Executive Team Goals
It all starts with a discovery call. After filling out an initial questionnaire, we’ll get onto a call free of charge to get a better sense of your goals and what you’re hoping to accomplish. This helps to provide a clear sense of where the issues actually lie, and what our tailored approach will be to solve them.
The questions seem simple, but they provide a tremendous amount of guidance to us on the back end. They help pinpoint the nature of your issues, and give us at least a sense of where we can be of help.
We know that even if you have similarities to your competitors in the market, no two companies are identical. You may have slight differences in your design, cater to different industries, or service different regions. We respect what makes you unique, and we’re here to help YOUR TEAM succeed.
Analyze Your Portfolio
Once you retain our services, we then move into a much deeper analysis call – roughly 60 to 90 minutes. We’ll go through far more probing questions in-depth to learn about the breadth of your portfolio, and some of the issues that your team has been facing.
This call can touch on some sore spots…but that’s exactly the point. You’re going to tell us what’s going on – the good, the bad, and the ugly. We’re going to come through it with a much clearer perspective of your pain points and the problems that we need to solve. We don’t even need to ask what’s wrong – you’ll tell us loud and clear, and then we start to roll up our sleeves.
Determine Product Market Jurisdiction Fits
Our next conversations are going to be strategic as we determine where your products fit in the market. Are you focusing on Saskatchewan when you would likely have more opportunities in Alberta? Are you concentrating on new condo buildings when the real opportunity is in restoration of aging low-rise and mid-rise residential units?
We’re also going to do a deep dive into your marketing budget. How many tech reps do you have on your team, and is it too few or too many? You cannot expect one person to be in 3 different provinces in a day, but similarly you may have too many reps based in a province that simply isn’t seeing the activity that you expected.
When it comes to your jurisdictional fit, representation matters. Even though work from home has become more and more prevalent, it can still be helpful to have boots on the ground even in a nearby city so that you can set up a lunch or dinner meeting. Flying across country for those routinely can be cost prohibitive, and then you’re left wondering why your product is not the first choice, or second, or even third.
Align Goals with Sales Opportunities
We’re then going to look at how to best align your sales goals with the opportunities that you have in front of you. What opportunities are you missing, or which ones have passed you by because you were looking in the wrong places?
For example, having a 3-part spec is key, as is having the right marketing materials to present to a prospect when an opportunity is literally staring you in the face. When you’re talking to the right person, you need to have the right tools in your toolbox to help them solve their problems. Otherwise it’s like showing up at a plumbing job without even bringing a wrench!
Determine Targets
This gets right down to the basics – who are you selling to, and where are your target clients hiding? Moreover, what are you doing to get directly to them?
We understand that budgets are limited, and again you can’t be every since place at once. So when we look at something like trade shows for example, which are a huge portion of marketing in this industry – how do you know that you’re going to the right show? If you only have enough budget for 2 or 3 shows a year, how will you make the most out of those opportunities?
How will you make sure to target the right new prospects, instead of wandering the floor aimlessly? You might not even know that the right show exists, so experience and guidance can go a long way towards helping to make smart choices.
Train Tech Rep Teams
This is where we take it right down to the fundamentals which we base on two key words – COMMON SENSE!
It’s cliche to say that ‘common sense is uncommon these days,’ but it’s true! The number of opportunities that technical reps routinely miss because of oversight, lack of knowledge, or poor training is staggering. Opportunities are everywhere if you know how to be creative, how to think on your feet, and are willing to be prepared at all times.
We take your team through a modular series of virtual training exercises (after all, the V in V SPECS stands for ‘virtual’!) that cover everything from the basics on up – how to conduct yourself on a video call, how to engage new prospects and form relationships, and how to make those relationships last. Success in this industry comes from fostering and relying on those lasting relationships, so forging them in the first place is crucial.
As your team grows, you’ll retain access to these training modules, and we’re happy to train any new hires within six months of the end of completion free of charge. We do, however, recommend offering new staff new training every 2-3 years. Your goals and needs may have changed, and it’s our job to give your reps the tools that they’ll need to get there. .
