Do these numbers mean anything to you

1
Do these numbers mean anything to you?
91
74
120
21
23
2
Heres what they mean for my business
91
Pipeline Win Rate
74
74
Increase in Average Sales Price
21
21
Reduction in Sales Cycle Length
23
23
Zebra score needed at beginning of Quarter, to
generate revenue by the end of the Quarter
3
Results
120
Number of days needed to achieve results using
the Zebra value-based selling method
Patrick Williams, SVP Sales, StarCite Inc.
PWilliams_at_StarCite.com 408.562.7662
4
HOW to CLOSE 90 of the BUSINESS YOU PURSUE
FASTER, MORE EASILY and MORE PROFITABLY

• Jeffrey A. Koser
• September, 2008

Selling to Zebras, LLC To Increase Power Focus
5
Build your Zebra and Ignite Your Growth in a
Tough Economy

• Predictive Value?
• A well-formulated model is used to
• develop the preliminary prediction of value
• your vertical specific prospect can
• expect to achieve

Power The person who is going to buy from
youthe person who conceives of and owns the
business drivers, who is responsible for the
promises that will get the project approved and
for achieving and reporting the end results

• Togethertoday we will build your Zebra by
  developing the seven questions you will ask about
  every prospect
• Seven questions that add up to a perfect prospect
  Zebra score of 28
• Score a prospect, use this tool to help you
  accentuate your strengths, and strategize ways of
  filling your gaps
• Zebra Buying Cycle which will help you assert
  authority in your field
• Leverage predictive value to gain access to Power
• Create emotional business-to-business attachment
  between you and your customers by fulfilling the
  promises that lead to the approval of projects

Whats a Zebra? Your Zebra is the prospect that
is a perfect fit for your companya prospect
that you know you can win based on identifiable,
objective characteristics and Zebras are the
only prospects a salesperson should pursue.
Why do we call it a Zebra? We call this perfect
prospect a Zebra because once youve identified
the characteristics of your Zebra, you can spot
it amidst all the other prospects quickly and
easily.
6
The Zebra Buying Cycle
1
2
4
3
7
Who Needs a Zebra? If

• Sales Cycles are getting longer and often end
  with
• no decision
• Qualified prospects are difficult to find and
  identify
• Sales opportunities are aging and stay on the
  forecast longer
• Prospects are saying all products and solutions
  look-a-like products and solutions are being
  increasingly commoditized
• Deals are getting smaller and margins are
  diminishing because heavy discounting is the norm
• Access to high level decision makers is harder to
  get as the number of competitors increases

you have one or more of these Sales Related
Issues YOU NEED A ZEBRA!
8
Anyone Here Not Need a Zebra?

• THEN LETS GET STARTED BUILDING YOUR ZEBRA!

Please Open Your Zebra Camp Building your Zebra
Manuals to Page 5.
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Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Company Profile
• Operations
• Access to Power
• Funding
• ROI
• Technology
• Service

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Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Company Profile

• Page 4 in your manual think about
• Most reference worthy customers
• Last five deals you won
• Best customersrepeat business and profitability
• Philosophies/Ideals/Size
• SIC /or NAICS
• Product Adoption Life Cycle (I.e. how did they
  buy?)
• Conversely the last few deals you lost
• Turn to page 12 and note your answers

11
Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Company Profile

• Product Adoption Life Cycle

12
Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Company Profile

• Page 4 in your manual think about
• Most reference worthy customers
• Last five deals you won
• Best from repeat business and profitability
• Philosophies and ideals
• SIC /or NAICS
• Product Adoption Life Cycle
• Conversely the last few deals you lost
• Turn to page 12 and note your answers

13
Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Operations

• Bottom of page 12 in your manual think about
• Number of divisions, branches, locations?
• Primarily domestic or international?
• How do they go to market?
• Complex or simple?
• What key operational business issues do you
  address that they have to acknowledge they need?
• Turn to page 15 and note your answers

14
Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Access to Power

• Bottom of page 15 in your manual think about
• Who is most often the person who makes the
  promises that will lead to the approval to
  purchase your solution?
• Who owns the reporting of the results?
• Was a CAR required? Who signed the CAR?
• Specifically what are the most common titles for
  Power, CEO, CFO, COO, VPO, VPL, Director of ____?
• What Power-level business issues do you solve?
• Turn to page 17 and note your answers

15
Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Funding

• Middle of page 17 in your manual think about
• Have your most recent wins required a
  pre-established budget?
• When at true Power are you able to sell without
  a budget?
• When you have lost, what role did funding play?
• What are the steps required to get a deal done?
  
• Turn to page 18 and note your answers

Loss Not just to competition! Time kills all
deals and all business, therefore a deal that
doesnt close for anyone is also a loss!
16
Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• ROI

• Bottom of page 18 in your manual think about
• What specific quantifiable value does your
  solution create?
• What financial calculations are most often
  required, ROI, IRR, Payback Period, NPV, EVA?
• Selling value is critical. Understanding and
  being able to engage in a total cost of ownership
  (TCO) conversation is the key to higher average
  deal size, shorter sales cycles, and driving
  Power-level sales cycles.
• Turn to page 19 and note your answers

17
Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Technology

• Middle of page 20 in your manual think about
• What technologically aspects of your solution
  provide competitive advantage?
• Disadvantage?
• What role did technology play in your last five
  wins?
• Losses?
• Technology is always a double edge sword
• Turn to page 21 and note your answers

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Seven Attributes of Your Zebra

• Service

• Page 22 in your manual think about
• What are the service needs and wants of those
  most recent wins?
• Losses?
• Do you have varying levels of contract service?
• What levels of service did customers contract
  for?
• On the bottom of page 22 note your answers

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GREATYOU Have a Zebra!
20
Want to Learn How to Use Our Zebra?

• THEN LETS GET STARTED MANAGING TO YOUR ZEBRA!

Please Open Your Zebra Camp Building your Zebra
Manuals to Page 6 (Last Paragraph).
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How the Zebra Works

• Company Profile score it 0-4
• Operations score it 0-4
• Access to Power score it 0-4
• Funding score it 0-4
• ROI score it 0-4
• Technology score it 0-4
• Service score it 0-4

Access to Power Is a particularly
important Attribute. Without access HERE, every
other answer in your Zebra should be questioned!
Still on Page 6 of your Zebra Camp Building
your Zebra Manuals
22
How to Use Your Zebra
23
Want to Learn How to Use Our Zebra?

• TESTING YOUR ZEBRA!

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How to Use Your Zebra
??

• Do you remember Pat Williams Magic Zebra
  Scorethe score that told Pat he would close the
  deal 91 of the time?

• For Pata Zebra Score of 23 turns prospects to
  revenue 91 of-the-time!

Please Open Your Zebra Camp Building your Zebra
Manuals to Page 23
25
What Results Can YOU Expect?

• Results Selling to Zebras Customer Survey
• July 2006, August 2007, and August 2008..
• Pipeline close rate increased by as low as 200
  to a best practice high of 364.

With a Zebra this is the Improvement you can
expect BUT THERE IS MORE!
26

• THE NEXT STEP!

27
Leveraging Predictive Value to get to Power
1
2
Just because weve identified Power doesnt mean
we can get there!
28
We Solve These Critical Business Issues
What Critical Business Issues do YOU Solve?

• Sales Cycles are getting longer and often end
  with
• no decision
• Qualified prospects are difficult to find and
  identify
• Sales opportunities are aging and stay on the
  forecast longer
• Prospects are saying all products and solutions
  look-a-like products and solutions are being
  increasingly commoditized
• Deals are getting smaller and margins are
  diminishing because heavy discounting is the norm
• Access to high level decision makers is harder to
  get as the number of competitors increases

By solving these issues WE can create the
following value
29
Prediction of Value
30
How Do WE Know We Can Create This Value?

• Results Selling to Zebras Customer Survey
• July 2006, August 2007, and August 2008..
• Pipeline close rate increased by as low as 200
  to a best practice high of 364.
• Increase in average selling price ranged from as
  low as 87 to a best practice high of 150
• Sales cycle length reduced by as low as 27 to a
  best practice high of 45

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Take the Next Step!

• Do what we have done
• Identify the critical business issues you address
  that create value
• Survey your customers to gather proof of value
  creation
• Use our template and build your predictive value
  model
• Leverage predictive value to penetrate at Power

32
Do What Others Have Done
Our pipeline close rate efficiency increased to
83...
Jim Stollberg Vice President Strategy and
Business Development HK Systems, Inc.
www.HKSystems.com

• Increase in average selling price 150
• Professional service backlog grew 400

33
What will your numbers be?
91
Pipeline Win Rate
74
74
Increase in Average Sales Price
21
21
Reduction in Sales Cycle Length
23
23
Zebra score needed at beginning of Quarter, to
generate revenue by the end of the Quarter
34
HOW to CLOSE 90 of the BUSINESS YOU PURSUE
FASTER, MORE EASILY and MORE PROFITABLY

• Jeffrey A. Koser
• [phone]
• Koserhtk_at_aol.com

Selling to Zebras, LLC To Increase Power Focus
35
BACK-UP SLIDES

• Jeffrey A. Koser
• September, 2008

Selling to Zebras, LLC To Increase Power Focus
36
Who is Jeff Koser

• 30 YEARS IN SALES AS
• SR RVPSO
• AE VPS
• ASM VPSO
• SM WWVPS
• NAM EVPBS
• BM COO
• RVPS CEO10 YEARS

WWW.SELLINGTOZEBRAS.COM
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Zebras Can Be FastAre YOU?