Greg's Right FIT #467

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Trust
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Trust

• If the objection is money or time, think of those as priorities. If the objection is they have no need, it's your job to uncover or demonstrate need. However, if you can't develop trust, it doesn't matter what the objection is, you're sunk. 
• Trust is equal parts ability, reliability, and willingness to share. Magnified by self interest - theirs and ours. 
• Trust builds from promises kept. 
• Identify areas where you can bring new products to existing customers. They know you and your work. This is trust you can build on as you describe your new offering.

Being Human - Bottom up sales

"Intent counts more than technique." – Mahan Khalsa

Have you ever wondered about the effectiveness of bottom-up sales? It's popular in software circles, especially the software-as-a-service (SaaS) world. The idea is to get into an organization with your software, start at the bottom with free and single-payer users. Once you have a lot of users inside an organization, the CIO has to take notice, and you're on your way to an enterprise wide sale. This is like Slack's approach to sales. Light on salespeople, heavy on getting people to use the product. Revenue will come later. 

I don't argue with success (Slack sold to Salesforce for $27BN) but I do wonder if it's the right approach for others to follow, even if they happen to be venture-funded SaaS companies. 

The problem lies with the average worker inside big companies. If you are selling a new, novel solution to a problem, you're relying on the average corporate worker to not only recognize their daily approach to work can be improved, but that your tool will help them. From my time in the corporate world, most people show up each day and do their work, never contemplating if there's a different way of doing that work. 

Sure, there are some companies filled with leading edge thinkers, but that's maybe 5-10% of corporations. The bottom-up approach will help you get into those companies, and that's growth, but at some point you have to move into a more traditional approach. 

I use this graphic to talk about how you get into the other 90%.

Especially if you are selling a novel approach to problems. The people that need to know about this approach (CIO, for instance, someone who can control a budget and is thinking five years down the road) look for enlightenment first. Your new solution gives them a new insight into fulfilling their goals. 

Not all sales approaches are right for your business. To find out which ones are the best fit, give me a call. I can walk you through the questions I ask, and the experiences I've had. 

Random Stuff

“You better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout, I'm telling you why. . ." – some elf talkin' 'bout the big man

When first married, my wife and I had to merge holiday traditions. Especially Christmas. When do you go to church? Do presents get opened the night before? Christmas morning like a Rockwell painting? Who hosts the party? 

The list is long and navigating it takes years. 

In my youth, we went to mass on Christmas Eve. Upon our return, Santa had visited, and a gift for each child was sitting out in the open, by the fireplace. 

One year, the family put on their Christmas best and prepped for mass. As everyone was scrambling to get loaded into cars, I was left behind. Not like Home Alone, but like "where is Greg?" Bathroom time was calling, and once I was out, I knew something was up because it was quiet. I started looking around and that's when I saw it. Or saw them. 

The presents. 

Santa had already been to our house, which didn't make much sense, but I know what I saw, and I was excited. This is about the time one of my relatives came through the house looking for me. I met her at the top of the stairs where she put her hands on her hips, bent down towards me, narrowed her eyes, and said, "what did you see?" I didn't answer because there was a remote-control car that I hoped was for me and, well, this adult was a little scary. 

Listen, she said, just because you know Santa isn't real, don't ruin it for your sister. Let's go. 

Santa's not real?

I hadn't thought of that. I was maybe 6. 

When we got back from church, we tore through the house, straight to the basement. There, on the little hearth that looked like a tiny stage, I put on a show. No one was more excited. No one screamed louder. There may have been jumping. A picture of enthusiasm for Santa’s largess. As a matter of fact, I have the picture. My Mom sent it a few years ago. I'm there on the tiny hearth standing next to my sister holding a white, Marlboro/Texaco, Indy-style, remote-control car. 

I look at it and I look a lot like a little kid trying to act surprised.