Many times in my classes, I will pose this question to my students. “Are you a sales person?” Most respond, no I am a records manager, IT manager, business owner, or some other position within a company. Fact is, we are all sales people. We work with others on our team to reach goals and in many cases, negotiate on how to do something and who will be responsible. We sell, but we do not realize this is what we are doing. When we are involved in ECM, ERM and BPM projects, we have to sell management on what we are proposing. We have to sell the users on the idea that change is a good thing. So we are all sales people. The question now is how good are you at selling?
A wise person once told me, “You have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk, this is key in the art of selling.” He was right. The best sales people I know and have seen over the years are those who take time to ask a lot of questions and listen to the answers without jumping to conclusions and formulating solutions before they know the problem. Many times we think we know a situation and solution yet we do not have all of the fact and therefore cannot possibly align properly. Here are some simple steps to help you.
1. Learn and understand the strategic vision of the organization. Take time to talk with senior management at the highest levels possible, to get insight on how they see the business growing and the direction they want to take for the future. Everything you do from here needs to be aligned with and in support of that vision. When you do this, you will get and maintain the support you need to succeed.
2. Learn and understand what the departmental goals are in relation to supporting the corporate vision. Does this department have financial goals to reach? Is there value operational in nature and thus a reduction in operating costs through increased efficiency is the best way they can help achieve the strategic goals?
3. Learn and understand the tactical pain the user experiences in performing their daily tasks. What do they do? How do they do it and why? You need to look at the process and content on ramps and off ramps to these processes in order to assess how this can be made simpler and more productive for the user.
4. Align your solution to directly address the user activities and processes. Demonstrate how what you propose will positively impact what they do and be open to feedback. Also prepare for resistance and meet that resistance through communication. Let them be heard and address concerns directly.
5. Position what you propose at the tactical level to meet the needs of the departmental goals. How does what you propose benefit the department and what will it do to ensure goals are met. What are the Key Performance Indicators and Critical Success Factors you can use to measure results?
6. Present how all of this aligns with the overall strategic corporate vision. How does changing something at the tactical level help drive departmental goals that support the vision of senior management?
Some of this may sound fundamental and obvious. Some of you may be thinking you already know it and you very well may know it. The question is, do you practice it? Listen, learn, and align. These are the three key elements I have seen and practices to succeed in sales. Know the vision, understand the goals, and address the pain.
What say you? How do you approach projects and get buy-in? I want to hear from you and learn what you and your organization are doing.
Bob Larrivee – AIIM
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Nicely written. Its about first understanding the prospects concept and then aligning your services to complement that concept.
Posted by: Max Rosenthal | June 16, 2009 at 03:28 AM