Periscope — April 2011 Issue

 

New Business Opportunities for Companies Serving Pharma

April 2011

Welcome to the April 2011 Issue!

The PharmSource PERISCOPE provides valuable insight into sales issues and trends for companies that sell goods or services to bio/pharma. It helps you recognize new business opportunities, and overcome sales obstacles. In this special issue we’re very pleased to give you an inside view of a newly published book entitled Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade and Sell in Any Situation. Co-author Mike Schultz has partnered with PharmSource in this issue of PERISCOPE to address strategies for a buyer-centric approach to sales success. Mike is a world-renowned expert in sales, and President of RAIN Group, a sales training, assessment, and sales performance improvement company that helps leading organizations improve sales results.

We’re very pleased to be able to give you this special inside preview from Rainmaking Conversations, along with a very special offer if you purchase the book today; see details at the end of this issue. You’ll find this issue filled with extremely useful information that can immediately be put into practice to build rapport – and sales.
Enjoy the April issue.

The PharmSource Team

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Sales Article: Your Guide to Rainmaking Conversations

It’s funny. As buyers we all have strong opinions of what we want from people that sell to us: Listen to us. Understand our situations. Understand our needs. Help us buy the right thing. Give us confidence that what we buy is going to work well for us. Don’t sell us something we don’t need. Explain things to us when we aren’t sure. Treat us fairly, and be honest with us. Pretty basic stuff, right? Yet, for some reason, so many sellers forget all of this once they start selling. But don’t take my word for it.

We recently asked several hundred buyers at major companies, who together had $1.6 billion in purchasing power, about their buying processes and preferences. During this research, we asked about the top problems they encounter when buying. Among the top problems were:

• Seller didn’t listen to me.
• Seller didn’t understand my needs.
• Seller didn’t craft a compelling solution.
• Seller didn’t convince me of the value of purchasing what they were selling.

Then we asked them, “If these particular problems were solved, what difference would it make in their willingness to purchase from these providers?” In each instance, the buyers indicated they’d be more than 90% “very much more likely” to buy if these problems went away.  It’s the perfect storm, too. The most frequent problems, if they went away, would create the most sales for the sellers.

We’ve asked these questions a number of times over the years, now, and we realized one thing: these were all problems of conversation and communication. So we tasked ourselves to do something about it—do  something that would help sellers avoid the top problems and, at the same time, start doing all the right things by buyers.

And thus RAIN Selling was born. RAIN Selling is an acronym for Rapport, Aspirations and Afflictions, Impact, and New Reality. These are the core concepts to leading a rainmaking conversation. The RAIN acronym is also a nod to the fact that this process is focused on rainmakers—a common name for people who bring the most new clients and revenue into an organization.

R is Rapport—the ability to build rapport in sales conversations is an old concept that is more relevant and more important than ever. Genuine rapport sets the foundation for the rest of the conversation, and creates the opportunity for trust and a strong relationship. A genuine connection with a potential client is so important in selling because, all things being equal, buyers tend to buy from—and allow themselves to be influenced by—people they like.  And we all know that  you’re much likely to build rapport if you listen.

The ‘‘A’’ in RAIN Selling stands for Aspirations and Afflictions. When customers buy, they are typically thinking as much about Aspirations (the future they are seeking) as they are about Afflictions (problems they’d like to fix). If you think about asking questions only in the negative, you will tend to probe for needs that way. You’ll tend to ask questions such as, ‘‘Where are you unhappy with performance?’’ and ‘‘What are your problems?’’

Think of Aspirations as much as Afflictions, and you will remember to ask ‘‘future-seeking’’ as well as problem-solving questions—questions with themes like ‘‘Where do you want to go?’’ and ‘‘What are the possibilities?’’ If you ask questions that look to the future, you will find that you will be able to paint the most compelling, impactful, and comprehensive vision of a new and better reality for your clients. Do a good job with Aspirations and Afflictions, and you’ll succeed with understanding situation and need.

I is Impact—after you uncover a prospect’s aspirations and afflictions, the question then becomes, ‘‘So what?’’ If your afflictions don’t get solved, then so what? What won’t happen? Will they get worse? How will they affect the bottom line of your company, division, or department? How will they affect your life? If your aspirations don’t become reality, so what?”

In a business to-business scenario, the questions that follow might sound like, ‘‘Will your competition get ahead of you if you don’t innovate?’’ ‘‘Will you lose market share if you aren’t aggressive in your strategy?’’ ‘‘Will you never be able to grow your business to a point where you can sell it and reach your personal financial goals?’’ and ‘‘Will the promotion you so desire continue to elude you?’’

Your ability to quantify and paint the ‘‘so what’’ picture is the foundation for how important it is for the decision maker to buy from you. This is of paramount importance to you, because lack of impact leads to lack of urgency to make a decision. This leads to delays. Time kills sales. Creating urgency for buying hinges on how well you help your client answer the ‘‘so what’’ questions, and how well you demonstrate the impact of buying from you. Do a good job with Impact, and you’ll be able to craft compelling solutions, and help them buy the right things.

N is New Reality—one of the greatest difficulties in sales is helping prospects to understand exactly what they get when they work with you. Clients need an argument to justify the benefit to themselves and to other people involved in the buying decision. At the end of a well-managed sales process, your job is to create a vision of a New Reality that will be the best for your client, given their specific Aspirations and Afflictions and the Impact of doing (or not doing) something about them. Do a good job with New Reality, and you’ll show that your compelling solution is also highly valuable, showing how you create the most positive impact for the client.

Many inexperienced salespeople believe their job is a game of show and tell. And tell. And tell. Incessant pitching and presenting feels to buyers like they’re being pushed. This can bore buyers, make them less likely to feel affection toward you, shut them down, and put them on the defensive. If you’re doing all the talking, they’ll feel like you are self-centered, don’t care about them, and don’t understand their situations and needs (even if you do).Worst of all, savvy buyers will peg you as an amateur and dismiss you.

Salespeople are often told, at some point in their careers, ‘‘The best salespeople always ask great questions.’’ This is true to a point; asking incisive questions is critical to sales success, but some salespeople take the advice too literally. If they always ask questions, they don’t share a point of view or an opinion, don’t tell stories, and don’t help set the agenda for success. Buyers get bored with this quickly as well, and feel like they’re getting the third degree. Although questions can be quite valuable, buyers can feel they are missing out on the full value they should get from you if you just ask question after question. The key is to balance advocacy and inquiry and to learn when to use one or the other.

Influence should be applied throughout your sales conversations. Buyers buy the most when they yearn for something, when they’re pining for it. As sellers, it’s up to us to create their yearn and pine, and help buyers make a decision to satisfy their needs to have “it” (whatever it is), by, of course, buying from you. Accept your role as an influencer, bring buyers down a path of your choosing and help them make a decision in your favor. Take control of the buying process.

Take care, however, not to confuse control with coercion. In sales, your control should be subtle: Lead the conversation down the right path by asking questions, setting agendas by sharing ideas, summarizing and communicating the impact of taking a course of action, involving the prospect in creating solutions, and recommending action. If you try to control with an iron fist you will create more resistance than partnership.

Lastly, you’ll see that Trust underpins the whole model. Influence, like any tool, can be used for good or evil. If you have the buyer’s best interests at heart, and will only steer them in the right direction, then you’ll be successful long-term, build a reputation as a straight shooter, and be able to help your clients the most.

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Sales Article: New Reality

Editor’s Note: In this article, Author Mike Schultz raises the importance of asking prospects key insightful questions that help to build trust, encourage interaction, and lead both your prospects and you to a deeper understanding of their needs and goals.

Until they experience it, clients often have a difficult time knowing exactly what they are buying and what value they will receive. One of the most important skills in selling is helping potential clients understand the outcomes they get when they work with you.

At the end of a well-managed sales process, your job is to create a new reality that is best for your customers, taking into account their specific aspirations and afflictions and the impact of doing something about them. The new reality process should start before you craft the solution. A good way to get the creative juices flowing is to ask broad questions that encourage envisioning the future:

• In six months, when the products are fully installed, what would need to happen for you to consider it a success?
• What isn’t your current provider delivering that you need?
• What do you want to have happen as a result of our work together?
• How do you see the implementation of this technology solution improving your data maintenance?

Don’t be surprised if the prospect’s first answer to these questions is, ‘‘I don’t know.’’ Sometimes the prospect will say, ‘‘That’s a good question,’’ and then pause. If this happens, do not jump right in. Silence will indicate you expect an answer, and with some thought the prospect will start talking. If you need to prompt him, you can say things like:

• Tell me what’s coming to mind.
• Forget the big picture for a minute. You mentioned you hoped that X, Y, and Z would be better. Let’s say they were better, much better, how would you describe this to a colleague if they asked you how it’s going?
• Can you think of a competitor or another company that’s more like what you want to be like in this area? Tell me about them.

One question you need to answer for yourself is when to establish a new reality benchmark. Sometimes, if you ask about the prospect’s desired new reality and he doesn’t have a context for what’s possible, he can get frustrated or establish something completely unrealistic. If you find this happening to you, you should not dig in too deeply here until you give the buyer a sense of what you can do.

For example, instead of probing up front to establish a new realty benchmark, lead the RAIN discussion in order, leaving new reality last. Along the way, you can share results you’ve helped others achieve. That way, when you ask the buyer what he would like to see, you have already established a benchmark that you are confident you can deliver. The buyer’s responses now are more likely to be realistic.

Armed with your client’s answers and the steps you have already taken during the RAIN process you can now craft a solution. With this much customer knowledge, most salespeople believe that they can make a huge positive impact. They then write out (or simply tell the potential customer) a list of their offerings that will make the prospect’s world a better place. However, the prospect doesn’t yet see how you can help because you haven’t connected the dots for them. All the good work the provider did in the sales conversations has yet to come into focus.

You as the seller must translate the new reality into dollars and cents, help buyers understand how their lives will be better if they purchase, and then, as compellingly as you can, paint the picture in which they see the difference between their undesirable current state and much improved new reality.

Whatever the new reality is, you need to describe it to the customer. For example, you might tell the customer that he will:

• Save 22 percent, or $120 thousand on the cost of XYZ Widgets.
• Save $170 a month in bank fees and broker commissions.
• Improve the cycle times by 13 days by cutting out major inefficiencies in the operational process, which translates to $225,000 per month of costs saved.
• Improve quality levels by 17 percent and reduce defects by 22 percent.
• Improve revenue by $600,000 a month by increasing the effectiveness of lead generation programs.
• Eliminate the headaches of working with the current provider who is always late and difficult to reach.

As you present the new reality, buyers will be asking themselves three questions:

• Is it worth it to do this?
• Are they the best option to help us get it done?
• Do I believe they can produce what they say they can produce?

The answer to the first question will result in a go/no-go decision. To get a go decision, you must make sure you communicate the impact as clearly and compellingly as possible. Let’s assume that they’ve made the decision to go. If you’re the only provider they’re considering, the deal is yours unless you blow it. If, however, you have to compete with other providers, the balance of what you need to communicate will shift from impact of doing it at all to differentiating yourself from the other options the prospect has to help them address the issue.

As you present your new reality, you must communicate to the prospect why you’re the best available option. At the same time, you need to get the prospect to believe that you’ll do what you say you’re going to do, and that working with you will be a good experience.

When you attend to the various components that people need to see to get a sense of what it’s going to be like to work with you, and when you present your solutions graphically you help your situation in several ways:

• You’ll reinforce that you understand their business.
• You’ll reinforce that you understand their needs and that you listened.
• You’ll be setting the agenda as a full partner in their success.
• The quality of your proposal will give them a sense of the quality of your products, your services, and your company.
• You’ll differentiate yourself from the competition through the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of your process (many salespeople lose based on lack of effort—they just don’t work hard enough in the sales process to prove their worth).
• When you deliver a ‘‘WOW’’ new reality picture, you endear yourself to clients that much more. They’ll want to work with you versus other options.
• When you deliver a WOW new reality picture, you’ll give the prospect the sense that you can deliver on your lofty promises. If you do it so well in the sales process, you can do it in product delivery.

Buying can be as difficult as selling. It’s tough to get a handle on what to buy because it’s difficult to visualize the impact, difficult to differentiate between competing products, services, and providers, and difficult to know who can actually deliver on what they say they will deliver. It’s challenging for buyers to understand these factors themselves and communicate them to their colleagues.

If, however, you follow RAIN Selling and paint the picture of a compelling new reality, your prospects will want the solution, know the best provider is you, and believe that you can get the job done . . . because they will know it when they see it.

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Digging Deep Into Needs with The Five Whys

Editor’s Note: Author Mike Schultz introduces us here to “The Five Whys” – a vehicle that takes us to the heart of creating and maintaining strong, lasting client relationships by using a simple yet deeply effective method of inquiry.

If you want to be a trusted partner, helping your customers solve their most difficult problems and create lasting success, you have to solve the right problems. Many sellers don’t. This is because they tackle and solve symptoms of a deeper problem, not the deep problems themselves. Getting to the root cause of problems is an essential component of a world-class needs discovery, as knowing the root causes will define your solution and the success it will have.

Enter the Five Whys
The Five Whys is a root-cause analysis technique, pioneered by Taichi Ohno of the lean manufacturing movement, that helps business leaders to get past putting Band-Aids on the symptoms of a problem, and instead address the underlying causes, thus permanently solving the problem.

The Five Whys help you work with prospects to uncover the root causes of what is driving their needs, and craft the most compelling, powerful, and lasting solutions. Essentially, the Five Whys is to problem solving and critical thinking what removing weeds at the root is to gardening. Fix a symptom in business but not the underlying cause, and, much like a pulled weed with the root left in the ground; the symptom is bound to sprout up again. Fix the underlying cause of a problem at the root, and you will see lasting improvement.

Here’s how it works. When presented with a problem, ask questions that start with why? Why did that happen? Why will this solve the problem? Why are things the way they are?

For example, let’s say a prospect says to you, “We need more training for our IT staff because we’re receiving too many complaints about bad service.” Here’s how it might go.

You: ‘‘Why are you are receiving too many complaints about your service?’’ (Why 1)
Prospect: ‘‘Because response times are slow.’’
You: ‘‘Why are response times slow?’’ (Why 2)
Prospect: ‘‘Because our staff always seems backed up, no matter what we do.’’
You: ‘‘Why is the staff always backed up?’’ (Why 3)
Prospect: ‘‘Because requests come in that are deemed urgent that really aren’t, and the ones that are urgent don’t get immediate response. So we’re always reacting like crazy every minute of the day.’’
You: ‘‘Why can’t you differentiate between the really urgent problems and the not-so-urgent problems?’’ (Why 4)
Prospect: ‘‘Because we don’t have definitions of what constitutes urgent, and we don’t have a sufficient job ticket management system to help us keep it straight if we did.’’
You: ‘‘Why don’t you have a job ticket management system that can help you keep it all sorted out?’’ (Why 5)
Prospect: ‘‘Because we looked at this two years ago and we didn’t need it, but now we’re twice the size and have so much more volume. No one’s brought it up again with Jane, our COO, who makes the decisions about these kinds of things.’’
You: ‘‘Why hasn’t anyone brought it up with Jane?’’ (Why 6)
Prospect: Silence.
You: ‘‘Is training for the IT staff what you need, or should you re-engage Jane about how a job ticket management system will improve response times and reduce complaints?’’
Prospect: ‘‘Time to talk to Jane.’’
You: ‘‘Then you need to get approval, and install the job ticket management system?’’
Prospect: ‘‘Right again.’’
You: ‘‘Let’s talk about what you need in a job ticket management system, then. We see three options. One is right, depending on a few factors. Let’s have a look.’’

When using the Five Whys
Do not stop at the first need you uncover and think you can fix it.  Rainmakers who are capable of getting to the bottom of things create stronger relationships and stronger foundations of trust are seen as problem solvers and change agents. In turn, this keeps the competition closed out and enables them to sell to clients year after year.

When using the Five Whys in your sales conversations, keep the following in mind:

• Get agreement on the desired outcome. Lack of agreement on the desired outcome happens often. Make sure you come to unambiguous agreement on the New Reality you are trying to create. Only then can you solve the right problems to get there.
• Involve the right team. Make sure you have the right buyers and sellers in the room to actually get to the root cause. If the discussion starts off with, “We need a new (insert need here),” you need to have the technical experts – yours and theirs – available who know what may be driving this perceived need.

• Employ good logic. Don’t make specious cause/effect conclusions. Like a geometry proof gone awry, make one mistake in the middle and you can find yourself on the wrong path for the duration.
• Allow leeway to people as they try to answer, “Why?” You will often find a number of possible root causes. You might not know definitely the answer to why at first. Take care not to shoot early ideas down.
• Realize you might need a bigger process to uncover the root. Sometimes you can’t just “come” to the answer, and you need to perform an in-depth analysis so you can understand what’s really going on.

If you employ the Five Whys you’ll know that as you uncover needs and craft solutions, you’ll be addressing the root causes, solving problems effectively and for the long term.

“First Why Question” Starter Ideas
If you’re keen to give the Five Whys a try and looking for a place to start, here’s an example of a set of why questions you can ask about your team’s sales success:

• Why didn’t we reach our revenue goals?
• Why is our sales staffing set at its current level?
• Why haven’t we been able to implement (insert tactic or initiative here), even though we keep saying it’s a priority?
• Why hasn’t (insert tactic or initiative here) worked as well for us as we might have liked?
• Why haven’t we tried anything new or innovative in our sales process?
• Why aren’t our messages resonating as strongly as they might?
• Why are we (or aren’t we) launching sales efforts into new, geographies, industry specialties, etc.?
• Why don’t people other than the sales team bring in new customers and revenue as much as they might?
• Do we have a culture of sales success? Why is it like what it’s like?
• Why haven’t we been able to penetrate our target accounts like we believe we can and should?
• Are your competitors outmaneuvering us? Why?
• Why don’t we sell at higher prices?
• Why have we had more sales success in some groups and less in others?
• Why isn’t our repeat business rate higher?
• Why did we lose a customer (or set of customers) that we lost?
• Why did we lose a big new business opportunity?

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The Eight Buying Personas

Editor’s Note: In this article, Mike Schultz describes how understanding your buyer’s personality type can guide you in using specific tactics to help you be more effective in the selling process. Knowing how to differentiate buyer types and tailoring your approach appropriately can make all the difference. You’ll definitely recognize some people you know in this article.

Regardless of the business or emotional reasons why people buy, every buyer has personal preferences for how they like to buy.
There are multiple buying styles and preferences to consider, but the number is not infinite. It’s eight. If you understand all eight, can identify which ones your prospects resemble, and plan your actions to meet their personal buying styles and criteria, you’ll win more sales.

We give the eight buyer personas names because they have distinct and identifiable personalities. The names will help you remember who’s who.

1. Decisive Danielle—Code name “Driver”

Decisive Danielle is directive. She solves problems in an active and assertive manner. She’s proactive, results driven, and wants to win. If you’re dealing with Danielle, she might seem pushy and overbearing, and may lack tact. She’s probably pretty demanding and wants things to happen her way and in her timeframe.

If you’re selling to Decisive Danielle, you should be decisive as well, and demonstrate willingness to take some risks on your end that can help her succeed. Don’t worry too much about conflict that may arise with Danielle—it doesn’t bother her, and she may even thrive on it. Building consensus is not her natural thing. Not only does she not like the idea of forming a committee, but she doesn’t like the word.

2. Collaborative Claire—Code name “Consensus”

Collaborative Claire is the yin to Decisive Danielle’s yang. Collaborative Claire likes to solve problems with other people. She’s deliberative, tactful, diplomatic, and adaptable. In a world where people can be pretty blunt, it’s likely you’ll find her to be respectful of you and everyone else.

If you’re selling to Collaborative Claire, keep in mind how important consensus building will be to her. You’ll have to work with her to understand and include all of the various buying influences. Make sure you facilitate discussions to draw out Claire’s and everyone else’s thoughts, needs, and questions. Don’t get frustrated if things take a while. And if you need to push back, do it tactfully. If she is going to buy, she will buy when she is ready and her team is all on board. Need to make a big decision—let’s form a committee!

3. Relationship Renee—Code name “Friend”

Relationship Renee is interactive. Social interaction and engagement are important to her. She’s enthusiastic, a creative problem solver, a team player, and (of course) a relationship-builder. She likes the big picture, and she’s not shy about taking up a lot of air time in discussions. A question or two will really get her going.

If you’re selling to Renee, you might want to keep technical details to a minimum. Make sure you hear her ideas, and share (and stoke) her enthusiasm with your own. Renee probably weaves fairly seamlessly between talking about business and personal matters. You might find the talk about her recent vacation or your son’s basketball team goes on for a bit. When discussing ideas, don’t overdo being the “voice of reason” or reality. What you might see as realism, she’ll see as a downer.

4. Skeptical Steve—Code name “Guardian”

Skeptical Steve is the yin to Relationship Renee’s yang. Steve is introspective. He’s a reserved critical thinker. Skeptical Steve won’t embellish and doesn’t want you to do so either. It takes a while for Steve to develop trust with people, which can be great for you if you put in the time and effort. (By the way, Steve doesn’t mind being called a skeptic. He’s proud of the realism he brings to the table.)

If you’re selling to Skeptical Steve, don’t be surprised if he’s not super comfortable on the phone and prefers email to communicate. Don’t be unnerved by lack of gestures or “feedback”; he tends not to be demonstrative one way or the other. Don’t try to be too personal or friendly too fast. And know that Steve might not share much at meetings, but you still need to make sure his needs are met or he could quietly block your sale. And you might never even know it.

5. Gradual Greg—Code name “Tortoise”

Slow and steady wins the race—that’s what Gradual Greg says. Greg embodies (and prefers) stability and security. He’s a dependable team player. You’ll find Gradual Greg to be patient, empathetic, and service-oriented. He sees himself as the steward of his organization. Boat rocking is not his thing.

If you’re selling to Greg, don’t push too fast or focus too much on messages of change. You also don’t want to overwhelm him with too many options or possibilities, as he can consider, and consider, and consider. Unless he’s forced by environmental factors to act with urgency, decisions are likely to take a long time. You need to decide if the effort of working with Greg is worth the eventual possibility of a sale. If you decide it is, keep Greg on track. If he gets distracted, he might focus on the other thing until it’s done (one thing at a time, you know) and not get back to you for a while.

6. Warp 9 Walt—Code name “Change Agent”

Warp 9 Walt is the yin to Gradual Greg’s yang. Warp 9 Walt wants it done yesterday. It doesn’t matter what “it” is. On second thought to Walt, yesterday isn’t fast enough. Walt’s a change agent. He has a strong sense of urgency; he makes decisions quickly and often spontaneously. He’s open to taking risk. Having multiple initiatives going on at once doesn’t bother Walt one bit. He likes the big picture, and he gets bored with too many details.

If you’re selling to Warp 9 Walt, you’ll need to match and validate his desire for speed. Help him set the agenda and find the path forward. Sell adaptability and flexibility as benefits—when you go this fast, you need to be able to change as conditions on the field dictate. Because Walt can be a pot stirrer, don’t get frustrated if he stirs your pot—when he pushes back on you, he won’t mind so much that you push right back. Once you sell to Warp 9 Walt, make sure you stay on your toes and stay connected because he’ll always be looking around for the next thing. You don’t want a competitor to catch his fancy without you knowing.

7. Analytical Al—Code name “Spreadsheet”

Past success is an indicator of future success. The way it’s been done, established methods and data are important to Analytical Al. This doesn’t mean he won’t lead the pack and do something new; it just takes a lot of processing for Al to take a leap of faith. Al is cautious. He follows rules, procedures, and established standards. He’s a comprehensive problem solver because he examines from all the different angles.

If you’re selling to Analytical Al, provide the backup and data that will help him make a decision. Appropriate detail will be important (and “appropriate” to him is more than most). At some point, because he can sometimes leave the data gate open longer than it needs to be, you might need to push back. But take special care not to criticize, as he might take that more personally than most. If you push him too hard to move before he has completed his analysis, you can find yourself and your sale blocked.

8. Innovator Irene—Code name “Maverick”

Innovator Irene is the yin to Analytical Al’s yang. When it comes to rules, procedures, and how things were done before, Irene couldn’t care less. While Al might say, “Past success is an indicator of future success.” Irene would say, “What got us here won’t get us there.” Innovator Irene develops ideas and strategies independent of rules. She’s informal and solves problems creatively. Boundaries are for testing, pushing, and crossing. (Anyone who has a 3 year old has met this side of Irene.)

If you’re selling to Innovator Irene, brainstorm with her. Stoke ideas for new ways of doing things. When you help set the agenda, allow it to become Irene’s agenda, not yours. Don’t shut down creative talk; keep it moving forward, as Irene can be on the disorganized side. Don’t give Irene the sense that she, personally, will have to do much detail work if she buys from you because details put her off. Instead, show how working with you will bring those ideas into reality.

Now that you’re aware of the different buyer personas, keep in mind that while some personas may be better suited to buying what you sell than others, there are no “bad” buyer personas. There are just different styles and preferences that you will need to learn to match to increase your success. Buyers may also be a combination of personas, but there’s usually a dominant persona to work with. Get to know the eight buying personas, and you can give yourself and your team advice to win more sales in the right way for each type of buyer.

About the Author

Mike Schultz is President of RAIN Group, a sales training, assessment, and sales performance improvement company that helps leading organizations improve sales results. Mike is author of Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade and Sell in Any Situation (Wiley, 2011) and publisher of RainToday.com. He also writes for the RAIN Selling Blog. Mike can be reached at mschultz@raingroup.com or follow him on Twitter @Mike_Schultz.

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Business Development Conference

Join us July 19-21 in Philadelphia, PA for ExL Pharma’s 3rd Annual Conference on Effective Business Development Outsourcing Relationships. PharmSource’s Vice President, Judy Ludwin Miller, will chair a full day seminar on Back-to-Basics Business Development on July 19th. Designed for those new to the BD role, or who want a refresher, this day will provide important industry-specific BD training.  Mike Schultz, President of RAIN GROUP and co-author of Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade and Sell in Any Situation, will give the seminar keynote speech on What it Really Takes to Become a Rainmaker. He will also speak at the main conference on Mastering the Art of Sales Conversations.

This conference is the only event in the industry that focuses on BD’s role in the outsourcing process, from initial prospecting to long-term relationship management. It turns the traditional outsourcing conference upside down with a program designed to meet the business development and account management needs of CROs and other outsourcing providers. With both sponsors and providers on the faculty, the level of engagement and meaningful dialog in an intimate environment is extremely valuable. We hope to see you there.

For more information please visit www.exlpharma.com/bizdev or call 1-866-207-6528. To receive a 15% private discount for PharmSource subscribers and friends, please reference discount code P1310PS when registering.

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