Well, after just getting back from the big SAPPHIRE NOW show, I’m once again reminded that building relationships with all of the people that I met needs to be job one. I recently got connected with a top notch software sales person, and Jeff is helping to guide me through the process. If you’ve followed my adventure, you know I’m an engineer/programmer at heart. That means the whole sales and marketing side of things is uncharted territory. I’m starting to figure out bits and pieces, but having someone that I can bounce my logical ideas off of is invaluable.
Now, one of the real revelations, which actually is good for me, is that so much of the stuff I’ve been learning when it comes to sales is wrong. You always hear about closing, and getting the prospect to make commitments is job one. Well, Jeff turned me onto a book called SPIN selling. In a nutshell, this book breaks down the simple facts that selling small items is a whole different ball game than selling large item (like software).
I haven’t finished the book yet, but so far, one of the big revelations is that closing just isn’t the way to build a relationship. Closing works great for customers that you will likely only see once. Why is that? because in a one time sale, it’s not a big deal if a buyer gets “buyer’s remorse” because you already made the sale. But when you deal with large sales, you can rarely get the sale after a single conversation or visit. This means, that if you put the pressure on your prospect early on, they will quickly write you off as someone they don’t want to do business with.
Large sales require a relationship, because likely you and your customer will be dealing with each other a lot, before and after the sale. You better get along with whoever that is, otherwise, it will be a painful relationship, no matter how good of a deal your getting.
Thanks for reading,
As always, thanks for reading and don't forget to check out our SAP Service Management Products at my other company JaveLLin Solutions,Mike