Holden has focused its sales training on the refinement of Power Base®
Methodology (see Figure 1). Five Tangible Ways to. Implement Insight-. Driven
Selling.
HOW? TO BE COMPETE READY
Insight-Driven Selling: Refining Raw Data into the Wisdom that Drives Action
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Insight-Driven Selling Refining Raw Data into the Wisdom that Drives Action
“Today, the sales professional has to develop that same discipline and rigor.” In this age of information overload, successful sellers must develop insight—the ability to derive relevant value from information to offer business improvement for the customer. To promote this goal, Holden has focused its sales training on the refinement of Power Base® Methodology (see Figure 1).
Five Tangible Ways to Implement InsightDriven Selling
Fig 1. Insight-Driven Compete Selling through Power Base ® Methodology
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Po Me we th r Ba od s olo e ® gy
“Business strategists and leaders use frameworks to quickly synthesize lots of data into actionable information,” says Ryan Kubacki, president of the sales training leader Holden International.
Stage
Introduction
WISDOM
INSIGHT
II
INFORMATION
I
DATA Types of Knowledge Traditional approaches to information place an excessive value on accumulating large quantities of raw data. Power Base® Methodology refines this data into useful insights, yielding the actionable wisdom that empowers your organization to win.
1) Adopt sales methodologies that are strategic, usable and coachable.
2) Dynamic Account Management must replace static Account Planning.
One effective method is the use of easy-to-apply “operational expressions.” These provide a simple “topic sentence” that’s not only usable by sellers, but also lets managers know that their sellers understand the insight. Examples include:
The domain of traditional account planning is “information” in the worst sense of the term—data in its raw bulk form. Holden president Kubacki describes the result as “forcing sellers to create 100-page account plans they never use.” By contrast, Holden International implements the “2-page account plan” as part of its Power Base® Account Management Discipline. This is a living document for the sales organization, made to be used and actually contributing to sales success.
› Value Statements: Nets out CBIs, areas of improvement, business impact › Competitive Strategy Statements › Political Support Base Map: A single graphic that overlays level of influence and level of support (see Figure 2 on the next page).
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3) Sales management software should focus on preparing the seller for action— not on collecting data for HQ reporting.
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Fig 2. Political Support Base Map
sales opportunity and literally predict a win or a loss (see Figure 3).
4) Build in time for strategic thinking— especially unconventional thinking.
Part of Holden International’s efox sales software, Support Base Mapping, facilitates winning strategies by giving the seller a visual representation of how various individuals need to be approached in order to ensure success.
The best sales management software, such as Holden International’s efox™, is optimized for precisely this purpose. For example, efox provides an artificial intelligence-driven web application that focuses on forming and winning new opportunities—including the ability to take in all relevant information about a pending
Customer Politics: The conventional view of a customer is characterized by authority and responsibility. Unconventionally, Holden looks beyond the formal organization chart and seeks out influence. Every customer’s organization has an informal Power Base®, an influential body of closely networked people. At the center of the Power Base® is a Fox: a very powerful individual, not necessarily at the top of the organization, but who can work in exception to company policy and who is rarely surprised by events. “Prime sales opportunities are missed every day,” Holden’s Kubacki reports, “simply because sellers fail to identify—or cultivate—their Fox.” Competitive Strategy: Every organization has its areas of vulnerability. Every successful organization manages vulnerability—exposing and exploiting its competitor’s vulnerability while masking its own. Toward this end, Holden International trains sales organizations to employ four distinct types of Competitive Strategy. The most unconventional of these is an Indirect Strategy, in which a seller is able to change the buying criteria with
Fig 3. efox Opportunity Management Software The easily mastered user interface of this efox “dashboard” embodies the goal of data simplification. Note the “red light / green light” prompts in the center of the screen, providing concrete guidance for immediate action by the seller.
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“Today, the sales professional has to develop that same discipline and rigor.” the help of the Fox in a way that plays to your strengths while exposing a competitor’s weakness—and does it at the 11th hour to surprise and defeat the competition.
5) Current results can be a lagging indicator of sales performance. Instead, focus obsessively on leading indicators that measure insight-driven behavior. Look forward, not back. The best indicator of your future sales may not be current sales numbers, but metrics
that reflect your successful installation of the program. Are your sales managers able to coach insight? Can your sellers succinctly articulate Value Statements, Political Support Base Maps and Competitive Strategy Statements? By helping you oversee these benchmarks of implementation, Holden International can show you HOW to ensure that Power Base® Selling principles are truly taking root in your organization—setting you on the path to accelerating and self-sustaining sales success.
About Holden International Recognized as the pioneer of the sales methodology industry with the introduction of Power Base® Selling in 1979, Holden invented the category of “Compete Sales Strategy” and is uniquely able to provide insight into competitive deals with a coachable and sustainable approach that makes how you sell—rather than what you sell—a nontraditional competitive advantage. Holden has continued to innovate, and today offers B2B organizations and sellers its new Power Base® Compete Strategy model. This model makes Compete selling a management science that can be understood and replicated via an integrated platform of “competitive must win deal” coaching, advanced Compete sales training, sales manager coaching, and software and e-learning reinforcement. Holden’s approach helps clients defeat competitors to “take market share” in a way that not only improves customer loyalty but also drives higher revenue growth, increased profit margins, and shorter sales cycles. To learn how you can outsell your competition, go to www.holdenintl.com.
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