Speed up your sales 29 May, 2009 By Steve Wexler

The first strategy, 'sell your value', is all about addressing your customers' needs, and not about pushing products. "People buy products because they want an end-result and the product to facilitate that," said Stowe.

Cohen said it's all about being the customer's trusted business advisor, selling the channel's value proposition.

Discovering when the customer needs to buy the solution is one of the most powerful strategies. "You want them to tell you what the impacts and the costs are if they miss that date," said Stowe. "You want to have them clear on the pains if they miss that date."

The next strategy involves why buy from you. You need to tailor each pitch to each client, said Stowe. A one-size-fits-all approach won't work. And if you can't explain succinctly why the client should buy from you, then how do you expect them to know to do so, she asked?

A critical reason for buying from you is because you're there, said Cohen. The channel offers a local presence -- and support -- that the big vendors can't.

Another key to speeding up sales is selling to the right person, the one who can sign -- or authorize -- the cheque. "If you want to speed up the sale, start with the decision maker (and) speak their language," said Stowe. Stay away from technobabble with executives unless you want to lose or delay the sale.

Once you've made the sale, stop selling. If you keep trying to sell, the most likely outcome is you'll lose the sale, said Cohen. There are two aspects to this, explained Stowe. Prospects can pick up when you're in selling mode and will tend to resist you. Secondly, selling tends to be a struggle for most VARs, and that can actually make it harder to succeed.

Stowe offered three 'bonus' strategies for selling: 'be relevant', 'prepare an ROI', and 'L.O.V.E. your clients'. LOVE is one of her handy acronyms, meaning 'lots of valuable evidence'. Your customers can provide valuable data on the benefits of your solutions, as well as the benefits of working with you. "Also, if you LOVE your client, and give them lots of evidence, then your clients will buy more from you."

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Previous Trusted Business Advisor articles by this author:
07/30/09 The gray market (Part 2)
07/23/09 The black market and counterfeiting
06/11/09 Education key to reducing channel mistrust
05/15/09 Software piracy costs everybody
04/24/09 GTDC: Selling direct doesn't work
04/08/09 Is there a need for vendor-neutral education?
04/02/09 Twittering for success
03/25/09 Companies need to think smarter
03/04/09 Social media the new 'big thing'




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