How experimenting and replicating techniques can create scalable templates for sales success
by
We spoke to Peter Schopf, Head of Sales MindSphere for EMEA at Siemens Digital Industries Software, on the latest episode of The Insiders podcast. He spoke about his “copy and paste” technique for creating scalable templates for sales success, which can be replicated across other accounts or clients.
“I love experimenting with different ways of selling and different ways of doing things.”
At MindSphere, Peter seeks to empower industries and generate new insights as an IoT (Internet of Things) platform. A large part of his role is ensuring that he understands the customer sales journey. Peter emphasised the importance of patience on both sides, and said to avoid giving up on a journey before it has even had a chance to succeed. “It’s a digitalisation journey. It’s about transforming your business… being futureproof. It will take years.”
At durhamlane, we agree with Peter on the importance of being patient throughout your sales journey. We account for this in our own business by typically recommending 12-month term agreements for sales activity. This is because we understand that sales require nurturing and development before they can be converted.
Searching for the ‘holy grail’
Not only does Peter reinforce the importance of patience, but also of innovation and experimentation to find the ‘holy grail of success’.
A key element of Peter’s experimentation is video selling. He is passionate about the use of this medium and has set up short video snippets about different solutions. These videos are beneficial to the sales force, as they expand the reach of solutions without taking up time. “It’s definitely not bringing you to the final closing… but it can be a very good initial stage of addressing things, making people aware.” Depending on the consumer perception of the company as a whole, this method could be expanded so that brand advocates and champions will be encouraged to forward these videos to others that may need solutions to similar problems.
Copying and pasting sales success
Peter’s experimentation incorporates learning from sales successes and adjusting approaches accordingly. “Obviously you need to then identify those which work quite well. And then try to structure that, capture that in a way that can then be multiplied and scaled.”
A vital part of Peter’s copy and paste concept is knowledge management. He attempts to encapsulate the essence of the sales success, structuring this essence in simple slides and then in a two pager which can be used internally as templates for other projects.
As these successes are learned, they can easily become integrated into different sections of sales teams and areas of the globe. Peter highlighted global differences in the IoT sector, explaining that markets in certain countries can be slower to adapt to elements of digitalisation. The templates for success will therefore benefit the customers’ sales journey and the salespersons understanding of how to adapt to it.
Simon Hazeldine, host of The Insiders, likened Peter’s copy and paste model and knowledge management to win-loss reviews. He reiterated the importance of learning from failures and successes within the organisation, as Simon says “So we’ve won. Why have we won?”
Get in touch to see how durhamlane can help you overcome your sales challenges. To hear more thought leadership in Sales and Marketing, listen to The Insiders podcast here.