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Dear [[-FullName-]]
Welcome back. 4S continues its pursuit of exploring more effective ways to sell software products and services.
Our early issues touched upon basic matters in IT selling. As we go forward, this issue discusses the importance of a scientific approach to selling of Information Technology products and services. It's an interesting collection. Check it out.
Feel free to contribute articles and anecdotes that can be helpful to our fraternity. Write to us.
Cheers
4S Team
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| Understanding the dynamic nature of technology markets | |
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You can't sell software. You can't sell cool technology. You can't even sell a good idea. In order to sell anything, you need to sell a solution.
This article talks about Geoffrey Moore's Technology Adoption Lifecycle and how you can use the framework to actually sell your software.
Moore states that in technology markets, that solution, even with the same core technology (or application) differs along the adoption curve. You need to understand what changes along the curve in terms of your market and how you need to change your product and/or marketing to stay competitive.
Full article from Startup Skills
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| Selling Skills in face of intensifying competition | |
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One can't assume you'll remain successful simply by doing the same things that used to work. In the new millennium, good selling isn't going to be enough to make you a success. Here are four of the most common reasons why competitive sales opportunities are lost:
1. Your competitor understands the prospect's needs better than you do
Know which differences are going to be the most important to your customer. And that knowledge is what will put your name on the scoreboard.
2. Can't reach the key decision-maker
All decision-makers are not created equal. In every buying decision there exists a "Power Broker," one person who wields more power and influence than anyone else.
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3. The salesperson overlooks seemingly minor differences between his/her solution and the competition
The point is - don't overlook anything! Differences that may seem minor to you could be of significant importance to your customer.
4. No game plan to beat the competition
Salespeople have been told that the key to selling is to think fast on your feet and to make lots of calls. This bias for quick thinking and a high activity level is exactly the opposite of what it takes to win competitive sales. Slow down and think.
Click here for the full article by Kevin Davis from Business Know How.
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| Should Non-technical people be barred from selling software? | |
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According to columnist Jeff Davis, the problem with most people who sell software is that they aren't technical enough. Just as pharma companies don't send just anyone out to sell to physicians, neither should technology companies send "sales types" out to market technology solutions.
If you're going to send a warm body out to talk to a technologically savvy person about buying a hardware, software, or computer consulting solution, that warm body had better have knowledge of and a knack for technology. Nontechnical sales geeks will be ignored, mocked, and shown the door.
Find out why he thinks technically savvy people should be recruited to sell technology.
Click here for the full article by Jeff Davis from Tech Republic.
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| The Sales Primer: John H. Patterson and Sales Strategy of the NCR | |
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John H. Patterson's sales management techniques at the National Cash Register had a major impact on the development of modern selling.
The first NCR sales script of 1887, which came to be known as The Primer, contained instructions not only on what salesmen should say, but also what they were to do while saying it. The Manual reached its maximum size in the edition of 1904, with nearly two hundred pages.
This excerpt from Harvard Business History Review looks at one aspect of the Patterson method.
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