Investigate the Business BEFORE the Problem

As we dive deeper into our advanced account analysis — Triple-A — we continue by researching a potential tech sales account at the micro-level. 

It’s time to learn about the business itself. Learn about their day-to-day operations, financials, problems, needs, etc. Learn who the decision-makers are. What are their main goals? What KPIs do they need to hit? 

Spending time researching and acquiring this knowledge puts you head and shoulders above other sales professionals. So you enter the meeting in the same mindset as the customer. You don’t come in as a stranger.

Because, as we’ve spoken about before, you’re not there to sell. You’re in the room to solve problems. And the startling reality is that customers don’t always know the problem they’re trying to solve. They don’t know that they need tech salespeople to come along and help them find situational clarity. But with the right advanced account analysis – and research beforehand – you can demonstrate what you bring to the table during that crucial first meeting. Then boom, you’re not a salesperson but an invaluable asset. 

If a tech sales professional can prove their worth by joining the conversation in a client’s office (or head), they can show a client ways to gain insight and solve problems, ideally, with the technology they’re selling. 

Remember, by the end of the first meeting, your goal is to understand: 

• What a client needs to be done

• In what amount of time? 

• Within what budget constraints? 

• Who are the decision-makers in solving this problem? 

That final question is the key we’re going to focus on today. It’s where micro (or business) level research becomes incredibly valuable. 

Because as Byron Matthews and Tamara Schenk explore in their book Sales Enablement, these days, “in complex B2B sales, facing a team of buyers is nothing new, but over the years, the size of that team has been steadily growing. Our 2018 research shows the number of buyers on the average buying team has risen to 6.4. Our clients also tell us that these teams are made up of buyers from a wider range of disciplines as well. Salespeople will need to get better at managing a larger number of buyers and identifying their unique challenges, wins, and ideas for how to achieve their personal and business objectives” (emphasis added).

How to gain this elusive knowledge? Y’all know I’m gonna say RESEARCH. Let’s explore my top three places to gain insider business-level info for hungry tech sales professionals. 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a true internet gem. This insider tool can deliver great information to the industrious sales professional. Here you’re able to discover the decision-makers of a specific project based on teams they’ve worked on before or internal projects they’ve been a part of. From this, you can infer goals and plans – is there a place for your product to help reach those goals? 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator also includes a handy-dandy “Buyer Intent Score” to see if your prospective client is engaging with other sales professionals. Are they likely to buy? What are their current hiring rates? Or are they letting people go? Where are they spending money now, and how can this benefit you? (Or let you know not to waste your time…)

Discover.org

I think of Discover.org as a slightly more stagnant version of LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It’s not updated as regularly but has much more detailed breakdowns available. Beyond the paywall of this subscription-based website (that maybe your company will pay for…), you can see actual budgets and dollars. You can see how much the company has spent in the past and, from this, determine their future spending propensity. While Discover.org isn’t always the most up-to-date information, it’s a valuable heat map that allows you to determine the likelihood of a company buying something from you. 

Other good uses for Discover.org are competitor research and–this one’s a big one–contact info. Yep, that’s right, Discover.org has contact information available in both spreadsheet and PDF downloadable formats. There are leads here y’all! And not just for tech industry folks; this works for any industry you might be selling in.

Investor Reports

Finally, spend some research time delving into investor reports. These can reveal a lot to the ambitious tech salesperson and are publicly available for free! While investors aren’t usually directly involved in tech sales-related business, they are ultimately who the company answers to. What are investor interests? How can you position your product, so it’s not only a good solution to decision-maker problems but also easy for them to justify the expense to their investors? Once you have that magic combination – your final tech sale is in the bag.

What’s Next?

While you’re anxiously awaiting the next installment of our Triple-A Series—Advanced Account Analysis, that is—a perfect next step is to join a community of tech sales professionals who are building a better world through empathetic selling and problem-solving. 

Lissen, I know that everyone doesn’t have the budget for another monthly membership—although this Patreon is pure gold, so you may wanna give it some thought—and y’all know I’ve always got a freebie or two ready for instant download and implementation. 

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