Selling Through Partnering Skills - The new approach to winning business
Overview:
‘Partnering Intelligence’ can be described as a set of critical elements that form a validated system of behaviours that creates healthy, thriving relationships. These elements can be measured and developed. Combine these with defined processes for implementing and guiding your sales, and you have a repeatable formula for success.
skills that help translate bold promises into true value. As such it is something that is extremely useful in today’s world of professional sales.
Every executive, manager, and salesperson has a quantifiable ‘PQ’ or Partnering Quotient. Much like an IQ gives an indicator to some elements of intelligence, PQ gauges how smart someone really is when it comes partnering. People with a high PQ are good at building relationship as well as understanding the necessary organisational and cultural changes to make sales work smoothly.
What are the attributes of a high PQ?
Ability to trust
Do you give people your trust, or do they have to earn it? This is probably the most important competency. Without this, most alliances are doomed to sub-perform or fail.
Comfort with change
Are you comfortable changing not just the status quo, but your own status quo?
Comfort with interdependence
Can you allow your partners to accomplish their assigned activities, even if they don’t do it the way you would?
Self-disclosure and feedback
Can you easily disclose and articulate your needs, as well as express your appreciation or disappointment?
Win-win orientation
Do you employ a problem-solving approach that creates wins for both partners?
Future orientation
Do you look to the future rather than the past in evaluating your business relationships?
The VALUE Framework has been designed to create the link between partnering intelligence and the myriad of sales techniques already used by salespeople all over the world.
It’s application provides the bridge to bringing the mindset and ethos of a PQ based approach to the use of tried and tested methods and models. It is about applying finesse to a sale. It is good to great.
Essentially, businesses don’t partner – people do. Companies that build effective partnering competencies in their salesforce will fare much better than their shoot-from-the-hip counterparts in achieving success from their business development activities.
Rather than simply studying the numbers and potential benefits associated with a sale, they focus on the core competencies and processes to consistently build effective partnerships and their bottom line inevitably reflects this.
Objectives
At the end of this session participants will understand:
- The characteristics of a great salesperson
- The difference between IQ, EQ and PQ
- The 6 key elements of Partnering Intelligence
- Their own Partnering Quotient and it’s make up
- How selling has evolved
- Different types of selling and the associated levels of complexity and value
- The VALUE Framework
- Using PQ in ‘Classic’ Selling
- Using PQ in ‘Solution’ Selling
- Using PQ in ‘Value Based’ Selling
- Using PQ in ‘Enterprise’ Selling
- How to use a partnering based approach in their own sales
- The application of an action plan to develop themselves to succeed in the modern sales arena
Who Will Benefit
As the session addresses a new approach to winning business and inspires different ethos to sales and selling anyone with a commercial responsibility in an organisation, from top to bottom would benefit from learning about ‘Selling Through Partnering Skills’.
Whether VP Sales/Sales Director, Account Manager, Business Development Manager, Account Executive or Sales Representative, understanding this important new approach to selling will provide an invaluable opportunity to generate more business and build a successful career.
Channel Managers and those with responsibility for driving sales through distributors and other indirect routes would also benefit by developing their understanding of partnering intelligence. This can then be applied through our ‘Distributor Management Model’ designed to improve mission clarity, operational alignment and essential business development activity.
Outline
Introduction
- Objectives and expectations
- For things to change, I have to change first
- ‘Fitting your own oxygen mask’
Characteristics of a Great Salesperson
- Animal or machine?
- Defining ASK Factors
- Self-audit
Why PQ is a basis for success
- IQ and EQ
- Verified and validated
- Holistic approach
- Something better than nothing (marginal gains)
- Central element to modern selling
- Its only human
- Organisations don’t partner… people do
What is MY PQ? – taking the test
- Questionnaire
- Raw PQ score
- Score for 6 components
The 6 components of PQ
- Trust
- Interdependence
- Self-disclosure and feedback
- Win/win
- Future orientation
- Comfort with change
Why use Partnering Skills in selling – the evolution of sales
- Selling has been around a long time
- Modelling and understanding more recent
- 50’s – Process
- 60’s – Psychology
- 70’s – FAB
- 80’s – Closing/objection handling
- 90’s – Consultative/solution selling (Needs)
- 00’s – Added value
- 10’s – Sales stature
- 20’s – Partnering!
Types of Selling
- Classic
- Solution/Consultative
- Value Based
- Enterprise
The VALUE Framework
- Linking PQ to sales models/techniques
- Based in Customer Success Management principles
- Validate – Are they fit for a partnering approach
- Align – Where can we work together
- Leverage opportunity – Refining the sales approach
- Underpin – Prove, agree, deploy
- Evolve – Review, repeat and re-programme
PQ in ‘Classic’ Selling – earlier involvement in the buying process
- Sales at its most basic – ask before tell
- People buy from people
- Information is power… and is readily available to buyers
- Align to the buyer or try to control?
- 60% decision already made so who will the customer ask?
- How to get involved earlier
PQ in Consultative Selling – key elements of a solution sales approach
- Discovery mode/Consultative approach
- Sharing information
- Need development questioning models
- Creating the right atmosphere for cooperation
- Using modern models – Challenger and Insight Selling
PQ in Value Based Selling – aligning with more key players
- Understanding the DMU
- Positioning and communicating value
- Generating insight
- Story telling in sales – using the Hero’s Journey
- Bow-ties and diamonds
PQ in Enterprise Selling – breaking into the C-suite
- Time is money
- Developing a solid value proposition
- Demonstrating competence and building trust
- Defining, sharing and reviewing expectations
- Co-creation and positive selling through an entrepreneurial approach
Putting it All to Work
- Designing and owning your Personal Development Plan
- Prioritising action points
- Maximising input from others
- Summary and close