This SlideShare presentation is an extract of the content I use to train sales people, sales leaders, and executives on a sales and buyer research model for today's dynamic sales environment.

1. Adapting your sales model to an age of
disruption
Mark Parker
mparker@smartselling.com

2. Confidentiality and Intellectual Property
Some material contained in this presentation remains the property of CEB Inc. This information is identified
via a copyright mark on respective pages. This information has been sourced from publicly available content.
Other content contained in this presentation is licensed under Creative Commons Australia ‘Attribution’ and
‘Share Alike’
This presentation is an extract of a 3-hour workshop to train sales
leaders and executives.
It introduces you to:
1. The basics of the Challenger Sales Model;
2. Buyer Personas and why they are important
3. Creating real differentiators
4. The role of commercial teaching
5. (re)Constructing your unique sales proposition
Introduction

3. Part 1 – What Buyers Are Doing

4. New Buyer Behaviours

5. New Buyer Behaviours

6. Five Profiles of Sales Reps
© CEB All Rights Reserved

7. New Buyer Behaviours

8. Sales Skills in the Digital Era
Digital Era
Nature of the sales
conversation
Ideal Sales Rep
Profile
Key Stakeholders
to Engage
When We Engage
Flow of Information
Time
Buyer Access
to Info
Lead with Insight
Challenger
Mobilisers/Agitator
s
When buyer is
ready to learn
Three Dimensional
Drivers of Buyer Loyalty
• Rep offers unique, valuable
perspectives on the market
• Rep is able to help
validate/navigate alternatives
• Rep has deep business acumen
• Rep educates on new issues and
outcomes
• Supplier has widespread support
across organisation
© CEB All Rights Reserved

9. Part 2 – Understanding the Buyer Persona
Not all buyers are the same

10. The First Missing Link
1. Do all buyers want innovative products/services
from you?
2. What pain points are your buyers experiencing?

11. What is a Buyer Persona?
In simple terms:
• An effort to ensure you understand and/or actively track the key
drivers in terms of their pain, their gain, and how you then
might engage with them
• Can and should be completed at:
• The head office level
• Within key SBU’s
• Geographically and/or key buyers
Many of you may already do this

12. Buyer Personas – Red Button Group
© The Red Button Group Pty Ltd.

13. Part 3 – What is a Differentiator
Imprecise and over-used descriptors are among the most
over-used ‘differentiators’

14. The Second Missing Link – Being Different
The second missing link in Insight Selling is how YOU define a
differentiator.
• Numerous models exist inc:
• Porters Five Forces
• BCG Matrix
• Blue Ocean Strategy
• VRIO is a powerful model that focuses on your internal
capabilities and readiness
• Value
• Rarity
• Imitability
• Organisation

15. VRIO Defined
• Value – do we have resources (i.e. products, services, or
capability) that can be utilised to exploit an opportunity?
• Rarity – Are these resources in the hands of a relative few?
• Imitability – Is the cost to imitate, copy, or follow high or low?
• Organisation – Are you organised, ready, willing, and able to
capitalise on this value?

16. Part 4 – What is Commercial Teaching
Effective commercial teaching is about leading to your
differentiators, not leading with them

17. Commercial Teaching
Effective commercial teaching is about leading to your
differentiators, not with them:
• Focus on the buyer/customer – be relentless in discussing their
issues
• Build empathy
• Reframe their understanding of their world
• Teach, Tailor, Take Control

18. How to engage the market maker/Innovator

19. What Is Commercial Teaching?
Effective Commercial Teaching is about leading to your strengths – not with them!
© 2015 CEB All Rights Reserved

20. What Is Commercial Teaching?
Why? Why?
Why? Why?
Effective Commercial Teaching involves the ability to teach, tailor, and take control

21. Part 5 – Constructing a Value Proposition
A process to lead the buyer to your unique strength

22. A Purposeful Choreography

23. Purposeful Choreography - Warmer
The purpose of the warmer is to build empathy. Key points:
• It’s not about you - The conversation, whether it is face to
face or digital needs to be about the customer
• Establish relevance – make it clear you not only understand
their problems but the insight you provide will be directly
related
• Create Curiosity – build suspense so they will want to hear
more.

24. Reframe the way your customer assigns value
to those areas where you outperform your
competitors
Purposeful Choreography - Reframe

25. Purposeful Choreography - Reframe
The purpose of the reframe is to tell the buyer something they
don’t know
• Problems behind the problems – break it to your audience
that their problems will not be solved with the solutions they
have requested.
• Maintain relevance – relate your reframe to the concerns they
found most relevant during the warmer
• Keep it sparse – provide valuable insights (shock & awe) but
don’t give up the farm OR go into solution mode!

26. Three Ways to Reframe
© CEB All Rights Reserved

27. Purposeful Choreography – Rational Drowning
This phase is a gradual intensification of the problem.
• Validate the scope/intensity with hard facts – provide data
to validate your reframe.
• Make clear connections – Guide them further along the path
you wish them to take
• Check for understanding – your audience needs to
understand the key points you are presenting
• Provide a clear display of expertise – doing so will matter far
more during the buying process
Example: The impact of lack of oversight of distribution partners

28. Purposeful Choreography – Emotional Impact
Bring the problem to life – make a personal connection
• Tie to KPI’s – do your homework and relate the problem to
specific (i.e. relevant) KPI’s
• Tell a story – it’s the best way to impart a lesson
You’ve changed the way your buyer thinks – Don’t go into
solution mode yet. They don’t see any solutions yet, but this is
what we want
Example: The impact of unprofitable international sales on your
reputation with VC’s

29. Purposeful Choreography – A New Way
We have the tools you need to solve your problem
• What you present should be implicitly tied to your value
proposition
• This is where your solution can be presented to a buyer, clearly
linked back to key teaching points.

30. Conclusion
How we sell needs to adapt to the paradigm shift in
buyer behaviour – this is being driven by (1) the
incredible amount of information available to buyers,
and (2) the continued emergence of digital natives in
the workforce.
The Challenger sales model, when combined with the
use of buyer persona research and differentiator
models such as VRIO provide the framework to reskill
sales people