Use the Meltdown to Create Success

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  Sid Herron10/20/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Use the Meltdown to Create Success

  Several years ago, I attended a Microsoft-sponsored sales training class that they now refer to as the "3-day MBA" class. These sessions are conducted by former CxOs, and are intended to help a salesperson understand how to get on the calendar of a CxO, and how to behave when you're finally face to face. My session was conducted by a former COO of the James River Corporatation. The one point he made that really stands out in my memory is this: When you're meeting with C-level people, you have to remember that they don't care about you, and they don't care about your business. They care about themselves, and they care about their business. And if you can't show them - very quickly - how giving you money is going to make their business better, they're not going to give you money. If you think about it, that value proposition is at the heart of any B2B sale, in good times or bad, but it's critical during bad times. The good news is that if you can demonstrate that value, you can sell successfully no matter how bad the times are.

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  Sid Herron10/20/08 Report as spam
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  Hee... I said "Corporatation"....

  *Sigh* - wish there was an editing function...

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  Geoffrey James, Sales Machine10/20/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Use the Meltdown to Create Success

  Every B2B sales pro who reads this blog should print out Post #1 above and stick it permanently over their computer and telephone station.

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  Geoffrey James, Sales Machine10/20/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Use the Meltdown to Create Success

  By "post #1" I mean sidherron's comment, of course.

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  popsoftwo10/22/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Use the Meltdown to Create Success

  To add to sidherron's comment, and this may be self-evident ... If you know and care about their biz rather than just spouting off about how great you are, your value prop. becomes an extension of theirs, or more importantly, his or hers (CxO's). Why do we buy what we buy? Because it's about us, not whomever or whatever we bought it from ... To that end, my 2 cents is that it is always more effective to focus on EQ (Emotional Intelligence .. and how you care about them) than it is to focus on IQ(how smart you are).