Wining a deal goes right from the stage of Business Lead
selection. One time during a high level meeting, I picked up one of the top
management executive saying, if even the Security Guard of his firm shares a
business lead, he will look for his cooperation. Of course, he said this to
emphasize the importance of generating Business leads. And this set me
thinking, do all the leads,
qualify as confirmed sales prospects? The answer is “No”. Ideally
speaking, influencing on the business lead that carries you to the proper kind
of needy customer is more important than just the maturity of the contacts
generated. So, I value lead selection to be a vital step in business generation.
It should take towards the right customer, selling just the right thing, at the
proper instant to make a perfect kill. The challenge is to sniff the right
opportunity from among the best available options and placing yourself in a comfortable
position much before your competition cements its own ground
As a business analyst and strategist, I get across certain
facts that are classic rules one must follow for a perfect business win
·
Selecting the right target
Never select the lead based on the maturity of the
contacts generated but evaluate your target (desired customer). Choice of the
right target mainly depends upon its outsourcing health. With little effort of
gathering market intelligence, certain parameters can easily indicate the same.
Cost cuts:
Broadly speaking, outsourcing is a major means to defeat rising costs
Layoffs: Decreasing
number of permanent employees and getting contractors in is another indicative
for outsourcing requirement
Opening or
Closing of certain businesses units: This may suggest for overall revamp
target is undergoing, so not really the right time to pitch in
Strategic
hints: In the Analysts meet, the top management is often heard suggesting
the demand of new technological transformations to support business needs
·
Know everything possible
about your target.
Company profile
Existing outsourcing landscape
Ideas about the outsourcing budget
Analyze the existing deals / vendor contracts
Most important
is to understand where does the target fits in the Value Chain of the clientele
it is into
·
Seek proper Business Partner
assistance
Help from Business Partners like deal sourcing
advisors / product selling vendors who will help confirming your understanding
and validating the target needs
·
Identify the needs
Sell what target needs and not what you wish to trade.
One can quickly strike the right chords from the beginning of the engagement by
promptly identifying the
current business scenario. This should determine the correct
pitch to address the client. For this, it is important to identify the
underlying need for outsourcing. These may vary from:
Technology
Transformation
Geo expansion
Mergers and
Acquisitions and scores of many other reasons
·
Focus on relationship
building
At the close of the day, always remember, you are not
dealing with Rocket science. All the bidders are selling virtually the same
thing. There are few differentiating but decisive parameters on which deals are
sealed. It is important to build the relationship after
selecting the lead and before entering into any possibility of replying to the proposal. The
maturity of the lead plays a major role out here.
·
Track your competitors
Probe the comfort zones of your competitors. Examine
areas such as:
Partnerships
Joint Ventures
Strategic interests
Awards
Analysts recognition
Leadership vision
Existing deal landscape
Delivery Support Model
CXO Movements
Participation in Industry organized events
·
Proposal writing
Lastly we arrive at “nail the coffin” factor, which is
the Proposal writing. At times so much high focus is on writing proposal
that above mentioned facts get neglected. We must prevent this to
happen. The mantra for this
section should be flexibility to adapt to sudden changes in requirement
which client may
suggest during the bid cycle. Most of the win loss analysis I have
undergone, this seems to be the greatest stress factor sales folks
undergo. A smart proposal writing includes certain important
considerations :
Proposed Apps / Tools part of Technical Solution
should be supported by the industry analyst firms like Forrester / Gartner /
IDC
Value based pricing
Flexible and win and win proposal
Simple and to the point answers
Always reply proposals on time
A dedicated proposal writing team concentrating one
proposal at a time
Quick approval process supporting the proposal
