How to Sell a Whole Product
By Chris Bohrson
Tactics
Using the principle that customers will spend money to reduce "pain", the sales team honed its skill at uncovering DSL-related pain, confirming its financial magnitude, and who was most affected by it. From this discovery process, sales activities were focused on selling a whole product that provided value and addressed adoption costs across three primary phone company functions:
In order to make the sale, the team realized that it had to close three "orders". The operational order involved convincing those responsible for DSL revenue that the product would have the speed and accuracy needed so that call center representatives would feel comfortable making commitments to consumers requesting internet access. The operation order often required a technology trial to demonstrate these capabilities.
Secondly, these test systems constituted a multi-million dollar phone company investment in equipment. The senior financial people needed to be convinced that the ROI was attractive and credible. Getting the financial order required extensive business case analysis, and in some cases, multiple large trials to prove phone service revenue enhancement. This is where our additional voice service assurance benefits helped us make a more substantial ROI case.
The third effort was getting the deployment order. The field groups in the phone companies managing installation of equipment into all of those central office network locations needed to be convinced that the Division had the infrastructure to support their large field teams and contractors.
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