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Top sales people normally fall into two categories: those who want to primarily be responsible for managing their own time and activities to maximize their income, or they want to progress into sales management for any number of reasons that include status, career growth or believing they can make more money. Because a top performing sales rep is one of the most valuable resources in any company, senior management is incredibly supportive of the promoting that rep so they can impart their selling skills on a wider group of average performing sales reps and not loose him to a competitor.

Many of us found our role in sales without much deep thought or career planning, I know I certainly did! Being in sales seemed like a great way to make money, work on my own terms, and not have to sit in an office all day…what could go wrong?

When it comes to today’s B2B technology buyers, how you market your technology has become as important, if not more so, than what you sell. As a seller, you have to navigate customers’ organizational politics and help them make the BUSINESS CASE to others for purchasing your technology.

The problem with most large Blue Chip or Enterprise corporations is that they only source products and services from large enterprise companies. To avert risk, and have the ability to deliver at scale they prefer to purchase their advice from the top tier professional service firms. With technology being key, the most significant being IT Consultancies and Providers.

According to the Sales Benchmark Index, “86% of revenue in complex B2B sales environments is being generated by just 13% of the sales population.”* Ulysses Partners’ David Milligan and Exceed Global’s Sue Aspinall recently shared their insights into why:

In technology sales, particularly with larger multinationals, sales teams tend to create customer conversations that are product-centric and technology driven - often not touching on the value drivers, business outcomes, and trends that are creating demand for the technology. These are also key inputs needed by executives in their decision-making process. So why the gap?

Larger technology companies typically have a matrix-like structure within which pockets of industry expertise are scattered and not scaled. This leads to a gap in the sales team’s ability to understand the client’s industry and use that knowledge to create better client conversations - and in turn, more effectively showcase the value their technology can create. Furthermore, by building these insights into the sales process itself, it moves the salesperson’s role from “order-taker” to “business partner”.

In an industry changing as rapidly as financial services, the need for sales conversations with a greater business context has become crucial. For example, an understanding of concepts like ‘embedded finance’ and ‘open banking’ helps executives and technology sales teams dramatically improve their outcomes.

Moreover, a recently delivered training by Ulysses Partners and Exceed Global showed that this understanding not only helped to improve the size of the sale - but also the delivery expectations of the customer with regards to the solution being sold.

This opens an interesting question: How many deals are left on the table or client expectations misread because the discussion was product-focused and not business outcome driven?

Exceed and Ulysses Partners work together to develop and deliver training customized programs for firms selling to financial services industry (FSI) clients. Reach out to learn more today.

It’s not - as some early definitions suggested - just about maximising the value of your solution to the customer. It is, in fact, about prioritising your potential customers' desires over pushing your ideal product. If the salesperson adopts a customer-focused mindset, they can see the overarching journey from their perspective, which ultimately highlights the touchpoints that you can assist them on.

Key benefits of outcome-based selling:
- Customer relationships – being seen as part of their team
- Enhances solution value – it is their solution
- Increased win rate – time is money, doing it sooner is better

These benefits are achieved by listening to your customers, prioritising their needs, and making them feel valued.

How do I start outcome-based selling?

David Milligan, founder and principal at Ulysses Partners talks about the rapidly changing Financial Services Industry and the importance for salespeople to understand the industries into which they sell.

See below link for more info

Becoming a trusted advisor

Many of us are familiar with the expression: “People don’t leave companies; they leave managers.” Why do they leave managers? Because they are not being coached, developed and motivated to do their best. If that’s true of managers in general, it’s doubly true of sales managers, whose sales team’s pay is generally tied directly to performance. All too often when a successful Account Manager is promoted to Sales Manager there is little, or no coaching and training provided. It’s a totally different job!

So, what successful sales manager traits are needed to drive a high performing sales team?