The benefits and shortfalls of two strategic approaches to entering an immature market.
Strategic Approach 1:
Company A identifies the opportunity, has an existing product suite and successful track record of releasing similar products. They assemble their best team and build a competing product. The support of potential customers has been gained, the price point has been set, and pre-orders have been booked.
My understanding of an elevator pitch is a sub 10 second, 1-2 sentence description of your business and the value you offer. Conceptually, it is nothing more than this:
I work for X, and we provide Y, and the value of this to you is Z.
Let's take this one step further. When pitching to board level prospects, it is equally important to concisely articulate all of your points. Senior executives spend their days looking for facts and answers to their questions. Their time is precious and sought after by all, so the last person they will buy from is someone with whom they can't communicate.
Why is the Price Objection so feared? When presenting a product or service to a prospect, great emphasis should be placed on demonstrating and agreeing the value of working together. With supporting evidence and case studies, this is constantly reaffirmed throughout the entire discussion and sales cycle, so should price not have been discussed until the end, then there is a wealth of evidence to support a positive outcome.
I had spent the whole day preparing for a heavily contested product presentation in our largest account, practicing my pitch and honing my messaging. As I walked through the office my teammates told me to "lighten up" believing it was a foregone conclusion that I would secure the mandate. Their assumption that this was already a "done deal" frustrated the hell out of me because it showed how little they understood my mindset or methodology. I never took any pitch for granted and always over-prepared for every eventuality.
Finally a book was written to make you the top sales performer anywhere! Thank you Bryan Berkly for writing THE BOOK on being a champion in sales.
This book is aimed at sales professionals that want to be #1 - period. I applaud that. As a seasoned top-performing professional I found this read to be a hard-hitting refresher of what really matters to be the best along with new advice I have seen nowhere else. Both new and experienced sales professionals that want to be the best will thoroughly enjoy this book and I highly recommend it. 5 stars.
This book provides a unique insight into the actions and ways a top performing sales professional thinks. When most sales books are written by “sales experts,” who haven’t sold anything but themselves in years or decades, it’s refreshing to hear directly from someone in the trenches who made it happen.
The market is flooded with people who write sales books but have never been on quota or have not sold in 20 years. This book is written by someone who has done it and shares his journey. Sales is not an academic, research base role, it requires years of field experience and ego crushing events to learn what really works. I interviewed the author on my podcast and he is the real deal. If you want to break out of the B-Player trap this book is a great place to start.
