Today\u2019s buyers are smarter than ever. Armed with instant access to information, buyers self-diagnose their problems and potential solutions long before meeting with a sales person. Don\u2019t believe me? The latest Neilson research revealed that the average American adult spends 11 hours per day looking at a screen\u2014we\u2019re information junkies.<\/p>\n
One thing that drives our ravenous hunger for information is rampant skepticism. Gen X decision makers who are taking the reins of many organizations are some of the most-skeptical buyers we\u2019ve ever seen. Millennials are skeptical as well.<\/p>\n
Interrupting Smart, Skeptical Buyers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s never been easy to get attention. If it were, sales would be easy. However, the environment we live in now makes it harder than ever.<\/p>\n How do you gain attention with prospects who are smart and skeptical? You better be talking about something that\u2019s important to them.<\/p>\n In the book Insight Selling, Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr interviewed buyers to ask what they want from sales professionals. The answer was simple: insight!<\/p>\n Buyers want sales professionals who can bring them ideas that will improve their businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sellers most successful at creating opportunities focus on positives\u2014goals, aspirations, and possibilities achievable by the buyer, even if the buyer doesn\u2019t know it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Buyers want insights. If you want to get their attention, bring them fresh insights that will help their business.<\/p>\n So, where do you go to find fresh insights?<\/p>\n Vertical Market Business Problems<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n This morning while driving to work, you passed many decision makers headed to their offices. You were thinking about how you would solve your problem of growing sales. Each one of the people you passed has problems as well. Most likely, they were thinking about how to solve their problems.<\/p>\n If you want to get attention with decision makers, the smart thing to do is understand their problems and bring insights as to how they could use technology to solve their problems.<\/p>\n Fortunately, most business problems are related to a process. Since documents (paper and digital) are the key vehicles which drive information through business processes, we have ideas to offer.<\/p>\n Add in challenges with security, compliance and simply needing to reduce overhead expenses. We\u2019ve got insights to help prospects solve problems.<\/p>\n However, all of our ideas don\u2019t mean anything to a potential buyer unless they are connected to their top-of-mind business problem. This is where vertical markets come in.<\/p>\n Begin With Business Problems<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The beauty of a vertical-market prospecting approach is that we begin with the one thing that has the best chance of getting prospects\u2019 attention: their business problems.<\/p>\n If you want to get an appointment, start with a business problem that is top of mind to your prospects. How do you find business problems? You understand the vertical market!<\/p>\n Recently, we were doing some research in the legal marketplace for our strategic-prospecting program. When looking for the top issues law firms face, we discovered that the number of billable hours per attorney has dropped over the past 5 years. At $300+ per hour, that can add up! Digging deeper, we learned that the burden of eDiscovery plays a huge factor in the drop in productivity.<\/p>\n The managing partner of a law firm who would never take a call with you to talk about copiers would consider talking with you about increasing the number of billable hours per attorney.<\/p>\n The beauty of a vertical market is that prospects in the market have similar problems. For example, our research in the non-profit marketplace taught us that the new tax law will significantly impact donations. Once again, the executive director of a nonprofit probably doesn\u2019t care about their copiers. But they do care about both raising more funds and cutting expenses, given the reality that their revenue is about to take a big cut due to the next tax laws.<\/p>\n Once you understand the issues in one nonprofit, you have a conversation starter for every nonprofit. The specific issues a given individual organization may have will vary, but the overall theme will be similar. Even if the individual organization doesn\u2019t feel the pull, they know their peers do. They also know that you took the time to understand their business and could be a resource in other areas.<\/p>\n Make the Bridge<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Once you understand the business problems in a market, the next step is to build the bridge to your products, services and solutions.<\/p>\n Consider the legal example above. Can you help streamline the eDiscovery process? You bet! From scan-enabled multifunction systems that simplify capture, all the way through to integrating with their case-management system, you\u2019ve got products that could help. You could also help improve attorney productivity by ensuring their network stays online with managed IT services. Additionally, you can provide secure access to the information in a hybrid-cloud environment that you manage. There are probably a half a dozen more things that can be added to that list.<\/p>\n The key is to make the bridge between the market\u2019s top business problems and your offerings. Don\u2019t focus on secondary problems\u2014nobody has time for that. Buyers are focused on their top problems.<\/p>\n As we did research in the construction industry, we learned that while other industries have improved productivity dramatically over the past 50 years, the construction industry is flat. They need help. Amazing amounts of time, human resources and equipment are wasted because of inefficient processes and poor access to information.<\/p>\n Could you bring ideas to solve a construction company\u2019s productivity problem? Of course! There are all kinds of ways any copier dealer or managed services provider could help. You just need to understand the problem so you can build the bridge.<\/p>\n Prospecting In Verticals<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n 1. Understand the Problems<\/span> 2. Create Effective Messaging<\/span> The second way to communicate your expertise is through vertical case studies. Properly written studies demonstrate your ability to understand the business issues in a given vertical market and apply technology to solve the problems. We highly recommend using them.<\/p>\n 3. Find the Right Targets<\/span> 4. Prospect with a System<\/span> 5. Upgrade Your Phone Skills<\/span> 6. Establish a Culture of Problem Solving<\/span> Smart dealers reinforce the vertical-prospecting strategy by taking the time to learn the issues in the verticals. Invite your friends to come into your sales meetings to talk about the issues in their business. Over time, you\u2019ll upgrade the business acumen of your team and build a culture of problem solving.<\/p>\n Does It Work?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Quite simply, yes. Prospecting has always been hard work and always will be. However, playing the game smart by leading with insights to help buyers solve their problems makes it much more effective.<\/p>\n This morning we were on a web meeting with a VP of sales in a large metropolitan market. We could see his smile as he told us about getting a first in appointment with a company that in his words, \u201cThey\u2019d only dreamed about getting into.\u201d<\/p>\n How did they do it? Vertical prospecting. They took the time to learn the problems in the market. They had a message that resonated. They found the right targets. They launched sequences. Finally, they followed up on the telephone using proven sales skills.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t let lack of vertical research and prospecting empty your pipeline. Take the time to understand the needs of prospects in your core verticals and you\u2019ll find that it\u2019s a lot easier to get their attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his book Fanatical Prospecting, Jeb Blount says, \u201cThe number one reason for an empty pipeline is failure to prospect.\u201d That one statement sums it up pretty well. Our industry has always been known as team of hard-charging sales reps who knock down doors and take down deals. Prospecting is in our DNA. The challenge is that over the past few decades, our prospects have changed. We still need to prospect hard. But we also need to prospect smart. The Challenge of Prospecting Today\u2019s buyers are smarter than ever. Armed with instant access to information, buyers self-diagnose their problems and potential solutions long before meeting with a sales person. Don\u2019t believe me? The latest Neilson research revealed that the average American adult spends 11 hours per day looking at a screen\u2014we\u2019re information junkies. One thing that drives our ravenous hunger for information is rampant skepticism. Gen X decision makers who are taking the reins of many organizations are some of the most-skeptical buyers we\u2019ve ever seen. Millennials are skeptical as well. Interrupting Smart, Skeptical Buyers It\u2019s never been easy to get attention. If it were, sales would be easy. However, the environment we live in now makes it harder than ever. How do you gain attention with prospects who are smart and skeptical? You better be talking about something that\u2019s important to them. In the book Insight Selling, Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr interviewed buyers to ask what they want from sales professionals. The answer was simple: insight! Buyers want sales professionals who can bring them ideas that will improve their businesses. \u201cThe sellers most successful at creating opportunities focus on positives\u2014goals, aspirations, and possibilities achievable by the buyer, even if the buyer doesn\u2019t know it yet.\u201d Buyers want insights. If you want to get their attention, bring them fresh insights that will help their business. So, where do you go to find fresh insights? Vertical Market Business Problems This morning while driving to work, you passed many decision makers headed to their offices. You were thinking about how you would solve your problem of growing sales. Each one of the people you passed has problems as well. Most likely, they were thinking about how to solve their problems. If you want to get attention with decision makers, the smart thing to do is understand their problems and bring insights as to how they could use technology to solve their problems. Fortunately, most business problems are related to a process. Since documents (paper and digital) are the key vehicles which drive information through business processes, we have ideas to offer. Add in challenges with security, compliance and simply needing to reduce overhead expenses. We\u2019ve got insights to help prospects solve problems. However, all of our ideas don\u2019t mean anything to a potential buyer unless they are connected to their top-of-mind business problem. This is where vertical markets come in. Begin With Business Problems The beauty of a vertical-market prospecting approach is that we begin with the one thing that has the best chance of getting prospects\u2019 attention: their business problems. If you want to get an appointment, start with a business problem that is top of mind to your prospects. How do you find business problems? You understand the vertical market! Recently, we were doing some research in the legal marketplace for our strategic-prospecting program. When looking for the top issues law firms face, we discovered that the number of billable hours per attorney has dropped over the past 5 years. At $300+ per hour, that can add up! Digging deeper, we learned that the burden of eDiscovery plays a huge factor in the drop in productivity. The managing partner of a law firm who would never take a call with you to talk about copiers would consider talking with you about increasing the number of billable hours per attorney. The beauty of a vertical market is that prospects in the market have similar problems. For example, our research in the non-profit marketplace taught us that the new tax law will significantly impact donations. Once again, the executive director of a nonprofit probably doesn\u2019t care about their copiers. But they do care about both raising more funds and cutting expenses, given the reality that their revenue is about to take a big cut due to the next tax laws. Once you understand the issues in one nonprofit, you have a conversation starter for every nonprofit. The specific issues a given individual organization may have will vary, but the overall theme will be similar. Even if the individual organization doesn\u2019t feel the pull, they know their peers do. They also know that you took the time to understand their business and could be a resource in other areas. Make the Bridge Once you understand the business problems in a market, the next step is to build the bridge to your products, services and solutions. Consider the legal example above. Can you help streamline the eDiscovery process? You bet! From scan-enabled multifunction systems that simplify capture, all the way through to integrating with their case-management system, you\u2019ve got products that could help. You could also help improve attorney productivity by ensuring their network stays online with managed IT services. Additionally, you can provide secure access to the information in a hybrid-cloud environment that you manage. There are probably a half a dozen more things that can be added to that list. The key is to make the bridge between the market\u2019s top business problems and your offerings. Don\u2019t focus on secondary problems\u2014nobody has time for that. Buyers are focused on their top problems. As we did research in the construction industry, we learned that while other industries have improved productivity dramatically over the past 50 years, the construction industry is flat. They need help. Amazing amounts of time, human resources and equipment are wasted because of inefficient processes and poor access to information. Could you bring ideas to solve a construction company\u2019s productivity problem? Of course! There are all kinds of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1866],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33259"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33309,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33259\/revisions\/33309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Depositphotos_21292051_xl-2015.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nThis isn\u2019t rocket science, but it does take some time. Over the past six months, we\u2019ve been neck deep in vertical-market research. What we\u2019ve found as we\u2019ve trained sales reps is that it\u2019s not hard for them to understand the high-level problems in a market. Then the lights come on as they see how the products, services and solutions they sell could be applied to solve the problems.<\/p>\n
\nThe next step is to craft the message\u2014you must communicate your expertise in these areas. Right now, we\u2019re doing this in two ways. The first is to create e-books with titles like Smart Strategies to Thrive in Today\u2019s Competitive Legal Marketplace. Putting content like this up against a white paper on managed print services will win all day long.<\/p>\n
\nEvery vertical has its \u201csweet spot\u201d of ideal accounts. As we were working with a dealer in a large market, we used Avention, a D&B Hoovers product to identify law firms. The problem was that there are many one-person firms. So together, we determined the criteria for a good target account. You need to know who your target accounts are in each core vertical. Don\u2019t waste your time on the small ones that don\u2019t match your criteria.<\/p>\n
\nThe old days of spray-and-pray phone prospecting are over. Salesforce.com tells us that you need six to eight touches with a prospect to get an appointment. The most-effective prospecting strategies have a system with multiple touches in multiple channels. Platforms like HubSpot Sales Hub can be used to efficiently launch sequences of emails, calls and social touches. Pre-loading this with vertical content makes it easy for field reps and sales development reps (SDRs) to launch multi-touch sequences.<\/p>\n
\nNext, you need a good phone strategy. Just calling to say you sent an email you\u2019d like to discuss doesn\u2019t cut it. Instead, you need a focused phone-prospecting methodology that grabs attention, deals with brush offs and crushes objections\u2014our recommended training is Fanatical Prospecting. Whatever you do, make sure that you schedule prospecting training for your sales team at least once a year. This is a skill that should always be improved.<\/p>\n
\nLast, and not least, it is vital to establish a culture of problem solving. Simply hiring a team like ours to get into vertical markets is not going to do anything. From top leadership on down, there needs to be a commitment to be a company that truly adds value. I don\u2019t think this is a stretch for most dealers\u2014after all, we\u2019ve built our industry by providing exceptional service after the sale. Let\u2019s apply the same level of diligence to provide exceptional insights before the sale. Verticals are the way to do this.<\/p>\n