What cheat sheets should be made for sales managers and managers of an IT service company
Happy Habr-Hiktaimes - the issues of sales of IT-products and services the audience is not too busy. Money is taken straight from the bedside table, and salespeople are treacherous creatures, unable to take the integral along the contour and bringing unrealizable orders in their klyuvik.
Everything is wrong in the real life of a small IT business. And especially it will not be so in the next 2015 “Belts are tighter, less pathos” year.
In short, although I don’t want to, but I’ll have to learn how to sell.
Five minutes never advertising (two paragraphs, be patient).
')
Now the problem: how can a service IT company tell the general public what exactly it does? Moreover, it is necessary to tell, having in mind the prospect to make a deal with the listeners (and filter out notorious non-clients).
First of all, they counted the services, they are products.
It turned out 22 active (with clients, rough cases, accumulated expertise and financial prospects). And 18 passive (that is, those that can be offered from time to time, but can not be put on stream).
Is it a lot or a little? Well, let's say, a typical web studio provides 3-4 large-block services. Design Agency - a dozen. And production companies in general do not fool themselves with this zoo.
That is, even “to make a website”, on which one modest page is devoted to each product, is not that it is easy-cheap (yes, yes, and made with your own hands requires a budget).
But "make a site" is not limited to. The audience who asks the question “What are you doing?” Is in itself diverse, and in response it wants to hear completely different things, set out in different ways.
In short, you need an inventory:
All at once just do not. Throwing on random ideas “Let's do a FAQ” is possible and even sometimes necessary, it’s just a step that we have already passed. And now it's time to get down to business.
Our customers have already made a big contribution here. Yes, and abandoned our services - too. They call, write, come to visit, ask, specify, buy, work together with us and as a result give feedback after each project. And all this crazy snowball information helps a lot to find answers to the above questions.
We looked around, digested the accumulated, refreshed knowledge about the organization of sales, remembered the theory of product management and made the first approach to this inventory-systematization.
It turned out that the life cycle of any typical (that is, within the scope of the product) project is divided into five large blocks:
In principle, these stages can be called a sales funnel. As you please and as usual.
So, back to the public awareness. After the brainstorming of the form “What kind of paper files help tell about our products?” We have a list of 37 possible formats left on our hands. Too much even for one product. And if, like us, you need to make 37 documents for each of the 22 points of the product line?
All formats in a single list without analysis:
Wow Well, it is impossible to master a cavalry assault. And everything seems to be necessary, but not immediately.
Well, we can not do everything - so at least sort out. It turned out that each of these formats is claimed and works only at one particular stage of work. And such sorting allows a little better to understand the general mess. Maybe even to control this mess is not far?
What happened - can be seen in the picture. And in the PDF-format, too, will issue, we do not mind - just pull by mail: habr@pavlova.cc .
Priorities are our everything. Marked in bold type the most popular documents or conversations. Such without which dialogue with the client is extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible. Without all these presentations and standard plans, it is also difficult for us to move on.
Now, while the country is walking, we will try to distract from the daily project routine and issue at least basic, top-priority information materials on our products.
But before you do this, we'll budget the fun. How much will it cost - at least in man-hours - informational refactoring of our product line?
That is, in order to at least, on a solid four to issue our product line, you need to spend 36 * 22 = 792 man hours. Approximately 20 working weeks. If we work as a four of us, we will settle for the month of the Stakhanov plowing.
Bobik can't go for it: he will die, and that's all :)
Well, the perfect design will require more than 2 thousand working hours. Generally beyond rational-good-eternal.
And you can see very well why the client’s favorite question “And show examples of your work?” I don’t want to answer so much. Yes, because it is stupidly expensive - to make out cases !
Compreds in our industry are also mostly ugly or silly: to invest in creating beautiful and meaningful __ - it is very painful for the wallet.
With sample documents easier than usual. And they replace cases well.
As a matter of fact, we have bypassed all the previous 2.5 years with the wonder task of writing chic compromises and making convincing cases.
But now you can't get around it. The crisis in the yard. The client will no longer bite on stories of great skill and a thousand years of experience. You will have to sell ten times more actively, products themselves will be quickened to the market, and projects will be made better and more predictable.
But there is something to do on vacation. Happy New Year!
Everything is wrong in the real life of a small IT business. And especially it will not be so in the next 2015 “Belts are tighter, less pathos” year.
In short, although I don’t want to, but I’ll have to learn how to sell.
Five minutes never advertising (two paragraphs, be patient).
')
2.5 years we were tormented, trying to answer the question "Who are you?"
They told the opposite: we are neither a web-studio, nor a digital-agency, and we are not limited to usability-tasks, and we are not engaged in advertising, and we don’t have our own development, but at the same time, we don’t eat soup as well.
In the end, scored.
And they decided simply: we are what we do .
Now the problem: how can a service IT company tell the general public what exactly it does? Moreover, it is necessary to tell, having in mind the prospect to make a deal with the listeners (and filter out notorious non-clients).
First of all, they counted the services, they are products.
It turned out 22 active (with clients, rough cases, accumulated expertise and financial prospects). And 18 passive (that is, those that can be offered from time to time, but can not be put on stream).
Is it a lot or a little? Well, let's say, a typical web studio provides 3-4 large-block services. Design Agency - a dozen. And production companies in general do not fool themselves with this zoo.
That is, even “to make a website”, on which one modest page is devoted to each product, is not that it is easy-cheap (yes, yes, and made with your own hands requires a budget).
But "make a site" is not limited to. The audience who asks the question “What are you doing?” Is in itself diverse, and in response it wants to hear completely different things, set out in different ways.
In short, you need an inventory:
- What questions should a product story answer?
- What formats (documents) need to be answered?
- Who and why in the production process will require these documents?
- What do (write-impose-publish) in the first place?
All at once just do not. Throwing on random ideas “Let's do a FAQ” is possible and even sometimes necessary, it’s just a step that we have already passed. And now it's time to get down to business.
Our customers have already made a big contribution here. Yes, and abandoned our services - too. They call, write, come to visit, ask, specify, buy, work together with us and as a result give feedback after each project. And all this crazy snowball information helps a lot to find answers to the above questions.
We looked around, digested the accumulated, refreshed knowledge about the organization of sales, remembered the theory of product management and made the first approach to this inventory-systematization.
It turned out that the life cycle of any typical (that is, within the scope of the product) project is divided into five large blocks:
- Marketing. The customer goes around to around, reads something, looks cautiously - and does not know that he will soon, in fact, become a customer. The end of the stage - the customer gets in touch with us.
- Sale. The customer communicates with us on the subject “Is it necessary?” Something he asks us, something we ourselves tell him, we show. At the end of the stage, the customer makes a decision: yes, I take (or not, I do not take).
- Registration of the transaction. Here we dive into the details: clarification of the production plan-budget, allocation of internal resources, coordination and signing of documents. At the end of the stage - prepayment and the go-ahead for the start of work.
- Production. The project manager sticks to the customer and all the performers with a deadly grip. And leads them - according to the plan, according to the allocated resources and within the framework of the product methodology - to the victorious end.
- The final. The customer gives us feedback, and we make out the case, do the debriefing and go to the pre-sale.
In principle, these stages can be called a sales funnel. As you please and as usual.
So, back to the public awareness. After the brainstorming of the form “What kind of paper files help tell about our products?” We have a list of 37 possible formats left on our hands. Too much even for one product. And if, like us, you need to make 37 documents for each of the 22 points of the product line?
All formats in a single list without analysis:
Business problem (what we are saving) - Webinar - Vision (history) - Video - Internal introductory (conversation) - Internal qualifications matrix - Case (s) - Commercial offer - Product leaflet - Media plan for the media - Methodology - A set of "bricks" Product - Questionnaire for sale - Pricing policy - Presentation - Product discussion of the project (conversation) - Advertising campaign - Reference (s) - Slide in the general presentation - Soputka (which we sell) - List of required contractors - Page on the website - Case structure - Sub Contractors - Quality Assurance Scheme - Support Scheme - Sample Plan - Sample Result Documents - Mentioned in the Product Line - Financial Justification (for Client) - Financial Performance (Ours) - Part of Company Booklet - Product Presentation Template - Project Template in Basecamp - Financial Justification Template - Cheat sheet for the manager - Checklist client readiness
Wow Well, it is impossible to master a cavalry assault. And everything seems to be necessary, but not immediately.
Well, we can not do everything - so at least sort out. It turned out that each of these formats is claimed and works only at one particular stage of work. And such sorting allows a little better to understand the general mess. Maybe even to control this mess is not far?
What happened - can be seen in the picture. And in the PDF-format, too, will issue, we do not mind - just pull by mail: habr@pavlova.cc .
Priorities are our everything. Marked in bold type the most popular documents or conversations. Such without which dialogue with the client is extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible. Without all these presentations and standard plans, it is also difficult for us to move on.
Now, while the country is walking, we will try to distract from the daily project routine and issue at least basic, top-priority information materials on our products.
But before you do this, we'll budget the fun. How much will it cost - at least in man-hours - informational refactoring of our product line?
That is, in order to at least, on a solid four to issue our product line, you need to spend 36 * 22 = 792 man hours. Approximately 20 working weeks. If we work as a four of us, we will settle for the month of the Stakhanov plowing.
Bobik can't go for it: he will die, and that's all :)
Well, the perfect design will require more than 2 thousand working hours. Generally beyond rational-good-eternal.
And you can see very well why the client’s favorite question “And show examples of your work?” I don’t want to answer so much. Yes, because it is stupidly expensive - to make out cases !
Compreds in our industry are also mostly ugly or silly: to invest in creating beautiful and meaningful __ - it is very painful for the wallet.
With sample documents easier than usual. And they replace cases well.
As a matter of fact, we have bypassed all the previous 2.5 years with the wonder task of writing chic compromises and making convincing cases.
But now you can't get around it. The crisis in the yard. The client will no longer bite on stories of great skill and a thousand years of experience. You will have to sell ten times more actively, products themselves will be quickened to the market, and projects will be made better and more predictable.
But there is something to do on vacation. Happy New Year!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/364339/
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