Leave Your Sales Process at the Door

As a salesperson, you’ve undoubtedly read dozens of books about sales strategies and have sat through hours of training sessions designed to improve your selling skills. Many sales books are genuinely interesting, and you almost always pick up some nugget of useful advice from a training seminar. But don’t try to drag your CIO prospects through the latest, greatest sales process.

CIOs really don’t care about your sales processes. And they especially don’t like cheesy sales babble sprinkled throughout a presentation. If you find yourself using clichés such as, “What keeps you up at night?,” then it’s time to edit your sales pitch. Remember why you were invited to the CIO’s office. Keep the conversation focused on solving problems and delivering value.

Too often, IT vendors focus more on their products and sales processes than on the client. That’s a guaranteed turnoff, says Gary Fink of Accenture.

CIOs prefer working with IT suppliers who “recognize that selling the product is not the end of the process, but the beginning of a relationship,” says Fink. IT suppliers with overbearing, anxiety-driven sales processes risk irritating and alienating their clients. Worse yet, they reduce their chances of success.

“The used car salesman approach is an annoyance that few clients appreciate and adds zero value,” Fink says. “Being aggressive and persistent is critical to successful sales, but being too aggressive can actually make it harder for the client ...

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