STRATEGY - CHANGE THE GAME
"New Game"
In the last two newsletters we have discussed several strategies available to the professional sales representative, including Frontal Attack, Sole Source, Expand the Pie, and Reduce the Pie. Naturally we realize the importance of proper account qualification in selecting strategies. There is no way for the superstar to select the right strategy unless she knows the competitive situation, the customer's decision criteria and how they are ranked, along with the customer's buying process and key decision makers. Assuming you properly qualify your accounts you will be able to determine whether "Change The Game -- New Game" is also a strategy you should consider deploying.
When you use the Change the Game -- New Game strategy you will end up changing all, some, or one of the following:
▲ Decision makers: Maybe you will expand the decision team to include a strong advocate.
▲ Decision criteria: You could change the rack and stack of the current criteria. You could add a new criterion that is not currently being considered and try your best to elevate it to a top criterion. You could change how the client defines the current criteria. For example: Price becomes TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) or ROI (Return on Investment)
▲ Buying Process: You can change the customer's current buying process to one more favorable to your offering.
A great example of Change the Game -- New Game strategy can be observed when sports-minded friends argue about which sports figure is better. Someone says, "Who's the best golfer of all time?" And the battle begins. One says "Tiger," one says "Nicklaus." Who is correct? Well, it depends. Just as in a sale, the winner of this argument will be the one who is most adept at persuading the others on what the evaluation criteria should be along with the priority of each criterion. Let's listen in again to this sample argument:
"Nicklaus is obviously the best golfer of all time, because he has won the most victories at the number one tournament in golf, the Masters" (current buying criteria).
"No, Tiger's pace of wins is faster than Nicklaus's and at this rate he will easily surpass Nicklaus. And besides, check out how much money Tiger has made by winning golf tournaments. He's made much, much more than Nicklaus" (Change the Game by adding new criteria).
"No, Nicklaus is best, because when you adjust the winnings for inflation, Nicklaus's winnings far exceed Tiger's", and besides, Tiger has challenges with image reparation at this point (Change the Game by adding new criteria; character).
And so the argument (sale) goes on. Only after the two sides agree on the decision criteria and the rack and stack of those criteria will a winner be crowned. Just like selling. The decision criteria can be modified to serve the needs of the sales pro and customer.
Let's say, for instance that your customer has ranked initial selling price and service support first and second in importance. If you were unable to capitulate to a low price and were not extraordinary in support, you might convince the customer that performance, currently ranked third, deserves a much higher ranking. By changing any or all of the criteria, you've created a New Game.
Another way to start a New Game strategy is by adding a brand-new criterion to the decision and elevate it to high importance in your customer's mind. Let's say that you sell ice machines. You determine through your BMPCC questioning that the customer is ready to invest in a million dollars' worth of ice machines for a major hotel chain. Her purchasing criteria include initial selling price and the volume of ice that can be produced by each machine in one hour. Your company's ice machine has a much higher initial investment and produces ice at only half the speed of your competitor's machine. Based on those buying criteria, you know that if the customer were to make the decision today, you would lose. What is your strategy?
Change the Game to a New Game by convincing the customer that the decibel level of the ice machine and total cost of ownership (TCO) are the two most critical buying criteria. If you have ever spent the night in a hotel room next to an ice machine, you can make an impassioned argument that the volume of ice production pales in importance compared with the machine's decibel level. In fact, the hotel you are working with could actually lose customers if they proceed with the noisy machines, because the rooms next to the ice machines will be undesirable and practically unrentable. Of course you will also educate the customer on the value of considering not just the machines' initial investment but also the total cost of owning them over time. You may highlight your machine's higher trade-in value, your machine's better uptime (reliability), or your lower service costs - or all three.
Below is a summary of the 5 Major Account Sales Sub-Strategies which fall under the Change the Game -- New Game Strategy
STRATEGY: New Criteria
DESCRIPTION: Add new criteria to the current criteria and elevate it to top status.
WHY/WHEN TO DEPLOY: When you are at a competitive disadvantage given the current purchase criterion.
HOW TO DEPLOY/EXAMPLES: You must know the order and progression of their current purchase criteria.
Put tactics in place to prove to your customer why quality (currently not being considered as a key purchase criterion) should be added to her purchase criteria and elevated to a #1 purchase criterion.
STRATEGY: Re-Prioritize Criteria
DESCRIPTION: Change the rack and stack of the current purchase criteria.
WHY/WHEN TO DEPLOY: When you are at a competitive disadvantage given the current purchase criteria.
HOW TO DEPLOY/EXAMPLES: You must know the order of priority of your customer's current purchase criteria.
Put tactics in place to prove to your customer why service and company reputation (currently ranked low in priority, for example) should be the most important purchase criteria.
STRATEGY: Redefine Criterion
DESCRIPTION: Redefine the definition of the current criteria
WHY/WHEN TO DEPLOY: When you are at a competitive disadvantage given the current purchase criteria.
HOW TO DEPLOY/EXAMPLES: You must know your customer's current purchase criteria.
If your customer is focused upon the initial price of your offering, put tactics in place to help them understand why most other clients place their focus upon Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) or Return on Investment (ROI). Then show how your solution provides a better ROI and TCO than their other options.
STRATEGY: New Process
DESCRIPTION: Add new, delete, or shuffle the steps in the customer's internal buying process
WHY/WHEN TO DEPLOY: When you are at a competitive disadvantage given the current buying process.
HOW TO DEPLOY/EXAMPLES: You must know your customer's current buying process.
If you believe it will improve your competitive position:
- Insert a headquarters site visit into the process.
- Add a step in the customer's process to check out local references for your product or service.
STRATEGY: New Players
DESCRIPTION: Insert new decision makers/influencers into the buying process
WHY/WHEN TO DEPLOY: When you are at a competitive disadvantage given the current decision makers.
HOW TO DEPLOY/EXAMPLES: You must know the current players.
If the CIO, CFO or other influential player is not currently part of the purchase decision, recruit her to become involved by showing her how her department will be impacted by the investment.
I hope this is useful to you.
Good Luck, and Close 'Em!
p.s. For a preview of the other strategies, be sure to visit www.salesstrategizer.com for the new Selling Power Sales Strategizer iPhone app. There are two apps: the
fee app will give you a simple description of all 12 Major Account
Strategies, while the "Pro" version:
Analyzes data input to provide intelligence in the form of
recommendations for the proper major account sales strategy (strategies)
to employ. Consolidates user inputs to illustrate the chances of winning with
an indicator gauge and digital readout. Submits "red flag" coaching feedback with action items to improve
chances of winning. Coaches and explains why inputs are critical by providing
hyperlinks in each question Presents a simple and concise summary report to facilitate coaching
& major account review. Provides summary report e-mail capability for sharing and printing.
Creates a database to store account Strategizer results for
subsequent updates and modifications.
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FOR INSPIRATION:
"I still have a lot of areas that need improvement."
-Tiger Woods
(After Setting The Record For The Most Lopsided Victory At The World Cup And Passing Arnold Palmer On The List Of Most PGA Tour Wins)
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill
"Let us never negotiate out of fear.
But let us never fear to negotiate."
- John F. Kennedy
"Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success."
-Henry Ford
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