1. It's How You Sell, Not What
You Sell.
Santosh Prasad
Email: santoshpd@outlook.com
”The three most important traits for a salesperson are
research skills, asking the right questions, and a
genuine desire to identify & solve problems for clients”

2.  Results-driven professional with about 18 years experience in engaging and
managing Clients PAN India. Had opportunities to lead several strategic business
initiatives to help organizations get breakthroughs and establish themselves in
uncharted markets & domains. Extensive experience in Strategic Sales, Business
development, Enterprise Sales, and good exposure to Operations Management,
Transitions & People Management.
 My strengths lie in my ability to comprehend the details, dynamics and drivers of
a particular business segment/market; mapping business potential and
prospects; identifying and understanding clients’ business issues to formulate
solutions; planning strategic, methodological & innovative sales approach; using
my operational expertise to resolve business issues; and articulating the value
proposition.
Professional Summary

3.  Skilled practitioner of consultative selling and inside sales
 Structured and research based pre-sales, and client requirement analysis
 Proven expertise in business development in uncharted markets & domains
 Client relationship management, account development and solution designing
 Formulating policies and guiding team members to accomplish business
targets
Core Competencies

4.  After engaging and managing clients for about 18 years, I am not a great
believer of the traditional sales methodologies.
 Today sales is all about ‘problem solving’ for the Clients. I like to think of
myself not as a sales person for an organization, but rather as a ‘problem
solver’ for my clients. A genuine empathy for clients’ concern is what I bring
on board and try to drive the same outlook across the organization.
 Research is quintessentially the name of the game for sales. I research
everything i.e. companies, competitors, decision makers/influencers, services
offered, end clients, industry and company specific issues, hiring trends,
marketing initiatives, and a lot more before initiating contact.
 Great believer in having genuine conversations with clients, asking a lot of
open ended questions, always being on the client side and not really pitching
/closing till it makes sense. A good sales person as per me is the ‘one with a
small mouth and big ears’.
My basic understanding
of sales

5. Make it about them, not
about you
 What specific problem/s do you solve for Clients?
 Who does it solve the problem for (i.e. departments, designations)?
 Are the benefits measureable?
 Are these about cost savings/increased revenues/efficiency gains?
 Does it help Clients get a competitive advantage or close the gap?
 Does it help their end Clients?
 How does it work for them?
Clients decisions will always be based on ‘What is in it for me?’.

6. Research thoroughly (and then
some more……)
Online research on Google, LinkedIn, corporate websites, news sites, press
releases, Twitter, financial information, job portals, Facebook, PTO
websites etc.
What can you look at:
 Patents and trademarks filings
 New partnerships and acquisitions
 Internal & external communication
 New services or products
 Corporate and finance affairs
 End Clients’ affairs
 Outsourcing
 Problem statements
 New Initiatives or business expansion
 Leadership changes
 Hiring challenges, trends and new hires
 Branding/ Marketing Initiatives
 Competition Issues
 Investor Relations

7. Triggers??? ……..It’s elementary;
Watson.
Triggers are events or information which indicate a need for your products or
services by a company, industry or region. These are the catalysts for a ‘Need
Based’ sale.
 Skill set shortages
 Decline in revenues
 Lay offs or employee attrition
 Cost reduction measures
 Recession
 Outsourcing deals by competitors
 Regulatory or tax structure changes
 Leadership Changes
 Negative industry outlook by Analysts
 Increase in operational costs
Examples of triggers (for an IT outsourcing company)
Differentiate between pleasure and pain points

8. Prospecting & Engaging
 Connect on LinkedIn
 Engage on Twitter
 Join similar online forums and groups
 Attend relevant events
 Send problem specific man-to-man emails
 Conduct webinars
 Get involved in the marketing initiatives
 Find references
Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than
interrupting strangers who don't.” -Seth Godin

9. Say NO to email campaigns and
cold callingProblem specific man-to-man emails will help you better engage your
prospects. This is where the ‘Triggers’ identified during the research prove
useful and add meaningful context to the conversation.
 Hi Bob, We understand that it has become really difficult to fill up mid-level
software developer positions these days. Some of these positions remain open
for over five to six months on various job portals. I am guessing that you are
feeling the crunch too. We have some long term and cost effective solutions
for such situations. Can we connect some time soon to discuss how we can
help?
 Hi Jack, There have been a lot of reports recently on various cost cutting
measures by IT organizations in the US. I believe we are in a position to help
organizations tide over these tough times while sustaining the quality of their
workforce, and saving about forty percent of their manpower expenses. Can
we connect some time soon to discuss how we can help?
Examples (for an IT outsourcing company)

10. Sales call
Discovery Discovery is the most important part of the call because this is where
you identify and understand the problems you are going to solve for
the Client. You must:
 Ask relevant and conversational open ended questions.
 ‘Say less and listen more’, understand, clarify, verify and take notes
Solution On the basis of your understandings from the research and discovery
process, you present a customized solution. You must:
 Address the concerns, and add value
 Keep it flexible enough for further customization
 Provide clarifications and recap
Action
Points  Come to an agreement regarding the solution
 Timeline to get back to the client on pending queries, if any
 Agree on next steps (Who does what by when)
 Differentiate between decision makers and influencers

11.  The art of sales follow up is less important than the act of sales follow up
 If you haven't followed up, you haven't really pitched.
 It takes anywhere between 8 to 14 follow ups to get a sale.
After call work or ACW is as important as the research done before the call, and in
some cases even more important than the sales call itself. In time ACW gives you an
opportunity to:
 Verify the information provided by the Client
 Get your BANT reconfirmed
 Realignment of strategy and budget in the light of new information
After the call

12. My best sale
Criteria Us Competitor 1 Competitor 2
Experience >2 years 20 years 7 years
Team Size 4 FTE’s Over 100 FTE’s 40 FTE’s
Cost 15% higher Standard 10% discount
What did we do differently?
Identified and understood client’s pain areas during the discovery process, and
provided more benefits than they were expecting.
 We offered better skilled and qualified resources who could perform additional
tasks, which were beyond the scope that client had originally chalked out.
 Client was able to save additional 25% operational costs, and we won a $1.4
million account.

13. & Happy Selling !
Santosh Prasad
“A sale is not something you pursue; it’s what
happens to you while you are immersed in
serving your client.”
”You don't close a sale; you open a
relationship if you want to build a long-
term, successful enterprise.”
”In sales, it's not what you say; it's
how they perceive what you say.”