By sticking to the generic script, legacy salespeople fail to represent themselves as a solution to their prospect’s specific needs. In contrast, salespeople who tailor the presentation to the buyer’s context can explain why they are uniquely positioned to help.
This presentation is one class in HubSpot Academy's free sales training course. You can enroll in the course here: http://hubs.ly/H04mmxj0
11. As an inbound
salesperson, you
serve as a translator
between the generic messaging found
on your company’s website and the
unique needs of your buyer.
12. • A proposal
• A presentation or demo
• A contract
ADVISING METHODS
13. For the purpose of this training, a
presentation or demo will be
used as an example.
14. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
15. • Here’s who we are
• Here’s who we’re working with
• Here are the things that you told me
• Here’s how we’re going to solve the problem
• Here’s where you sign
LEGACY SALES PRESENTATION FLOW
16. The presentation is all
about adding value.
What value can you provide in the
conversation that they can’t get
anywhere else? Pitches that close are
personalized to the buyer’s context.
17. • Here’s what I heard you tell me
• Here are the ways those in your situation think about making this
needed change
• Here are the pros and cons to the different approaches you can take
• Here’s the outcome that you want and the approach that will yield the
best outcome for you
• Here’s why this choice makes the most sense for you
• Here’s how we can best support that
INBOUND SALES PRESENTATION FLOW
18. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
19. “In order to achieve your goals of
A, B, C and overcome challenges
X, Y, Z, we’ve discussed
implementing D, E and F.
Does that accurately recap our
discussions so far?”
“Yes. Perfectly.”
YOU
PROSPECT
20. The plan you’re about to
present will close the gap
between where they want to
be and where they are now.
What you’re doing in your presentation
is communicating how to close that gap.
22. When you are presenting,
try and envision there’s
a table that you’re
both sitting at.
During the exploratory period, the buyer should
have allowed you to the other side of the table
to understand their point of view.
23. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
24. “In order to achieve your goals of a,
b, c and overcome challenges x, y,
z, we’ve discussed implementing d,
e and f. Does that accurately recap
our discussions so far?”
“Yes. Perfectly.”
YOU
PROSPECT
“Then today, I’ll show you how we
can help you implement the best
plan possible better than
anyone else.”
25. Tailor your suggestions
based on what
you’ve learned the
buyer cares about most.
Don’t add fluff. Don’t have an overly broad
focus. It should feel like it’s customized for them.
26. Don’t be afraid to be flexible.
Know the answers to common questions and be ready to present the
different capabilities of your solution.
FLICKR USER RAINBOW LOVE
27. There are usually
different paths that your
prospect can take to
overcome their challenge
or achieve their goals.
Be prepared to talk through all of these
different options and anticipate the questions
they’ll have as they try to weigh the
pros and cons of each.
28. Want to learn more about
inbound sales?
Register(for(a(Free(Sales(Training(Course(
29. Adapt to where the
buyer’s interests lie.
Treat the presentation like a dynamic event.
30. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
31. • Product evaluation
• Purchase processes
• Implementation
• Training steps
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN A TIMELINE
32. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
33. What is the
1-10 Closing
Technique?
The technique that gets the prospect to share why they want
to buy and then weigh whether those benefits are worth the
risk or downside of their concerns.
34. 1. "From 1 to 10, where 1 is 'I'm not interested in working with you,' and 10 is 'Sign me
up now,' what number are you?”
2. "Really? I'm surprised you picked a number so high. Based on our conversations, I
figured you'd be much closer to a [insert number]. Why did you pick
[insert number]?”
3. "Okay. Wow. It seems like there are some really good reasons why you'd like to
move forward. But, now I'm confused again. Based on all of those reasons, I'm
wondering why it's not a 10?”
4. "It seems like there are a lot of reasons to move forward: X, Y, Z, etc. It also
sounds like you have two specific concerns. Now that we've discussed them, has
your number changed at all? Are you still a [insert number]?"
1-10 CLOSING TECHNIQUE QUESTIONS
35. 1. "From 1 to 10, where 1 is 'I'm not interested in working with you,' and 10 is 'Sign me
up now,' what number are you?”
2. "Really? I'm surprised you picked a number so high. Based on our conversations, I
figured you'd be much closer to a [insert number]. Why did you pick
[insert number]?”
3. "Okay. Wow. It seems like there are some really good reasons why you'd like to
move forward. But, now I'm confused again. Based on all of those reasons, I'm
wondering why it's not a 10?”
4. "It seems like there are a lot of reasons to move forward: X, Y, Z, etc. It also
sounds like you have two specific concerns. Now that we've discussed them, has
your number changed at all? Are you still a [insert number]?"
1-10 CLOSING TECHNIQUE QUESTIONS
36. 1. "From 1 to 10, where 1 is 'I'm not interested in working with you,' and 10 is 'Sign me
up now,' what number are you?”
2. "Really? I'm surprised you picked a number so high. Based on our conversations, I
figured you'd be much closer to a [insert number]. Why did you pick
[insert number]?”
3. "Okay. Wow. It seems like there are some really good reasons why you'd like to
move forward. But, now I'm confused again. Based on all of those reasons, I'm
wondering why it's not a 10?”
4. "It seems like there are a lot of reasons to move forward: X, Y, Z, etc. It also
sounds like you have two specific concerns. Now that we've discussed them, has
your number changed at all? Are you still a [insert number]?"
1-10 CLOSING TECHNIQUE QUESTIONS
37. The key to this question is to get the
prospect to tell you why they want to
buy.
Acknowledge what they say by repeating it back to them. Ask them
to elaborate on the things they say.
38. "What about reason X? Is that a reason why you
chose a higher number than I expected? How
important is X benefit?"
YOU
"So, it seems like you chose [insert number]
because of the following reasons: A, B, C, D, E,
and most of all, F."
39. 1. "From 1 to 10, where 1 is 'I'm not interested in working with you,' and 10 is 'Sign me
up now,' what number are you?”
2. "Really? I'm surprised you picked a number so high. Based on our conversations, I
figured you'd be much closer to a [insert number]. Why did you pick
[insert number]?”
3. "Okay. Wow. It seems like there are some really good reasons why you'd like to
move forward. But, now I'm confused again. Based on all of those reasons, I'm
wondering why it's not a 10?”
4. "It seems like there are a lot of reasons to move forward: X, Y, Z, etc. It also
sounds like you have two specific concerns. Now that we've discussed them, has
your number changed at all? Are you still a [insert number]?"
1-10 CLOSING TECHNIQUE QUESTIONS
40. "My only concern is X.
If I didn't care about X,
we'd be a 10."
PROSPECT
41. "I see. Does it make sense to talk a
bit more about this? We may be able
to work through this issue together."
"My only concern is X.
If I didn't care about X,
we'd be a 10."
YOU
PROSPECT
42. "Hmm. I bet we can avoid this
concern altogether. Do you want to talk
through how we avoid this issue with
other clients?"
"My only concern is X.
If I didn't care about X,
we'd be a 10."
YOU
PROSPECT
43. "Hmm. I bet we can avoid this
concern altogether. Do you want to talk
through how we avoid this issue with
other clients?"
"My only concern is X.
If I didn't care about X,
we'd be a 10."
YOU
PROSPECT
"If you were convinced this concern
can be avoided altogether,
would you be a 10?"
44. "On a previous call, you expressed a concern that
your team might not be able to handle X task on an
ongoing basis. Since completing that task on a
regular basis is key to helping you achieve your
goals, are you still concerned about that?"
YOU
45. 1. "From 1 to 10, where 1 is 'I'm not interested in working with you,' and 10 is 'Sign me
up now,' what number are you?”
2. "Really? I'm surprised you picked a number so high. Based on our conversations, I
figured you'd be much closer to a [insert number]. Why did you pick
[insert number]?”
3. "Okay. Wow. It seems like there are some really good reasons why you'd like to
move forward. But, now I'm confused again. Based on all of those reasons, I'm
wondering why it's not a 10?”
4. "It seems like there are a lot of reasons to move forward: X, Y, Z, etc. It also
sounds like you have two specific concerns. Now that we've discussed them, has
your number changed at all? Are you still a [insert number]?"
1-10 CLOSING TECHNIQUE QUESTIONS
46. "So, you're still at a [insert number]. I see. In that
case, are you prepared to walk away from all of the
benefits... or do you think the benefits outweigh the
risks and you should move forward?"
YOU
47. With the 1-10 closing technique, you are fully
uncovering all the reasons
why a prospect wants to buy
and why they might not.
Before you ask for their business, you’re
helping them weigh the benefits, risks,
upside, and downside of making a decision
to move forward -- or not. (
48. In sales, you must embrace both
closed-won or closed-lost results.
After all, the only thing you control completely is who you spend
your time with, not what decision they will ultimately make.
49. If you find that the buyer
is a “bad-fit” or the
buyer has a prioritized
goal you can’t help with,
inform them accordingly.
If possible, refer the
prospect to a solution
that may help.
50. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
51. Want to learn the sales strategy
HubSpot used to grow from $0 - $140M?
Register(for(a(Free(Sales(Training(Course(
53. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
54. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
55. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: Tyre Recruiting
Persona: VP of Sales at a technology company
Advise Step: Recap exploratory call
“Thanks again for taking the time to get us up to speed on the situation in our last meeting.
To recap, we need to expand the sales team by 30% between now and the end of Q2 in
order to make our revenue target for 2016. However, you have been struggling to find
enough top quality candidates to meet these hiring targets with the current approach of
using your internal recruiter and sales managers. Because the need is immediate, you would
like to engage with an outside recruiting firm as long as the firm can deliver on the quantity
and quality candidates you need within your cost per hire threshold of $15,000. The
candidates you need have between 3 and 7 years of sales experience with a degree from at
least a tier 2 college and experience selling to a technical buyer at a mid-market company.
The firm you choose needs to generate enough candidates to yield at least 1 hire per month
for you. Your preference is to work with a firm that has a track record for delivering this type
of candidate at the pace you need. Is this an accurate recap our discussions so far?”
56. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
57. 1. Show the buyer a candidate specification that the recruiter developed for the
buyer’s need.
2. Show the buyer three sample candidate resumes that meet the specification. Ask
the buyer for feedback on what they like and do not like about each candidate.
Suggest revisions to the candidate specification based on the feedback.
3. Walk the buyer through a case study on how Tyre Recruiting delivered on a
similar candidate specification at the pace and cost per hire requested.
4. Illustrate an expanded list of companies that Tyre Recruiting has worked with that
have a similar context to the buyer.
5. Confirm the buyer believes Tyre Recruiting is the right fit for their specific needs.
EXAMPLE FLOW FOR SUGGESTING WAYS
BUYERS CAN ACHIEVE GOALS
58. 1. Recap the exploratory call
2. Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals or overcome
their challenges
3. Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
4. Get buyer commitment
ADVISING STEPS
59. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: Tyre Recruiting
Persona: VP of Sales at a technology company
Advise Step: Confirm timeline
“I am glad you agree we are the best firm for your needs. As for your
timing, you mentioned the team needs to be 30% larger by the end of
Q2. That means, you need us to deliver one additional hire per month
starting next month, correct? You also mentioned it takes about 2
weeks to get candidates through your hiring process to an accepted
offer. Therefore, if we started today, we only have 2 weeks to start
sourcing candidates and scheduling opening phone screens for you. I
usually like to have a 4 week runway for these tasks but I will get the
right staff on the initiative to meet your hiring targets.
Are those numbers correct?”
60. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: Tyre Recruiting
Persona: VP of Sales at a technology company
Advise Step: Confirm budget buy-in
“From a budget perspective, you need the cost per hire to stay
below $15,000. $10,000 of that can be allocated to sourcing the
candidates. Our fee is 15% of the candidates base salary upon
hiring. Given your hiring salary, we will be charging you $8,000
per hire. This fee is inline with your budget needs, correct?”
61. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: Tyre Recruiting
Persona: VP of Sales at a technology company
Advise Step: Confirm the purchase authority
“During our last conversation, you mentioned that once we get
you a contract, you need to have your outside legal firm review
the contract and have your CFO sign off. Am I missing any
steps? You mentioned this process usually takes 3 business
days but you believe you can accelerate the process given the
executive exposure of this need. How quickly do you think you
can turnaround the contract?”
62. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: Tyre Recruiting
Persona: VP of Sales at a technology company
Advise Step: Confirm the purchase authority
“Excellent. I will get you the contract within the hour. To
confirm, you will get the contract to your legal department and
CFO and will have a signature back to me by tomorrow end of
day, correct?”
“Very good. I’ll have my staff ready to go.”
64. 1. Everything about their prospect’s context that was learned during
the exploratory process
2. The plan they discussed and agreed upon during the exploratory call
3. A review of pros and cons of the different options they’re considering
4. A customized recommendation of one of CoGrow Marketing’s fast,
faster or fastest standard pricing packages
COGROW MARKETING’S PROPOSAL
65. COGROW MARKETING’S PROPOSAL
1. Everything about their prospect’s context that was learned during
the exploratory process
2. The plan they discussed and agreed upon during the exploratory call
3. A review of pros and cons of the different options they’re considering
4. A customized recommendation of one of CoGrow Marketing’s fast,
faster or fastest standard pricing packages
66. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Recap exploratory call
“Your law firm has an amazing story. Not only is the quality of your work and the breadth of
your capabilities very impressive, but you are having a life-changing impact on your clients’
businesses. Unfortunately, as we’ve discussed, your website and online marketing
initiatives are not communicating that effectively. As a result, you’re losing business to
smaller, less effective law firms who just happen to be more digitally savvy. After spending
a bunch of time together really understanding what makes your firm special, as well as
educating your team on the modern best practices of mid-sized law firms, we’ve put
together a plan to help you fix these problems. This is more of a working session than a
presentation. So, please don’t hesitate to stop me at any points with questions.”
67. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Recap exploratory call
“We’ll start by reviewing the current state of affairs, including your stated challenges and
the goals that are important to your firm and your employees. For every client and project
we take on, we first define goals and plans. Everything we recommend and do is focused
on helping you achieve your goals.”As we discussed, your main goal is to acquire 20 new
mid-market B2B clients per year averaging about $30k in billings. With 25 employees on
the current payroll, adding 2 new associates per year, this pace of new client acquisition
allows you to secure the future of the firm. At the current pace averaging only 8 new clients
per year over the last 3 years, you are at risk of losing some of your up and coming
associates who might be attracted to firms that are growing faster and where they can earn
ownership stakes sooner. If this were to happen, you’d risk pushing back the retirement
plans of your senior partners, since you wouldn’t have a new set of associates who would
be able to take over the firm. There are also many employees who are counting on year
end bonuses to pay off mortgages, college bills and save for retirement, but you have not
paid bonuses in the last 3 years.”
68. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Recap exploratory call
“In short, it’s critical that you increase your client acquisition rate. The root of the problem
is that you’re losing to newer firms who are much more digitally savvy. They’re being
found online. You are not. Your old playbooks of networking and referrals are not getting
you the results you’re used to. It’s getting harder for your senior partners to find the time
and more junior associates just aren’t having success with your playbook. Let’s discuss
the plan we’ve designed together to not just fix these issues, but to make you the first
and only choice of your local B2B companies when they need legal counsel. Our first
step in any new ongoing client relationship is to conduct a workshop with your entire
team. In this workshop, we’ll get full buy-in from your team. Everyone will understand how
we’re going to grow this firm together, as a team. We’ll work together to define a focus
and priority for the content we’ll produce together and who we’ll be targeting with that
content. We’ll tap them for ideas on content and get their buy-in to help create it.”
69. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Recap exploratory call
“We’ll teach them how to use social media effectively during the workshop, and set them
up so that we can leverage them to amplify the reach of your content on an ongoing
basis. By the end of the day, we’ll have a plan that will allow us to start implementing the
rest of the strategy. From there, we will implement some new software that will allow us to
not just execute our work, but measure the impact it’s having on your topline. There will
be certain things we will do for you. And there will be some things that your team will
need to learn. We’ll hold your team’s hand as we implement all of this. Most of the
software works in the background for you with little extra effort. But, there will be some
new prospecting approaches you’ll want to put into place that will require some new
habits. As we discussed, you have two newer associates who will take this on.”
70. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Recap exploratory call
“In the beginning of our conversations, we both agreed that your website needs work.
However, we agreed later in our exploratory call that we should prioritize lead generation
activities over redesigning and relauching your website. Therefore, our primary focus for
the first 6 months of working together will be blogging and lead generation. We will
brainstorm topics together and agree on a calendar for blog content as well as long form
content. Our writers will interview different partners to create the content. We will
optimize it, publish and promote it to your social channels. We will discuss the frequency
of this activity shortly. But, as we discussed, remember that higher frequency results in
more traffic and leads. We will begin talking about your website redesign once we have
made traction with lead generation. When we do this relaunch, content will play a major
role. Over the next 6 months, we’ll create content that more fully communicates the
quality of your work, the breadth of your capabilities and the impact you have on your
client’s businesses and lives.”
71. By focusing on how they’ll drive sales for their
client and being honest about the effort
required, CoGrow differentiates themselves
as someone who can really accelerate growth.
72. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Recap exploratory call
“Are you committed to this step in the process?”
“Do you still believe this is the right path?”
“Do you understand why this part of the plan
is critical?”
73. COGROW VISUALS TO COMMUNICATE
THE QUALITY OF THEIR WORK
1. A search optimized client blog post that is ranking well for a key legal search term
2. A landing page with an ebook from one of their other professional services clients
3. A LinkedIn Pulse article that is driving significant traffic to a legal client’s ebook
4. The amount of traffic a client from their blog subscribers who receive an email alert
when a new blog post is published
5. How one client connects with a larger number of leads by using email templates
6. A video that shows how easy it is to use a CRM to project revenue, and why that’s
important for knowing which content is producing clients
74. COGROW’S TABLE TO DETERMINE THAT
THEY ARE THE CHOSEN FIRM
SOLUTION PROS CONS
CoGrow Marketing
Competitor A
Do nothing
Doing it yourself
75. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Suggest ways the prospect can achieve their goals
“Now that we’ve reviewed the components of our
plan, we usually try to help our prospective clients
think through the pros and cons of each option
they have in front of them. As we’ve helped
companies make decisions like this many times
before and we’ve worked with companies who
have chosen all four of these options, we have a
very good feel for what the pluses and minuses
are.”
77. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
“From a budget perspective, you’ll need to
dedicate $8k per month. You might decide that
you want to do more once we get going, but we
recommend starting with our “faster” package for
now. By our calculations, your goal is to grow the
firm by about $600k this year. We think we can
help you get there with a $120k annual
investment. Are you satisfied with the ROI this
investment will provide?”
78. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
“Given that you believe we are the best option to
help you grow, and you mentioned the team
wants to start immediately so that you have a
chance of hitting your growth goals this year, how
soon would you like to get started?”
79. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
“There are a bunch of steps after this that need to
be planned. The first is signing our contract and
the contract for the software we recommend.
Concurrently, we can schedule our workshop as
well. Our schedule is rather tight, but we could try
and fit your workshop in next week if you’d like?”
80. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
“During our last conversation, you mentioned that
once we get you a contract, you’ll want to review
the fine print of course. Then, one of your
partners will sign off. You said that will be you,
right? Am I missing any steps? Do you want to
sign it today?”
81. EXAMPLE OUTREACH
Company: CoGrow Marketing
Advise Step: Confirm budget, decision making processes, and timeline
“Okay. I will get you the contract within the hour.
We’ll talk to you in the morning to finalize our
schedules. We have some software we use that
will make scheduling the workshop pretty
painless. We’ll just need your help getting a
scheduling link to everyone.”