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Senior executives value ideas and impact.  Focus on the hole—not the drill.

The business challenges faced by executives today are more varied and complex than ever before.  As they emerge from the economic downturn, many companies are looking for top-line revenue growth without taking on fixed costs.  How can we build and expand hospitals that deliver world-class health care at a reasonable cost?  How can we cut product launch time to get new products on shelves faster?  How can we integrate our field, web, and telesales channels to increase charge card adoption and usage?

Often, there’s no clear-cut answer for the executive. The best solution for these complex challenges could involve a myriad of action paths:  process change, outsourcing, technology, new marketing campaigns, people development and training, and so on.  Each of these would require an investment in time, money, and resources.  Wanting to avoid making “big bets” and costly mistakes, the customer executive needs proof that one course of action makes the most sense before proceeding with it.

In markets and selling environments such as today’s, the solutions provider has a tremendous opportunity to serve the customer by leading with ideas and providing thought leadership throughout the selling process.  A customer values an idea that a solutions provider brings to the table to the extent that the idea addresses a significant opportunity or problem that the customer faces.  As you move higher in the customer organization, the importance of compelling ideas becomes even greater.

However, the challenge for sellers is significant.  Senior executives are looking for more than just “your answer.”  They are focused on the impact that a solution provider can bring, not the features and functions of the solution.  In carpentry terms, customers are interested in “the hole—not the drill.”

In addition, the busy executive may not want to spend meeting time simply answering questions about her business.  Calendars are tight; why should she spend her time educating you?

Increasingly, solutions providers have modified the selling process by leading with ideas in their sales process.  This approach differs significantly from other traditional selling methods; two dimensions of it are differentiators:  the impact of the idea on the customer’s business, and the complexity of the solution that is ultimately delivered to fulfill the idea.

In Part 2, we’ll take a closer look at the customer decision process, and the steps that a solutions provider can take to lead with ideas in guiding the customer.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 12th, 2011 at 10:19 am and is filed under Sales Alignment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.