Over these years I have worked with numerous clients, individuals, small to large organizations across multiple organizations coming from various parts of the globe. In this short article, I have tried to summarize certain basics in pre-sales and sales to be followed when approaching a client or prospect.
Check – Listen – Understand – Question – Analyse and Suggest – Don’t hesitate – Stay connected
STEP ‘0’ – Check
Before approaching a client you need to know his business vertical and the industry he works in. Knowing the client before the first interaction always helps in creating a trust level in the client’s mind when approached and also eases the sales process.
STEP 1- Listen
It is the first instance when the client interacts with the company whose image he has created in his mind and tries to map that image with how you treat him. So, listen first to what the client has to say. Listen to his problem in as detail as possible with patience.
STEP 2- Understand
This step goes along with Step 1. Understanding what the client is briefing about does make a difference. You need to understand first and think by keeping yourself in the client’s shoes.
STEP 3- Question
Ask relevant questions to make the client open up with more details, expectations, and limitations in regards to his required solution. You should have clear and detailed answers to What is he looking for? and Why? How he is handling the problem presently? Is there any solution he has/ had taken to resolve the pain area?
STEP 4- Analyse and Suggest
Gathering all the information shared by the client and analyzing them thoroughly with an SME involved. Draft a solution around the client’s requirement first, and then map your available products and services with it. It should never be the other way around i.e. first drafting a solution around your available products and services, and then mapping them with the client’s requirement. This will not lead to an optimal solution and might result in failed system delivery.
STEP 5- Be honest and do not hesitate
Be honest and share what you have and what you don’t have. Do not hesitate to say ‘no’ when you don’t have the products and/or services that fit into the required solution. But make sure you have shown your expertise and capabilities to the client. Then give him a direction about how to fulfill the requirement. By now the client has built trust in you and your company’s capabilities and with the solution, you drafted even if you fulfill 50% of the requirement (30%-40% in case of large clients) the client will be inclined towards you.
STEP 6- Stay Connected and Don’t leave the client
Once a deal is done and handed over to the implementation team, do not run away or simply vanish from the client interactions. Stay connected, casually if not officially, with the client and the team working on it. Be ready to guide/ help them with the solution pitched/ solution delivered/ processes/ escalations or even something casual.
Pre-Sales and Sales are highly process-driven yet unpredictable when dealing with genuine clients. Often every client brings a new challenge, learning, and also a new way of doing business in the same vertical. Therefore, the above-mentioned steps are not necessary to be followed one after the other. There can be scenarios where Steps 1 to 5 are followed in the same interaction, especially where the closure cycle is short (days and weeks). Certain cases where closure cycles run into months often require a POC (paid or unpaid) to finalize the scope document of the final project even in such cases these steps are required to be followed.
Always keep in mind that with these steps when followed consistently with patience and utmost professionalism with a personal touch then even if you don’t close a deal with the customer, he will be your qualified source of future business or referrals.
Reference to my article on LinkedIn
Covid19 has lost its power over the past few weeks. Is it because the increasing rate of the number of affected cases slowed down? Or a vaccine has been there in the market for distribution?. No not like this… Not at all! After all these months of waiting and suffering now people have learned to live with it. Also, more and more cases are now being recommended for home isolation or quarantine rather than treating them in a hospital.
The way businesses, markets, hotels, restaurants are opening and people started moving around what I feel is that the condition of the stupid corona has become like ‘a caste’. How? Read on…
Existence of Caste in Society!
Caste in our lives exists but only in our personal lives and for society. In our personal lives, a person’s caste/ race/ religion exists. When interacting with people around us these terms often come up religion, upper caste, middle caste, this caste, that caste….. caste plays a role in our personal life be it major, minor, negligible but it does from person to person.
Contrary to one’s personal life, in professional life only known terms are ’employer’, ’employee’, ‘colleague’, ‘client’, and ‘vendor’. A person is addressed based on his/her ‘designation’ and ‘his value to the business but not by the caste he/ she comes from.
There is a striking similarity with the covid-19 situation. The stupid corona has now ceased to exist in our professional lives. People take precautions but also least care about it and carry on with their daily business routine. They are now more worried about business, clients, staff, and money than getting infected with ‘Stupid Corona’. Whereas in personal lives its existence is still being talked about and precautions taken are of the next level. If someone in the neighborhood is tested positive; or when someone visits at home then precaution levels at home increase.
The fear of corona exists but not where business matters. Someone visiting the office with a mask and sanitized hands are sufficient as if corona will not affect them in the office while talking business.
I personally don’t believe in caste, class, or religion. I respect all religions, classes, and castes. More than that i respect a person…not by the way he looks, or the designation he is on but solely because of him being a good human being.
Vaccines will come when they are done, till then we have to keep moving for a better tomorrow. With or without Stupid covid-19 but we have to keep moving. It is good that people have realized the severity of both – Covid-19 and businesses being closed for long. It is high time that we stop fearing this pandemic and start facing it just like we take precautions when we drive by wearing seatbelts and driving sane on roads. The fear of meeting an accident has not stopped us from driving and moving our lives on a daily basis.
“Be positive in thoughts, Do positive in whatever you do but be prepared for the worst!”
The COVID19 pandemic has put the economies globally on the back foot. Companies, Governments, businesses all were not at all prepared for such a situation of global lockdown. Events being canceled or postponed, businesses being affected, revenues going down, reserves are being used to cover up minimum expenses. In such a scenario, I have put some points that can save your travel business from such situations in case it repeats.
One should be very much careful when choosing there ‘Words’. Words can make and break a situation, person, family, business and even an entire nation. One can find the ‘words effect’ every where in life specially while travelling in public transport. read more
Every year, one set of business minded people teaches a great lesson to all industries, businesses and economists. They do so publicly and across the country. There act also demonstrate how various support functionaries can be effectively used to disrupt the market equilibrium. These are called ‘Onion traders’ and others or better called as there ‘support functionaries’ (not the farmers) such as media, stockist, politicians with hidden motives. What they do that catches everyone’s attention, no matter what trade a person is in, almost every year? Read more…
Africa has always been at the center of travel for adventure, wildlife and serenity. Therefore, it becomes necessary for all African Tour Operators and DMCs to promote their services and offerings to the rest of the world promptly. I am sure, most of you must have already taken steps to promote your business and presented to the world what your business offers.
But, is that enough? Does your efforts yielded desired results? If yes, Great. Good luck. If No, then read on.
Inbound tour operators and Destination Management Companies (DMCs) have to promote themselves and invest heavily on the advertisements, promotions, contracting with travel agents and then wait to get business from them. You ultimately land up in spending hours in manually creating quotations and confirming quotations to bookings but with less or no result at times. Resulting into increased loss of time and efforts and reduced efficiency.
