by rameshkumarramachandran | Apr 23, 2021 | General
The other day, I was watching “The adventures of Sherlock Holmes(BBC)” and I came across this scene in one of the episodes. What a way to introduce yourself?
That was simple, powerful and impressive. Right?
And, this made me think why Self-Introduction is important and the reason to switch from boring to one that simply stands out.
First Impression
We introduce ourselves to many people in our life. But, we don’t make an impact with our introduction. As a result, not many remember you or have difficulty to recollect your name or work.
Job-seekers or Sales executives or Sales engineer knows the importance of a powerful introduction. So, why is it important? Because the first impression you create sets the tone for the rest of your meeting.
It’s your credential
A good first introduction can be the difference between your name and credentials being remembered or forgotten. So, give a proper self-introduction that’s engaging and remarkable in a way that the other party remembers who you are the next time you come across. It helps in making the right impression.
K.I.S.S
Your introduction should be like an elevator pitch. But, consider to include the suggestion below while perfecting your introduction.
- Talk about who you are and what you do.
- Explain your achievements
A few example
I have shared a couple of sample introductions.
Before a presentation
“Good Morning. I’m Ramesh from DoyenThoughts heading the Sales Engineering division. I am a Customer Enthusiast person always looking for opportunities to delight my customers with the best experience by aligning technology and product with their business operations. Today, I am here to present a new, AI-Based helpdesk system that will help cut costs, save time and improve operational efficiency. Based on our recent survey with our existing customer base, I’m happy to say that the customer satisfaction rate increased by 10% and cut by 15%. Are you ready to know more?“
In an interview
“Thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity and considering my profile for the Customer Support Executive Role in DoyenThoughts.
I am a proactive, enthusiastic Customer Service agent with 3 years of experience never hesitant to take up challenges from handling a dissatisfied client to irate customers. I have developed and utilized skills necessary for handling customers with different personas. I have won several awards because of my exceptional performance in handling customer problems and was responsible for a 25% increase in retention sales YoY.
Though I love my current company, I believe it is time for me to take a more challenging role that focuses on customer experience. And, this position at DoyenThought looks like an exact match. So, here I am.“
Perfect your introduction
If you look carefully the example comprises the name, the title, achievements. It shows what the person is passionate about and why they should be motivated to listen to you.
You know who you are and what you have achieved so far. So, you are the best person to introduce yourself.
To summarize a sound introduction goes a long way in ensuring that you will be considered solidly and can help you succeed. If you don’t have any solid introduction, get prepared for one. Be it professional or networking or for a job interview.
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And, please feel free to add corrections to the sample or share your best by dropping the details in the comment section.
by rameshkumarramachandran | Mar 30, 2021 | Presales
You are all set to present the features of the product to the prospect with whom you have been working for some time. The stage is set. When the screen lifts, you are taken by surprise when you see many audiences in the show including his/her boss like CEO or VP or CFO. You know your script is not suited for such a global audience.
Panic sets in. Irrespective of the chillness you profuse sweat. You stammer and may not put in the best show. You will have to tailor the demo on the fly. With decision-makers in the call, it is either a make or break deal now.
During the early stage of my career, I have been in this situation a few times and failed to deliver the knock which costed the deal and my time. It caused embarrassment to the person who recommended us and spoilt the relations.
This is not an ideal situation, and you should work to prevent it from happening again in the future.
Why does it happen?
Communication is the key. Sales engineers are sometimes focused too much on technicality and features, they forgot about to whom they are presenting. The next time, before a demo, make sure to communicate thoroughly and clearly with the prospect of sales to find out who will be joining the demo.
Why it matters?
A CFO’s expectation would be completely different from the Manager who attends the presentation. Their expectations are completely different because CFO would be focussed on the cost while managers would be worried on the ease of operations. In simple, every persona will think differently.
Will it save time? Cost? Or, the life of the professionals who will be using it?
These are some questions that pop up in their mind during the demo or presentation. So, it is important to understand the buyer’s perspective before you walk to the stage.
Prepare before the demo.
To deliver an effective demo, know your audience. Communicate with the prospect with whom you interact, and get the details. Many times, your sales would have done the homework for you. Also, do your homework too and find out all you can about your prospects.
I rely on professional platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter to understand more about their roles, specialization, and area of interest. This has helped me to not only connect with the users but most importantly tailor the presentation to them.
This preparation will help show how your product can help each person individually in their role. You can make them visualize the value of your product.
Your script should not be feature-based.
Every product has many features to boast. But, don’t get carried away with features. Prepare your script focussing on 3 or 4 key aspects.
The products is not only for the individuals. It is for the entire business. So, be ready to talk about the ROI. You should show how the business would be benefitted when they chose your product.
Think of the bigger picture and the long term relationship.
Focus on key feature, emphasize on ROI, look at the end goal and long term picture while performing your research on the personas. By doing so, you will be able to nail your demo. Closing the deal will be a cake walk.
by rameshkumarramachandran | Feb 28, 2021 | Presales
Software demo run by sales and presales, sometimes by product managers, decide whether the prospect will continue the journey with us or drop the ball.
When presales give a generic pitch and run the product feature by feature,the game is lost.
Why you need a kickass demo?
In the current market, most of your competing softwares will look the same to the market. At the end of the demo, your presentation will look stale and you will end up being another boring vendor with nothing new to offer.
So, it is important that you got connected with your audience and showed the value they expected at the end of the meeting.
Key ingredients for a successful demo
Your prospects are not connected to your demo’s when it is not scripted and customized. For a demos to be successful, the prospects need to visualize how the product will be used and its effectiveness when put to operations.
In simple, they want to see how the solution would help to solve their challenges.
Discover and Identify the customer expectation
Discovery is fundamental to sales. It helps the team gain insights about the prospects and their challenges.
When discovery is done right, you get to know about the company’s profile, prospect’s role, challenges faced and the implications if not resolved.
Discovery sets the platform to map their journey and present the demo proving it solves the challenges faced by them.
Map out their journey to customize the demo
Many end up doing a common scripted demos or a featured based demo even after the discovery is done. That is a big crime.
The demo is an opportunity for the prospect to see themselves the possible solution. The most effective way to achieve this is to customize the demo as fully as possible.
Show how solutions solve their problem
It is show time. Resist the urge to show them all features. You have taken the effort to customize the demo and let it not go in vain.
Talk about their challenges and drive the demo in such a way that they could see their la-la land. Present the product from their perspective. It should tell the customer’s story.
Show them what the product can accomplish. In simple, they should see the value.
Make it interactive
The average human’s attention span is less than 10 mins and that too only if it is interesting. The further you go into the presentations without getting them involved the less they would pay attention.
So, don’t let your prospect’s to be just the audience. You are talking about their challenges and wishes. Get them involved in the demo.
Make it a two-way interaction. Make sure they experience how it would be they used it.
Get feedback and talk about the next step.
At the end of demo, a sale doesnt happen immediately. That is fine. At the same time,don’t let them slip into the zone “I will get back ”. Be in control.
Ask the prospects about the impression about your product. Check whether the demo helped them to make the next step with you?
Explain the next steps and when you can reconnect(if needed). Set the platform that will help sales in closing.
The best demos are driven by goal. When presented right, it would have convinced that your product is the best and should sign up the same day.
Demos make a difference in the sales cycle as it has a greater impact. it is a powerful playbook for sales.
by rameshkumarramachandran | Jan 20, 2021 | Sales
Prospecting is key for successful sales.But, most sales professionals dread prospecting.
A lot of salespeople dread prospecting because they fear reaching out to strangers and pitch the product or service. Ultimately, fearing that they may get rejected.
When prospecting is done right, you get the opportunity to connect with buyers and sell the product/service.
So, what is prospecting?
It means contacting new leads, establish a connection and fix an appointment. The sales happen later.
Many sales professionals associate prospecting with cold calls. Hence, they hate prospecting.
The truth is you can’t wait for the customer to reach you in this competitive world. Be proactive. Get ready for prospecting.
The Challenge
Customers are caught off-guard because they didn’t expect your call even though they have shown interest in your product or services. They just want to get off the call and don’t want to be interrupted.
In the real world, your prospects have too many things and going on in their mind. To make them interested in your service or product, break their attention and raise the curiosity.
The Boring Pitch
“Hi! I’m Ram from ACME Corp, and I sell CRM implementation service from DoyenThoughts. I’d like to introduce my services. Is this a good time?”
Yawn.
That isn’t interesting to anyone and it certainly doesn’t make them curious to want to find out more.
Tweak The Pitch
Instead, here is a different pitch(courtesy: pipedrive)
“We, at DoyenThoughts, help SaaS companies like yours move away from the old quota-driven way of selling and empower salespeople to get better results with activity-based selling. Using our CRM system, we’ve seen our clients generate 80% more revenue using this activity-based selling approach.
I’d love to share more about this during a quick call sometime over the next week or so. Is this of interest?”
Now, I have the prospect’s attention. I have tried to create a vision of what will happen if they buy my service or products. I have sowed the seed of interest.
To conclude
In order to increase your success rate, it is absolutely critical that you gain your prospect’s undivided attention.
Prospect effectively. Get ready to “Sell their dream“
by rameshkumarramachandran | Jan 3, 2021 | General
Be grateful to 2020 while we welcome 2021
2020 has been a hard year for us all. The pandemic changed our lives in countless ways and disrupted the status quo. It would go down as one of the worst for many.
But, I see a lot of positives that came out of 2020.
I believe last year taught a great lesson to humankind.
How?
Though technology brought people across the world closer, we were miles apart from our friends and families who were closer to us. It made us spend more time and be connected with them.
Our lifestyle was pathetic in recent years. It revealed to us how weak we are when the virus attacked us. We were forced to embrace a healthy lifestyle and people have realized the importance of it.
The majority of people stayed indoors to stay safe from the pandemic. It caused a decrease in pollution across the globe. People living in north India claimed that they were able to see the Himalayas from Jalandhar( not sure whether it was real) but I heard sparrow chirping near my home after many years. Nature breathed.
Best minds across the globe connected to find a solution for this pandemic. We have started hearing news of vaccines for this Covid-19 in a short time frame. It wouldn’t have been possible without people lending their hands.
Welcome 2021
2020 taught us humanity. It has taught us the meaning of life and its purpose; reminded us what we are. It brought the best character out of us.
So, why blame 2020. It did its job. To reset and start fresh. So, be grateful to 2020
And, I am moving forward to 2021 with more optimism. Are you?
