The New Power Base Selling: Master The Politics, Create Unexpected Value and Higher Margins, and Outsmart the Competition

Introducing a New Product Road Map or Industry Expertise

A good place to start is to arrange a meeting with someone of stature from your company whom the customer will perceive as bringing new insight worthy of knowing before they make a decision. This person should be a recognized industry leader or expert; an ideal candidate is the executive on point for your product’s future vision. If you know that your company is about to release a new product that will exceed the customer’s buying criteria and move you up on the Sales Value Chain, you will likely be able to delay the sales situation by arranging a meeting with such a person.

You must then use this meeting to address whatever compete problem exists. Perhaps it is a political alignment issue, or maybe an Opponent is creating difficulty for you. Your business terms or pricing may be an issue. You must address your disadvantage during the delay period, thereby enabling you to repackage your solution and implement an Indirect strategy. Whenever you think about Containment, think about repackaging your solution and moving north in the account. This is not only the core to this strategy but the bridge to an Indirect approach and winning the business.