Stage View |
Demand Generation
Prospect
Qualify
Develop
Solution
Proof
Close
Deploy
Support
Establish quali...
Conduct lead qu...
Review list of...
Complete opport...
Author and send...
Confirm verifia...
Key Step:
| Conduct Lead Qualification Call to Sponsor
Rationale:
| The objective of conducting a lead qualification call (or series of calls) to the sponsor is to uncover enough information to assess whether an opportunity exists and whether it is worth pursuing. If the decision to pursue the opportunity is made, the lead qualification call becomes a pivotal moment in laying the foundation for a successful sale. This foundation for success includes establishing a clear understanding of customer pain, a strong buying vision, and access to power.
| Guidance:
In order to effectively qualify the opportunity and to lay the basic foundation for a successful sale, the opportunity team must focus on two sets of related issues during the lead qualification call: 1. Primary focus for call: Uncovering and developing the sponsor’s pain, vision and level of commitment to the sales process. The MSS call plan shown below and associated job aids offer offer an excellent roadmap for preparing and structuring a qualification call to ensure that the call objectives are met. Review the call plan before each new qualification call and prepare the appropriate MSS job aids found in the Samples & Templates links below. Microsoft’s industry teams and GTMs have developed an extensive library of customized job aids to aids to help you with qualifiying customers in a number of different industries. Use the following link to access these job aids from the Solutions Selling Cube Solutions Portal (Tools Menu>Solution Seling Cube). 2. Secondary focus for call: Collecting enough preliminary information to develop a TAS opportunity assessment Reading over the TAS opportunity assessment questionnaire before a qualification call, helps the qualification team think about the questions that they will need to answer to develop a strategic assessment of their ability to win an opportunity. For more information on the opportunity assessment please visit the complete opportunity assessment key step. Use the following link for more information on answering the opportunity assessment questionnaire. Opportunity Assessment Questionnaire MSS Call Plan The table below describes each step in MSS call plan and associates the appropriate MSS job aids with each step.
Step | Comments | MSS Sales Aids
Step 1: Establish a Rapport | Let the prospect set the tone of the meeting. Sellers are not responsible for the entire conversation of a first call. The idea is to relax, slow down, and try not to talk unnecessarily allowing the buyer to speak freely. |
Step 2: Introduce the Call | Your introduction should accomplish the following objectives: State objective of the call. Introduce the buyer to Microsoft and provide enough information to help the buyer reach the desired conclusions about Microsoft products and services. “What I would like to do during the next ___ minutes is to introduce you to (Microsoft) and tell you about another (title, industry) we have worked with. I would then like to learn about you and your situation. At that point, the two of us will be able to make a mutual decision as to whether or not we should proceed any further.” Get either verbal or nonverbal confirmation from the buyer. Position Microsoft (Use the “we help” theme). Give a brief statement of how organizations use Microsoft products and services to meet their business objectives. This statement may conflict with the sponsor’s traditional view of Microsoft as a basic productivity application vendor. “(Microsoft) is in the business of helping organizations / companies in the (specific) industry accomplish….” Tell reference story. Give specific information about how you have helped other clients in a similar situation. “A particular situation you might be interested in is another (organization type e.g., bank). Their (job title) was having difficulty with (critical issue). The reasons for his/her difficulty were (list reasons)… What he/she needed was some way to (list capabilities)… (Microsoft) provided them with those capabilities and the result was (specific result).” | Developing a Reference Story Developing a Pain Chain Developing an Initial Value Proposition 9-Block Vision Processing Model Developing a Pain Sheet Solutions Selling Cube (GTM and Industry specific examples of all MSS sales aides mentioned above)
Step 3: Transition to Vision Processing | Vision Processing describes the technique of taking customer pain and translating it into a “buying vision” of how Microsoft capabilities can solve the customer’s business pains. Your Vision Processing approach will vary depending on the sponsor’s vision status. Use the following table to determine the most appropriate approach and then read below for more detailed information about vision processing for each approach.
If… | Then…
The sponsor does not have a buying vision and may or may not feel pain yet, | Use the Vision Creating approach
The sponsor already has a buying vision which may be focused on a competitor’s ability to solve his business pains, (The opportunity may already exist; the customer might already be working with a competitor or RFP requirements may already have been developed.) | Use the Vision Re-Engineering approach
Vision Creating Your job is to uncover pain and build the sponsor’s buying vision to match Microsoft’s strengths and capabilities. At this point in the call you should have already shared a relevant reference story about another customer who faced similar issues and how Microsoft provided them with capabilities that helped solve their business pain. Sharing this relevant story should get the buyer talking about some similar issues they are going through. They could give you several different responses to your reference story. Use the 9-Block Vision Processing Model to create a buying vision of capabilities needed. The 9-Block model is an interactive methodology that helps the sales team ask questions and get answers rather than simply giving a presentation. Creating a vision can be achieved by: · Asking situational questions · Asking pain questions · Prioritizing critical issues · Developing a vision of a solution Once you have helped create a buying vision, confirm that buying vision with your buyer and bridge to benefit statement and close. Tip: Pain usually underpins major customer initiatives. Creating a buying vision based on how MS capabilities can make that initiative more successful can be a very powerful in aligning our efforts to the customer's business objectives. | 9-Block Vision Processing Model Developing a Pain Sheet Solutions Selling Cube (GTM and Industry specific examples of all MSS sales aides mentioned above)
Step 3: Transition to Vision Processing, Continued | Vision Re-engineering Your job is to re-engineer or change the sponsor’s existing vision to one with a bias towards Microsoft’s capabilities/solution offerings. At this point in the call you should have already shared a relevant reference story about another customer who faced similar issues and how Microsoft provided them with capabilities that helped solve their business pain. Sharing this relevant story should get the buyer talking about some similar issues they are going through. They could give you several different responses to your reference story. Use the 9-Block Vision Processing Model to re-engineer the customer’s existing buying vision. The 9-Block model is an interactive methodology that helps the sales team ask questions and get answers rather than simply giving a presentation. Re-engineering a vision can be achieved by: · Participating in existing vision (Microsoft can help customer achieve an existing vision) · Re-engineering vision (Help customer redefine criteria for an acceptable solution) · Determining underlying pain (Help customer discover new pains that redefine the definition of an acceptable solution) Once you have helped re-engineer a buying vision, confirm that buying vision with your buyer and bridge to benefit statement and close. |
Step 4 & 5: Benefit and Close | There are two possible options for stating the Benefit and Closing the call. Option 1 You are confident that Microsoft can provide the required capabilities. State the benefit of the solution you can provide and confirm that the buyer agrees to consider Microsoft. Option 2 You are reasonably certain that Microsoft can provide the required capabilities, but you would like to confirm it with your resources. Tell the sponsor this and confirm that the buyer agrees to consider Microsoft if you confirm that the capabilities are possible. If during the process, the buyer volunteered access to power, schedule a meeting and end the call. If the buyer did not volunteer access to power go to Step 6. |
Step 6: Determine ability to Buy | Determine whether sponsor has the authority to purchase a solution. |
Step 7: Bargain Proof (still undefined) for access to Power | At this point, if you already have access to power, you need to qualify the buying process in the Develop stage. “Would you be willing to…?” If you are still speaking with the sponsor, you need to discuss what the sponsor need to see (proof) before he or she provides access to power. If the buyer is willing provide access to power (potentially in exchange for some initial proof), confirm this in a sponsor letter right after the call. If the sponsor is not willing to provide access, find another potential sponsor within the organization. |
Samples & Templates:
Documents for this Key Step include: |
| 9-Block Vision Processing |  |
| Developing a Pain Chain |  |
| Developing a Pain Sheet |  |
| Developing a Reference Story |  |
| Developing an Initial Value Proposition |  |
| Solution Selling Cube (GTM and Industry specific examples of all MSS sales aids mentioned above) |  |
Links:
| Opportunity Assessment Questionnaire - Provides more information on answering the opportunity assessment questionnaire.