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HOW WINNERS SELL

It's

2006.

Time

to

Win.

is your company experiencing a sales breakdown?

You know your sales have broken down when any or all of the following occur:  Missed sales targets, lost deals, inability to get to executive levels in customer organizations, inconsistent performance across the sales team, deals that stall, reliance on heavy discounting to win, losing to the same competitors again and again, angry customers with missed expectations, inability to count upon reliable and adequate revenue streams from existing customers, etc., etc., etc...

Due to the increased need and economic challenges of our clients The Stein Advantage, Inc. is offering a new service.  We will provide you with an evaluation of your current situation, with recommendations on 21 components of your customer-life cycle processes, approach, tools, people and effectiveness of your company's sales execution.  For additional information, please download the 2-page brochure or go to the FAQ section.

Purpose

To provide a cost-effective, yet expert, impartial and confidential assessment of key components of your customer life-cycle, from approach to market, through opportunity management, to ongoing account management—all from the perspective of improving sales performance.

Targeted for this service are companies that are:

• Selling products or services to other businesses

• Between $5 million in sales to corporations or divisions at $100 million in sales

• Fighting commoditization by their customers and marketplace

• Dealing with inconsistent sales execution—not delivering forecasted revenues

• Forced to heavily discount to stay competitive

• Suffering lost business, deal slippage or stalled customer decisions

• Having issues selling business value to their customers’ executives

• Do not as yet have a professional sales manager or sales representatives

Value

An impartial, expert view of your sales operation with a foundation of specific strategies and tactics, which, if executed, will provide a higher degree of effectiveness.

Methodology

Discovery:

• The Stein Advantage, Inc. executes your non-disclosure agreement;

• We interview selected key customers/clients, executives and those who are selling for your organization;

• You complete our questionnaire and forward the requested materials.

We evaluate, quantify and comment upon 21 components of your customer life-cycle from a sales execution perspective.

Report: 

Dave Stein personally issues a report on our findings, followed by a 60 to 90 minute conference call with your key executives. Hard-hitting, specific and prioritized recommendations are made and approaches and options are presented for your consideration.

What we'll evaluate...

• Approach to target market, pricing/fee validity

• Clarity and consistency of value articulation

• Effectiveness of press/analyst coverage

• Demand creation activities and initiatives

• Lead management effectiveness

• Sales methods, practices and processes

• Adherence to current processes

• Qualification processes and effectiveness

• Sales planning

• Forecasting methods and effectiveness

• Corporate presentation

• Collateral materials

• Competitive tools

• Customer proposal quality and value articulation

• Customer testimonials

• Obstacles and enablers to success

• Skills gaps of the people who sell for you

• Causes of closing, discounting, slippage

• Process improvement mechanisms

• Transition from pre- to post-sales

• Long-term account goals and approaches

Download the 2-page brochure

To receive a phone call from the Stein Advantage, Inc.

regarding this service, please complete all fields in this form:

FAQs

Q: Would you summarize this service?

A: The Stein Advantage, Inc., looks at 21 aspects of your beginning to end customer life cycle and determines where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Recommendations, courses of action, strategies and tactics are provided as a foundation for your company to take appropriate action going forward.

Q: What are the symptoms that would indicate I need such a service?

A: Missed sales targets, low hit rates, inability to get to executive levels in customer organizations, inconsistent performance across the sales team, deals that stall, reliance on heavy discounting to win, competitors who win against you all the time, etc.

Q: What if we are not currently performing all 21 functions?

A: We will evaluate whichever of the 21 you do have in place.

Q: What are the deliverables from The Stein Advantage, Inc.?

A: We provide you with a comprehensive report on our findings.  In addition Dave Stein discusses the findings with your CEO or appropriate executive(s) during a 60 - 90 minute telephone call.

Q: I'm a sales executive and the market has been horrible. How do I know you won't blame me for all my company's sales problems?

A: In our experience even strong sales executives often have a challenge getting senior management to understand the real issues, obstacles and the degree of support required to deliver the numbers.  If you are strong and things are broken in your company, you'll be surely part of the solution, not the problem.  

If you are busy working deals yourself, our objective view will uncover what you might not have time to see.

If you are inexperienced, our service will provide you with a blueprint of where your company's focus must be to support you going forward.

Q: May I see what a sample of the report would look like in advance, before I go forward?

A: Sorry, we can't provide that.  The simple reason is that the format, logic, and content of the report is our intellectual property and, even though it would not contain information specific to your company, the value of the sample is worth the entire fee by itself.

Q: What do I do once I have your diagnosis and recommendations?

A: Execute.  We will prioritize what has to be done first, but execution is up to you.  If requested, we can refer you to highly qualified associates who offer specialized services in areas where improvement is desired.  Where appropriate, you may decide to retain us.  There is no pressure to do so.  It's entirely up to you.

Q: What if I am already using one of the common sales methodologies?

A: It makes no difference.  We have worked with clients who have used Miller-Heiman, Holden, Target/Siebel, the Complex Sale, Tony Parinello's VITO, SPIN Selling, Solution Selling and many more.  We will not attempt to push you away from your current methodology, but rather convince you to make better use of it.  If you are not using a formal methodology, our report will contain several options for you to consider.

Q: What if we are small and have no sales people?  Our executives do the selling.

A: This is an ideal situation!  We have done a lot of work with companies like that and have seen dramatic results.  We can provide many references.

Q: Do I have to provide you with proprietary information?

A: Yes. We cannot accept the assignment without full disclosure on your part. We insist on signing a legally binding non-disclosure agreement, so that you can be comfortable providing us with the information we need do to the job properly.

Q: If there are documents we just aren't comfortable providing, can you still do the job?

A: Sure.  We'll work with what we have and the results will still be of extremely high value.

Q: Will you provide the interview questions in advance so our people and executives can be prepared?

A: Of course.

Q: How long does it take to complete the evaluation and issue the report?

A: Assuming your company is forthcoming with the required documentation, completed questionnaire, and people are readily available for telephone interviews, approximately two weeks.

Q: What are the payment terms?

A: Half of our fee is due upon execution of the agreement and the balance is due after Discovery and Evaluation, prior to delivery of the report and the call with Dave Stein.  

Q: I want to get started right away.  What do I do?

A: Call us at +1 (508) 696-4905.  Generally there is a three-week lead time before we can begin our discovery process.

Download the 2-page brochure

To receive a phone call from the Stein Advantage, Inc.

regarding this service, please complete all fields in this form:

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