CEO Sales Unboxed! #003 Right Message, Right Person, Right Time: 2 of 3
In This Issue
1) New Stuff
2) The Concept: Right Message, Right Person, Right Time: 2 of 3
2.1) Start Doing This
2.2) Stop Doing This
3) Resources & Your Questions
4) Parting Thought
1) New Stuff
I just created a Step-by-Step CEO Sales Checklist to provide CEOs a simple, clear resource to identify the key issues that are getting in the way of sales and help them resolve them.
If you or someone you know could use a guide to get to the root cause of their sales issues and win more new customers the checklist can be downloaded here!
2) The Concept: Right Message, Right Person, Right Time: 2 of 3
Last week we talked about the Right Message. This week let's unpack who we should be delivering that message to.
Talk to the right people.
We put messages out into the world and say things to people that fall flat.
The words we use to communicate our desires and incentives to others matters.
And they only matter if they're said to the right person or group of people.
Who should we be talking to? How do we know that we're talking to the right people?
The right people are the ones who are 1) the most motivated to solve the problems they or their organization is facing and 2) they have the power to implement the change that solves the problem.
For simple B2B and all individual B2C sales, 1 & 2 are almost always combined in the same person.
What makes B2B sales more complex is that 1 & 2 are usually different.
In the B2B world, the individuals impacted by the problem and feeling the pain often have little or no direct power to select the solution to their problem and the power to make the change may be distributed across multiple people, teams and roles.
This can make B2B sales complex, slow and frustrating unless you know how to align incentives and influence the decision process. (This is a topic for another day.)
This is the 2-part test to know if you're talking to the right person:
Is this person motivated to solve this business problem? y/n?
Does this person have the power to implement the change? y/n?
If the answer isn't yes to both of these questions, you know you have work to do to get to the right person, both in your marketing outreach and in your sales engagement.
2.1) Start Doing This
Start doing more fact based screening and investigation on your prospects and during your sales calls. Dig into the business problems and impacts they're trying to solve for. When you get to questions that your contact need someone else's help answering, then you know you're getting closer to the right person.
2.2) Stop Doing This
Stop assuming that you're speaking to the right person just because they're telling you the things you want to hear.
3) Resources & Your Questions
What topics do you think we should unpack here?
What questions do you want answered? Share them and we'll answer them in future issues.
Office hours are coming soon. Until then, if you have questions about how to apply this concept, send me a email or let's schedule a quick call.
4) Parting Thought
This week in an effort to cut down on my iPhone screen time I started reading the classic stoic work Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius.
My technique is to put my phone face down on my desk and put Meditations on top of it. Every time I've reached for my phone I grab Mediations first and read a few lines before putting it back down and getting back to work.
I thought this was appropriate for anyone who works with customers or prospects, which is all of us . . .
"When you deal with irrational animals, with things and circumstances, be generous and straightforward." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Generous helps them feel heard and gives them the benefit of the doubt.
Straightforward protects your time and advances the decision process.
Together, generous & straightforward makes a tight couplet.
See you next week!
Steve
This newsletter is called CEO Sales Unboxed and every week, in 1,000 words or less, I’ll unbox & unpack a practical way to grow revenue, an error or worst practice you should do less of or stop doing, and an insight from what I’m currently reading or a powerful lesson learned that I think you as a friend would want to know.
The advantage to you for taking two minutes every week to read it is that you’ll be able to quickly scan it, pick up a key point or two to solve your sales and revenue problems and grow your sales.
And, if you need to go deeper, you’ll have access to other content, office hours, and direct help to get the information and resources you need to clarify the issues, get control of revenue and move your business forward.
If this isn’t for you, please reply or drop me a note at steve@scalingsales.com. Just let me know and I’ll take you off the list - otherwise you’ll hear from me in the next issue soon.
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