Sales

BATNA
BATNA Jonathan Poland

BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement, is the course of action that a party in a negotiation would take if they are unable to reach an agreement with the other parties. Estimating BATNA is important in negotiations because it helps parties determine how hard they can push for their desired outcome. For example, if a party has a strong BATNA and their negotiation counterpart has a weak BATNA, they may be able to push harder for their desired outcome. Gathering information and developing an accurate estimate of one’s own BATNA and that of the other parties is often a key focus of negotiations. The following are illustrative examples.

Customer Needs

A salesperson knows that a customer needs their product to solve a problem and that there are no feasible alternatives on the market. As such, the customer’s BATNA is to live with the problem. In this situation the salesperson may offer a small discount but not be pushed any further as they have a strong position.

Sales Targets

A customer can sense that a salesperson hasn’t hit their sales target and it is almost the end of the financial year. As such, the salesperson’s most likely BATNA is to miss their sales quota. As such, the customer is confident to push for heavy discounts and is willing to close the deal quickly so that the salesperson can achieve their sales target.

Customer Preferences

A salesperson gets the sense that a customer strongly prefers their product to alternatives in the market. The customer’s BATNA is purchasing their second preference. The salesperson is therefore confident that a minor discount will be enough to close the deal.

Talent

An employer is aware that a particular candidate is in high demand and likely has other offers to consider. The employer is also aware that the candidate’s knowledge is critical to their strategy. Therefore, the candidate has many good alternatives to a deal and the employer will risk strategy failure if a deal isn’t reached. In this situation it is in the candidate’s interests to push hard and the Employer’s interests to be accommodating.

Economy

An employer is aware that the economy is in recession and jobs are difficult to find. As such, they have a strong hand in negotiation as candidates may have no other offers.

Supply

A manufacturer of high capacity batteries is in short supply due to industry conditions and extremely high demand. Each customer they meet is highly motivated to close a deal as their alternative is to cut back production of their products. The manufacture has many alternatives with each negotiation as customers are eager to buy. As such, they push each customer to offer the highest price that is possible given the economics of their production.

Bluffing

A business customer who is purchasing software has decided that a particular product is far superior to all alternatives. In other words, their BATNA is to buy an inferior product and they are therefore highly motivated to buy. However, they attempt to bluff and downplay their motivation with a bogey.

Negotiation
Negotiation Jonathan Poland

Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties with the goal of reaching an agreement. It is a fundamental aspect of politics, business, and everyday life that can be used to resolve conflicts, collaborate, and engage in productive exchanges such as trade, partnerships, and employment. Effective negotiation can lead to peace, stability, economic growth, and improved quality of life. Therefore, it is an essential skill that is important in many professions.

Some examples of negotiation include:

  1. A business negotiation between a buyer and a seller to agree on the price and terms of a purchase.
  2. A labor negotiation between a union and an employer to determine wages, benefits, and working conditions for employees.
  3. A political negotiation between two countries to resolve a dispute and reach a mutually beneficial agreement.
  4. A negotiation between roommates to determine household chores and responsibilities.
  5. A negotiation between a customer and a service provider to resolve a complaint and reach a satisfactory outcome.
  6. A negotiation between parents and a child to establish rules and boundaries.
  7. A negotiation between a landlord and a tenant to determine the terms of a lease agreement.
  8. A negotiation between a creditor and a debtor to agree on a repayment plan.

Negotiating power is the relative strength or advantage of one party in a negotiation compared to the other parties involved. It is determined by a variety of factors, including the relative bargaining position of each party, their goals and objectives, the resources and information they possess, and the perceived costs and benefits of reaching an agreement. A party with strong negotiating power is more likely to be able to achieve their desired outcome in a negotiation, while a party with weak negotiating power may have to compromise or concede to the other side.

Promotion Strategies
Promotion Strategies Jonathan Poland

Promotion strategies are communication techniques that aim to sell a product, service or cause. They include advertising, publicity, selling and persuasion. Promotion is an essential element of a marketing strategy, as it involves communicating with customers and potential customers about the benefits and features of a product or service. There are many different promotion strategies that businesses can use to reach and engage their target audience. Some of the most common promotion strategies include advertising, public relations, sales promotions, personal selling, and direct marketing.

Advertising is a paid form of communication that uses various media channels, such as television, radio, print, and digital, to reach a large number of people. Advertising can be effective for introducing a new product or service, building brand awareness, and promoting special offers or discounts.

Public relations involves building and maintaining a positive relationship between a business and its stakeholders, such as customers, employees, investors, and the media. Public relations can be used to communicate important information about the business, manage its reputation, and respond to crisis situations.

Sales promotions are short-term incentives that aim to increase sales and drive customer loyalty. These promotions can include discounts, coupons, free trials, or other offers that are designed to encourage customers to buy a product or service.

Personal selling involves one-on-one communication between a salesperson and a customer, with the aim of persuading the customer to buy a product or service. This approach can be effective for building relationships with customers and providing personalized recommendations.

Direct marketing is a form of promotion that involves sending marketing messages directly to potential customers through channels such as email, SMS, or direct mail. Direct marketing allows businesses to target specific customers and tailor their messages to their interests and needs.

Promotion is a crucial part of a marketing strategy, as it allows businesses to communicate with customers and potential customers about their products and services. By using a combination of different promotion strategies, businesses can effectively reach and engage their target audience and drive sales. The following are some additional concepts.

Alliance Marketing
A shared marketing strategy between two or more firms that may be designed to generate publicity. For example, two technology giants may announce a shared initiative to work on artificial intelligence that generates more publicity than actual research results.

Attribution Marketing
Modeling events that lead to sales and then using promotion to achieve these events with each target customer. Attribution marketing is typically aimed at achieving brand recognition, awareness, customer interactions and other precursor events to purchases and other goals such as loyal customers.

Awards
Establishing awards in some area of achievement that is associated with your brand.

Behavioral Advertising
Digital advertising that targets customers based on behavior such as the websites they have visited.

Brand Promotion
Promotion such as advertising that is designed to generate positive feelings or social status for a brand. Typically includes no sales pitch or call to action.

Call To Action
A short, commanding and direct request to customers such as “call now.” Considered a fundamental tool of promotion.

Causes And Charities
Supporting causes and charities in order to build goodwill with communities and customers.

Content Marketing
Developing content related to your business to demonstrate your expertise and build relationships with customers.

Contests
Running contests designed to generate publicity and traffic to your locations or website.

Contextual Advertising
Advertising that targets a particular context such as ads for cameras on a camera review website.

Corporate Anniversary
Celebrating the history of your company, products and brand.

Coupons
Coupons are a form of price discrimination that can also be considered a type of promotional item. In many cases, direct marketing that contains coupons generates increased interest from customers.

Customer Appreciation
Customer appreciation events and actions such as thanking customers for writing a positive review or sending them a gift certificate at an anniversary such as five years of patronage.

Customer Referral Programs
Asking customers to refer their friends, family and associates and giving them incentives to do so.

Direct Marketing
Marketing communications sent directly to a customer using email, mail, phone calls and social media messages.

Drip Marketing
Marketing communications that are sent to customers at a set pace such as once a day. Examples include a weekly phone call or a daily newsletter.

Email Marketing
Gaining a customer’s permission to send them a regular email and using techniques such as newsletters to build a relationship with them.

Endorsements
Asking influencers or celebrities for public support or approval.

Evangelism Marketing
Employing an evangelist for your products who is enthusiastic, respected and well spoken to represent you with the media and at events. In some cases, firms develop an evangelist program to identify prominent customers or partners to speak on the firm’s behalf.

Event Marketing
Sponsoring or attending events to generate publicity and engage customers.

Factory Tours
Opening your organization to the public can generate content about your business such as photographs, blog posts and social media conversations.

Free Trials
Offering your product or service for free for a limited period. Allows the media to review the product and may achieve a high rate of conversion to paying customers.

Games
Developing a game that features your products or advertising in games.

Industry Conferences
In some industries, conferences are important to the sales process, particularly lead generation. In other industries, they are important venues to establish relationships with media figures who cover your business.

Influence Marketing
Engaging influencers such as celebrities, media heavyweights, social media personalities, prominent reviewers and trend leaders in your industry to ask for their promotional help. For example, you might openly give prominent reviewers free products in exchange for a review without demanding that it be positive.

Local Advertising
Advertising in local media, locations such as billboards and with digital ads that are served based on current geographical location.

Mass Media Advertising
Media that reaches a large audience that isn’t particularly targeted as compared with digital advertising.

Native Advertising
Advertising that matches the form and function of content such as sponsored social media posts.

Outbound Sales
Techniques such as cold calling a prospective customer that involve directly reaching out to qualified leads.

Participation Marketing
Encouraging customers to participate in the evolution of your products and brand. For example, asking customers to help you design a new product.

Personal Selling
Using a sales force to develop relationships with customers. Often includes face-to-face meetings, phone calls and digital interactions such as email or messaging. Extremely common in high value business-to-business sales.

Persuasion Techniques
Persuasion is the ability to influence people’s ideas and actions. It is a fundamental technique of promotion that defines the results achieved from advertising, marketing copy and customer interactions.

Photo Op
An event that is designed to generate photographs that will have media appeal such as a politician visiting local businesses to hear their concerns.

Press Conferences
A media event for announcing significant news. Tends to generate a sense of competition between the media, resulting in greater coverage than a press release.

Press Releases
A notification to the media of news. The effectiveness of a press release depends on the newsworthiness of its content.

Product Demonstrations
Demonstrating products for customers at public venues or at your customer’s office.

Product Placement
Paying to have your product featured in entertainment such as a movie or video game.

Promotional Products
Giving out useful items that feature your brand symbols.

Public Relations
The practice of managing communications between an organization and the public. Typically gives the public a single point of contact for inquiries. Public relations serves a marketing, corporate governance and risk management function. For example, strategies may be developed to manage negative publicity should it occur.

Public Speaking
Encouraging your employees to speak on a variety of topics at conferences even if they are not directly related to your product and brand. For example, a security expert in your IT team may speak at a security conference generating free publicity for your organization.

Publicity
Publicity is anything that attracts media attention such as achievements, discoveries, people stories, technology breakthroughs, unconventional approaches and anything that’s generally entertaining and informative.

Publicity Stunt
A dramatic or imaginative event designed to generate publicity such as a world record attempt.

Reference Customers
A list of customers who have chosen your product, possibly with detailed success stories related to each. Reference customers are often required to bid for certain contracts. They can also be used as a promotional device, particularly if your customers are large, well respected organizations.

Relationship Marketing
A marketing strategy that relies on social interactions such as face-to-face and social media conversations to promote a business.

Remarketing
Remarketing is the practice of following up on recent customers interactions with techniques such as advertising, direct marketing and personal selling.

Reverse Placement
Creating a product and brand based on a fictional product in a movie or television show.

Road Shows
A traveling presentation or event.

Samples
Giving out free samples for a product that you believe will generate word-of-mouth.

Scarcity Marketing
Techniques that generate emotions such as curiosity and desire by making products, services and events difficult to obtain.

Slogans
Short memorable phrases that communicate emotions or information about your products and brand.

Social Media Marketing
Using social media to engage customers or advertise.

Testimonial
A statement that communicates the value of a product from an “ordinary” customer. In the cases of a celebrity or influential individual, a testimonial is typically termed an endorsement.

Underwriting Spot
Sponsoring content such as a radio news broadcast in exchange for a short credit that mentions your brand, often without a call to action.

Vaporware
Announcing plans for an exciting new product that doesn’t exist. In many cases, such announcements are based on research or vague plans that never produce working products but garner media attention nonetheless.

Vision
A firm’s mission and vision statements are often viewed as a promotional tool.

Visual Merchandising
Visual displays of your product at retail locations such as the elaborate displays in the store windows of department stores.

Word Of Mouth
Focusing on product and customer experience over promotion with the idea that a good product promotes itself though word of mouth.

Puffery
Puffery Jonathan Poland

Puffery refers to exaggerated or overstated claims in marketing communications. It is a legal concept that acknowledges that customers expect some level of exaggeration in sales and marketing materials, such as advertisements. Puffery is considered a type of “puff” or boast, and it is not intended to be taken literally. If a salesperson claims that a product is the “fastest” or the “best,” a reasonable customer would not expect this statement to be completely factual. Puffery is allowed in marketing as long as it does not rise to the level of false or deceptive advertising.

Some examples of puffery include statements like “the best product on the market,” “the most luxurious experience,” or “the strongest and most durable.” These statements are exaggerated and not meant to be taken literally, but they are intended to create a positive impression of the product or service being marketed. Other examples of puffery include slogans, taglines, and jingles that are designed to be memorable and appealing, but not necessarily factual.

Sales Pipeline
Sales Pipeline Jonathan Poland

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of the sales process, from the initial contact with a potential customer to the closing of a deal and the ongoing management of the customer relationship. The pipeline is typically depicted as a funnel, with a large number of potential customers at the top, and a smaller number of actual customers at the bottom.

As the potential customers move through the various stages of the sales process, the number of accounts at each stage decreases, reflecting the fact that not all potential customers will become actual customers. By tracking and managing their sales pipeline, businesses can better understand the progress of their sales efforts and identify opportunities for improvement. The following are common stages of a sales pipeline:

Lead
A lead is a contact who is viewed as a potential customer. The process of generating leads typically involves research and lead acquisition processes such as advertising. It is often a marketing or sales operations activity.

Lead Qualification
Lead qualification is a process of filtering out leads based on factors such as finances, budget, authority, needs and timeline.

Opportunity
An opportunity is a qualified lead who is engaged in conversation with your salespeople.

Needs Analysis
Needs analysis is a meeting with opportunities to discover their needs and present what you have to offer.

Proposal And Quote
A formal proposal for a deal along with an initial quote.

Sales Negotiation
Negotiation to get to the real price and terms.

Close
Agreement on a deal and receipt of a purchase order.

Win Loss Analysis
A process of learning from each close or lost deal.

Customer Relationship Management
The ongoing process of managing the relationship with the customer such as delivery, customer service, billing and cross-selling. In many cases, each account is assigned a sales representative who is responsible for the customer lifetime value for a portfolio of accounts.

Lead Generation
Lead Generation Jonathan Poland

Lead generation is the process of identifying and attracting potential customers for a business. This is typically the first step in the sales process, and involves a variety of tactics and strategies for finding and engaging potential customers. Once potential customers have been identified, the next steps in the sales process might include lead qualification, prospecting, needs analysis, proposal creation, closing, and ongoing customer relationship management, including cross-selling and upselling. By implementing an effective lead generation strategy, businesses can build a pipeline of qualified leads and improve their chances of making successful sales. The following are common lead generation techniques.

Digital Advertising
Using behavioral and contextual ads to drive traffic to a page that pitches your product and asks for contact information.

Inbound Marketing
Creating content such as brand storytelling and interacting with potential customers in social media.

Industry Events
Attending industry events such as trade fairs.

Sponsoring Events
Sponsoring events such as training or a product demonstration in order to connect with potential customers. For example, webinars are commonly used to generate leads.

Showrooms
Physical locations that show off products.

Networking
Getting to know the people in your industry. For example, a salesperson for market data might know thousands of people in the banking industry in their territory.

Camping
Networking by going to the same events and places that customers frequent. For example, bankers in Tokyo might mostly go to the same bar in the evenings.

Cold Calling
Researching people and calling them to try to gain their interest.

Third Party
In many industries, there is a market for leads. For example, a list of people who are currently shopping for a car. These may be worth less than leads who have actively expressed interested in your particular product.

History
Lost customers and rejected proposals.

Cross Sellilng
Cross Sellilng Jonathan Poland

Cross-selling is the practice of selling additional products or services to existing customers. In a single transaction, this might involve upselling a higher-priced or more advanced version of a product the customer is already purchasing. For businesses that maintain long-term relationships with customers, however, cross-selling is a sustained effort to gain more sales from each customer over time. By identifying the needs and interests of their existing customer base, businesses can offer relevant and valuable products or services that enhance the customer’s experience and drive additional revenue.
The following are common types of cross-selling.

Complimentary Items
Products and services that compliment each other like coffee and donuts or software and training.

Seasons
Seasonal themes. For example, a back to school campaign might suggest shoes to a customer buying pens.

Data Driven
A platform might cross-sell items based on historical purchase data for similar patterns of shopping cart or page visits. For example, a site might suggest bicycle locks to someone who puts a bicycle in their shopping cart.

Promotions
Pitching things that are on sale. If a customer booked a trip to France last month, let them know when tickets to France go on sale.

Campaigns
A sales campaign to sell a particular product or service. For example, a telecom company might pitch colocation services to network customers.

Popular Items
Cross-selling popular items such as a bookstore that reminds customers that a best seller just went to paperback.

Experiments
Experimenting with cross-selling different items to see what works. For example, the food service on an intercity train might experiment with different food items such as sushi or pizza to see what sells.

Impulse
Things that people tend to buy on impulse such as candy bars.

Releases
Letting customers know when new products and updates are released. For example, a fashion brand that connects with customers to generate excitement for their Spring line.

Risk
Risk products such as an extended warranty or insurance.

Services
Wrapping products in services that deepen the relationship with the customer. For example, pitching an unlimited ebook service to people who buy an ebook reader. This results in monthly recurring revenue as opposed to a one time sale.

Sales Development
Sales Development Jonathan Poland

Sales development is a crucial part of the sales process that involves identifying potential buyers and developing qualified leads. This typically involves conducting research and planning, as well as networking and outreach efforts. By taking a proactive approach to identifying potential customers and building relationships with them, sales development professionals are able to help their companies generate new business and drive revenue growth.

Target Market
Defining your target market.

Sales Planning
A set of plans, targets and measurements for the sales process. Sales development objectives are primarily defined in terms of qualified leads that may be broken down by factors such as region, product, customer type and qualification score.

Research
Discovering information about your potential customers. Who are they? What are their needs? What is their financial position? Are they currently engaged by the competition? Who is buying right now?

Research Partners
Services that provide market and competitive intelligence. For example, an industry research organization that can provide a list of customers that are currently in the market for construction materials.

Data
Developing data and knowledge about customers, markets and competitors.

Technology
Development systems and tools to improve the efficiency and quality of the sales development process. For example, systems that automatically pull in financial information for leads.

Promotion
Marketing communication such as advertising designed to discover leads.

Promotion Partners
Developing and managing partners that can engage customers and generate leads.

Prospecting
The process of contacting potential buyers to generate leads.

Cultivation
In order to qualify leads, a sales development representative may require a fair amount of information. This may require carefully cultivating a relationship in a way that is helpful to closing the sale.

Needs Analysis
The sales development representative often begins the process of needs analysis.

Lead Qualification
Researching the needs, finances, reputation, budget and authority of leads to filter out those leads that are unlikely to close.

Handoff
Presenting everything you know about the customer and the competitive situation to the account executive who will handle closing.

Opportunities
The sales development representative may be involved in the first few meetings with the opportunity to transition the relationship. This is particularly common in complex B2B sales.

Post Sales
Post Sales Jonathan Poland

After a sale is made, post-sales processes kick in to fulfill the customer’s expectations and strengthen the relationship. This can include a range of activities, such as delivering the product or service, following up with the customer to ensure their satisfaction, and implementing marketing and sales strategies to retain the customer and potentially upsell in the future. Post-sales efforts are crucial for maintaining a positive reputation and fostering long-term customer loyalty.

Order Fulfillment
Delivering products and/or activating services. In many cases, a salesperson acts as a single point of contact for order delivery.

Billing & Collections
Billing the customer for orders and collecting revenue.

Cancellation & Changes
The process of configuring, changing or canceling an order. In many cases, a customer has a right to cancel an order for a period of time after a sale is completed. This is a delicate time that requires careful relationship management.

Returns
Processing return requests and the reverse logistics required to accept a return.

Complaints
Handling customer complaints including feedback that flows to you and posts to review sites and social media. For example, a fashion company that offers to replace a shirt for free with a different size when a customer complains in a review that the shirt doesn’t fit. The customer will then be likely to update their review to indicate they received a more satisfactory item.

Support
Providing support to help the customer get the most out of their purchase. This may include a number a customer can call and a website that provides information and tools.

Service Delivery
The day-do-day process of delivering a service. For example, the process of providing a software platform for customers.

Incident Management
Incident management is a component of service delivery that involves investigating and resolving issues with a service. It is common for salespeople to be involved in this process for high value accounts. For example, a business customer that is playing a million dollars a month to a telecom provider will expect their sales representative to be on top of any problems with the service.

Relationship Management
The general process of building and sustaining the relationship with the customer. For example, a salesperson who calls a customer to offer them tickets to an industry conference to build out a relationship.

Upselling & Cross Selling
The ongoing process of convincing a customer to upgrade or make new purchases.

Customer Referrals
Encouraging satisfied customers to refer business to you such as parent companies, sister companies, partners, friends and family.

Maintenance & Supplies
The delivery of maintenance services and supplies.

End-of-life
Helping a customer deal with the end-of-support and end-of-life of products and services.

Customer Needs Anlaysis
Customer Needs Anlaysis Jonathan Poland

Customer needs analysis is the process of identifying and understanding the needs and wants of customers in order to develop products and services that effectively address them. By engaging with customers and gaining a deep understanding of their requirements, companies can create products and services that are tailored to meet their needs and increase the chances of success in the market. This process is often the first step in product development or sales, as it provides a foundation for companies to build upon and ensure that they are meeting the needs of their target audience.

Business Needs Analysis
Analysis of business needs such as a firm that needs to increase the efficiency of a production line.

User Needs Analysis
Discovering the needs of end-users. For example, users that require an easy to use screen to complete a common task that they perform hundreds of times a week.

Pain Points
A needs analysis may build requirements from the ground up. However, it is common to start with pain points with the current situation. For example, a software salesperson might start with the problems a firm is experiencing their current software and business processes.

Goals & Objectives
Listing out the goals and objectives of an organization related to the analysis. For example, a firm might be purchasing solar panels to reduce costs or to reduce their impact on the environment.

Use Cases
Use cases and similar techniques such as user stories that document requirements from the user perspective.

Edge Cases
Identify customer use cases at the extremes of possibilities. For example, a customer usually processes 1 million transactions a day but on rare occasions has processed as many as 44 million. Edge cases are a common source of unique selling propositions.

Functions
Listing out the things that the customer wants to accomplish.

Expectations
Discovering basic expectations that the customer assumes are always included in a product or service. For example, a customer may feel its obvious that sales software serves as a customer database. Such unstated assumptions can lead to customer rejection of products and services as they are generally unhappy when an expectation isn’t met.

Perceptions
Capturing perceptions of products, services and experiences. For example, a customer who perceives chemical ingredients in food products as unhealthy or unattractive.

Quality
Listing the things that define quality in the eyes of the customer.

Reverse Quality
Things that are commonly added to products, services or experiences that customers don’t want. For example, a navigation system that displays a legal disclaimer every time you use it.

Unstated Needs
If you ask customers to list their needs, they often miss standard functions, obvious needs and popular features. As such, it is helpful to use a list of common needs in the problem space to validate against. For example, a software salesperson might have a list of the 100 most commonly demanded functions and features that they reference throughout needs analysis with a customer. If you point to something that the customer misses they will often agree it is an important requirement.

Conflicting Needs
Different representatives of the customer may list needs that are seemingly contradictory. For example, one representative of the customer may require that a solar system fit in a small area while another may require that it have 100 megawatt of capacity. Needs analysis doesn’t tackle inconsistencies and leaves them intact. Inconsistencies are often useful in design or in structuring customer choices.

Secret Needs
Needs that customers don’t want to talk about but need nonetheless. If a business is purchasing software, employees will typically state needs related to business functions. However, they may secretly evaluate software according to the likelihood its implementation will cause them extra overtime work.

Delight Needs
Most customer needs are basic expectations that don’t impress the customer much when they are met. Delight needs are the small set of needs that customers can get excited about such that they significantly influence the customer. A customer purchasing a house may be relatively unexcited about architecture, interiors and equipment but delighted at the prospect of living in an area that’s considered posh.

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