Upcoming Webinar: Keys to a Win Loss Program that Works

Your company knows that it needs feedback from the market to perform and a Win Loss program makes a lot of sense. Marketing can make adjustments. Sales can target their training. Product Development can build it closer to what the clients expect. Just one question:

What is the most effective way to run a Win Loss campaign to develop all of this information?

The opportunity to increase your sales and marketing success sits right at your doorstep. But, do you have everything you need to achieve the greatest potential? Can you make simple changes that will result in huge increases?

Primary Intelligence invites you to a presentation that will show:

How sales and marketing can work together to build a world-class program

Common obstacles that derail Win Loss initiatives in the early phases

Tactics that increase interview response rates

Real-world stories from successful Win Loss practitioners showing their innovative uses of results

Register Here

Keys to a Win Loss Program that WorksDate: Thursday, January 24, 2008
Time:
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
1:00 PM – 2:00 CDT
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM MDT
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PDT
Duration: 1 Hour
System Requirements:PC-based attendees: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, VistaMacintosh®-based requirements: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer


Those that will benefit include:

Marketing leaders

Market research managers

Market and Industry analysts

Product development managers

Sales leaders

Corporate leadership positions (CEO, CMO, CSO)

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now

New Primary Intelligence Corporate Website

This week, I have to give big kudos to our design department, and especially to Mark Larson who had a vision for our company website and usability. While our previous site was very usable and conveyed our value well, it was very product oriented. Sometimes, visitors had to work too hard to figure out how we fit into their world.

Now, the website has been broken down into three major categories:

1. Who we help
2. What we offer
3. Who we are

Under each of these, visitors will find a great deal of information that is focused right on their needs.

1 – Who we help – Here, you will find information for C-Level Executives, Sales Managers, Marketing, Sales Professionals and Market Research professionals.

2 – What we offer – Our intelligence services are easy to access and understand. Here, visitors will find information on our competitive intelligence and sales intelligence services such as Win Loss, Sales Confidence Index, Target Prospecting, Competitive Analysis and Client Retention

3 – Who we are – Provides information about our company and thought leadership. Here, visitors can see our newsletters, blogs, articles, webinars and information about our company.

The whole redesign was accomplished with the goal of helping business professionals find solutions more quickly. We hope you’ll give us a visit and let us know what you think. (http://www.primary-intel.com/)

You can leave a comment to this blog entry or send me an email with your thoughts. (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)

Competitive Intelligence Newsletter – Can Sales People Sell through Change?

This week, we examine the world of sales and the importance of monitoring their performance in the sea of change we call “their world.” Science has shown that many people (sales reps included) have difficulties accepting changes and variation that are common in business life. Primary Intelligence shows a way to head of problems before attitudinal issues hurt the pipeline.

As always, if you would like to a no-cost semi-weekly subscription to the Primary Intelligence Competitive Intelligence Newsletter, send an email to info@primaryintelligence.com with your name and email address. You will receive the next issue.

Cover Story
You Moved My Cheese! How Can I Sell?
By RoxAnne Loosle, Primary Intelligence
A company's desire to reduce sales force turnover and to develop a confident sales force make tracking a company's sales force's attitudes very important. The vocal minority aren't always the best source on which to base sales initiatives or policies...(For more, click here)

BlogCentral
Competitive Intelligence Tip #1 for 2008 - Make Your CI Produce Revenue
Information costs money? Intelligence makes money!” Essentially, any competitive information that a business manager acts on becomes intelligence...(For more, click here)

The A-List Archive
Bloomington Hospital & Healthcare Selects McKesson for Its Information Needs
Originally Published in March 2005.
Bloomington Hospital & Healthcare System's contracts for its health information systems were coming up for renewal, so the organization decided to reevaluate its options. It looked for a solution that could be integrated throughout the entire enterprise...(For more, click here)

A Really Cool Competitive Intelligence Presentation We Made Recently…

A couple of weeks ago, RoxAnne Loosle (Pronounced Loose-LEE, in case you want to give her a call at 801-838-9600 x5052) presented Win Loss findings to one of our clients. In this case, we targeted our intelligence efforts at two specific competitors, gathering data and creating analysis based on recent sales interactions and opportunities (won and lost) by our client.

Due to the confidential nature of our interactions with our clients, I can’t share specific information from the presentation. However, I will share some overall concepts that were brought to light in the presentation that would be considered “hidden gems.”

Our client found that they were leading their competitor consistently in the following areas:

Industry experience (Company Driver)

Technology reputation (Company Driver)

Stability (Company Driver)

References (Sales Team Driver)

Product knowledge (Sales Team Driver)

Areas of weakness were identified as:

Ability to customize (Product Driver)

Purchase cost (Product Driver)

Service cost (Product Driver)

Understanding these performance comparisons is so very important to our clients and their ability to grow market share. Not only were we able to show where the strengths and weaknesses exist today, we also provided specific feedback on those specific points to show why the scores were lower (in comparison with the competitors) and how they could be most effectively brought online.

In addition, we spent time showing our client:

The sales stage where they are eliminated as a vendor in the purchase process when they lose.

A comparison of their overall solution cost compared with the competition

Key marketing activities that influenced the sale

The intelligence we provided has direct relevance to the marketing, sales and product leaders. They left the call, graciously thanking us for the report and 20+ slides of data and recommendation.

It’s fun to share our findings with clients. In some cases, our findings are eye-opening. In others, we affirm information or sentiments based on unrelated efforts. Either way, there is satisfaction in being part of strategic and tactical initiatives that build company momentum.

If you want to chat about these kinds of results, reach out. I enjoy a chance to hear from different people. (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050) And, if you want to talk to someone that knows what she’s doing, RoxAnne is always happy to talk about the work she can do.

Growing your Sales Skills with Feedback from Prospects

Over the past couple of months, I have spent a good deal of time speaking with our clients (past and present) about their use of our services. For those not familiar with Primary Intelligence, we are a company that produces Win Loss analysis, a specific form of research based on your company’s recent sales opportunities.

One of the reasons for the calls with our clients is to understand how they assimilate our data into their processes to be more effective. While we have many notions (based on assumptions) of how our clients should be able to find value in our services, it has been fascinating to “observe” how they are putting this program to work, either as a standalone or holistic sales intelligence program.

When I finish this exercise, I’ll create a Sales Intelligence best practice report. Not only will in include best practices, it will also include some outlying innovations create by our base. If you would like to receive a copy of this, please send me a message (Chris, cdalley@primary-intel.com)

In many of our most successful implementations, the sales group is in charge of the Win Loss program. While this might seem like a natural thing, Marketing and Competitive Intelligence departments are also interested in Win Loss for their own purposes.

Those that are most committed to using research and client feedback to make improvements have implemented regular debriefs with the sales rep and their manager. These meetings do not have to be long and they certainly are not meant to devalue the efforts of anyone in the deal. Instead, the sales operations or sales training representative uses the client feedback to illustrate the real needs of prospects, talk about trends that are emerging from deals all over the company and reinforce specific skills that have been trained in the company.

In these cases, sales reps are becoming more effective. And, interestingly, the more engaged the sales rep gets with the feedback, the more willing they seem to be to offer up more of their opportunities for review. Once they see Win Loss for what it is (building, training and improvement) rather than a witch hunt, the entire tone changes.

Whether your company looks to 3rd-parties to deliver this feedback or maintains the program internally, I recommend that the client feedback be presented to the sales reps in a form that is as unfiltered as possible. Sales reps want to be more productive. If their efforts with prospects can show them how to be more successful in the future, why wouldn’t they get behind this type of effort?

10 Ways to Become a Better Sales Person

Welcome to the New Year.


Hopefully, you have been able to keep your resolutions for 3 days so far. If one of you resolutions was to improve your sales results in 2008, Jim Klein, a sales training professional, offers the following:

Being a better salesperson is more than learning new skills and techniques. Here are my top ten ways to become a better salesperson:


1. Smile and Walk Tall
Changing your physiology is a great way to feel better about everything going around you.


I want you to try an experiment. I want you to think and act as if you are totally depressed. Come on do this with me. Stand up and act like you're totally depressed. Notice how you are standing. Your shoulders are slumped. Your head is down. Your face is sad and your breathing is shallow.


Feels pretty awful doesn't it?


Okay, Now I want you to imagine a time when you felt on top of the world, when everything was going your way, you couldn't lose. How are you standing? Your shoulders are back, head is up, your breathing is deep and you've got a big smile on your face.


Feel the difference?


2. Surround Yourself with People Who Support You
One of the most important steps you can take in your life is to build relationships with people who genuinely care about you and will support you as you go through life.


I'm talking about people who will love you during hard times and celebrate with you during the good times. People who will be painfully honest and compassionately sympathetic. People who will make you laugh and motivate you and encourage you to be that person you were meant to be.

3. Read Positive Books at Least 15 Minutes Every Day
There's a wealth of information that has been written for you to absorb. What goes in your mind is what will come out. So fill it with good, positive information and good, positive things will happen in your life.


I suggest you start your own library. Go buy a bookshelf and set a goal to fill it with books you've read. Set up an account at Amazon or Barnes and Noble and invest in your education.


The UPS truck shows up regularly at my house with deliveries from Amazon.


If you don't want to buy them, get a library card. There free!


What books should you read? Start with Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.


4. Post Your Goals and Read Them Twice a Day
Post your goals where you'll see them at different times during your day. Put them on the bathroom mirror, in your car, your office, near your computer. Write them on a 3 x 5 card and pull out the card every chance you get and read them.


Make two specific times when you take them out and read them. One is first thing in the morning before you do anything else. This will start your day focused on your goals and their achievement.


The second is right before you go to bed. This practice will give your subconscious mind something positive to work on during the night.


5. Be Grateful For The Little Things
Find time every day to be grateful for all you have. We all have something we can be grateful for. Some of these are little things that we take for granted like our health, our home, our friends, the food in the refrigerator. Focusing on what you're grateful for will bring more of it in to your life.


I'm grateful every day when I wake up and my feet hit the floor.


6. Spend Time Doing What Matter Most
We waste too much time on things that bring little enjoyment into our lives. It's time to spend our time doing the things that matter most.


Have dinner with your family. Attend your child's play or baseball game. Help an elderly person cross the street. Take a walk and enjoy the view.


Some things are more important than money, status, power and prestige. Invest some of your time into those activities and see if it doesn't change the way you feel.


7. Treat Stumbling Blocks as Stepping Stones
So what if you didn't make that big sale, your girlfriend left you, your boss chewed you out or you made a big mistake?


Your life isn't over. So keep your eyes on your goals.


What did you do right? What did you learn? How can you use this to make yourself better or stronger? What will you do different the next time?


Use it as a stepping stone to take you to the next level.


I've had some of my biggest periods of growth after major setbacks.


8. Help others to succeed
When you're gone, nobody will be talking about how much money you made or how many awards you won, they will be talking about the lives you touched and the difference you made.


Success is so sweet when you can share your knowledge and caring with others. Give of yourself. It will make the people you touch feel good and I know how it will make you feel.


The sad part is when people come to the end of their lives and think about all the things they wish they'd done.


9. Reward yourself
When you sell that big account or reach a goal you set, reward yourself. Go buy something you've always wanted, take a trip, go out for an expensive dinner. Do something nice for you. You deserve it.


10. Tomorrow is a New Day
No matter what happened today, good or bad. You can go to sleep tonight knowing that tomorrow the slate is wiped clean. You get a fresh new 24 hours to accomplish any thing you want.

Article Source: ArticleYard

How Does Walmart Affect Your B2B Sales Opportunity?

So, you are selling a multi-million dollar health care plan covering nearly 100,000 lives and right in the middle of things, Wal-Mart throws a wrench in the works.

How can that be? Wal-Mart doesn’t sell health insurance. But, still Wal-Mart becomes the pivotal factor in a sales loss for Vision Care:

Primary Intelligence: What were the primary reasons you did not select Vision Care?
Vision Care: “We were impressed with Vision Care’s overall solution and bid, but it just did not provide that much in addition to what we had with the incumbent, FocusCare. The costs and plans were very close, but we did not really see anything in the Vision Care plan or the Vision Care pricing that would compel us to make a move.

We weren’t unhappy with FocusCare. One thing that was a bit of a concern with Vision Care was one of the major vendors that our employees use, Wal-Mart, was not in the Vision Care network. If our employees don't get much of a break, but have to change their provider, that costs the company.”

Everything else being nearly equal, Vision Care loses because it doesn’t have the right providers in its network. All other value propositions were met and the rates were competitive.

If Vision Care wants to be a serious contender, selling to multi-billion dollar enterprises, this information has to be pushed up to the executive boardroom immediately. This feedback, delivered in a timely fashion, will make a huge difference in the future.

What are you doing to consistently collect sales intelligence? How far does this information travel within your organization?

Let’s talk about Primary Intelligence’s ability to provide feedback on all of your sales opportunities. Your prospects are waiting to tell you how to win next time. (801-838-9600 x5050 - Chris)