August 12th, 2009
So you're going to sell software or work a trade show booth...
…it’s time to get it right!
I get pitched software 24/7. Along the way, I hear and see some pretty amazing things but too often I get my ear bent for way too long by folks who can’t get to the point. Why? Because these pitchmen and women:
- lack empathy
- are too close to the product and not close enough to a prospect’s business needs
- don’t know what their product’s key differentiators really are (This assumes they exist!)
- can’t sell
In course after course, I tell people that I cannot teach empathy. Empathy is, to a very great extent, inherited. Some folks are so egocentric or narcissistic that they’ll never really hear what others say or care. I can’t ‘fix’ bad DNA or bad pathologies.
But, I can help those who listen and want to change. So, here’s a very abridged version of what you need to do to be successful on the convention trade floor or in a face-to-face meeting with a Fortune 500 CEO.
Great meetings and great outcomes occur when you are really prepared. If you’re a ‘shoot from the hip’ player, you waste a lot of time and burn a lot of bridges. You will say the wrong things and leave people guessing why they should even consider your solution. It takes too long to get serious time with a top executive so why blow it by being unprepared?
The preparation is needed not because you don’t know your product but because you don’t know the prospect! Stop right now – I can sense you want to pick up your phone and do that ‘dialing for dollars’ bit where you give your standard, undifferentiated pitch to strangers. Is it any wonder they almost all tell you “NO THANKS”? If you won’t even make the effort to understand even my most basic needs, I will not do business with you at all.
Stephen Covey had this maxim in his bestseller Seven Effective Habits book “Seek first to understand before being understood”. If you sell anything, brand or tattoo this saying onto yourself so you never forget it.
Great preparation means that you take the time to understand:
- the business, market, economic, budget, personal, political and other challenges confronting your prospect
- which of these problems are likely the most crucial 2-3 issues this individual must resolve. No one can focus on more than a couple of problems. If you’re in someone’s face gabbing away about something that’s down at the number 17 spot on their list of issues to fix, they don’t care. Their mind and career are wrapped around bigger issues – issues that you aren’t prepared to help them solve.
- how much the problem is (or problems are) costing this person’s business. If you don’t know how big the problem is, you’re probably not going to get the person to act on your suggestions. Worse, if you don’t know how big these issues are, you might be furiously selling the wrong solution. Either way, you fail and you wasted the prospect’s time.
- how a few critical aspects of your solution can really solve the most pressing of the prospect’s problems. For you sales people who can’t sell without giving me and others the 2-day function/feature demo-thon, this point may be wasted on you. Nonetheless, your best demos occur when you focus them on just a couple of critical process or function points. The value of your demo is to prove your solution has the critical capability someone needs and that it can do so elegantly and efficiently. Nothing more. When car companies sell autos, they talk about how great you’ll fell with the moon roof open, driving down the Pacific Coast Highway with some major hottie by your side. They don’t disassemble the engine and transmission and show you the platinum coating on each of the engine’s spark plugs. Sell the sizzle not the cow.
In trade shows, it’s worse than ever. At a trade show, I get accosted by people who want to scan my badge immediately before we even get talking. When they go for my badge, my flight response kicks in and I leave. When they do this, they’re saying that they just want to get my particulars so that their telemarketing people can badger me tomorrow. I haven’t even decided if I want, need or like this company and they’ve already decided that I am to be punished with unwanted sales pitches. That’s rude and it shows a serious lack of empathy.
Next, bad trade show people mistakenly believe I’ll come in for a sales pitch just to get an ink pen, Frisbee knockoff or enter in a contest for a chance to win a wheel of cheese. Nope – I don’t go there. First of all, these gimmicks are in no way connected to or indicative of the product/solution the company sells. In the seconds that I spend drifting by this booth, if I can’t figure out what you’re selling, I’m gone. Second, these ‘gifts’ aren’t even original. Hey MarCom folks, here’s a hint: If you can buy this gadget/giveaway in a catalog, someone’s already done it before. Find something original or relevant! UPS gives away little trucks that are painted in the Brown colors of UPS. I get that. But, the t-shirt you gave me is in my garage being used a car wax rag.
When you approach me at a trade show, try this tack:
- Start off by warmly greeting me – learn my name and tell me a tiny tidbit about you. I don’t need your life story but I do want to learn what role you play with your firm.
- Next, tell me the top three business problems your solution solves. Don’t give me software modules names (e.g., General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Analytics) and don’t tell me about your software delivery model (e.g., “We’re the leading SaaS HR vendor on the planet”). No, tell me about the kinds of business problems you solve (e.g., “We help firms identify who their best and worst managers are so that they dramatically reduce voluntary turnover” or “We help firms save billions of dollars annually through better hotel expense management”). Try saying “We help firms solve their _____ problem” three times.
- Then, tell me the enormity of the problem you are addressing and why so many companies need help with it (e.g., “Our research indicates that hospitals cannot find enough emergency room nurses and, worse, seem unable to retain them. This is causing hospitals to spend billions more in recruiting fees and bonuses. One hospital alone is now saving over $45 million annually because of our solution.”).
- Now, tell me three differentiators about your product/solution. Each of these must be polished into a compact phase that would fit on a bumper sticker. This is not the time to fire up a sales soliloquy. It is time to crispy impress the booth visitor that your solution warrants a deeper dive at their office. When you craft these three messages, think of this “What short little messages do we want this person to remember and to play back to their superiors when they get back to the office?”
If your messages are muddled, long, unfocused, rambling or weak, the prospect has nothing to take back to the office. Rehearse these with peers and don’t be surprised that no one in your firm can even agree as to what their top three differentiators are. Think of things like: 1) no one solves the frammerstammer problem like our firm; 2) our solution is years ahead of the competition – just look at our patent count!; and, 3) no one has better value delivery customer stories than us.
- Finally, let me leave gracefully. Thank me for my time and interest and then, and only then, ask if it would be okay to follow up with me. And, more to the point, tell me who will be following up. I might want to speak with you and not start all over with some contract telemarketer. You’ve done a lot to get my time and respect so don’t blow it now with a bad handoff.
Why did I do this post? I’ll be going to a lot of conferences this fall and I’d like to see a better exposition floor out there. So, if you’re going to the Oracle OpenWorld, HR Technology or other show, know this: I might be there and I might just write about your booth and my booth experience.
This blog explores the intersection set between services and technology. If it impacts either space, it will be covered here. Brian Sommer is a former Accenture partner. He did an 18-year tour of duty there and ran three small practice units (Finance Center of Excellence, HR Center of Excellence and Software Intelligence). He’s sold service projects in almost every continent and remains just as current on both services and technology today as ever before. Brian is currently CEO of TechVentive, a strategy consultancy servicing technology providers, and a research analyst with Vital Analysis. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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