By Ed Albertson
Vice President, National Accounts
Carew International, Inc.
Working with a variety of businesses and industries, we often get asked a common question, “How do I know if an opportunity is a ‘good one’ and worth committing limited resources toward acquiring?” This question should be asked by all sales professionals relative to each and every opportunity in their pipeline. With increasing pressure to make optimal use of our efforts, it is critical to identify those aspects of an opportunity that can give us cumulative insight regarding its worth to our company and us.
Now, more than ever, we need to engage in SMART selling! Here are some indicators that can guide us toward more effective and efficient use of resources to produce the maximum results:
Assess each opportunity by determining if there is:
S - Significant potential - The potential value of our solution to the customer is as important as the potential yield that could be realized by our organization. Jointly determining the scope (breadth and depth) of the opportunity permits a comparative evaluation of its value with regard to others that may compete for resources within our own company and within our customer’s organization.
M - Measurable outcome – The more effectively something can be measured, the more tangible its value. Leaving the determination of progress/success to a vague definition is a recipe for disappointment, both for customers and us.
A - Access to decision-influencers – Decision-making can range from a single person to a committee; but for an opportunity to be a valid one; we should seek and have access to all who will be involved in the decision-making process. Denied access, we run the risk of having an incomplete picture of the needs, constraints, advantages, and discourse that drive the comprehensive definition of success.
R - Recognized criteria – Beyond the specified needs, certain criteria will exist that could and should guide the customer’s decision-making. Lacking specific decision-making criteria can be an indicator that the need is not well established, not all decision-influencers have been included or a decision has already been made and we are not part of the solution, but merely a gauge for justifying a competitor’s advantage.
T - Time-sensitive urgency – We live and work in a fast-paced world fueled by information availability, technologically-enhanced speed and global connections. In a word, anything worth doing should have been done already. If there is a less-than-urgent sense of timing, we need to consider the cost of delay and even wonder aloud if we are an unwilling participant in a fishing expedition: a very long and drawn-out one, at that.
With limited resources, limited time and boundless pressure to produce, SMART selling can be our answer to producing more for our company, ourselves and our customers.
Vice President, National Accounts
Carew International, Inc.
Working with a variety of businesses and industries, we often get asked a common question, “How do I know if an opportunity is a ‘good one’ and worth committing limited resources toward acquiring?” This question should be asked by all sales professionals relative to each and every opportunity in their pipeline. With increasing pressure to make optimal use of our efforts, it is critical to identify those aspects of an opportunity that can give us cumulative insight regarding its worth to our company and us.
Now, more than ever, we need to engage in SMART selling! Here are some indicators that can guide us toward more effective and efficient use of resources to produce the maximum results:
Assess each opportunity by determining if there is:
S - Significant potential - The potential value of our solution to the customer is as important as the potential yield that could be realized by our organization. Jointly determining the scope (breadth and depth) of the opportunity permits a comparative evaluation of its value with regard to others that may compete for resources within our own company and within our customer’s organization.
M - Measurable outcome – The more effectively something can be measured, the more tangible its value. Leaving the determination of progress/success to a vague definition is a recipe for disappointment, both for customers and us.
A - Access to decision-influencers – Decision-making can range from a single person to a committee; but for an opportunity to be a valid one; we should seek and have access to all who will be involved in the decision-making process. Denied access, we run the risk of having an incomplete picture of the needs, constraints, advantages, and discourse that drive the comprehensive definition of success.
R - Recognized criteria – Beyond the specified needs, certain criteria will exist that could and should guide the customer’s decision-making. Lacking specific decision-making criteria can be an indicator that the need is not well established, not all decision-influencers have been included or a decision has already been made and we are not part of the solution, but merely a gauge for justifying a competitor’s advantage.
T - Time-sensitive urgency – We live and work in a fast-paced world fueled by information availability, technologically-enhanced speed and global connections. In a word, anything worth doing should have been done already. If there is a less-than-urgent sense of timing, we need to consider the cost of delay and even wonder aloud if we are an unwilling participant in a fishing expedition: a very long and drawn-out one, at that.
With limited resources, limited time and boundless pressure to produce, SMART selling can be our answer to producing more for our company, ourselves and our customers.
No comments:
Post a Comment