Money and Power: How to Get to the Decision Maker I have discussed previously why co-building the business case is important in its own right. In addition, it opens the door to power. Power = person who makes the financial decision and controls the purse strings. Junior and/or technical people are often uncomfortable or unable to talk about money. You can use this to your … Read more
Selling to Committees All buyers want to have options, and they want a simple way to compare those options. An example is the Mutual Fund industry. Most brokerages have tools that allow buyers to compare funds side-by-side, helping them to make an informed decision. Yet Matthew Morey of New York’s Pace University, found that it was not necessarily the performance metrics that motivated the purchase … Read more
Building the Business Case in Times of Uncertainty I’ve talked before about the competition for funding within a business and how financial decision makers will choose to fund projects that have the quickest and most reliable ROI. In the midst of the pandemic, cash is more precious than ever and many CFOs are unwilling to make investments unless they have a clear ROI AND a … Read more
Building the Business Case: Real World Sales Conversations In Building the Business Case: Financial Decision Makers, I suggested that, to translate technical wins to revenue, we have to ask questions that: Connect the buyer’s need to enterprise priorities (the arrow labeled 3 below) Quantify the financial impact (the arrow labeled 4 below). If you need help on how to translate the Need Diagnostic outline into … Read more
Building the Business Case: Financial Decision Makers In Building the Business Case: The cost of status quo, I observed that most of us were taught to focus on the buyer’s budget. I suggested that the budget doesn’t matter. Only the perceived cost of the status quo matters. Price and budget are on the same side of the see saw. The larger the cost of the … Read more
Building the Business Case: The Cost of Status Quo BANT = BUNK? A Zen Koan is a riddle that Buddhist monks use to open their minds. Here’s a sales Koan: The B in BANT does not matter. Most sales processes qualify based on the buyer’s budget. After all, we do not want to put tons of time into an opportunity only to find out there’s … Read more
Establishing Value on Big Deals Being a sales voyeur again I was sitting in a staff meeting with a client in which – the President and Sales VP’s were discussing negotiating, discounting and holding the line on price. One sales manager said, “If we can prove technical superiority, then I can discount less. But if I can’t prove product superiority you can’t expect me to … Read more
Trouble Justifying the Price The sales challenge I recently talked to a sales manager about a coaching session he had with a sales rep. The sales rep was having a good sales call. The client had a problem they could solve. The conversation was positive and engaged. Then the inevitable price question arose. The client said, “How much does it cost?” The sales rep gave … Read more
Financial Selling A single silver bullet fired by the CFO shoots down many good projects. “Why now?” I just had lunch with a friend who advises Federal CIO’s and CFO’s on procurement. He said 75% of projects fail in the business case, not the technical evaluation. When we propose a solution, we may think the question we are trying to answer is, “Does my solution … Read more