Be sales-ready – Use these five checkpoints
In late January, I will be launching a book called Winning Lifelong Customers using The Five Abilities®. The book launch coincides with a demand generation push for The Five Abilities LLC. We’ll be updating our website, social media, consulting materials, and we’ll use The Five Abilities as our checkpoints to ensure we’re sales-ready on day one.
VISABILITY – We’ll start with 100 prospective clients all of whom I’ve done business with in previous corporate roles. Most are in the tech sector but they range from venture capitalists and start-up principles, all the way to Fortune 100 executives. Each outreach will include personalized value propositions intended to spark their own personal suspicion-of-value such that they want to learn more about The Five Abilities in regards to their business challenges. We’ll be sales-ready to earn VISABILITY.
CREDABILITY – We’re ready to demonstrate how The Five Abilities works, and how I benefited from it as a corporate salesperson, manager, and executive. Most importantly I can show how it’s helped clients and customers. I have knowledge, tools, blogs, and the book, to educate people about The Five Abilities framework. I have endorsements and I’m prepared to advocate for others should prospective clients need help beyond what we provide. We’ll be sales-ready to earn CREDABILITY.
VIABILITY – I have questions and criteria to confirm that prospective clients have need for what we offer along with the sense of urgency that accelerates decisions. I have qualifying questions to determine if clients have the experience necessary to assess our work and provide guidance on how we best help them. I’m approaching companies and people with demonstrated success and I’m prepared to help clients understand the time necessary for joint success. We’ll be sales-ready to establish VIABILITY.
CAPABILITY – Once I’ve connected with people who represent potential engagements we’ll look for signs that uncover the personal reasons people make business decisions. Does their business climate dictate need for safety in their decisions? Is their workload such that simplicity is their greatest need? Is personal and/or team reward driving the decision-maker? Are prospective clients mainly looking for recognition of great results? Will I encounter change-agents—people motivated by catalyzing an innovative revolution? We’ll be sales-ready to deliver CAPABILITY that addresses the personal reasons people make business decisions.
RELIABILITY – We’ll be unreasonably accountable so that we earn each client’s confidence. We’ll engage in a predictable manner so that people know what they’re getting before we do business. My experience along with The Five Abilities framework gives me the means to anticipate challenges that affect our clients and us. I have a solid communication framework to engage with a no surprises culture that ensures clients get important information—good and bad—from us first. We’ll be sales-ready so that we exceed the mark of RELIABILITY that clients demand.
The Five Abilities checkpoints get me sales-ready. After 30+ years this framework still helps to ensure that I’m not just ready to generate leads but that I’m sales-ready when prospective clients choose to engage. Are you sales-ready?
© 2016 Rick Wong, The Five Abilities LLC