In my Value Selling Workshop, I kick things off with this 20,000 foot level presentation "Eleven Essentials For Salespeople." (The full 4 hour workshop is chock-full of goodness and value selling learning, including 5 individual and team exercises. Suitable for sales & marketing groups of 9 or more).

1. ELEVEN ESSENTIALS
FOR SALESPEOPLE
Stephen King
@stephdokin www.stephdokin.com
President, Stephdokin.com
CEO, TCELab.com
© 2014 Stephdokin Inc. All rights reserved. Duplication
or distribution is encouraged, with proper attribution.

2. I am not THAT Stephen King
I’m this one

3. Stephen-On-A-Page
I’ve driven over $500M in revenue and participated in
over 50 product and program launches / lifecycles; a
combination of executive branding/marketing +
technical know-how + roll-up-yer-sleeves.
1988-2007:
Since 2008:
Co-Founder
Education: BCS
Bachelor of Computer Science
CFP
Certified Financial Planner
Customer-Centric
Digital Brand
Excellence
Founder

4. 1
Essential
• It’s very noisy out there;
people are quick to dismiss
your message / sales pitch
• Prospects have changed: in
control, do more with less,
more frugal, more
alternatives
• Companies are more
informed than ever before
they talk to you; they already
know what their problems
are. And, from the web and
your website, they already
know your products. *
Salespeople know
it’s hard to sell.
*57% of a typical decision is made before a customer talks to a supplier
www.executiveboard.com/exbd-resources/content/digital-evolution/index.html?hs=mnc

5. 2
Essential
Warrior
Scientist
Friend
CheerleaderHard
worker
Challenger
Relationship builderLone
wolf
Problem Solver
Salespeople know
themselves.
Interrogator
Operator
Order taker
Focuser
Focuser
Analyzer
How do you behave? How do you fill in the gaps? Who do you want to be?

6. 3
Essential
Salespeople know
to whom they
are talking.
“Are you talking to me?”
Understand your customer types,
organizational roles and what drives
their behaviour.
10 Persona Tips :
http://www.romanpichler.com/blog/10-persona-
tips-agile-product-management/
Hubspot Buyer Persona Template:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/334
91/Everything-Marketers-Need-to-Research-
Create-Detailed-Buyer-Personas-Template.aspx

7. 4
Essential
Salespeople know their
industry and their clients
organizations.
http://www.leoisaac.com/planning/strat016.htm

8. 5
Essential
Salespeople know the
difference between
Features, Benefits & Value.
• Feature statement: “Spinach is full of iron.”
• Benefit statement: “Spinach makes you stronger.”
• Value statement: “Spinach lets you kick Bluto’s ass,
makes you a hero and gets you the girl”
Thanks to: http://www.disruptiveadvertising.com/conversion-rate-optimization/features-vs-benefits-a-cartoon-case-study/

9. 6
Essential
Salespeople are
product experts.
If you’re not a product expert,
you’re an order taker.

10. 7
Essential
Salespeople tell stories.
A 3-Act Play:
1. Situation: He is awesome
2. Complication: You are not
3. Resolution: Use Old Spice

11. 8
Essential
Salespeople know
when to stop.
You got the sale!
Shhhhh ...

12. 9
Essential
Salespeople resist
sales resistance.
A slight variation of 8 Objections from www.justsell.com :
1. Lack of perceived value in the product or service.
Price is not the issue. It’s the perceived value.
2. Lack of perceived urgency in purchasing the solution.
There is no reason to ‘act now.’
3. Perception of inferiority to a competitive offering.
4. Need to check with someone else.
5. Lack of funds to purchase the offering.
6. Personal issue with the decision maker(s).
7. 3rd party involved (existing vendor or in trial).
8. Safer to do nothing; no inertia.
Common types of objections (BANTR):
Budget, Authority, Need, Timeframe, Relationship

13. 10
Essential
Salespeople follow up.*
* Corollary:
“Sales People
ask for the
close”
Data from National Association of Sales Professionals www.nasp.com
80% of sales are made after the 5th contact.

14. 11
Essential
Salespeople say “We”
• Say “looks like we’ve got a
problem here” not “looks like
you’ve got a problem here.”
• You are part of the team
• Challenge assumptions
• Provide insight about
markets, ecosystem,
government, competitors,
company and solutions

15. Stephen King
stephen@stephdokin.com
@stephdokin
www.stephdokin.com
Thoughts?
Sell or Sink