Carson V. Heady's Blog, page 56

Great Sellers Sell Their Resources More than Their Solution

Great #sellers sell their resources more than they sell their product, service or solution.

Anything you bring to the table – your time, other people, investments you can make, assessments and even your boss – these are all valuable resources.

Customers need to understand the team supporting them and need to be privy to all resources they are entitled to or that are available to them.

I remember when I was selling into territories and struggled getting some clients to respond or engage during #prospecting. After strategizing with my boss, I’d sell a meeting with them, positioning a unique opportunity to get them in front of the Director of the XYZ region so I could better advocate for them going forward.

Any time I bring forth a new program or a new colleague or partner, it’s important to position this investment accordingly. They need to understand what we are doing and why we are making this investment in the #relationship.

Recap the investments you have made leading up to a deal. Deals are not all about discounts, but a formal acknowledgement of the #partnership and #collaboration. Recapping everything you have brought to the table up to this point signifies how much you value the #business and how much you have invested over time.

#leadership #success #sales

How Do You Optimize Social Media for a Competitive Edge

#Sales will always be about #relationships. #Socialselling allows you to open any door, even virtually. What you do to stay top of mind and nurture the relationship matters most.

Sysco‘s Matthew K. Berra joins Biyork Canada‘s Jon Kronemeyer and Microsoft‘s Carson V. Heady to discuss.

You can control quality, quantity and consistency of outreach; those who do it best find a unique voice and prioritize meaningful connection.

Even in a pandemic with strictly virtual selling, people are #connecting globally for important conversations.

Video and #LinkedIn voice messages enable a personal touch, a unique approach to #personalbranding.

There is no time like the present to flex and develop this new muscle.

#communication #marketing #leadership #digitalmarketing #socialmedia #branding

How to Optimize the New Landscape of Sales

Many elements of #sales have changed over the last year – some very much for the better. How can we best learn the new variables and optimize effectiveness with a new way of #selling?

Paul Reilly joins Microsoft and ex- AT&T leader Carson V. Heady for a special discussion.

#Connecting has looked different, but can still be meaningful and without geographical boundaries or time constraints in a #virtual world.

We are headed toward a hybrid world – we all crave personal connection, and will have a mix of face-to-face where it makes sense and leveraging virtual to optimize time.

At its core, sales will always be about people and process. Keep these two critical components at the center of everything you do, leveraging the benefits of these new resources and abilities and you will be successful.

Great students of the #selling game learn how to adapt to the new environment; they pivot to focus on customers with all resources at their disposal.

#customerexperience #innovation #strategy #culture #leadership #success

How Do You Build a New Sales Territory?

Building out a territory – greenfield, white space, whatever you call it – is a target-rich environment but a big responsibility. How do you do it right?

Cohesity‘s Brandon Grieve joins Microsoft & ex- AT&T#sales leader Carson V. Heady to discuss.

Build a foundation around people and #process and resist the urge to over-complicate it.

There is no silver bullet; it’s important to ensure you surround yourself with the right colleagues, partners and accumulation of targeted sales plays.

Identify the right customers and contacts; coordinate effectively with the team. You control the quality, quantity and consistency of your outreach – and these must be optimized.

It’s easy to be pulled in a lot of different directions; quickly determine where your time is best invested.

Proactively take the lens where everyone wins: Invest in customer and partner relationships. With consistent execution of the right process by the right people, success is the result!

#customerexperience #cx #team #success #leadership #prospecting #selling #teamwork #strategy

Selling with Value Versus Price

“Value-added selling is about proactively taking control of the sales conversation and driving it down a path of value and away from price.” – Paul Reilly

Paul joins Microsoft and ex- AT&T#sales leader Carson V. Heady for a special discussion.

Price becomes an issue only in the absence of value.

Value is not all about the products and services you tie to a #relationship or deal – it is every investment you are making both for the client relationship and true holistic partnership you can embark on together.

Sellers struggle to sell value because they focus on overcoming a price objection rather than building the proper foundation that prevents price objections.

Furthermore, just as sellers have a process, buyers have one, too! We cannot fit the same mold as the sellers who have come before and failed – in how we prospect, perform needs analysis and build the relationship.

Provocative, thought-provoking questions, collaborating with true long-term lens, and shifting the discussion to focus on total cost versus price will regain control of the conversation and re-center on value.

Value can be what gets you in the door and keeps you there; if the business case has been built on value, and the right business influencers are involved, you can avoid price objections altogether.

What is the Future of Work?

Many are waiting to get “back to normal” while others want remote/virtual work to be the new normal. The reality will be somewhere in between.

Business owner and podcaster Randy Chaffee joins Microsoft and ex- AT&T#sales leader Carson V. Heady for a special discussion.

Let’s acknowledge that it is challenging and uncomfortable to #change. That said, we cannot sit still when the parameters and variables of our jobs change.

We have to pivot and follow the new needs, staying at the pulse of those we serve.

There are many of advantages to virtual work – the ability to replace commutes and travel with more quality touchpoints with our clients and teams.

Companies and professionals will forever evaluate the value of the cross-country trips and organizing large meet-ups vs. virtual meetings with no global boundaries.

Ultimately, the needs of customers and our teams will dictate the makeup of meetings: we need to be connected. It just is not imperative to be in person as much anymore.

What are your beliefs about the #futureofwork?

#leadership #success #employeeengagement #culture #engagement #career

Protecting Margins Versus Brand in Deal Negotiation

How do we find the right balance between “protecting margins” of a deal and protecting your #brand and your company’s brand?

Biyork Canada‘s Jon Kronemeyer joins Sysco‘s Matthew K. Berra and Microsoft‘s Carson V. Heady to discuss.

There are vastly different schools of thought for #selling and deal negotiation – and how can our customers and #salespeople keep up?

More #sustainable business comes from protecting brand and truly being able to tell the story of growing and building value over time.

Live by price, die by price. What are we doing beyond product, price and delivery to truly partner with our customers? The answer to that question determines your collective path forward.

We also must ensure we have the critical influencer relationships to get a deal done and use all resources at our disposal – we cannot operate through a proxy and hope they can do our job for us. We cannot leave potential deal levers out of the equation.

#customerexperience #branding #strategy #b2b #business #success #leadership #sales

How to Prioritize the Priorities of Your Customer, Your Company & You

The customer, your company and you must be on equal footing – balanced in the relationship, priorities and the deal.

Sysco‘s Matthew K. Berra joins Biyork Canada‘s Jon Kronemeyer and Microsoft‘s Carson V. Heady to discuss.

As a #seller, you cannot go full throttle prioritizing any one component of that sales trinity. It’s a constant balancing act – ensuring we weave in our company’s metrics and priorities with the customer’s roadmap and the things that get us paid.

Ideally, we can develop the relationships with clients that lead to mutual wins. Understand what a win looks like to them; understand their projects, priorities, industry trends and their mission.

These relationships happen through investment – of time, of value – and dependability. Earn trust and be transparent about resources you can bring to bear.

When you have the level of relationship with a customer where they will share what is digestible from a budget perspective along with you divulging what investments they can make will unlock better incentives for all, truly meaningful deals occur for customers, your company and YOU.

#sales #customerexperience #investment #innovation #leadership #strategy #success

When Do You Move On From a Deal?

When do you walk away from a deal?

Sysco#sales leader Matthew K. Berra joins Biyork Canada VP Jon Kronemeyer and Microsoft‘s Carson V. Heady to discuss.

We control many things in a deal: effort to uncover the power/budget/timelines, attempts to reach the influencers, how we leverage all resources at our disposal both in constructing and negotiating a deal, and how we efficiently manage to milestones.

We cannot control the speed or willingness of the customer, but we can influence them with the aforementioned resources and by tirelessly advocating for them based on their priorities, goals and roadmap.

But if we are diligent in managing milestones and keep our commitments and the deal continues to slip, when do we move on and invest time elsewhere?

A “yes” or a “no” is better than a maybe so; twisting in the wind is not a position of strength.

Accountability means expressing acknowledgment of our attempts to understand their priorities and timelines and our every efforts to keep things aligned to their stated goals, while expressing concern with the lack of progress.

Deals will slip, but if slipping is the only consistent element, it is time to respectfully pause. The pause will allow you to invest elsewhere and might prompt the customer to accelerate.

Your Coach Should Help You See Around Corners

Your coach should help you see around corners: helping you shift #mindset so you can anticipate what’s coming, prepare and pivot as needed.

Journey to Results, LLC CEO Annette Brackin, MBA joins Microsoft and ex- AT&T#sales leader Carson V. Heady for a special discussion.

For leaders, it is important to realize that you assemble the team, call the plays and influence execution; those on your team earned their seat and the right to run the called play.

Leaders shouldn’t impede the play or momentum, but arm them with the tools they need to be successful and help them pivot and diagnose gaps as and when needed.

For any contributor, your leader should be ensuring you have the right foundation for success – access to training, resources, tools and intel. They are there to help you prepare and to remove legitimate blockers and barriers to #success.

Whether in #leadership, #mentorship or even aiding peer-to-peer #collaboration, empower others to win. Challenge them to think about situations and problems differently.

#leadershipdevelopment #training #leaders #motivation #coaching #management #team #teamwork