Two customer-centric book recommendations
This week I’ve been reading two recently published books that I recommend you add to your reading list.
Both are focused on selling - but highlight the shift in power from the seller towards the buyer.
The Innovative Seller - Jake Dunlap
Jake Dunlap is the founder of Skaled, a Revenue Operations consultancy working with top revenue teams.
In the Innovative Seller he discusses the rise of AI and a need for a more customer-centric sales process.
He introduces the concept of the four C’s:
Commitment to Technology and AI Proficiency: People, Process and Technology
Current Outbound and GTM Strategy
Customised Sales Experience
Consistent Performance Optimisation
The bulk of the book focused on the third C - developing a customised sales experience.
Jake makes the point that whilst many sales teams have developed an ICP and buyer personas - many of these focus on the firmographic or role specific details - “we sell into Chief HR Officers at 1000 employee healthcare companies”
But each of those CHROs is on their own personal journey of education and is in their own stage of their buying process.
Jake segments buyers into three categories:
Vetted: This CHRO has done their analysis, understands the category and built their shortlist (which you are lucky enough to be on). This CHRO needs accelerating to the detailed information they need - customised demos, pricing, implementation plans, integration architectures.
Educated: This CHRO has done some research on your company and product, they have a rough project outline and an idea of timeline. This CHRO needs help understanding how to move their project forward and what criteria and people might be required to make a decision.
Cold: This CHRO has no awareness of your company, maybe no awareness of your entire category, and needs educating on the problem that their company faces and why solving it provides significant value to them personally and to their company.
From a Revenue Operations perspective we must keep this in mind as we build out buyer enablement and sales enablement tools and content.
We must ensure that our processes and people are geared up to fast track vetted and educated buyers so that we don’t put SDR roadblocks in their way “can I just qualify you?”
Your sales plays, your sales training, your events and messaging - it all needs to be configured to look through the lens of the customer. If you don’t - you’ll just frustrate them.
Sales Pitch by April Dunford
Sales Pitch
Recommended reading for anyone in a Revenue Operations role, especially those eying a move to the CRO role in future.
You may have read April’s book “Obviously Awesome” which focuses on how to position your product or service in a crowded market.
It is essential reading for anyone in a Revenue Operations leadership role because it brings to life the nuances of how we describe our products and why placing them in a category that is easy for a buyer to understand is so important.
Sales Pitch takes the story from your marketing team onwards to your sellers.
April makes the case that she’s seen fantastically positioned products fail when it comes to the initial sales meeting, because the seller is unable to maintain that clear positioning and reverts back to listing features that make no sense to the customer.
April tells a wonderful story at the start of the book about the challenge of buying a new toilet for her house.
“How hard can it be?” she thinks as she trots down to the bathroom warehouse, only to be confronted with thousands of different toilets with different price points, different widgets and features.
A graphic from one of April’s talks on the subject of buying toilets!
She bolts from the store - its overwhelming.
She decides to just stay with the toilet she has - it works so why rock the boat? (The force of habit is strong)
She returns home to find that the builder has already thrown the old toilet away - argh - she will have to pick a new one.
On returning to the store she meets a sales rep, “do you know what you want?” he asks.
“I have absolutely no idea and I’m totally overwhelmed” she replies.
“OK, don’t worry - there are really only three things you need to think about -
How much will it get used?
Do you care about what it looks like?
How much space do you have in the room?”
This was going to be April’s primary toilet, so that discounted half that were for low use.
April didn’t need any high end fashion with gold handles, so that discounted another third.
April had plenty of room in her bathroom, so that discounted all of the ‘wall recess’ toilets.
Having started with thousands - April ended up with three, and the sales rep was able to say - “realistically you would be fine with any of them, but this would be my choice.” And she took his recommendation.
That is what great sales is like. Not a pitch, but a guided recommendation.
Buying software is difficult, and as Revenue Operations professionals we need to step out from behind the spreadsheet and understand how we can help our buyers to buy, and to help our sellers to help our buyers to buy.
Why should RevOps leaders and professionals read these books?
I’m renowned for saying there are two words in Revenue Operations - and the most important one of them is Revenue.
For the RevOps role to deliver sustained strategic value to your company, you need to be at the forefront of how the company grows revenue over the long term.
Having a deep understanding of product positioning, marketing and sales strategy is critical.
I’m a big believer in reading around your core skill. By learning topics that are on the fringes of your responsibility you are better able to have valuable discussions with others you engage with, and you naturally expand your field of influence and responsibility.
If you have your eyes on a future Chief Revenue Officer or Chief Commercial Officer role - then these books will provide you with some great background to build up their commercial muscle.
Enjoy, and I look forward to hearing what you take away from them.
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