Where to Find Trigger Events

Where to Find Trigger Events
by Ron S. La Vine
President of Accelerated Sales Training, Inc.

Finding new business can be a snap, if you know where to look and what to do with the information you find. Using the telephone, the Internet along with publicly available information, you can turn triggers or business changes into sales.

Understanding the importance of the "fact finding step" in the sales cycle, is key to making more sales. We need information resources to enable us to determine who is responsible for decision making, where an account is now, where they want to be and how they plan to get there.

It is easy to mishandle this part of the sales cycle in an eagerness to sell. Finding trigger events about a shift in the way an account does business is not enough. Understanding the potential effects of change is key, to finding revenue producing events.

Examples of Trigger Events

Look for accounts in your territory who:
* Acquire, merge or joint venture with another company,
* Have been acquired by another company,
* Add additional equipment or hardware or facilities,
* Announce a change in staffing requirements or business, practices due to expansion, restructuring or relocation,
* Receive contract awards,
* Mention cost cutting initiatives,
* Outsource certain services to concentrate on core businesses,
* Are embarking on new projects,
* Issue an IPO to raise operating capital for buying more assets,
* Spin off a division into a new company with new ownership,
* Maybe affected by pending legislation or regulations.

Turning Trigger Events into Sales

Once a change occurs, ask yourself these questions. "How can my products fulfill a need or challenge as a result of the change?" "What additional services can my company provide to lessen the impact of the shift?" When the change effects an organization, who is your customer, ask yourself "How can I expand the use of or prevent the replacement of my solutions?"

For instance, you read an account plans to expand their operations. When companies expand or restructure, typically the management re-evaluates human resources and capital assets to decide what stays, what goes and what's needed. When preparing your sales strategy, keep in mind the big picture. An enterprise wide sale is far more valuable than an individual business unit sale.

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"Where to Find Trigger Events " Below



Who We Are

AST Inc. specializes in taking the fear and rejection out of cold calling into small, medium and large organizations for the purpose of setting up time and date specific next action steps and high level F2F appointments with decision makers.

What We Do

We use live cold calls into real prospects rather than lecture or theory. Many clients have found live cold calling training provide the missing piece of their current training and augments rather than replaces their existing training methods. The training is designed for both field and inside sales reps.

Who We Work With

AST Inc. delivers live cold calling training to organizations such as ASG, CA, HP/EDS, HP, IBM/Cognos, IBM/Informix, Informatica, Information Builders, iWAY Software, LRS, MeadWestvaco, MicroStrategy, NewPage, Pearson, Software AG, Thomson.

How You Benefit

Many clients have found the live cold calling training provides the missing piece of their current training and it augments rather than replaces their existing training methods. In our trainings both the reps and the instructor make live cold calls into real prospects real time producing amazing results.

Work actually gets done during the live cold call training.

What You Can Expect

· Reach decision makers faster resulting in a decrease of the sales cycle length.

· Set up a greater number of face-to-face, phone and web demo appointments resulting in a significant increase in the number of well-qualified prospects into the sales pipeline.

· Quickly penetrate new markets.

· Consistently qualify prospects faster resulting consistent filling of your sales pipeline and increased revenue growth.



Great class. Well worth the time and money.
Chuck Kleiner, VP of Sales
SMARTHINKING


Mark, you need to check this guy out. He is the real deal and will really accelerate the ISR's ability to execute. We used him at Cognos and in his training sessions he would bring in a speaker phone and in front of the class work with one student to perfect the pitch and actually arrange meetings! He also provides great techniques on the company that is blocking us. You will not be disappointed.
Steve Levin, Regional Manager



Ron, thanks for another great session! The feedback was amazing and what I liked the most was that the people who had been in that room for 2 weeks non stop were excited and motivated walking out of the training. Everyone was amazed at how effective it was.
Thanks again,
Mike P.
VP of Sales Support


Hey Ron,
My confidence on calling on CEOs and other C-levels has never been better than it is today.
Todd W., Sr. Account Executive

More About
"Where to Find Trigger Events "

Turning Trigger Events into Sales

Once a change occurs, ask yourself these questions. "How can my products fulfill a need or challenge as a result of the change?" "What additional services can my company provide to lessen the impact of the shift?" When the change effects an organization, who is your customer, ask yourself "How can I expand the use of or prevent the replacement of my solutions?"

For instance, you read an account plans to expand their operations. When companies expand or restructure, typically the management re-evaluates human resources and capital assets to decide what stays, what goes and what's needed. When preparing your sales strategy, keep in mind the big picture. An enterprise wide sale is far more valuable than an individual business unit sale.

Different Ways to Create More Sales

1. Assembling a plan showing how the effects of the change relate to the benefits your products and services provide can position you for a sale.

2. Taking note of changes or trends that may affect both you and your account's industries will make you sound intelligent and increase the odds of a sale.

3. Looking for stories about accounts using your competitor's products and applying that application to your offerings is another way to make more sales.

4. Keeping your account records up to date allows you to invest your time locating who is responsible for and capable of making a buying decision.

5. Finding and calling up users of your competitor's products is a way to replace or augment existing products. Be sure to explain up front, you are looking for ways to improve your products.
* What do you like about their products or services?
* Is there anything you dislike or have found unsatisfactory?
* If you had a wish list, what features would you like to see their product have?
Assuming your service provides missing features and benefits your competitors do not offer, you have yourself a potential sale.

6. Calling your customers pro-actively and assuring them of continuous service provides an opening to
* Find out more about an account's future strategic direction.
* Expand and cement contact relationships,
* Uncover potential evaluations, projects or initiatives,
* Locate the main or new users of your products,
* Gauge customer satisfaction and nip potential problems in the bud before they become unmanageable,
* Offer consulting services, education or documentation,
* Inquire about other business units that may need your products,
* Provide greater customer service, making difficult for competitors to replace your products.

Understanding the effects of change can present an opportunity to persuade management to invest in new products, services or technologies.

A Few Sources of Business Sales Intelligence™ or Trigger Events

•An account's sales literature
•Employee telephone interviews
•Competitor user telephone interviews
•Online and hard copy business and finance publications
•State and federal government agencies such as the Office of Management and Budget
•Using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain your competitor's GSA (General Services Administration) schedules
•Career advertisements
•Visit the SEC website
•Other suppliers who service your account
•Press Releases
•Trade Event Announcements
Finding information is easy. Systematically connecting the shift effect or trigger events to the benefits your solutions provide, is the challenge. Correlating specific benefits to specific contact wins will place you in a position to watch your sales climb. However, you must act upon the change, before your competitors do. Change is constant and change creates sales opportunities.

REPRINT PERMISSION
Ron La Vine, MBA is president and founder of Accelerated Sales Training, Inc., a LIVE cold call training firm located in Oak Park, CA. You can get a special report “41 sales Tips You Can Use Right Now” AND the free bimonthly Sales Tips and Telesales Tips for Selling Success eZine all by signing up at http://www.ast-incorp.com. If you would like information on Live Cold Calling Sales Training please call Ron at 818-991-6487 PST. © 2010 by Accelerated Sales Training, Inc.


Until then. . .

Make it a great day and a successful week!

Ron