How CIO's are Effectively Aligning

Recently I read with interest, a CIO Insight article involving Jeff Kubacki from Kroll Inc. He reviews a few tricks he's learned over the years about collaboration and getting projects approved by all key stakeholders.

Is Jeff getting it right with his peers? Is Jeff getting it right with his vendors? His teams? Are collaborative standards far behind? What are your thoughts? Here is the link:

http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Expert-Voices/Melding-of-the-Minds-395227/

Back To Basics

The best of the best recognized brands of consultants purport to always provide value to their customers. Yet when times are tough the advisors to consultants reminds the best brands to go back to the fundamentals… be provocative, take risks, step in front of the brands….

Priceless advice… Are you doing the same… Let us know what is working…”


http://www.consultingmag.com/article/ART632518?C=8d8JmBNKfojokJWq

Agitate or Collaborate? How can you tell?

A shepherd was herding his flocks in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand new Jeep Cherokee advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Armani suit, Gucci shoes, Oakley sunglasses and a Polo tie leaned out of the window and asked our shepherd: "If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"

The shepherd looks at the yuppie, then at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers "sure!"

The yuppie parks the car, whips out his notebook, connects to the net through a cellular card, surfs to a NASA page on the Internet where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system, scans the area, opens up a database and some 60 Excel spreadsheets with complex formulas.

Finally, he prints out a 150 page report on his hi-tech miniaturized printer, turns around to the shepherd and says: "You have here exactly 1,586 sheep!" "That is correct, take one of the sheep" says the shepherd. He watches the young man select an animal and bundle it into his Cherokee.

Then the shepherd says: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my sheep back?" "Okay, why not!" answers the young man.

"You are a consultant" says the shepherd.

"That is correct" says the yuppie. "How did you guess that?"

"Easy" answers the shepherd. "You turn up here although nobody called you, you want to be paid for the answer to a question I already knew the solution of, and you don't know anything about my business because you took my dog."

Author unknown...

Marketing and Sales Coming Together

Most of the executives I speak with are unhappy with their efforts to get marketing and sales on the same page. Intuitively, they know how important it is. Heretofore it is difficult to measure the real "costs" of not closing the GAP.

New SiriusDecisions research indicates that companies that are able to report closed-loop metrics on their sales and marketing integration efforts have demonstrated more than 20 percent higher revenue and profit growth over a three-year period vs. those companies that cannot.

Now that is what I call closing the GAP!

So, take the words of William Penn to heart when he said "Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire." Put thy differences aside and build a bridge between marketing and sales and soon your customers will follow.

Does this still work in 2009?

Recently I read a post about how to "sell to the C-level". Here it is with some words changed to protect the author's identity.

"Hello Ed, this is XXXXXXXX with YYYYYY. Ed, I just saw a news article come across the wire that mentioned your new product release of the XYMHY banana security software. On May 24th we're holding an online Banana Summit which is a day of back to back webcasts from thought leaders and niche solution providers from around the country. I was calling to see if you'd be interested in showcasing this product at that event. **Now the customer engages and begins to ask questions ******
The cost is $7500 for a sponsorship spot."

Does this still resonate with buyers?

Stop Selling and Start Engaging

Curious if anyone has used a simple "scripted" outline for making an introductory call on a "C-level" executive where you are reasonably sure there is an opportunity to help solve a business problem worth solving. (I consider the outline to minimally include: 1) Pre call preparation, 2) Making the introductory appointment, 3) Framing what you do/say in front of the client to OPEN the conversation to show value and 4) Closing for the next action.)

The goals are: 1) qualify 2) build value in "me" and my company enough to be asked back for a second meeting if qualified. Sales Leaders tell me that when they are brought in on calls with their reps, they use this to immediately engage with the client and refrain from "selling" their solution up front.

Buyer and Seller BEWARE!

All too often I hear from sales people that the buyer (under a tremendous amount of time pressure) forces the seller to "show me your solution".

We in sales are partly to blame. With all the "SOLUTION and CONSULTATIVE selling training, we are taught to sell "everything in the warehouse because that proves we "have the total package".

Especially in a highly commoditized market space like computers, networks, storage, security, etc., sellers must be prepared to ask the buyer to "slow down". Of course, you ask, "How?".

I do not make a practice of this, but I will give you the answer here:
http://www.knowledge-advantage.com/podcast/napkin/

ENJOY!