The rise of big data has been a double-edged sword for some. While customers have embraced data as it allows for easier price comparisons, their persistent focus on short-term savings has created new challenges for sellers—mainly, by undercutting the power of storytelling.

A member we recently spoke with shared how increasingly data-driven customers in the electronics industry have become so focused on price that they often lose sight of their vision and initial objectives behind a purchase.

“It’s like trying to buy a painting based only on numbers and price comparisons–which is impossible–when in fact it’s the story behind the painting that sells,” he said, describing the whole situation.

His experience refers to a growing phenomenon we are seeing in sales today: customers’ increasing use of data and rational reasoning in the purchasing decision (This, in fact, was one of the trends we believe every Sales Exec must know in 2012).

In today’s tough economy, everyone wants to get the most for their money. It’s natural for customers to try to break down deal components and compare apples to apples. And if customers want to do it that way, isn’t it natural for sales reps to respond using data and numbers too?

But therein lies the problem. The customer’s persistent focus on price and short-term savings distracts them from the real issue at hand—the long-term strategic value of your solution. Read More »

We hope you’ll read this and share this.

It’s a unique occasion when we get to step back from the day-to-day of supporting our members’ decisions and reflect on where we believe the world of sales is headed. In 2011, the SEC had thousands of interactions with sales executives around the globe, held dozens of conferences and intimate roundtable discussions with leading CSOs, and examined hundreds of thousands data points.

Given this, we’d like to share the fundamental shifts we expect to play out in increasingly significant ways in 2012.

Granted, it’s not a MECE list – there is overlap and implications shared throughout these trends, but we hope you’ll take a minute and reflect on how these trends are manifesting in your own organization, disagree if appropriate, and highlight trends you expect to see that we missed. It’s meant to be a reflective, but fun list. We look forward to your input! Read More »

The storied Green Bay Packers will be playing in the Superbowl against the equally storied rough-and-tumble Pittsburgh Steelers.  The stage is set for a great Superbowl, which has become an increasingly global event. To shed a bit of light on the Green Bay Packers, one only needs to turn to their great coach, Vince Lombardi.

Lombardi coached the Packers from 1959 to 1967, and in those 9 years the team won 5 league championships. Many consider him the greatest football coach of all time, perhaps the greatest coach of any sport of all time. What’s indisputable is his name being synonymous with excellence.

Lombardi had a gift with words and a legendary ability to inspire his team. In these days of process, and systems, and all the science we bring to Sales, it’s easy to lose sight of the role that fundamentally great leadership can play in team motivation. For many of us, our year is now officially underway..the budgeting, the planning, the preparation is done. It’s time to execute in 2011. Let Lombardi’s words inspire your leadership: Read More »

A few weeks ago, member contributor Ken Revenaugh shared an important but often neglected truth of effective selling—the power of storytelling. While we all agree that storytelling can create a lasting impact on customers, many reps fail to do it properly and especially struggle to incorporate it into their sales pitch.

Let’s start by examining how your reps typically pitch to customers. Many of them simply recite company stats and achievements and product functionalities. So then, how likely is the customer to remember the meeting once the rep walks out of their office? More importantly, what are the chances your customer brings you up in their next conversation with fellow peers? The answer in most cases is NEVER.

The problem is that your competitors follow the exact same routine, and therefore, in the eyes of the customer, you’re just another “one of them”. Often times, the reason sales pitches fail to create impact and secure a follow-up visit is because they’ve failed to weave a compelling story into their pitch—a story that differentiates you from the competition.

But, that begs the question, what does a good story-pitch look like?

Ideally, it would follow a “choreography” that takes the customer through four emotional stages:  Read More »

(This is a guest post by Ken Revenaugh, VP of Sales Operations at Oakwood Worldwide. Prior to joining Oakwood, Ken served as Director of Sales Operations at Exhibitgroup Giltspur and FedEx-Kinko’s. His areas of expertise include Sales Ops Management, Talent Development, and Sales Process Design.)

Is storytelling appropriate in business? Is there a place for incorporating an engaging tale in the commercial world? I believe there is, but after sharing my ideas about storytelling in the boardroom and beyond for the past year, I encountered many who disagree.

I am no longer surprised when someone sends me a disparaging note expressing disgust when I encourage incorporating a fairytale or fable to get a key point across in a business environment. Critics say, “Business is moving way too fast to endorse storytelling; it’s a waste of time.” True enough – no one has time to waste.

This year, the familiar red holiday coffee cups at Starbucks have a matching sleeve that reads: Stories are Gifts – Share. Anecdotally, I realized that many people are doing just that – sharing their stories. So, I decided to conduct a little (albeit unscientific) study.

I have been tracking the number of stories I hear per business day for the past three months. You may be surprised to know that I made at least two hash marks in my notepad each day. On average, my colleagues shared 10 stories per work day. The all-time high was 48 stories.

The day I heard nearly 50 stories taught me a lot. Read More »