Top 5 ways to connect engage and sell

Top 5 Ways to Connect, Engage and Sell C-

x Level Executives

Tom Pisello - Chairman & Founder

Twitter: @tpisello

Powering B2B sales to economic buyers

Mari Anne Vanella - CEO/Founder

Twitter: @vanellagroup

© 2011 Alinean, Inc. 2

Today’s Speakers

Mari Anne Vanella CEO & Founder of The Vanella Group Top 20 Women to Watch in 2011 by the Sales

Lead Management Assn. The Vanella Group - Teleservices for Enterprise

Technology Companies Delivers customized, strategic teleservices-

based lead generation solution to energize the pipeline and become a true partner for success.

Solutions: • Teleprospecting, identifying active buy-cycles

for large deals • Telenurturing, integrating live communication

with email or automated communication Fast Facts: 10 Year milestone in 2011 Pioneering work with enterprise technology

providers worldwide 42 Rules of Cold Calling Executives—best

seller

Tom Pisello

Chairman & Founder of Alinean

Who’s Who in B2B Demand Generation

Parallel entrepreneur

Ex-Gartner Managing VP

Alinean - Leading provider of value-based interactive content marketing campaigns and diagnostic sales tools

Solutions:

• Interactive White Papers

• Diagnostic Assessment Tools

• ROI Calculators & Sales Tools

• TCO Comparison Tools

Fast Facts:

10 year milestone in 2011

Over 2000 value-focused campaigns


A New Buyer Requires New Strategy & Tactics


Today’s Buyer - More Overloaded

• Rapidly increasing rate of new information available to buyers

• Calls 15+ a day

• Email 200+ a day

• Increase in available channels

• E-mails, tweets, Internet, webinars, search engines, videos, micro-sites, banner ads, newsletters, magazines, demos, white papers, blogs, Facebook, forums, case studies, research, advertisements, etc....

• A low signal-to-noise ratio on most messages / campaigns

• 62% of B2B vendors need more leads

in order to generate the same amount

of sales

• 72% indicate an increase in sales cycle

time over the past 6 months

• Over past 5 years, average sales cycle

has become 22% longer (SiriusDecisions)


Today’s Buyer – More Empowered

• Buyers do more research independently and online

• Arm themselves with ideas, solution, competitive product knowledge

• Firmly in control of buying process

• Using online vendor content + 3rd party sources / social groups

• Inviting sales later, after set strategy, budget and solution roadmap

Not Prepared 29%

Somewhat Prepared

36%

Well Prepared 35%

At Same Time, Perceived Sales Readiness Is On the Decline

IDC 2010


Today’s Buyer - More Skeptical

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Early Middle Late

Internal events/triggers

Peers

Industry analysts

Trade publications

Search engine results

VARs/Partners

Consultants

Vendors

Most often

selected

Source: SiriusDecisions 2010

Internal Events / Triggers Drive Early Stages of Buying Cycle

3rd Parties such as Peers, Analysts & Trade Pubs Most Influence – Mid / Later Stages


Today’s Buyer – More Complex Decision Cycle

Fewer internal team members provided their input into decision process

Relied more on live customer feedback/recommendations

More internal team members provided their input into decision process

Did more detailed analysis of costs/ROI of solution before finalizing the process

Utilized a wider variety of sources to research options

Took more time to research and consider solutions

16%

21%

30%

34%

36%

48%

Multiple Responses Allowed

Demand Creation Specialists B2B Buyer Survey - 2011

• Do More Research From More Sources

• More Stakeholders, More Financial Due Diligence

• Taking More Time


Today’s Buyer – More Frugal & Value Focused

• CFOs responsible for more groups

• Taking control of strategy + buying-

cycle

• More financial due-diligence on all

purchases

• #1 Reason for NOT Meeting Sales

Quotas – Inability to Communicate Value

Messages (27%) – SiriusDecisions 2010

• Only 38% of sales reps understand the

customer’s issues and can identify how

vendor can help – Forrester 2010


Today’s Buyer – Buyer Frugalnomicus

• Size

Longer Sales Cycles

Reduced Deal Size More Leads to Close Same

Amount of Business

Stalled Deals

Increased Competition More Stakeholders

Executive Scrutiny


Top 5 Ways to Connect, Engage & Sell to Cx Level Executives


Tip #1: Cut Through the Noise

• Don’t make your prospect try to figure out the fit

• One-size-fits-all messaging tunes out prospects

• Don’t desensitize prospects—Res-ensitize them through point solutions for THEIR business

• Seeking ―tell me more‖ not ―stop talking!‖

• Ask:

– Would you listen to YOU?

• Test the message on yourself

• Value Added Content / Insights

Greatest resource you already have—your customers


• Leads have a shelf life—don’t let them expire • Typical exec requires 6+ attempts to reach • Most sales teams give up at 3 or less

12 © 2011 The Vanella Group, Inc. Proprietary | Do Not Distribute

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Reps Execs

Call

s to

Con

nec

t

Attempts Required To Connect After Initial Interest

3-5 Additional Attempts Needed

Tip #2: Persistence Pays


Tip #3: Engage at Right Time

• Don’t let BANT downgrade good leads • Early engagements make a difference • Richest form of communication—use it early and effectively • Deal size and decision patterns • Effectively hand off the baton—build systemized lead hand-off



Tip #4: Engage with Right Content


Tip #4: The Engagement Path

• Keep it relevant to their need, not your company • Lead them to a conclusion • Today’s execs scan info and make connections quickly • Don’t drive them away with making it too hard to learn more • Build on each step to keep it moving forward



Tip #5: Appeal to Frugal Buyer

Value Focus

Discussion:

• Prescriptive & Quantified

• Discover… Is customer

aware of issue?

• Diagnose… How bad is it?

• Quantify … Value of change

• Compare … Value vs. Status

Quo / Competition

Drive: Diagnostic Led: What

is issue & value of change?

Product Focus

Discussion:

• Customer knows issue

• Tie features / functions to needs

• Compares product alternatives

• Feature • Function • Price

Drive: Sales Led: Product

Driven

Solution Focus

Discussion:

• Customer knows issues &

desired outcome

• Questions to discover pain

points

• Recommend solution to

solve pain

Drive: Sales Led: Pain-Point

Driven

Solution

Provider Trusted Advisor Vendor


Tip #5: Value Focus a Requirement, But Gaps Exist

Forrester Sales Enablement Forum- 2011


Challenges of Connecting and Engaging

• Reps are challenged: • To engage early / being invited later into cycle • On average, not outcome / value focused enough • Perceived as not adding enough value in sales process • Not incented to develop long-term opportunities / short term focus

• Buyers are challenged: • Overloaded: getting a lot of calls, email—all looks/sounds the same • Empowered: More information to help drive decisions • Skeptical • More Complex Decision Cycle – risk adverse / more stakeholders involved • Frugal – Bottom-line & Value focused

• Buyers have their own urgent issues and teams to manage • Conversations are forgotten without proper documentation



Better Connections & Engagement Yield Significant

Value

• Sales lead expert, Mac McIntosh, found that

• six months after inquiring, 23% of the surveyed subjects had bought the product or service, from the promoter or from a competitor.

• An additional 67% indicated that they still intended to buy but they were not ready.

• According to Forrester Research, companies that excel at lead nurturing are able to generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost per lead.

• According to CSO Insights, companies that excel at lead nurturing have 9% more sales reps make quota, and enjoy a 10% shorter ramp up time for new reps.

• According to DemandGen Report, nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20 percent increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads.

• According to IDC, a value focused interactive content & diagnostic tools:

• Deliver 50% more qualified leads compared to traditional content

• Reduce sales cycles by 20-30%

• Reduce discounting / increase deal size by 20%

• Increase competitive win rate by 60%



Questions?


Next Steps

http://www.fightfrugalnomics.com

http://www.alinean.com/faq/

Insights Into Cold Calling

42 Rules of Cold Calling Executives

http://www.fightfrugalnomics.com/

http://www.alinean.com/faq/

http://accountdevelopment.blogspot.com/

http://www.vanellagroup.com/42rules.php

http://www.happyabout.com/42rules/coldcallingexecutives.php


Thank You!