Wrong way
Provide a quote from a customer/prospect requested list.
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Assume the customer always knows the solution
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Try to turn everything into a solution
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Respond to a tender you knew little about
Right way
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Do your homework to earn “right to suggest alternatives”
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Ask naive questions
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Why do you need to replace this?
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How will this help the business?
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Do you really need this or is it just something you’d like to have?
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Sorry why are you upgrading this again?
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How will the business justify this?
Use your common sense. It’s worth more than all the technological knowledge.
Understand and adapt you natural skills and offer these as services (eg, attention to detail, ability to coordinate people, logical evaluation, systemise processes).
Admit you know little but are keen to demonstrate your value You’re here to help and you will make up for lack of knowledge with enthusiasm to prove your worth.
Sell in every direction. Vendors, your own departments (eg, technical, support, warehouse, finance)
Sales pitch techniques
Selling Technology is not really about techniques; it’s about explaining and delivering your value proposition.
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What value do your other client’s indicated you have brought for them?
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What IT projects have you been involved with elsewhere& what have you learnt?
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How does your business differentiate what it does?
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Which skills, based on training and different IT environment experiences, can it demonstrate?
Each customer situation has to be somewhat tailored. This is the law of Sales Psychology.
For example, IT people generically tend to be more process, system , IQ logical evaluators & professionally orientated.
Whereas sales people tend to be strong verbal EQ communicators, rapport builders, influencing and relationship focused. Sales people tend to sell to their “own” kind with the typical result being a misunderstanding of IT’s real needs.
If it is true “people buy from people”, we need to take into consideration the behaviour types of people we are selling to, in order to develop suitable levels of trust, which is vital for the sale to progress.