Secrets to Sales Innovation

Music

>> Hi my name is Gerhard Gschwandter and welcome to Selling Power TV. Today we continue our conversation with Dave D. Stefano and we'll talk about innovation. David can you name three companies that are really doing great in this economy on the subject of innovation?

>> David D. Stefano: Apple, Google, and Richardson.

>> Gerhard: So how did these companies get so innovated?

>> David: There are different approaches. Steve Jobs of course has a very defined approach to innovation. It's identifying what the market wants, truly what the market wants and then building an end to end continuum of product, so the iPod and through the iTunes and so forth is a classic example. Google comes at it a little bit differently. Google encourages its system engineers to take one day a week, as I understand, and come up with their own ideas so let them plant 1,000 seeds and let them bloom; so two radically different approaches as organizations; so innovation from the grass roots; Richardson, if I may, does it similarly. We're looking at what does the market need today? Our focus is sales performance, sales effectiveness. So how do sales people perform in a drastically different and changing marketplace that is changing as a result of sales 2.0 the Internet, as well as the economy that we're in today? So our approach is really what kind of tools, what kind of support can we provide to sales forces of today.

>> Gerhard: Can you give me an example?

>> David: Sales call planner is a tool that we're launching. It takes the Richardson methodology around call planning and brings it into the work stream. So if you were to go through our training, our classroom training, there would be a call planner, how do you envision the call, what are the objections you expect to hear, how will they handle those, etc., etc. What my outcome should be--we've taken that, we've brought it into the workforce and now it links to any CRM that you happen to use so it will sit in salesforce.com as an applet; but the key to it making it different than any other product out there is we've embedded training in each section of that planner, so where you're envisioning or where you're anticipating objections. If you're stuck as a salesperson, what you're able to do is now four or five icons exist in each section that will allow you to take a look at the actual methodology. How do we envision handling objection? Taking a look at a video, vibe that discussions objections; taking a look at a detailed planner where you can drill down below the components and really structure your approach. So it's real time training built into the work stream and it also allows the manager to come in and look over the shoulder because it's connected to CRM; so it's leveraging the data back and forth and be able to coach prior to that actual sales call. So it's making certain that every time you're in front of your customer or client you're as prepared as you can possibly be.

>> Gerhard: So it gives sales people more direction?

>> David: It's a tool that all that money spent to develop their skills and their no-how and give them a solid methodology for effectively selling solutions; now you're bringing it back into the work stream and reinforcing it at a just-in-time basis; and gives them the structure to actually do it within the context of their own systems, CRM and any other enterprise-wide system that they're using.

>> Gerhard: How do you get sales people to be more innovative when they're in front of their customer?

>> David: That's a great question and if we had the answer to that, we would be Apple or Google at this point, but seriously, the way you help salespeople become innovative is to empower them to be innovative. I have found that innovating Richardson's products and services it's opening up to people that you wouldn't ordinarily think to go to for ideas; so everyone in your organization and asking them for ideas. So allowing or empowering that salesperson to actually think outside of the box, take some chances, expand the boundaries, understand the business and propose different ways, is truly how you do it. You give them the opportunity to do so. I think many organizations today don't allow that. It's here are the parameters of selling, you can price it this way, you can have this solution; we've sort of broken down those boundaries at least in our company, that said, "Look you're in front of your customers on prospects when you're there, forget what you can't do, what you can do and focus on their needs; focus on solving their problems and construct a solution." Now we can't give them something we don't do, but we can do quite a bit.

>> Gerhard: David what do you give your salespeople so they can think beyond those tools?

>> David: The end of the day the tool is just a means to the end right? Take a link in social networking tools or many of the sales other tools. If you get caught in the technology, then that's what it is--it's technology. But if you get beyond that you see it's just a means to establish relationships, contacts, it's thinking Gerhard. We're all learning this as we go, this is all new; but at the end of the day it's truly about relationships. And the more you can have a trusted relationship the more likely you'll be successful as a salesperson, provided you have a good sense of your product and service and that produce and service is needed. So truly at the end of the day and I tell this to all of my people as well as our clients that you're really not talking about a change in skill. The same skill exists. We have to look each other eye to eye whether it's via the Internet or not, and establish relationships. And I read a great article the other day that talked about one such way as you begin those relationships online, and then you move them offline as it's appropriate; so we're just really doing the same thing in a different world.

>> Gerhard: Now I can understand why your company is doing so well in this recession. Tune in tomorrow where we talk with David's Senior Vice President of Product Management and we talk about pipeline management.

Music

==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====