| Incenting the Incentive PlanCarl Moe | | Chief Revenue Officer (CRO): noun. the person or position within any business whose responsibility (aka: butt on the line) it is to make certain revenue is generated to a) stay in business and meet monetary obligations, b) deliver profit, c) grow the company, d) meet and/or exceed financial needs for future growth — aliases include President, CEO, COO, Owner, VP of Sales, VP of Business Development, Sales Manager, etc.
The Chief Revenue Officer role is an emerging “C” level position in business today based on the growing understanding that revenue is a system-level process just like other... Read More >> |
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| CEO Sales Call Train WrecksCarl Moe | | With all of our electronic communication tools available today, sales people can literally prospect the universe and close business with clients they may never meet face-to-face. However, there are still business relationships in B2B sales where the value of your product or service is such that having face-to-face executive level connections between the two organizations can increase the alignment as well as create a competitor barrier. CEO level connections can be extremely productive for both companies and are well worth the effort.
Building these connections does not come without risk for the Chief Revenue Officer. I have observed CEO’s without...Read More >> |
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| The Bankable ForecastCarl Moe | | The Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) role is based on the growing understanding that revenue is a system-level process just like other core business systems (quality, production, accounting, information, etc.). Regardless of title, CRO leadership accountability requires an accurate, or as I prefer “bankable,” revenue forecast.
The Bankable Forecast Process
The first forecast model I learned was the SWAG approach based on simply cutting the reps numbers in half and calling it done. I knew sales rep forecasts were more emotional than objective as confirmed by deals that were welded to the forecast. The probability of these deals closing went up... Read More >> |
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| Bridging The Value GapCarl Moe After decades of conducting lost sale ‘post mortems’ for clients, one fact stands out - prospects are overloaded with information. This fact is critical to understanding why prospects do not invest the time required to fully comprehend the “brilliance” of your product or service. Even if they try, they frequently map your promoted feature/benefit data points into their world incorrectly. The reality is prospects make better decisions when you translate your unique product or service capabilities into their world for them. That is where they live, work and, most importantly, make buying decisions.
To help prospects understand the value of your offering, there are two universal communication objectives for every sales call:
1. Bridge the communication gap between you and the prospect’s world.
2. Communicate in a way that will help shorten the overall sales cycle.
The first objective starts by scrapping the stereotypical features and benefits data dump. Spending the entire sales call blathering on about features and benefits sends the prospect into screen saver mode and usually ends up with the dreaded dead-end stall, “I need to think it over.” The best option can get lost in this process and the low-price alternative prevails more by default than by choice.
The communication gap solution is to introduce your products and services based on their Differentiating Value. Differentiating Value (DV) is what separates you from the competition. It goes beyond core competencies and all the generic quality, service and support taglines promoted by many businesses today. DV is what you deliver that is unique and /or better than the competition (aka – your unfair competitive advantages). More importantly, it is what prospects give up (i.e. lose) when they decide not to do business with your company. When prospects figure out life in their world without your DV, their decision process becomes focused more on your solution and not solely on your price. This discovery can also move your product or service from the “nice to have” luxury to a “need to have” priority.
The Differentiating Value concept is the cornerstone of qualifying and has earned a place on our Top 10 Rules for CRO success.
If you are not clear about what makes you worth more, you will always compete on price.
The process for determining your Differentiating Value is based on viewing your offering from the prospect’s world and answering the following questions:
1. What value do you bring to your customers? Define what really matters to the customer. If the competition offers the same item,... Read More >> |
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