How To Sell E-Services

When you have completed the first part of this multi-part series by sales consultant Kendra Lee, you will know:
* Who to target when selling e-services.
* How to create a vision for your customers.
* How to build support throughout the client organization.

If you are an executive looking to expand your business through the Internet, you'll find a wealth of "what you should be doing ideas" just about everywhere you look. Business magazines have raced to add e-coverage to their pages, and a multitude of books, journals and Web-sites will help you go online and maximize your business through a number of e-services.

But what if you are the sales representative calling on that executive? It's likely you won't find much to guide you, aside from the advice of your boss, and general selling articles on subjects like cold-calling. At the same time, opportunities for selling e-services abound. About half of 150 information technology managers surveyed in a recent poll by VARBusiness sister publication InformationWeek Research say they soon will build an e-business model from scratch. Overwhelmingly, they say they will need help: 67 percent expect to outsource at least part of the job in the next 12 months, the study finds.

Direct sales representatives will play a big role in matching those executives with the e-services they need to expand their businesses on the Web. So let's take a look at some of the ways sales reps can do their job well. This article is the first in a series that will take an in-depth look at this subject in coming months. Here, we will cover the basics: Who makes the buying decision; how to help buyers envision their e-potential; how to help businesses realize those visions; and finally, how to create a sense of urgency to buy.

Sell To The Top Executives

Sales people working with technical, complex services make a very common mistake in selling. They aim too low on the totem pole and usually wind up pitching operational managers. But e-service decisions are not made at the tactical or operational level: They are strategic decisions made by top-level executives who own a piece of the business. Eventually, you probably will need support from executives in the various affected departments. However, you always must start at the top, contacting high-level executives and helping them answer the questions: What impact do you expect the Internet to have on your business in the next 12 months? How do you see yourself responding to that impact?

Nearly two-thirds of the managers in InformationWeek Research's survey say their company's Internet plans are about keeping up with the competition. More than 80 percent also report wanting to improve relations with customers, business partners and suppliers. What business needs are driving the companies you sell to? You won't know for sure until you ask. Whether you are working with Fortune 500, mid-market or small companies, your initial efforts should focus on understanding the highest level business goals, challenges and initiatives of your client. From there, you can help make e-services recommendations and build e-services solutions that makes sense for your customer.

Build A Vision For Your Customers

Customers want to find ways to tap the Internet to increase revenue and cut costs. Your goal is to help them do that. Start by helping customers clearly envision what they can accomplish. Nearly every business is thinking about creative ways to use the Internet, but in every industry the level of e-services implementation and savvy is different. Travel companies were creating new revenue streams on the Internet from the get-go; large retailers set up shop soon after, but medical practitioners barely have begun to think about how they can take advantage of the Internet. Forward-thinking visionaries now are giving suppliers and partners access to their back-office systems to lower costs and speed acquisitions. How do you successfully approach your various customers about e-services? Answer: By doing your homework.

To be prepared, read the technical and business periodicals your prospects are reading to understand what they might be thinking and what they are seeing as possibilities with e-services. Peruse the Internet. Look at your customers' and other companies' sites. Subscribe to online newsletters and periodicals related to e-business strategies. It sounds obvious and old-school to do your research, but many sales representatives don't do it because it is too much work. Set yourself apart as a well-versed advisor your customers can trust.

Be on the look out for examples that will help your customers see the Internet's possibilities. Take your examples from other customers you have worked with, situations you have read about and ideas the customers themselves have. Talk to your customers' customers, and their competitors' customers as well. Use this body of information in a conversation with customers to answer questions like: What do you want the Internet to do for you? Where do you believe the Internet can take your company?

From this, you will develop a clearer picture of your customers' visions. Now, use the information you've gathered in your research to help expand on those visions and to visualize even greater possibilities for their businesses. Show how to implement their visions in manageable pieces that help them achieve their business goals. And don't forget, this type of planning service has tremendous value to an executive. It is sold by companies like Andersen Consulting, IBM, EDS and many regional consulting firms. If you start customers on the path of realizing and expanding on their visions, you have just done something for free as a sales rep that they might otherwise have paid a consultant for. In turn, the customer probably will involve you in the whole process. You will have built a strong executive relationship and won a much bigger opportunity in the long run.

Partner

Few companies can offer a complete e-solution without partnering. For example, to set up e-commerce, businesses need shipping partners to send merchandise, banking partners to collect money, along with application partners and an expanded internal infrastructure, such as additional customer service representatives, to have a successful implementation. Your company may or may not offer every service necessary. But if you help your customers brainstorm everything they must to consider about implementing complete solutions - not just the technology but the business solution - you have just upped your value. A typical example of insufficient partnering is a music products company that went online with excellent offerings, but had such a weak shipping system it couldn't get products in the promised timeframe. Other companies struggle to handle the surge in incremental customer complaints. Your role is critical in helping customers foresee such problems and find the partners that can support their entire vision.

Build Support For The Vision Throughout The Organization

E-services affect multiple levels of the customers' organizations. Once you have a clear vision of what your customers want to achieve, set up meetings with every executive in the organization who will be affected by a new direction. Get to know each of their needs and expectations before formulating your final recommendations and/or solution. Then, offer a solution that takes everyone's desires into account. You many not be able to offer a solution that fits all desires in the first phase. In fact, you probably cannot. But note the needs you have uncovered and how you might be able to address them in future phases. Recapping all the needs you've uncovered and presenting a phased in solution that takes them all into consideration will be of higher value than a single point solution.

Respond With A Sense of Urgency

The Internet is all about speed: Speed to market, speed of acquisition, speed of delivery, speed of response. If you are selling e-anything, customers expect a quick response to Web inquires, voice mail and e-mail. Remember, fully two-thirds of IT managers surveyed say they feel their Web solution must keep up with the competition's. The market is driving rapid change, and you must recognize where your customers are in their e-services mindsets to set your strategy and respond accordingly.

Geoffrey Moore, author of Inside The Tornado describes which buyers are most likely to invest in new technologies such as e-services. Buyers who are Laggards (the last to make a new technology investment) will take the longest to make a move toward an e-services strategy and have the least chance for resounding success due to their slow acceptance. Mainstreet buyers recognize the need to keep up with the competition and not be "Amazoned" by some upstart dot.com. These are traditional brick and mortar companies such as Barnes and Noble. They will have significant success implementing an e-services solution if they are able to effectively integrate their existing IT infrastructure into the new solution and will be interested in hearing what you have to say. Finally, Early Market buyers are the visionaries. They see the potential of where they can take their companies through e-services and are willing to do what it takes to realize that vision and create a standard all others will try to achieve. Dot.com companies are an excellent example of Early Market visionaries, although other companies can fit this pattern as well. These businesses will have the greatest opportunity for success due to their speed, flexibility and vision.

Despite the heat in the market for any product or service related to the Internet, the job of the sales representative is still no easier than it ever has been. It still takes hard work, good listening skills, and lots of research and preparation to make a good recommendation to a qualified lead. The biggest advantage? A very large pay off. Invest time in reaching high-level executives, creating a vision, partnering and building support throughout the organization, and you will have a very large sale - one that has grown from multi-thousands of dollars to multi-millions. That's a sum worth your while.

As principal and founder of The KLA Group, LLC, of Littleton, Colorado, Kendra Lee provides sales development consulting and training. She focuses on sales process streamlining, skills assessments, new market penetration, lead generation, sales differentiation and e-selling. She has been a featured speaker for national conferences on the topic of improved sales performance through personal responsibility.

Articles about or by Lee have appeared in numerous publications including Sales & Marketing Management, VARBusiness, Selling!, The Denver Business Journal, The Denver Post and The Rocky Mountain News.

Lee has helped small entrepreneurial companies and large multi-million dollar companies alike improve their sales results. She can be reached at klee@klagroup.com or check out The KLA Group Web site at www.klagroup.com