More buyers want to integrate technologies, applications and data. The number of companies using hybrid cloud to achieve their aims is rising steadily. Savvy ICT suppliers are bolstering their ability to properly qualify more sophisticated customers and win more deals. Given a choice, most sales people will stick with what they know and what has worked in the past. Business leaders need to direct and support sales to bid on deals they can win.

Against this backdrop of complex customer requirements, Larato’s study uncovers concerns about the ability of sales staff to get the measure of new technology. Aligning products and services to the multiple demands of customers remains a challenge to accurately qualifying deals.

Today’s ICT market is no place for laggards. Winners will be the pace setters, doers and those willing to embrace change. This #HelpMe guide sheds light on the key findings of Larato’s research into what it takes to pinpoint deals you can win, and offers an action plan designed to get you fully up to speed with these rapid industry developments.

Chapters in this guide:

1. Some deals can be bad business
   by Stuart Gilroy
2. Don’t bid on a request for proposal you haven’t influenced
   by Stuart Gilroy
3. The only reason for losing a bid is being outsold
   by Stuart Gilroy
4. #HelpMe action plan
   by Dr. Lucy Green

Extract from “I want to help my sales people bid on deals they can win” #HelpMe

The connected economy is not just about ecommerce transactions and the ability to pay for goods and services over the wire. Before any sales are made, there is a crucial layer of online profiling built up by firms who have grasped the online fabric and delivered a message appropriate to their market segment.

We don’t read requests for proposals from the end backwards, so why take a back-to-front line when considering them? Today, sales people should focus not just on the end result and winning the deal, but also on how they can, from the word go, influence a positive outcome by being practised at getting beneath the surface of a prospect’s business requirements before a RFP is created. Influencing a RFP from page one requires a solid set of consultancy skills that demonstrate relevant value and differentiation, and get results. Traditional ICT purchases follow a formal procurement process based largely on predefined needs. Now, sales professionals operate in a market characterised by unstructured demand, where buyer requirements are far more fluid compared to a traditional RFP based purchase.