal? What is a billable event? What is access to others and power? What is proof of power? What is the action plan?
- There are little or no objective non-financial metrics to understand the progression of an account or deal.
- Cross-selling and differentiation are afterthoughts instead of positioning for these straight away.
- We struggle to make effective use of our sector and technical experts and often end up talking over the head or too technically with potential clients.
- The lack of a client centered sales framework or flexible methodology to look at the world through the eyes of the client causes misalignment of team objectives.
- We really do not have a good grasp of the key skills required for executing complex deals, what an optimal sales cycle looks like and how to train the ideal.
- Our people struggle to efficiently turn conversations into opportunities especially when it is not in their service or practice area.
- Our RFP conversion rates are below what we want, and our opportunity cost is considerable.
- My people struggle with maintaining the margins we would like.
- We really wrestle with gaining access to the C suite and maintaining it.
The Conceptual Solution:
Addressing these issues and many others is a difficult task that should not be underestimated. However, there are some fundamental elements that we have learned and deploy nearly every time.
- Our experience and research have shown and proven time and again, there are six critical skills sets that the best work winners employ. How they do this varies, but the framework for engaging has client centered deliverables in every skill set. This framework with sales levels sets the foundation for the common language in an organization. This is often customized to the internal language of Beacon’s clients.
- Efficiency is critical in rapidly moving environments. Our Relationship Matrix 360 provides instant visibility into accounts at a glance that can literally make or break how an RFP should be handled or how an account should be developed.
- Training is always around real situations that provides participants an opportunity to immediately apply the thinking to their accounts while in the training session. People also leave with an actual plan that they may have initiated in the training session.
- Coaching on real deals, for an extended period, reinforces the behaviors fine tuned or learned in the training and helps the effort become sustainable.
- Where possible, internal coaches are super skilled to eventually sustain the effort internally and assume all roles.
- There must be metrics in place to check performance of the team and look specifically at the types of deals coached and the impact.
- There needs to be a communications plan that highlights and reinforces learnings to the wider team.
- There should always be linkages to internal post-decision reviews and how that information is being used to determine competitor’s tactics and set specific competitive strategies.
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