Mastering technical sales : the sales engineer's handbook / John Care, Aron Bohlig.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Care, John (Managing director of Mastering Technical Sales LLC), author.

Bohlig, Aron, author.

Series:

Artech House technology management and professional development library.

Artech House technology management and professional development library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Selling--High technology.

Selling.

High technology industries--Marketing.

High technology industries.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (0 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Boston, MA : Artech House, [2002]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume aims to cover all of the key areas of selling high-technology products, including detailed action plans to establish personal excellence in key-performance drivers in technical sales. This book teaches professionals how to be more successful as individual contributors, helping to better ensure promotion within their sales organization, or advancement elsewhere within their company. The book offers the practical guidance needed to sharpen skills in sales and technology, and explains how to build an infrastructure to support continuous high sales growth.

Contents:

Intro

Contents v

Acknowledgments xvii

1 Introduction: Why Study Sales Consulting? 1

2 An Overview of the Sales Process 7

Definition of the Market 8

Marketing Campaigns 8

Lead Qualification 9

Request for Proposal 10

Discovery and First Customer Engagement 10

Propose and Demo 11

Evaluation (Optional) 12

Negotiations: Close or LoseŠGetting the Deal 12

Ongoing Account Management: Upsell Opportunities and Postsales Support 12

Summary 13

3 Lead Qualification 15

Lead Quality 17

Effective Lead Qualification 20

Internal Roles in the Lead Qualification Process 23

Lead Qualification in Action: Three Common Scenarios 25

Summary 27

4 The RFP Process 29

Creation of an RFP 29

Basic Rule of RFPs 30

The Go/No-Go Decision 31

Handling Deadlines 33

Strategies for Avoiding an RFP 34

Completing the RFP 35

Presentation and Follow-Up 36

Summary 37

5 Needs Analysis and Discovery 39

Overview 39

Why Discovery Is Critical 40

The Seven-Step Needs Analysis Approach 41

Customizing the Discovery Process 53

Summary 56

6 Successful Customer Engagement 59

First Contact 60

Identify the People You Need to Know 63

Coaches 65

Credibility 69

Summary 70

7 The Perfect Pitch 71

Nonverbal Delivery Skills 72

Verbal Delivery Skills 74

Developing a Focused Message 76

Special Situations 78

Using Nervous Energy to Your Advantage 81

Summary 83

8 The Dash to Demo 85

Why Does the Dash to Demo Occur? 87

What Is The Product ? 87

Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail 88

Logistical Implications 90

The Agenda 91

Preparing the Way 91

The Audience 92

Checkpoint Charlie 95

Summary 96

Appendix 8A: Sample Agenda 97

9 Evaluation Strategies 99

Developing the Strategy 99

How to Win: Determining the Success Criteria 101.

Running a Trial 104

Anticipating Your Competitor 112

Avoiding a Trial 115

Summary 117

10 Contract Negotiation and Pricing 119

An Introductory Approach 121

Creative Ways to Say Nothing 121

An Advanced Tactic 121

Summary 122

11 Sanity After the Sale 123

Developing the Transition Plan 124

Ongoing Engagement Plan 124

Customer Meetings: Project Kickoff 125

Leveraging the Sales Team 127

Having a Fallback Strategy 127

Personal Benefits of Postsales Support 128

Major Account Requirements 129

Troubleshooting the Handoff 132

Summary 134

Appendix 11A: Record-Keeping Forms for Postsales Information 136

12 Getting Started 139

The Ramp Process 139

Develop a 30/90/180-Day Plan 143

Tips on Making the First 6 Months a Success 147

Summary 152

13 Objection Handling 153

Before You Start 153

Categorizing Objections 154

Basic Techniques of Objection Handling 159

Working With Consultants 161

Follow-Up Leads to Closure 162

Summary 162

14 The Executive Connection 165

What They Think of You 165

Keep It Simple 166

Plan the Meeting 167

Execute the Meeting 170

Follow-Up After the Meeting 172

Summary 173

15 The U in Technical Sales 175

Me, Myself, and I 176

What Are Your Goals? 176

Your Personal Value Proposition: Self-Branding 177

Delivering on Your Value Proposition 180

Ethics in Sales 183

Summary 185

16 Selling with Partners 187

Partnership Defined 187

Defining Account Ownership 188

Working the Relationship and Building the Infrastructure 191

The Dangers of Dealing with Partners 193

Summary 195

17 Competitive Tactics 197

Identify the Competition 198

Develop a Competitive Strategy 198

Know Thine Enemy 200

Tell Me About Your Competition 202

Product Benchmarks 204

Summary 205.

18 Crossing over to the Dark Side 207

What Is Your Motivation? 207

Positioning for the Change 208

What You Should Expect 210

How to Make It All Work 211

Summary 213

19 Organizational Structure 215

Structure 216

Roles in the SE Organization 219

Review of Sales Support Functions 222

Advanced Topics: Four Models for SE Organizations 226

Summary 231

20 Compensation 233

Components of a Plan 233

Leveraging the Plan 239

Building an SE Compensation Plan 241

Summary 242

21 Building the Infrastructure 245

A Little Philosophy 246

Training Techniques 247

Demonstration and Equipment Support 249

Knowledge Management and Retention 251

Engineering and Technical Support 253

General SC Processes 254

Summary 255

22 Hiring Winners 257

The Job Description 258

Using the Hiring Profile 259

Dealing with Recruiters 261

Screening Candidates 262

The Interview 263

Hiring 266

Summary 267

23 Time Management for SEs 269

Fixed Time and Infinite Demands 269

Prioritization 271

A Simple Structure for Managing Your Time 272

How to Run Your Day 276

Designing Graceful Fallback Plans 278

Long-Term Time Management 281

Summary 282

24 Final Words 285

Be Passionate 285

Keep Work and Personal Lives in Balance 286

Consistently Outperform Expectations 286

Build and Maintain Relationships 287

Set and Achieve Goals 287

Continually Challenge Yourself 288.

Notes:

Title from title screen.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Digitized and made available by: Books 24x7.com.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-58053-569-0

OCLC:

52751369