The first question is what problems are we truly solving from our customers with this thing that we've created. What outcomes can we drive as a result, or maybe said a different way, What will this help the customer achieve that they haven't even thought about.
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Hello and welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel Klett Miller. Joining me today is our own Brian Walsh. Hi Brian, Hi, Rachel, how are you good? Good? So today we are going to talk about a situation many of us are faced with, and as we get towards the end of the calendar year, many of us might be faced with us even more. Your company is getting ready to roll out new products, new options, new things that you need to sell. I'm sure you have been in this situation many times, Brian.
Yes, that brings up lots of memories and.
So you're sitting there as a wrap and you're thinking, Okay, I've got to figure out a way to sell this, and we're going to talk about how do you approach that in the right way, in a way that's going to make you successful and make your customers happy. So let's start with Brian, the mindset you need to have when you get the news right, there's new stuff in the bag.
Yeah, well it makes me just your opening made me think of something I had not as I was kind of thinking about this topic the last few days, because I think the thing we have to remember is the moment the company launches it. There's probably a scoreboard somewhere, and whether it's on screen in every meeting, whether it's in an office, there is a scoreboard somebody's keeping track of. Is everybody getting on the train and starting to sell
the new thing, which I get it. I mean, I understand it, We've invested in it and all of that, but that is a factor that is in the brains of the seller, right who's thinking, Okay, I'm on the hook for this, and the way you kick this off, I think, so we just have to remember that that's a part of what's going on in somebody's brain. But I think there at the same time, there are a couple of temptations we have to be really aware of
and reminded of careful of. And the first is the temptation to run out to the marketplace with all of the new product info and the messaging from the product and marketing teams, because we're so excited about what we've now got sometimes that we can forget that there could be two or three things happen inside of our customers.
Either the market doesn't know so they're a little overwhelmed by what we show up with, right the market isn't even ready for it, whether it's the message or the thing itself, or they see it as just catch up to the competition. So there's that. I think the other thing we have to think about, and the temptation we have to be careful of, is over promising. By the way I've done all of these right, making these mistakes.
Marketing and product do a great job of creating the hype, and they should do that like it's important to do that, and it's done for all the right reasons. We just need to be honest with ourselves about what we've got in our hands what we've been given, because we're the ones who are carrying that forward, and it's going to be our personal, not just our company's credibility that gets impacted by this, positively or negatively, especially if we don't deliver.
So those I think that are the two big mindset pieces. I would remind.
People of right good ways to frame any training or whatever that you're going to go through with the new product. And that's when when the enablement's happening, there's key questions you should be asking ourselves.
Yep. So everybody on this podcast knows us at some level or another, so they won't be surprised to hear me say this. This is a perfect time to remember the outside in mentality. It's about the custom stomer stupid, right, that's the old it's the economy stupid, it's the customer stupid. So I think the questions and I'm not calling them any of the audience stupid. It's just a reminder, right, Yeah,
It's like, these are the big three questions. The first question is what problems are we truly solving from our customers with this thing that we've created. What outcomes can we drive as a result or maybe said a different way. What will this help the customer achieve that they haven't even thought about? So pulling outcomes further out than they
would have on their own. And then there's two or three questions I think that go together, and there's this concept of how is what I'm about to bring to the market going to change the customer's buying journey? Does it replace multiple things? Will this require a new mindset for the customer not just us? Are there new players that are going to have to get involved that we haven't talked to before? And oh, by the way, how
is the customer going to think about that? I was with a customer recently and in the process of helping them build out a bunch of content, they realize there is a key person in the C suite that is going to be at the table going forward that they have never talked to really in the past. And it's going to be a departure not just for them, but also for their customers because people inside of the customers
organizations are going to have to pull this. This person's come in one way or the other, so they're going to have to pull them in. So it's going to change not just who we have to talk to, but who the customer has got to get engaged with, and that can change some do some funny things to the minds inside of our customers as well, not just ourselves. So that's how I think about this.
Yeah, an additional player, as you say, also goes back to asking the question, when you think through what problems did this product solve, how is a customer going to get value from this, Who is the ideal customer profile for this product, and how does it play with other things that you're selling, because that what we call the ICP ideal customer profile may shift a bit depending on what it is.
Yeah, it can change the whole game. They can literally change. You may come to market it was something that if you really dig into it, you may say, wait a minute, We're about to literally change how a company does business, which means these four or five or six things that they had today that all kind of happened at different points in time for all the right reasons, those aren't
even needed anymore. So maybe I'm going from six to one, and now I'm impacting six different silos and all not only the people inside of those silos, but one or two people above them. Who see a bigger pick like this can change the whole dynamic. And you, if you don't think through that, you can really get yourself into trouble in terms of a missing the larger opportunity in the marketplace and b making it harder for you to even land the deals that you thought might be easy to land.
Yeah, that's a great perspective. And I think you know you mentioned over promising right at the beginning. There are some unknowns when there are new products, right, they try to think of everything, but things come up and there's new use cases, right, And so when you're having these conversations with your customer, you should also approach these conversations with curiosity, just like any any sales conversation. So are your best tips here for validating the product?
So I think the unknowns is good, and we kind of hit on one with the new players, right, Who are the new people that are getting into all this and how is that going to impact the customer's buying process and buying journey, et cetera. But there are some
other unknowns. And when I think about getting a new product in my hand, I was one of the people that I learned from a fellow seller, I would retech our technical manuals so that I had a sense of what we were really doing and why we were doing it and how it worked, so I could kind of get deep into it with the right people inside of the customers organization. So and then the other thing I would do with a brand new product is I would
get into our beta testing. I'd want to understand, you know, what did we do up to this point, to fully understand how this new thing is landing? What have we learned about that, and what have we done about what improvements or tweaks have we made? What's still outstanding both known and unknown? Right, we found this, here's what we're doing about it. We're still not too sure about this? Right? And then am I whether I'm reading the technical specs
or not, but am I the seller? Am I really educating myself deeply on all of this and to your point, the new use cases and some of the other things we talked about, new players, et cetera. Or am I just reading the headlines, because if you're just reading the headlines, you're going to miss out every single time. Like you've got this is a time for you to go deep on all of the work. That product and marketing have
done to get you ready. I think these questions all the way back to the previous question we were answering and now kind of adding on here. I think these questions in the end really will help you think through where am I going to go first with this, because you've got to be careful where you go, right, got to go to your friendlies. You got to go to your early adopters, and that's that that even has a bifurcation.
You got to go to the folks that are going to be willing to put up with some of the little things that might happen with a new product release versus those that aren't aren't up for that or aren't built that way. And definitely staying away from your skeptics and your cynics until you really know whether or not you got something that's really viable and is going to really make hay. So those are some of the other unknowns that I think about.
Yeah, and you mentioned the specs right, the technical features. And I know a lot of people that are listening now are in selling software and their company is rolling out new AI.
Well everybody's rolling out of there, right software or not? Right?
Yeah, So You may have a traditional product that you have been selling and now there's these new features or it's powered by AI, and everybody's talking about it. So one you got to figure out how you're going to differentiate that conversation. Even if the features are cool in a demo, right, and most of them are, how do you make sure that you're having the right conversations you're selling these new features right with the same value based discipline, the right discipline and the right mindset.
Well, AI is a great example, right, And I already mentioned this a little bit earlier with the outside in mindset, and I think it goes back to that, right, So I want to be very careful how I say this, so I know anybody to jump on me. But everybody's already got AI in some form of fashion. Everybody's already talking about AI and their products. So it's almost reaching table stakes levels to an extent. But at the same time, customers are scared. Everybody's scared about AI, even though they
also know it's here and it's coming. They're all and you know the look they're always going to be. There's always going to be part of your Undis's scared when you got something new but this time it's just a bit more exaggerated, right and rightly so. So I think you got to keep in mind again, whether we're using AI as the example or something different that's differentiated, you've got to keep in mind the keys to setting up
your cool stuff right, all your differentiation. And the first key, and maybe the most important key, is having a conversation that sets up topics with customers because you've got their best interest at heart. I'm getting you to think about things that matter, not a capability like something that we drive with AI, but an outcome that that solves because it's for it. It gives you this topic around that outcome gives you a better chance of achieving that outcome
right and making the best choice. So I think if you can keep your conversations focused on what's the customer trying to achieve, both long term, short term and what's best for them and their business, it's a much better chance for you when you pivot to talk about the new thing that you've got to pivot to. Here's the new thing I've got, and more importantly, here's how that gives you a better chance of getting to that outcome we just talked about it's just like any other differentiation.
It's setting it up so that when I pivot to talk about it, it's a means. That differentiation is a means to an important end for the customer, whether it's revenue lift or whatever it might be.
Right, the outcomes that they're trying to drive, and also the organizational priorities that they have.
Yeah, so maybe it's not the connect it's not just the old line. That's the economy stupid. It's the customer. It's the outcome, right, It's the outcome matters.
Yeah, and that's really that mindset you need to have when your enablement team, your product team says, hey, sales team, guess what, here's what here's what we got. Yeah, wrap us up, Brian with the bottom line or a key takeaway as we close.
So and please listen carefully to this, folks, because, especially if you're in marketing and product listening to this. I want you as sellers to embrace your company's new ideas. I mean, I'm saying that loud and clear. I love running to the market with new ideas and new things
to talk about. I just think we as sellers have to remember that our job first and foremost is to think about out and lead with what matters to the customer, their people, their customers, right, our customers, customers and their business before we just go running out with a new message, like that new message is powerful, Like don't waste it by throwing it out there in the hopes that it lands.
Like lead up to it, you know, become a better storyteller through the conversations that you have and the points of view that you put down, so that when you do pivot to that new thing, it's got a lot more value because it's coming out of your mouth to solve for them, their people, their customers, their business. That's my take.
That's it, Brian Walsh, thank you very much.
Thanks Rachel, Yes, and.
Thank you to all of you for listening to the Audible Ready Sales podcast.
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