by David Gittin, CTO
So what do they want to do? Buy, of course. How often, though, do you get in their way by telling them what you have instead of talking with them about what they want? Notice I said want, not need. Chances are excellent that a buyer already knows what you are selling before you step foot in the door, even before you’ve gotten the appointment. They can read the information on your website, they’ve checked out your testimonials and they know what you’ve got. Don’t waste their time and yours by telling them about it all over again. You’ll probably need to help them understand what they need. (Please don’t ask what are their top three issues so you can trot out one of your prepared solutions.) When they understand what they need, you’ll also be able to address the emotions that go along with those needs: anxiety, frustration, maybe even fear. Help them understand why they want it. Involve them in the emotions of making a good decision. Those emotions can be relief that they’ve made a good decision, excitement at bringing in a new product that will help them and their company, anticipation of the kudos they’ll receive for making the right decision or all of the above. It’s axiomatic that buyers buy on emotion and use reason to justify their decision. Be prepared to supply the justification after you’ve addressed the...
by David Gittin, CTO
NimblePitch’s storytelling capabilities perfectly support the sales rep’s need to educate the buyer through the many critical steps of a complex buying process, Pat Rogers, NimblePitch’s VP for Sales & Business Development told listeners as he launched our Executive Briefing on Sales Force Effectiveness Tour in Richmond last week. To make the most of every sales moment, Pat reminded those present, your team needs to be in step with the buyer throughout the sales process. You must provide them the information they need to solve their problem, when they need it. It has to have not too much information and not too little, it has to be accurate, and it has to be delivered at the right moment. Execute better, faster, more accurately Participants learned how NimblePitch helps sales people execute more effectively at every point. It has the technology that allows the rep to accurately deliver the product information at the critical moment, and stay in touch with the buyer. NimblePitch gives the sales rep virtually unlimited content – videos, photos, text, charts and graphs, PDFs and much more – that’s easy to access from any point within the presentation and that facilitates interaction for buyer and rep while discussing the product’s specs and capabilities. It also makes it easy for the rep to give the right information at the right time. Putting sales and marketing management’s minds at ease, the quality of the content is centrally maintained so it is always consistent from meeting to meeting and from rep to rep, it’s compliant and it’s up to date. Built in metrics keep the rep informed of buyer...
by David Gittin, CTO
by Bart Levy Have you ever seen a slide presentation with graphics zooming in and out, with so much information on a slide you couldn’t possibly read it, or illegible fonts and funky colors? Ever seen a presentation that left you scratching your head because the message was so confused? What about a logo that’s been stretched or squeezed to fit a space with some weird color because the corporate color clashes with the background? It’s a marketer’s nightmare. Have you ever been given a prepared slide deck and given it just a little tweak to better suit your personal presentation style? Now imagine everyone on your sales team doing that.Your carefully crafted corporate message may be getting tweaked into something you did not intend – implying product capabilities that aren’t quite accurate or making promises that you are not going to be able to keep. What does that do for your corporate image? That’s not a marketing problem, that’s a corporate problem that could become a legal problem. Review your sales and marketing materials Are they accurate? Are they honest? Are they up to date? Do your marketing materials reflect what you want to sell or do they highlight why a buyer should want to buy? In other words, your marketing information should let the prospect know you care about the same things they care about. Do your sales materials discuss features and specs in ways that are easy to read and even compare to other products? Are the graphic elements clean, up to date, easy to read and within the boundaries set by your brand guidelines? Communication review...
by David Gittin, CTO
After nearly 6 months of planning, it’s hard to believe 2013 RVA Startup Weekend has come and gone. NimblePitch was a proud sponsor of the event and our CEO, Greg Hofbauer, was the chair of the organizing committee. “This year proved to be another exhilarating, exhausting, super-charged 54 hours of exploring the ideas of 14 teams which may one day become household names. While many of these ideas may not become the next big thing, this event is really about bringing the Richmond entrepreneurial community closer together. It provides a high-energy, risk-free way for new entrepreneurs to test the waters and discover the strong support network our community has built”, according to Greg. As a startup, we at NimblePitch are very grateful for the time and expertise that have come our way – and continue to come our way. It is nice to be able to share what we’ve learned and to know that we may have contributed to someone else’s success. Have you had someone give you the right advice at the right time or in some other way give you a hand when you needed it? Don’t forget to pay it...
by David Gittin, CTO
Well, the Sales 2.0 Conference is behind us and one overriding theme was sounded: The buyers have spoken – if you’re not listening, you’re in trouble. For us at NimblePitch, the program’s agenda helped to underscore our belief that insight-based selling demands a fresh perspective on the needs and expectations of buyers. But just as important, it requires a new generation of tools that do more than report on activity, that actually help salespeople execute their tasks. The trend has been in full effect for a number of years. Buyers don’t engage with salespeople to learn about their products or even compare them to their competition; they have all the information they need at the touch of a screen or the click of a mouse. Salespeople need to come to grips with ways of using technology that enables them to connect with buyers (videos, interactive graphics, etc.) – not to showcase product but to establish business/personal relationships and trust in what will continue to be an increasingly virtual sales landscape. Interested in your...
