| Haha - you are so right on several accounts: 1. Any good sales rep should be able to sell self, their best product. 2. When I went for jobs I was mainly interested in commission. However if the sale took long that is not good enough. You can have the commission stagger - matching the sales pipeline stages. This meaning - they get x for number of potentials in that have been qualified, y percentage for that have been demod, z for starting eval, p for finished eval, q for proposal, w for closed, and t for getting referrals. You get the idea. Selling to big orgs is painful and time consuming. However if you can find something that they already are buying, partner with those folks since their sales reps are already in. Always look for a personal stake when selling. The best way someone described it is like buying like you would do for yourself except it is someone else's money so even less diligence is needed. You have to work on literature to answer all the thoughts in their head that makes this a near risk free proposition. This means answering concerns from the CFO and how it compares with existing solution, and how to incorporate it so they get the full benefit. I hate distributors in general. They do very little to make sales. Instead go with a value added reseller. They have the feet on the street. Plus if you treat the valued added resellers are you sales rep clones, they will sell and sell. Go for a reseller that is number 3 or 2 in the industry. They have something to prove. Then train the sales staff yourself. This means real practicing and providing excellent marketing collateral and support for questions. The marketing collateral does always ned to be fancy - remember they will not be fired for not using your product. Most places have inertia and they have more to lose than gain by switching to you no matter how much they save the company or make the company. Always find out how the switch will personally impact them - now they have real motivation. PS in terms of English, I liked "Niches to Riches" book about benefits pieces. it is more B2C but remember folks are folks. It helped me tremendously. She is PR consultant. Another sales book recommendation if you in a established market:
The Wedge: How to Stop Selling and Start Winning
It talks how one goes about replacing the existing competition that already has the business. I worked in both greenfield and established markets - they both have unique challenges. If you want to talk more let me know, info@bestwhich.com. I am in the middle of product coding so... |