Tech Demo Guy

In one of my earlier posts I talked about one reason why you should consider presenting last in a sales cycle: so that you can stand out in a crowded field. This is just one of the strategies that you can apply when you have lots of competition.

The biggest problem with having lots of competitors is not the competitors’ products, it’s the attention of the prospect. Most sales teams have never had the experience of sitting through multiple demonstrations, sifting through piles of RFP responses and having to put your familiar work environment aside for an extended period. But that is exactly what an evaluation team at a prospect goes through in a sales cycle, particularly one where there are lots of vendors on their preferred list.

What do I mean by a crowded field? If you have more than 3-4 competitors on a deal, the field is crowded. When I have been in deals with crowded fields, I have been amazed at just how confused prospects can get about the vendors. I remember one deal where a prospect regularly emailed me questions that were clearly intended for another vendor.

There are several strategies that can help you stand out in a crowded field:

1. Have a personality

Often prospects can’t keep all the salespeople from the various vendors straight. Showing a genuine personality during the sales cycle can help the prospect remember you and your product. This is especially true for Sales Engineers who are often expected to give “just the facts”.

2. Build trust with specific individuals at the prospect

It is inevitable that the prospect will get vendors confused in a crowded field, but if you have gone out of your way to build a relationship with a few individuals at the prospect, they can help you stand out in the evalutation. It does not matter whether the individuals are decision-makers or not, but it is helpful if they seem to be vocal. Your goal is to build an advocate or two that will speak up for your viewpoint in discussions.

3. Focus on your product, not the competition

In some deals it makes sense to set traps and focus on the competition, but this is not the case in a crowded field. The propsect is already confused enough about which vendor said what; you shouldn’t add to that confusion by talking about the competition even in a theoretical way. Focus on your product and how it will directly benefit the prospect.

4. Stick with the main message

Sales is all about flexibility and most successful sales cycles will diverge from the standard marketing message (or “brand”) of the product to win the deal. But if there are lots of competitors you should consider staying with your standard corporate message so that all your marketing materials and sales presentations are consistent. Keeping your message clear in the prospect’s mind is more important than tailoring it for that specific prospect when there are lots of competitors. You should absolutely focus on solving the prospect’s problems, but try to do so without moving too far away from your standard marketing message.

5. Stand out early

If there are many vendors early in a deal, it is tempting to just wait things out and see if you make the short list before investing in a deal. If you really believe you are column fodder then this strategy makes sense, but if you are confident you have a good shot you should come on strong and early. As a Sales Engineer you can do this by having a personality (see #1) and being willing to take risks early in the deal.

6. Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes

More than anything else you should think about what it is like to be the prospect when there are lots of vendors. Often individuals don’t have much choice about how many vendors they evaluate: the number might be set by upper management, company guidelines or one member of the evaluation team. Having empathy for the challenge being faced by the prospect can go a long way toward building a relationship that will help you as the field narrows.

Dave Sohigian - TechDemoGuy Selling sales, sales engineer, selling techniques

In one of my earlier posts I talked about one reason why you should consider presenting first in a sales cycle: so that you can set traps for your competition. Setting traps is a delicate topic for most Sales Engineers: you can lose credibility quickly by slinging mud at the competition. But setting traps well can make all the difference in a competitive sales cycle.

The key to effectively setting traps is truly understanding the needs of your prospect combined with knowing the weaknesses of your competition. While it may be true that your competition has difficult to configure software your prospect may not care about this characteristic and setting a trap won’t be worth the effort.

The steps to setting an effective trap in a presentation are:

1. Understand the specific needs of your prospect and areas where your product can clearly meet those needs
2. Compare these strengths with the known weaknesses of your competition (using whatever competitive intelligence you might have)
3. Bring these differences to light in a presentation (or demo) AFTER you have firmly established credibility
4. Make a clear statement of comparison to your competition, such as, “Ask the other vendors whether they have this capability”
5. Discuss the traps “during the break” with the prospect to ensure you hit the mark

Establishing credibility first is critical to success in setting traps. For a trap to be effective the prospect must challenge your competition directly in their presentation. If you don’t have credibility, and the trust that goes with it, the prospect won’t take action on your suggestions. It is because of this credibility that Sales Engineers are in a unique position to set traps during a presentation or demonstration.

Traps don’t have to be about product features or functions: they can be about anything you feel is weak in your competition AND matters to your prospect. You can set traps about company stability, overall product quality, ability to deliver or even demonstration style. When I was working at PeopleSoft one of our competitors, Lawson Software, set an extremely effective trap against us multiple times. They set the perception in the prospect’s mind that PeopleSoft was just a “tool” for creating applications and that Lawson, by comparison, was a fully-bake solution. Specifically they suggested that audience members should write down how many times the word “toolset” or “tool” was used during a PeopleSoft demonstration as a measure of the truth of that statement. Unfortunately we used those terms all the time to describe the flexibility of our product. It was only when we saw an audience member putting tic marks on their notes (and asked what they were doing) that we discovered the trap that had been set.

Dave Sohigian - TechDemoGuy Demo Skills, Selling demonstrations, demos, Selling, selling techniques, traps

Over at my other blog I describe how understanding generational cycles can give insights into the future. In this series of posts I will describe the best strategies you can use to sell to the various generations.

Each generation has a unique character, and members of those generations have common attributes. Although it is impossible to make specific claims about each individual in a generation (since they span 20 years or more), generational theory (developed by Neil Howe and William Strauss of lifecourse.com) is useful in understanding how members of a generation will likely act in a sales situation. It is also very useful when assessing the character of an organization, since when members of a generation work together they often exhibit even stronger generational qualities.

The Boomer Generation, born 1943-1960, is well-known for their cultural influence in the US. They were the children born after WWII during the American High, a period of plenty where life was stable and the future looked bright. In their youth they rebelled against the establishment and tore down many of the institutions that raised them. During their midlife, in the 1980’s and 90’s, they fought bitter ideological battles for the hearts and minds of the people. And now, as they move into elderhood, their character is shifting again.

Boomers in elderhood are typically quite set in their ways, and their strong ideology makes it difficult to sway their opinions. They often want to deliberate about any decisions and revel in the discussion more than the outcome, although they expect things to go their way. They often will make decisions based purely on ideology, rather than the practical or pragmatic. They judge younger generations (especially Generation X, born 1961-1981) as self-centered and cynical.

Ideals and ideas are both important to Boomers and they often will have strong philosophical views and opinions. They are willing, and often enjoy, engaging in lively debate, but it is difficult to change their minds about their beliefs.

5 keys for selling to Baby Boomers:

1. If they are the decision makers (often the case) then you need to understand their ideal state. You are unlikely to talk them out of those ideals, but if you can convince them you will help them towards this ideal then you are on the right track. Boomers are often visionaries (or believe that they are) and if you can determine how to align yourself with their vision you will have a strong ally.
2. They prefer face-to-face contact and can be overwhelmed when too much information is presented too quickly, especially if it is shallow and glosses over the deeper meaning. Boomers prefer to concentrate on a single topic and understand it fully before moving on, so being willing to take questions during a presentation or demo is critical for Boomers. Even if you end up on a tangent you may satisfy the prospect that you are willing to really understand their needs in depth.
3. If they have a strong emotional reaction, for or against material they are willing to read and research in detail. This is good if they agree with your pitch, but a bummer if they don’t. White Papers, technical manuals, analyst reports and other detailed information (especially from a well-known and trusted source) can be very effective with Baby Boomers.
4. They are often more loyal to brands and individuals than younger generations. Although Baby Boomers broke down most of the institutions of their elders they were still raised to believe that organizations can be trusted, and in their elderhood they hope that this can happen once again. If Baby Boomers are the decision makers and you perform well after your first sales effort, you be well set up for subsequent sales.
5. They are getting close to what will be their “final act” in the business world and many are concerned about leaving a legacy. Although many are more focused on just ensuring their retirement in these difficult economic times, some, especially the leaders of organizations, know that how they act now will be how they are remembered. If you can offer the opportunity for them to make a difference, to “Change the World”, you may have strong allies.

Some people believe these characteristics are really about age rather than generation. Although the character of generations shift as they age, they don’t act like the cohort that came before (or after) them at the same age. For example, the GI Generation (born 1901-1924) acted nothing like the Baby Boomers when they were entering elderhood in the 1960’s and 70’s. They were not, for the most part, philosophers or deep thinkers and they were proud of the strong society they had created. Each generation has a unique character at each age and understanding that character can help you sell.

Look for further posts on each living generation in the coming weeks. If you would like to learn more about how to sell to generations, please sign up for notification of my upcoming e-book on the topic “Selling to Generations”.

Dave Sohigian - TechDemoGuy Generations, Selling baby boomer, Baby Boomers, boomer, boomer generation, gen-x, generation X, Generations, Selling, selling techniques