Back to Basics: Let’s Go Fishing

In previous articles we stressed the importance of knowing your prospective customer’s business and perceived challenges. We talked about the importance of listening. Remember, the prospect is not interested in you. He or she is only interested in how you can help solve a problem or improve their services or cut costs.

Now let’s discuss the sales cycle. There have been many articles written on the sales cycle. Some are 4 steps, some 5. I happen to prefer the seven step process: interest, educate, demonstrate, design, pretest, propose, close. Pretty straightforward! Think about all the sales you have made in your career and apply this model. I am sure you will agree that you went through each and every step. So, why do so many salespeople feel they can skip a step or two or three and go to close in a single meeting? Well, it’s not to say that it can’t be done, it’s just that the likelihood is quite low when you are selling complex solutions based on services and/or products.

A sales call is like meeting a date for the first time. You go through all seven stages (although you may elect to skip the “propose” stage in this case). That’s not to say there are not exceptions to the rule. But for the most part it takes several or many dates over weeks and months to feel comfortable with one another.

The protocols for selling successfully are equally well-known by professional sales people. However, do we stop and think about the discrete steps in the sales cycle and carefully hone each one? The IT sales environment is dynamic by definition. Ever changing market focus and technology demand up-to-date sales techniques and different methods of presentation. However, the elements that do not change are the same seven steps we learned as fledgling sales people. Let us up date them and apply them in our own market arenas.

Before going on your next call think about it as though you are going fishing. The end game is obvious; you want to catch fish for dinner. However, in the process you need to determine what bait to use, how deep your line should be, and where to cast the line. Generally, you must adhere to established protocols if you want to increases your chances for a successful outing.

Now that I have my GSA Schedule, What is the Next Step?

Selling to the government is a difficult task even with a GSA schedule contract in hand. In today’s competitive market, an enterprise must possess the market intelligence, the most workable tactics and strategies, and the knowledge of where a firm’s offerings stand the greatest probability of acceptance by the procuring Agency.

We often speak with companies that hold schedule contracts who state that their revenue expectations have not been realized from these contracts. The reasons are not necessarily simple but most often we have found that these same companies did not have a solid, well-thought out “plan of attack” for marketing off their schedule contracts.

A basic starting point is to develop a Road Map. To simplify matters, the Road Map consists of 4 basic elements:

Discovery – What are the products/solutions that most closely align with both historical, as well as current mandated requirements? Do any of your products/solutions have unique discriminators that would provide a more favorable competitive position for your company?

Target Customers – Who buys what you are selling, the Government, Prime Contractors or a combination of both? Which Government agencies have the largest budget and contract actions in place or in the planning stage?

Acquisition Method – How do your target customers buy what you are selling? Do they use schedule contracts or other methods?

Sales Strategy – Can your products/solutions be sold directly to the Government end-user or is the Prime Contractor your customer? These are two entirely different approaches. The former is on the “push” side of the equation while the latter is on the “pull” side of the equation. What are the major program actions that need to be targeted over the next 6, 9, 18 and 24 months to position your products/solutions in a pro-active sales mode?

Follow the old adage: proper planning makes for more predictable results and favorable expectations. A well thought-out plan will provide your company with a step-by-step roadmap, tailored to your company’s specific products/solutions that permit rapid “traction” in the Government markets.