The secret to revenue growth and career advancement

THE SECRET TO
REVENUE GROWTH
AND CAREER
ADVANCEMENT
Kristin Zhivago
#pmv

Corporate It’s a
tribal infighting jungle in
here!
No
single
vision

Scope creep What
due to
subjectivity
should
CEOs have lost
we be
confidence doing?
November 3, 2010 GrandView Webinar - Kristin Zhivago 2

Constantly Customers
It’s also a
changing in control of the jungle out
landscape buying process,
discussions there!

How can
we know
Big
Confusion,
competition, differences what we
distractions between should be
different
types of doing?
buyers

Why
is it all
so broken?

Because the
company is
flying
blind

No one is the “buyer authority”


What does the buyer authority KNOW?

What customers want to buy
and how they want to buy it

HOW DO YOU BECOME
THE AUTHORITY?

How do you gain that
in-depth knowledge?

WHAT’S THE SECRET?

If you ask buyers the
right way, at the
right time, they will
tell you exactly what
you need to know.
Note: They won’t tell you while you’re selling to them


There is a catch.

You have to DO it.

Interviewing:
Simple. Powerful. Hard.
 Such a simple concept – ask them the right questions, the
right way, and you will find out what you need to know.

 Logical – ask them what they want you to sell, and how they
want you to sell it to them – so you know what to do.

 It takes GUTS – you must step
out of your comfort zone.

 But that’s always where the
revenue is.


You have TWO BUYERS
Your CEO

Your Customers

Note: You can’t sell good marketing to your CEO
unless you treat your CEO as your first customer


What your CEO is buying
RESULTS (REVENUE)
RESULTS (REVENUE)

IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE OF
WHAT CUSTOMERS WANT
AND HOW THEY WANT TO BUY IT

THE ABILITY TO USE THAT KNOWEDGE
TO LEAD THE COMPANY IN
THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Become the CEO Authority
 Interview your CEO – so you KNOW:
 What’s driving him?
 What are her goals?
 What’s driving him nuts?
 What does she wishe you were doing?
 How does he feel about what you’re doing now?
 You need to KNOW what he/she really wants – your CEO
will tell you, if you ask.
 Don’t guess. Don’t assume. You’ll be wrong.


Interviewing your CEO
 Make an appointment – say you want to interview him/her to make
sure that what you are doing is on track
 Say you will be interviewing customers as well, so that you successfully
sync up his/her goals with customer preferences/buying processes
 Record the conversation so you don’t have to worry about taking notes
and you can engage in a meaningful conversation
 Ask:
 What are your key goals right now?
 What’s your biggest challenge, running the company?
 What do you think customers want from our products? What is the most
“Critical Characteristic”?
 If product management/marketing were running perfectly, what would it
look like?
 Are there any competitors who you think are doing it right?


Become the Customer Authority
 Realize:
 Companies SELL.
 Customers BUY.
 Companies think like sellers, not buyers

 Customers have a BUYING PROCESS

 Most companies make it difficult to buy
 Don’t make what people want
 Don’t sell the way people buy
 Don’t answer questions people
actually ask
 Examples…

Interview your Customers
 Why current customers?

 They know you (more than you think!) – strengths and weaknesses

 They will tell you what they were thinking when they were buying
(they will tell you what they didn’t tell your salesperson!)

 They have a vested interest in
your success

 You can reverse-engineer
successful sales and
manufacture sales in quantity


Interviewing your Customers
 Why the telephone?
 Familiar working/thinking environment
 No physical distractions
 Not a stiff focus group
 You can have a real conversation
 Record it, transcribe it, turn it into a report
 Amazing insights into WHY
 Web data can tell you what, but not why
 Goes beyond what you can get with social media “listening”
 You will be developing for and marketing to someone you have talked
with, personally. You will have stories in your back pocket.


Interviewing your Customers
 Set up appt with email. You’ll get an hour if you set up an
appointment.
 Ask open-ended questions
 How do you feel about our products, services, company?
 If you were looking for this product/service again, and didn’t
know about us, what would you type into Google?
 What do you think of our competition? What can we learn from
them?
 If you were CEO of our company tomorrow, what’s the first
thing you would do?
 What was your buying process? Who was involved? What were
the stages?


The journey from the
jungle to Revenue City

 Logical, tested, step-by-step system 


The Roadmap To Revenue
DISCOVER DEBATE DEPLOY
Stop trying to Resolve the Map out their
“sell” and differences buying process so
“market.” between what you can support it
they want and at every step.
Interview, what you sell.
Build an Action
create reports, How they buy vs.
Plan.
summarize, how you sell.
What you promise Stay on the Road.
analyze,
recommend. vs. what they
want delivered.


“Branding is the promise
that you make. Your
brand is the promise that
you keep.”
Kristin Zhivago, Marketing Technology, 1994


Five promise-keeping tools
Products & Services
People
Processes
Passion
Policies

The Scrutiny Spectrum
Four types of products/services in the world, according to
the amount of scrutiny applied to the buying process:
 Light Scrutiny – see it, buy it
 Medium Scrutiny – see it,
ask questions, buy it

 Heavy Scrutiny – see it, ask
lots of questions, test it, discuss
with other buyers, talk to
salesperson, sign contract

 Intense Scrutiny – all of the
above – but then you get married


Mapping the Buying Process
In each case:
What do they do –
LIGHT See Ask Buy Rate
and what should you do
to make that easy?

MEDIUM Search Ask Try Buy Rate

HEAVY Search Ask Talk Test Sign Use Rate

INTENSE Search Ask Study Talk Test Sign Use Rate


Answering their questions
 Can’t guess – must know
 It’s never quite what you think
 What is their “Critical Characteristic?”
 They must be satisfied with the
answer – or will keep looking
 Help them analyze their options
 Biggest question: “What’s going to
happen to me after I buy?”


Roadmap to Revenue
 The secret to company growth and personal growth is to
INTERVIEW – your CEO and Customers
 Become the Authority
 Focus on their buying process: WHAT they want to buy and
HOW they want to buy it
 Determine the promise you can keep
 Map out the buying process
 Build an action plan

 Go for it


Thank You

Kristin Zhivago
Zhivago Management Partners, Inc.
kristin@zhivago.com
RevenueJournal.com
Zhivago.com
@KristinZhivago
To be notified when the book is launched: Zhivago.com/Roadmap


The secret to revenue growth and career advancement

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The secret to revenue growth and career advancement