Throughout every sale, there comes a moment when the prospective customer makes a decision to buy from you. It can happen anytime from the first phone conversation at the very beginning of the process through to your final negotiation. Regardless of when it happens, most partners don’t recognize when the event has occurred, and most don’t make an effort to influence its development. Before we talk about the “Diagnostic”, we should spend a few moments on what this “Tipping Point” really is.
Most ERP and CRM prospects are looking for assurance from an implementation partner that their money will be well spent, the project will solve the problems at hand and that their bottom line, people, customers and vendors will be positively impacted. In essence they are looking for a form of safety and it is your job as an account executive to sell it to them. When that sense of security is established, the Tipping Point is achieved and the prospect has mentally decided that you are the partner for them. They may still want a demo, proposal or any number of other sales activities, but the deal is yours to lose at this point.
One of the most powerful ways a partner can orchestrate a tipping point in a sales process is through the use of the Diagnostic service. At its core, the Diagnostic service is designed to:
- Provide assurance to the prospect that you will produce the results needed.
- Take the deal off the street in your favor.
Here are a few things to consider when creating your own set of Diagnostic services:
- It is typically a paid for service. Giving it away for free diminishes your value and introduces insecurity at a critical time in the relationship. Price it according to the value provided and what the market can bear. Remember, you will be using your best people to do this work so charge accordingly.
- Your Diagnostic(s) will be designed to “fill the holes” in the prospect’s software selection process or implementation project. These holes are identified by your account executive during the profiling stage of the sales process and come from keeping eyes and ears open for clues from the first moment of contact. It also helps, but is not essential, to have a few years of experience implementing ERP/CRM systems. Most prospects have been involved in ERP/CRM implementations perhaps 3 or 4 times in their existence. Most partners have been involved in dozens if not hundreds. You should be able identify when a prospect company is making critical mistakes during their selection, purchase and implementation processes that will lead to delay, disaster or distress.
Here are just a few examples of holes to fill and related Diagnostic services that could fill the need.
| Stage | “Hole” or Deficiency Found | Partner’s Diagnostic Offering |
|---|---|---|
| Software/Vendor Selection | Prospect insists on getting vendor demos, but have no way of quantifying or qualifying results. | Selection scorecard and process |
| Project Funding | There is no financial justification the ERP/CRM project | Business case development |
| Implementation | Prospect is unclear of the impact the new system will have on the organization, customers or vendors. | Strategic Impact Assessment |
| Implementation | The prospect appears to be unprepared, organizationally, for an ERP/CRM implementation. | Readiness Assessment |
| Implementation | There is no scope defined for the project | Vision and Scope Development |
| Software/Vendor Selection | Prospect wants a proof of concept but is unprepared to orchestrate and quantify the process. | Proof of Concept |
There are in fact dozens of Diagnostic offerings you can create depending on the type of customers and projects you pursue, the skill set of your sales and consulting staff and your competitive environment.
Remember that as an account executive responsible for bringing home new clients to feed your company, introducing security to the prospect early in the sales cycle is critical to your success rate. You can start developing Diagnostic services almost immediately. Here are a few starter steps:
- Conduct a brainstorming session between an owner and an experienced account executive and most senior consultant to identify prior projects where “holes” in the customers approach created project challenges. Create 1 Diagnostic to start with. Think about:
- When could the hole have been identified during the sales cycle with the right digging?
- What service could the consultant perform to correct the deficiency in their approach?
- How much would the client pay to have the project progress more smoothly?
- Formalize the service with simple templates and documentation to provide continuity.
- Find a prospect currently in the pipeline that could use the service.
- Conduct your first Diagnostic and refine your approach.
- Teach the rest of your sales team how to identify and sell the service
- Over time, train another consultant on delivery of the new Diagnostic service
If you need help working through any of these concepts, feel free to contact me at Salesworks.
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About the Author
Ross Allen
Ross Allen’s expertise at SALESWORKS is to ensure that all businesses adapt and maintain a consistent approach to managing their businesses, and selling and delivering ERP and CRM projects. His extensive experience in systems analysis and sales process engineering enable him to rapidly develop and execute flexible technology implementations.
