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SELLING SOFTWARE TO BUSINESS PEOPLE.
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Discusses strategies for selling the product ManageT to the American business person.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses startegies for selling the product ManageT to the American business person. Product is a multi-platform office management software that includes 200 different applications. Positioning element of the product. Targeting the customer. Creating a focused advertising message. How to handle an in-person sales pitch. Importance of good communication. Pricing. Negotiating.
Paper Introduction:
Strategic Steps for Selling Software to Businesses
Introduction
Although often not considered as glamorous or exciting as individual consumer marketing, the potential rewards and the efficiencies of selling a product to a business can more than make up for the effort (McGrath, 1997). There are several reasons for this. The most important is that, if the customer is satisfied with the product, the delivery and the service, then a long-term supply relationship can be established.
The product chosen for selling to the American businessperson is Manage +, a multi-platform office management software that includes some 200 different applications, ranging from office organizers to spread sheet software and from minimal graphics programs to word-processing.
Th
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Blackston, M.(1992, May/June). In consumer marketing, customerservice is usually limited to a guarantee or warranty and sometimes helplines. Very little actualsales are made off of most business-to-business ads. "Onesuccessful 3M salesman has a massive Rolodex that lists family member'snames, interests, ages, birthdays, everything he can find out. Only after those questions and more have been answered should thesalesman consider bringing up the information about the product. Based on the information available from the Internet, thereare seven associations that are established for plumbers, and six of thesehave magazines. References Anderson, R. What do you still need to solve? Companies want CRM tools to managebusiness relationships--Customer Service for Business Partners, InformationWeek, 12 Magrath, A.J. Create A Focused Message In this area, both consumer and business marketing appear to merge.The main goal of the advertising message is to motivate an individual tobuy a specific product. An assessment of theoretical andmethodological development in International Marketing: 198 -199 , Journalof International Marketing, 1:2, 5-28. Girishanker, S. If, for example, one of the biggest problems that plumbers were havingconcerned zoning and licensing regulations, then the aspect of Manage+'scomputing database would be emphasized. Although general information is available from certain tradeassociations, and even chambers of commerce, this information of computerownership is hard to obtain, but worth its weight in gold. If the steps taken so far have beensuccessful, and the actual meeting with a decision maker is taking place,the best way to turn the meeting into a sale, (or to create an environmentwhere there is the potentiality of a sale) is to show that there is moreinterest in solving the business's problems rather than simply sellingsoftware. Anderson believes that in industrial marketing, the successfulsalesman will be the one who thinks of a business account as a "customer"or "client" rather than a "consumer." That is a subtle shift of language,but important in business-to-business marketing. The main differenceis that the salesman who focuses on businesses rather than individuals hasto become more of a problem solver" (Anderson, 1996, 52). Instead, the ads area way of introducing a product or a company, with the idea of generating aresponse that could lead to a meeting. Target Your Customer In the world of consumer marketing, this would be done by turning todemographics, consumer profiles, and various market research reports. The most important is that, if thecustomer is satisfied with the product, the delivery and the service, thena long-term supply relationship can be established. . Most experts agree that shaving the price is the final competitivedecision when a company is choosing between different vendors (especiallysoftware companies). "At first glance, consumer marketing and business marketingappear to be similar in roles, tasks, and priorities. The most successful questions that helpclose sales are: . Girishanker (2 ) suggests that a good plan is to find out all youcan about who your potential customer really is. The product chosen for selling to the American businessperson isManage +, a multi-platform office management software that includes some2 different applications, ranging from office organizers to spread sheetsoftware and from minimal graphics programs to word-processing. What are their likes and dislikes? Personal Selling and Sales Management inthe New Millennium. The goal of the sales message would be identical to consumermarketing, in that the primary objective would be to generate a curiosity,which in turn, could generate a request for more information. To give thisessay further focus, it would be wise to concentrate on one particularfield. From the practitioner's desk: A commenton personal selling and sales management in thenew millennium. There are several reasons for this. For Manage+, the primary benefits of the product would be emphasized. Most of these magazines have never been heard of by thegeneral public, but that should be of no concern in this marketinganalysis. The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management.16:4 52 Aulakh, P.S.; Kotabe, M. (2 , April 17). Although most of the marketing literature is concerned with theways to influence and persuade a certain segment of the general consumingpublic, little attention has been given to the challenges of targetingbusiness contacts and selling to them. In addition, good communication coordination efforts are likely toserve a motivational role under high uncertainty, because cause-effectambiguity for the customer could be high; that is, the customer companycould be unsure of the relationship between itself and current suppliers.This happens most often when a company that has been supplying yourpotential customer is sold to another company, or taken over in a merger."Under such conditions the potential customer often holds the salesmanresponsible for uncontrollable factors, brought about by the merger whichoften leads to dissatisfaction, and switching suppliers" (Blackston, 1992,32). (When hegets information, by the way, he immediately notes it.) He has thenprogrammed his computer to send birthday cards, news items that might be ofinterest and so on to the customers, cementing the idea that friendship ismore important than a deal" (Girishanker, 2 , 12). . 17:1 45 A 1996 article by a professor in The Journal of Personal Selling &Sales Management gives welcome advice and suggests strategies that are goodto follow. The strongest positioning element of Manage+ is that it is crossplatform, and can be installed on any type of system. Ask, Don't Tell Depending on the situation, your contact could be anyone from theowner to the director of information. Companies are always getting competitive bids on allsupplies and services and there are fairly traditional ways of doing thisprocedure (Blackston, 1992, 32). What problems are you having? . One of the most successful ways to do this inAmerica is to create an advertising campaign, designed to "created aperceived need" for a product in the "consumer's" mind and then establishsales channels to make it easy for the "consumer" to get that product(Aulakh & Kotabe, 1993, 7). How did they work? Strategic Steps for Selling Software to Businesses Introduction Although often not considered as glamorous or exciting as individualconsumer marketing, the potential rewards and the efficiencies of selling aproduct to a business can more than make up for the effort (McGrath, 1997). Sales success often relies onthe quality of networking rather than the quality of the product (Aulakh &Kotabe, 1993, 7). Building brand equity by managing thebrand's relationships, Journal of Advertising Research, 32: 79-83. Customer service in industrial marketing implies a much strongerobligation. In the case of Manage +, it would be essential todo a preliminary screening of potential customers separating those withcomputerized operations from those businesses that still are notcomputerized. Manyof the same tools are available for use in the business-to-business market,and, in fact, there is often more useful data available from tradeassociations and so on. Forget the Rolodex In business-to-business selling, communication with the customers isabsolutely vital, even more so than when selling products to consumers.Since the goal of business-to-business selling is creating and maintaininga long-term relationship it is essential to keep close networking contactwith all accounts. (1996, Fall). What (products, systems, software, hardware) have you tried? . The idea is to get the company name actively implanted in thebusiness customer's mind. What do they like to dowhen they're not working? This iswhere Anderson's "high touch" selling comes into play. If thequestioning is handled properly, and if the salesman has kept alert, thenit is easier to structure the sales pitch so that specific problems areaddressed. In addition, it ismodular and scaleable, so that as the business grows, the software can growwith it. If billing or collections were aproblem, the accounting programs within the application would beemphasized. Anderson emphasizes that even with all of the advantages of high techselling (Internets, direct marketing, videotape presentations, CD-ROMs, TVselling, etc.) nothing will ever replace what he calls "high touch"marketing (Anderson, 1996, 53). Anderson suggests asking questions that show you are interested inhelping the company's business. Communication is so vital is that in today's rapidly changingmarketplace, there is more and more difficulty in making accuratepredictions about the future uncertainty is high because of volatility indemand, buyer preferences, and competition. As Girishanker points out, the more useful thepremium, the longer it will be used. The Journal of Personal Selling &Sales Management. Anderson suggests that once this field is decided upon, one of thefirst steps would be to contact the trade association(s) for that field.Following this advice, it has been decided to focus on the market segmentof plumbers. (Aulakh & Kotabe, 1993, 7). Anderson offers a four-step strategic paththat will be used as the structure for the remainder of this paper. By its very name,consumer marketing is designed to get people to use and consume a product,and, in most cases, the "consumption urge" is based on psychologicalmotivations rather then rational ones. It is estimated that 6 percent ofnegotiations surrounding the bid concern what kind of follow up service thecompany agrees to provide the customer. What would you like (products, systems, software, and hardware) do to help you meet your goals? (1997, Winter). (1993). One good technique for business-to-businessselling is to use sales premiums, gifts, gimmicks, anything that has yourcompany name on it.
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