Provocation Selling

Provocation Selling

TechTransform, February 6, 2003: It doesn't take a high-powered seminar to understand that selling technology has changed dramatically. But Geoffrey Moore's latest seminar on Provocation Selling makes some great points on how to approach the tough selling climate.

Here's a report from a Marketing VP who attended a seminar:

I had the chance to hear a GREAT presentation by Geoffrey Moore (of Crossing the Chasm fame) yesterday.

Besides being a very entertaining presenter, as always, Geoff is also extremely insightful and the whole point of his presentation was how the rules of the marketing and sales game have changed from the 90's to today's environment.

Some key points of change:

Consultative selling

Building RELATIONSHIPS at the high level (a modality that is used all over the world except in the US)

Marketing by referral -- moving away from horizontal marketing into very very tactical approaches

PROVOCATION SELLING -- poking where it hurts, rather than just being nice, good, pleasant and persistent

This applies mostly to larger software products, sold to enterprises - rather than software sold to consumers.

Thanks - see notes below!

NOTES ON THE SEMINAR

I got a chance to look at the slides from Geoffrey Moore's PROVOCATION SELLING SEMINAR and here are a few provoking excerpts:

“Leaky Pipe” Provocation: Your Customer’s Processes are Leaking Money!

Why the Leaky Pipe? No budget for anything new.

Only way to fund new things is thru quick ROI

Leaky pipes spill out money every day

Duct-taping the leaky pipe pays for itself

Customers do not expect to buy anything.

Ongoing budget-cutting is the norm

Putting off projects is the norm

One way to break through the resistance:

Provocation: Things are going to get even worse

Unless: You act immediately to head them off

Two Key Challenges

Challenge 1: Getting the meeting:

Normal lead generation does not work

Personal referrals are a must

Securing a referral is marketing’s key deliverable

Challenge 2: Conducting the meeting:

Requires a senior executive from the vendor

Dialog is about the customer’s business, not about vendor’s products or services

Goal is to get the right to do business

Referrals-Based Marketing

Articulate an original provocation:

Work on a critical pain point for the category

Develop a non-standard point of view

Apply the point of view to the target company

Build an evidence package to support it

Work contact backward from the target

Three degrees of separation, or less

Sell the intermediaries on the provocation

Get them to get you the meeting

Get the right person to go to the meeting

Reviewing the Sales Cycle

Prospecting

Referrals are a must: Do not enter without them.

Use leads to do pre-referral reconnaissance.

Qualifying

Focus on the compelling reason to buy

Get executive buy-off that process is both broken and mission-critical.

He or she will support taking immediate action.

Chasing unclosable deals is the most common strategic error in a down market.

Working the Sales Cycle

Needs Analysis

Interview all the major constituencies

Bring templates to the process

Capture ROI in the voice of the customer

Do not cut short this phase of the selling cycle

Proposal

Use Problem/Solution structure

Highlight ROI qualitatively

Racing through needs analysis is the most common tactical error in a down market

Closing the Sales Cycle

Selection over Competition

Compete on completeness of solution to the broken mission-critical process

Most dangerous competitor is status quo

Contract Negotiation

Focus on the value of the whole product

Negotiate pricing from ROI basis

Make your case using the customer’s voice

This is a value-based game. You cannot trade away the value at the end.

Final Thoughts

The value is in the reengineering

The focus is on the point of pain

The key sponsor is the pain owner

All demand efforts should focus here

Your competitive advantage comes from:

Domain expertise

Whole product completeness

All fulfillment efforts should focus here