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In my last weeks post
"Making the DIFFERENCE is the Success-Factor in Sales (1/2)" I concentrated on the areas of customer care and offer preparation. In this post I would like to give some impulses, how Sales can make DIFFERENCES already during the project phase to be successful. I also want to introduce the
PROJECT ROADMAP (PRM), with which project-related Sales can systematically plan the success of the project.
3.) Project Phase
"If you are not patient in the small things, you will risk the large schemes." Konfuzius
Nowhere else than in Sales is this statement from Konfuzius more true, if you are going towards a possible order. Sales has taken care of the potential customer and was invited to bid for the project. The customer liked your offer and you are invited for comencing project clarifications. Target almost reached? NO, not even close. Now the project enters the decision phase. The customer compares a) your offer with the ones of your competitors, b) compares with the requirement of the project and c) compares advantages and added value for him of each offer. Now every detail may be important to saveguard the order for you.
a) and b) are simple formal steps which will be done clean, honest and emotionless. Lets consider that the customer has only invited those companies from which he belives they can engineer and build the machine/system and from which he thinks they can fullfill his project specification. The most important point for the customer and you is c). Here you can and MUST present the DIFFERENCES towards your competitors. Now the best Sales persons can take advantage. They can now lay the foundation for the order or to loose the order. Have you already supplied to the customer? Your machine/system works to the total satisfaction of the customer? Very good. By this you already have achieved an advantage towards your competitors, but unfortunately only one. Always be aware, that each project always starts at "0". Therefore you can not count on that reference. Arrogance, over confidence and "I feel save" behaviour have very often ended in a loss of an order.
How can you succeed to present
THE DIFFERENCE to the customer? The most important point is the preparation for the negotiations and the project. I personally have met only few companies and Sales people who prepared in advance a professional Sales strategy for a project.
The development of a professional sales strategy is the basis for a success in any project!
In most projects in machine- and engineering projects there will be a project team responsible on supplier and customer side. Make sure that your complete project team is aware of the project strategy. With a professional project strategy you will most probably make the first DIFFERENCE towards your competitors. The project strategy needs to be clear, compact and easy to understand. It needs to include WHAT you want to achieve and HOW, which advatages of the product you want to focus on and how you want to convince the customer.
Prepare a Project Roadmap (PRM) for each project, so that the customer accepts and chooses your company as THE professional and preffered partner for the project!
The PRM is a powerful tool which, if used correctly, can turn your project Sales team into a very successful unit. The
Project Roadmap (PRM) will be put down in writing for the project team and distributed to each team member. The PRM provides details to the project, to the participants on customer side, to stake holder, to competitors and to strengths and weaknesses. With this the team members have a basis to develop solutions according to the project strategy and in compliance with the customer specification. At the same time the PRM is the template for all disciplines/functions inside your project team to find a harmonic, compliant and integrated optimized solution for the customer. With the PRM you secure, that in comparison to your competitors, you have made the next
DIFFERENCE - information. No other project team will have such detailed information on the project, appear as harmonic and as conclusive than yours. This gives your customer exactly the impression you want- a professional and trustworthy team/company. The PRM has an additional advantage. You can quickly, highly qualified and in-line react on changes made during negotiations. The customer will be amazed and your competitors will be surprised.
Before you meet the customer, invest time to prepare together with your team!
Also use the PRM for discussions with your team. With a professional preparation for each discussion and meeting with the customer you will make the next DIFFERENCE. Always make sure that the solutions developed by each of your disciplines/functions are in-line with others solutions and are also overall in line as a system and harmonize with each other. One of the most important points for a customer is, that he gets a complete solution, which, transparent, understandable for him and recognizable works. You have to makes sure, that all your disciplines and team members "talk the same language" towards the customer, be compliant with your project strategy and be meaningful towards the customer how your their single solutions harmonize with the complete system you offer. The customer will recognize, that your overall solution is a very professional solution and that your company is the right partner for this project.
Establish the 3 above mentioned points clearly and effectively and adjust them dynamically in the due course of a project. Especially during multi-day negotiations you will surprise your competitors and make it very difficult for them to follow your team.
The PRM requires a lot of detailed work, a continous target/actual comparison and a quick reaction on changes. It als requires a single responsible person who is in charge of the implementation, the controlling and on necessary final decisions to be made. If you want to be successful you need a 100 % professional approach to the project and you have to keep the professionalism throughout the whole project on this level. This is required for the whole project team. That is where the PRM shows its strength as a fantastic tool and secures the next DIFFERENCE.
You want to know more about the PRM and how else you can make a DIFFERENCE during the project? Contact me and we can talk. Do you have the same, different or similar experience, I appreciate your comment. Do you know similar articles on this subject. I appreciate any link. Do you know somebody who might be interested in this subject, I appreciate if you can establish a contact. I love when you share this article. Do you want to use this article or part of it in your own publicatons, I request that I a) will be asked upfront, b) agree to it and c) the link to my webpage is clearly and prominently placed.
Best regards
Thomas Wollny
-Vertriebsexpertise.de -
E-Mail: Thomas.Wollny@vertriebsexpertise.de
32791 Lage, Germany
+49 170 782 7805