Make sure the product is what your customer needs
This seems obvious, but all too often companies are pushing their products towards any prospect rather than pulling them in. They feel like casting a big net to fill their baskets will work wonders and that this will reap rewards. Granted, the more prospects, the more leads, the more potential closes. But how many of those prospects actually need or can use your product? Don’t just get a list of prospects, shoot aimlessly from the hip, and start calling them to sell the next productivity tech. Be tactical, do research, do your homework. Find out what that prospects current internal business process is. You must deep dive and uncover not just their highest value need, but also see if your technology can help them and if they have the capabilities to use it. You don’t want to be giving someone software that runs on the cloud when they don’t even have internet access. Think of this as one of your number one rules; be customer-centric. If they don’t need it, don’t push for it. If you find out they actually need a way to train their staff through tech, then recommend if you know someone—this will go a long way. This person will remember you forever as the guy who gave great advice, and when he comes across someone in his circle who needs the product you have, then you’ll likely get a referral.
Don’t sell technology
You’re probably thinking what the… what do you mean? No one buys a light bulb for the light bulb, you buy it to give light, to save yourself from living in conditions similar to the dark ages. Similarly, if you’re selling payroll software in the Philippines, you should be selling them a benefit like the hours saved that they’ll be getting when running payroll through an automated system. You want to sell solutions and the value benefit of the product, not the product itself. So you don’t have to only understand your product, but you have to understand your customers highest value need as well—and then you position the benefits of that product towards their HVN, which will come from your research and understanding your customer.
Speak their language, not yours
One of the number one rules in any sales position is to gain people’s trust. You will not get that sale, or get to the right people in any company, if you don’t gain their trust. One of the most common mistakes for people in sales tech is that they don’t understand you. Words such as SaaS or Cloud will not be completely understood by the majority of your first contacts. More often than not, your initial touch point may be an assistant or rank-and-file employee. Even the decision-maker may not know all the specific technicalities that your product has. Similar to the last point, don’t just go through a list of product features without helping them understand how that will actually benefit them or be of value. Don’t speak your tech-jargon, they will just start getting red flags and you will just lose that sale. If your lead calls the HRIS system a Human Research Intelligent System, then don’t correct them and say it actually stands for Human Resource—that will not only create awkward tension, but that lead will most likely lose their trust in you. Always try to be on their language level and keep it as simple as possible, don’t forget you’re selling them the value and benefit of the product not the features.