Sector-specific
NEWSLETTERS
For news, views & latest opportunities, subscribe to our free sector-specific or general M&A newsletters.
For news, views & latest opportunities, subscribe to our free sector-specific or general M&A newsletters.
We are delighted with the outcome Prism has achieved for us. Sure, at one point we were a little concerned that the marketplace might not allow the sale to take place, however with Prism’s perseverance and professionalism they met our objectives and we cannot thank them enough.
Iain and Sue Robertson - RapidHost
The Sales Process By Tony Wilson, Technology Business Consultant
Unfortunately, in many companies the sales process consists of a group of people essentially waiting for orders to turn up. Sometimes, the process may involve chasing contracts when they are known to be coming, but otherwise there can be very little pro-active activity apart from this routine lead-generation.
In today’s competitive world, this is simply not good enough. There is a need to have an effective and efficient sales process together with a consistent means of measuring it. If you can convince a potential buyer that you have this in place you are likely to increase their interest in you in addition to enhancing the value of your company. There are several things that an enlightened buyer will be looking for which have been highlighted below:
This is not directly about your product or service, what you are selling quite simply needs to be a solution to a customer problem. After all, why do your customers buy from you? Because your technology is exciting? I don’t think so! Because your product is sexy? Nope! Most customers only buy when what you are offering actually helps them to make their business run better, either by solving a problem or by enabling new opportunities to be taken. So, if you realise this you will be in a better position to deliver a more effective sales proposition as you will be seeing things directly from your customers’ point of view.
How often do you win the initial evaluation, but end up losing the sale? This is usually because the people who actually place the order are different from the people who do the evaluating (to eliminate non-qualifying suppliers). So, do you know who evaluates, who approves, who holds the budget, who has to sign off, etc? What are their respective views of their business, what problems are they trying to solve, and, consequently, what are their views of the relative merits of your proposition? If you can’t show a prospective buyer that you understand this, and act upon it accordingly, the buyer is likely to conclude that you are just not making the grade.
Otherwise, how will you be able to craft appropriate proposals for them, and how will you know that what you are proposing will be acceptable?
Does the sales team pass the order directly to the operations team to execute and deliver? Or do they make themselves accountable for customer satisfaction every step of the way including post delivery?
Does your company have the concept of account management, where account managers are empowered to interact at all levels in order to ensure the relationship with each customer is properly managed? Thus building a more personal rapport with the customer whilst providing on-going reassurance and confidence that you are doing the job well and on schedule.
Is there a clear understanding of the steps within the sales process, and how do these relate to the steps that the customer takes in their buying process? Do you understand the customer’s buying process? What about the customer’s order ratification and sign-off process, for example?
If your sales process is well-defined, it is obviously clearer for the sales team to understand, implement and manage their objectives i.e. “We had a great meeting with that customer” no longer means “We had a friendly chat”, but “We made positive steps towards a sale”.
Unless your sales cycle (the time between lead identification and order placement) is very short, you should be measuring it. This allows you to more accurately forecast future business, associated cashflow and get an advanced warning of possible shortfalls, or increased demand. So think about: How many leads do you have? How many real prospects? Are the terms of these areas properly defined within your organisation?
What are the critical parameters in your sales process? Ratio of ‘first meetings’ to ‘contracts’? Number of active prospects? Number of sales calls it takes to win a contract? Do you measure these parameters? Are they improving or getting worse? How do your figures compare to industry norms, if available?
A prospective buyer of your company will be impressed if you can deal with all of the above, and should therefore value your business more highly as a result. Plus, it is good practice anyway – to help build a better and wholesome business.
Tony Wilson – Technology Business Consultant
On 19th May 2010, we held another successful seminar entitled ‘Maximise the Value of your ICT Business’ at the Honourable Artillery Company’s headquarters in the City.
Specifically for owners/managers of ICT businesses and associated intermediaries, the aim of the seminar was to advise delegates on how to maximise the value of their business, whether they were planning to sell or not. It also included an overview of the 6 essential elements to make businesses more valuable and attractive to others. Plus, the former owner of a successful ICT business sold by Prism gave an honest insight into his experiences and the lessons learnt throughout the selling process.
The morning proved a great success and we would like to thank all who attended.
Below are some comments we received:
If you were unable to make this event or would like to be kept informed of similar future events, please let us know by emailing events@prismcorporatebroking.com
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
