Here's how you can use problem solving skills to craft effective sales strategies.

I remember working with a successful VP of Sales at a publicly-held networking company (I'll protect his privacy). He was super low-key, zero ego, and generally seemed way too relaxed. Maybe as a result of that, he had the ability to engage with a customer as though the two of them were in lounge chairs having iced tea on his front porch. Totally relaxing. I observed this often (not on his porch - just sayin'), as the customer shared perspectives, concerns, wishes, priorities, etc. I witnessed a master class on how to identify sales issues and opportunities - and turn that into revenue. The secret? Just listen. It's not possible to learn when you're talking. He listened, identified issues, made money, retired early. Now he golfs!

Asking the right questions is both an art and a science. But depending first you need to earn the right to ask good, open-ended, thought provoking questions to begin to uncover challenges, business problems or missed opportunities you can help address. Why should or would someone answer your questions if you haven't demonstrated credibility? An highly effective discovery tactic I have helped thousands of sellers leverage is "Give to Get". The "Give" is focused on giving something of value, which can be research about their industry, a Point of View you have developed, a stat from a relevant research study, etc. The "Get" is the follow up thought provoking question that let's them share how it connects to their specific situation.

Según mi experiencia, durante el año 2010 muchas empresas empezaron a implementar departamentos de compras, y algunos proveedores no estaban listos para enfrentar este reto, puesto que venian acostumbrados a que los elegian "a dedo", vi como se perdían muchos clientes porque la empresa no podía competir con precio, con tiempos, o plazos de pago versus lo que ofrecía el mercado en ese momento y que los clientes desconocían, el problema entonces era: Como podemos diferenciarnos? Nuestro valor agregado nos sigue ayudando a ser competitivos? Debemos entrar a la guerra de precios?

Analyzing data is important for sales leadership, marketing, managers, and individual sellers. Let's focus on sellers for a moment as they should not be the ones analyzing market data and determining higher level go-to-market strategies. Let's start with the data in a seller's individual pipeline. Often they over rotate on quantity (total dollars in their pipeline) and are managed to hit a generic multiplier like 3X or 4X. Sellers should focus on the quality of the opportunities (securing executive sponsorship, identifying problems the customer agrees are worth solving and are a priority to solve now). Quality deals should progress appropriately versus getting stuck and allow a seller to focus on the right opportunities.

El analizar datos es la herramienta mas importante para tomar las decisiones gerenciales y actuar a tiempo, si la agencia donde trabajé se hubiese tomado el trabajo de revisar las nuevas tendencias de mercados y que sus clientes empezaban en 2010 a implementar areas de compras tal vez no hubiesen perdido casi el 80% de los clientes y se hubiese podido anticipar este gran movimiento de su mercado objetivo. Revisar como se comporta el mercado de manera de continua es de las cosas mas importantes que debe hacer una empresa para sostenerse en el tiempo, es un error ir a ciegas.

When you have a Sales Challenge in your company, rather than trying to solve it alone, involve your team. Bring your entire team to a room and openly write the problem statement in the white board. Divide your sales team in a group of 5 or 3 . For the problem statement, let each team come out with different ideas. Give them a target, say atleast 7 ideas from each group. Give them enough time to brainstorm within their group. Then each group has to present their ideas to the entire room. After every group presented the idea, ask each group which are top 3 ideas they want to recommend Say if you have 4 groups, you have got 12 ideas to tackle the current sales problem.Choose the top 3 ideas by voting and implement it.

Casi siempre el equipo de ventas es quien tiene contacto directo con los clientes, entonces entiendo las nuevas tendencias de mercado, son ellos quienes nos pueden confirmar los datos de la investigación y adicional dar ideas de acuerdo a lo que le hayan manifestado sus clientes que se requiere ahora, por ejemplo, si en una reunión comercial, te presentan al nuevo director de compras, y este solicita una revisión de precios, es una alerta importante y deberia generarse una idea a partir de ese requerimiento, literal te están diciendo que no eres competitivo y debes tomar medidas.

Elaborar un plan de acción luego de evaluar los nuevos requerimientos por parte de los clientes es lo que debió hacer mi agencia, no escucharon, no quisieron. Tenian todas las herramientas para crear soluciones a corto y largo plazo, era claro que el mercado estaba cambiando y debian asegurarse de tomar las medidas necesarias. Debian replantearse nuevas metas de ventas, diversificar su mercado objetivo, cambiar de ser posible de proveedores de insumos o en su defecto tener mejores ofertas en cuanto a precios pero sin perder la calidad con la que se contaba.

Continuando con el caso de la agencia de publicidad donde trabajé, las estrategias debían implementarse en dos frentes, uno frente a los proveedores de insumos, buscar formas de lograr mejorar los costos o incluso buscar nuevos con una mejor oferta, de esta manera se podrían bajar precios sin sacrificar tanta utilidad, por otro lado era frente a los clientes, lograr una mayor fidelización, ofrecer servicios agregados adicionales y/o descuentos comerciales que incentivaran al cliente a permanecer con nosotros.

Before solving a problem, the key lies in discovering it. When you receive a request for quote or proposal, you can either submit the quote and close the opportunity or you could use that window to uncover the unmet needs of your customers. This requires one to step away from a reactive attitude and exercise curiosity. In the world of chemicals, patent research reveal a ton of valuable information about customers. The next step is to listen, probe, validate your findings and share insights. Your preliminary research can help you propose a range of potential solutions. One or two of those could be turned into a co-development partnership. This builds your credibility and also cements trust. More trust equals more sales.