selling innovation in a risk averse environment

SELLING INNOVATION IN A RISK- AVERSE CLIMATE

Bill Guerin, Partner

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Bill Guerin, PartnerCambiar, LLC

May 2009

Cambiar Overview

� Founded 2004 as a change management consulting company dedicated to the market research industry (both supplier and client side)

� Principals all have senior management experience in various disciplines in research and elsewhere

� The company specializes in four main areas:

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TransformationStrategy

Consulting

Human

Resources

Sales

Performance

© 2009 Cambiar

Cambiar Team

• Managing Partner

• Also CEO, Peanut Labs and Editor-in-Chief,

Research World.

• Previously Global CEO, NOP World and CEO

of various WPP companies

Simon ChadwickSimon Chadwick

• Partner

• Previously EVP Client Solutions at TNS and

senior management roles at Harris

Interactive, Total Research and PPL

(Fortune 500 energy company)

Bill GuerinBill Guerin

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Simon ChadwickSimon Chadwick Bill GuerinBill Guerin

• Partner

• Previously Global Head of HR and Talent

Management at GfK NOP; Global VP of

Talent Management at Research

International; Senior management positions

at Honeywell and Emerson Electric

Lock CollinsLock Collins

• Senior Consultant

• Previously VP Research and Consumer

Insights at Time, Inc; Senior Research

directorships at Unilever, Sterling Winthrop

and Pfizer

Ian LewisIan Lewis

© 2009 Cambiar

Sales Performance Consulting Practice

We help companies improve individual, team and sales program

effectiveness through a broad spectrum of sales consulting services:

� Sales Review and Assessment Services

� Sales Program Development

� Training & Development

4© 2009 Cambiar

Unique Industry Perspectives on Sales

Since launching the sales practice in early 2007, Cambiar has…

� Worked with 40 market research firms of all types and sizes

� Conducted in-depth interviews of over 100 market research employees

and nearly 150 end clients on sales, marketing and client service issues

� Assessed and trained 350 salespeople and account managers in

consultative selling and client relationship management skills

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consultative selling and client relationship management skills

As a result, we have some unique industry perspectives on the state of

sales and account management and how to improve performance

© 2009 Cambiar

GrandUnified

Theory ofTheory ofSelling

It Takes GUTS to Sell!

Grand Unified Theory – Inquantum physics, a type of fieldtheory that attempts to bringtogether all fundamental forcesinto a single framework

Grand Unified Theory of Selling –Cambiar’s customized sales trainingmodel for the market research

Grand Unified What…?!

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model for the market researchindustry, which brings together thebest elements of a wide range ofsales principles and practices

© 2009 Cambiar

� Help move the business forward

� Establish a new competitive advantage

� Position myself as an innovator

� Better, faster, cheaper research results

� Advance my career

� Necessity

� Play to win

Why Some Innovate

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� Play to win

© 2009 Cambiar

� Protect the business

� Keep my job!

� Rely on established and proven approaches

� Better to wait and see

� Position myself as prudent and reliable

� Deliver valid research results

� Ensure predictable costs and schedule

Why Others Avoid Risk

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� Ensure predictable costs and schedule

� Play not to lose

© 2009 Cambiar

1. People buy for their reasons not yours

2. People make decisions emotionally and justify them intellectually

3. Motivations are both personal and business related

4. Sales process must address facts and feelings, business and personal

Principles of Selling

10© 2009 Cambiar

Key to selling innovative solutions is to…

� Establish credibility early in the process

� Stress the benefits of the innovation in

ways meaningful to the client

� Help the client fully experience the pain of

the current state

� Address multiple need levels -- personal

Selling Innovation

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� Address multiple need levels -- personal

and business, facts and feelings

© 2009 Cambiar

� Trust: The account knows and trusts you

� Need: There is a significant client need for which you have a

competitive product or service to meet the need

� Pain: The client feels the pain of the current need, is motivated to solve

the problem, and there is a sense of urgency to take action

� Budget: The client has sufficient $$ to invest in solving the problem

Sales Qualifying Criteria

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� Budget: The client has sufficient $$ to invest in solving the problem

� Authority: You are dealing with the decision-maker or influencer

© 2009 Cambiar

IDENTIFYING NEEDS & PAIN

Identifying Needs and Pain

DESIRED FUTURE STATE

At the most fundamental level, client needs are a gap between what is

and what’s desired, and sales is about identifying and working with that

gap to move clients forward

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CREATIVE

TENSION

CURRENT STATE

© 2009 Cambiar


An effective process for identifying prospect’s needs uses questions to:

� Help the prospect articulate and understand the gap

� Experience both facts and feelings surrounding that gap, including

the pain associated with the current state

� Address both personal and business motives

15© 2009 Cambiar


Types of Questions:

� Permission – ask to ask

� Closed-ended

� Open-ended

� Facts/Business – data, objective, tasks, functions

� Feelings/Personal – human, subjective, personal thoughts, feelings,

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� Feelings/Personal – human, subjective, personal thoughts, feelings,

opinions

� Clarifying

� Exploratory

© 2009 Cambiar

Portfolio of Questions

Type of Question Purpose Examples

Fact-Finding Data-oriented What was your business growth this past year plan?

Feeling-FindingPersonal thoughts,

views, feelings

How have these changes affected you and what do you think

about them?

Clarifying Check understanding Could you explain your last point in a different way?

Compare/Contrast Explore full range What's working well and what's not?

Causal Get at root cause Why do you think this is happening?

Implications Understand Meaning What does this change mean for you?

Fresh Challenge assumptionsWhy does it have to be that way? What if we looked at it this

way?

Biggest thing PrioritizeIf there’s only one thing you can do to improve performance,

what would it be?

Tell me moreElaborate or provide

additional detailCan you expand on your last point?

Amplification Investigate extremes If this continued to get worse, what would happen?

Catch-all Anything else What aspects haven’t we explored?

© 2009 Cambiar


Questioning Guidelines:

1. Always ask Permission first

2. Use full portfolio of questions

3. Apply reflective listening techniques

� Summary statements

Checking questions

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� Checking questions

� Implication statements

4. Couple Fact/Business question with related Feeling/Personal question

5. Clients remember 70% of what they say and only 20% of what you say,

so have them repeat key information

6. Allow clients to experience the pain associated with their needs

7. Your job at this stage is to Ask, Listen, Reflect and Listen

© 2009 Cambiar


Gap Recap -- Summary to help the prospect focus on the gap:

1. Anything important not yet discussed?

2. Transition to summary

3. Summarize needs, highlighting Desired versus Current State

� Facts and Feelings

� Business and Personal

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4. Check and confirm with client

� On target?

� What’s missing?

� Most resonated?

� Circle back to interviewing mode, as needed

© 2009 Cambiar

Gap Recap Example

Checking Question: Is there anything that’s important for me to know about

your current brand tracker that we haven’t already discussed?

Transition to Summary: OK if I take a shot at summarizing our discussion so

far?

Summary: Your current brand tracker is not producing the type of actionable

information you need to respond to the demands of your internal clients – and

your internal clients are frustrated with the declining value of the research in

helping them run their businesses.

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helping them run their businesses.

After several attempts, your current provider hasn’t given you what you need,

and the situation has gone from bad to worse, with your personal credibility

increasingly at risk with your internal clients. There’s a lot on the line with this

project and you need to address it immediately.

Check and Confirm: How well does that capture what we’ve discussed so far?

What have I missed in the summary, especially concerning how this is impacting

you or your group? As you listened to the summary, what if anything jumped out

at you? Did it trigger any other thoughts or issues?

© 2009 Cambiar

DEVELOPING & RECOMMENDING RECOMMENDING

SOLUTIONS

1. Complete Gap Recap

2. Present the recommendation in SABE format:

� Solution – a concise description

� Advantage – How the solution responds to the need and solves the

problem

� Benefit – What it does for the clients -- again on multiple

Developing & Recommending Solutions

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� Benefit – What it does for the clients -- again on multiple

fact/business and feeling/personal levels

� Evidence – How the recommended approach has helped others

with similar problems

3. Check and confirm with client

4. Ask for agreement and secure a commitment on next steps

© 2009 Cambiar

SABE Example

Solution: A description of what will be done.

With our recommended approach, we’ll continue to report on all the metrics your

organization is currently using to track and manage the brand, but we will add a qualitative

component each quarter to do a deep dive on some of the changing consumer views that

emerge in the quantitative study. We will then synthesize the qualitative results with our

quantitative analysis to generate a quarterly Key Insights & Actions Report, including

recommended actions to maintain and grow the brand.

Advantage: How the solution meets the need and solves the problem.

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This approach will quickly deliver the actionable information your clients are demanding,

while also maintaining the continuity of the metrics you’ve been tracking for many years.

Benefit: What the solution does for the client, on fact/business and feeling/personal levels.

At the same time, in addition to solving the research need, you will re-position the Market

Research as a value-add partner to your internal clients.

Evidence: Others you have helped with a similar solution.

Last year Company X retained us on a very similar brand tracker and they have been

delighted with the results – last week the Brand Manager presented our report to the CMO

and it received rave reviews. I’d be happy to connect you with our main contact there to

discuss their experiences and similarities with your project.

© 2009 Cambiar

V

IV

V

IV

Cambiar Taxonomy

Integration of information and insight

generation across multiple data sources

Knowledge Management and

Business Decision Support

Value Added

Level

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III

II

I

III

II

I Primary data collection

Project Management, data processing

and quality control

Design, analysis, reporting

and generation of insights

Insights across multiple studies

from this source

Insights from this study

generation across multiple data sources

© 2009 Cambiar

“The Drive for Five”St

rate

gic

Im

pa

ct Insight Integration

Knowledge Management

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Time

Stra

teg

ic I

mp

act Insight Integration

Primary Data Collection

Project Management

Design, Analysis, Reporting

and Generation of Insights

© 2009 Cambiar

Drivers of Client Side Transformation

• Proactive, not reactive

• Insights, not reports

• Integration and expansion of functions and influence

• Story-telling, not numbers

• Consultants more than researchers

• Embracing external, added-value resources

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resources

• Anticipation and inspiration

© 2009 Cambiar

Based on 150 client-side interviews the past two years, what your clients most often say about you is…

• I didn’t know they did that…?!

• Give me more!

• Best of both worlds

Your Clients Want and Need More From You

29© 2009 Cambiar

� Your clients’ greatest pain is the need to

transform their MR function and bring

more value-add to their internal clients

� You are uniquely positioned to help

� Innovative solutions are crucial

� Your job in selling innovative solutions is

Final Thoughts

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to

� Minimize the perceived risks

� Maximize the expected gains

� Help your clients experience the pain

of the current state

© 2009 Cambiar

selling innovation in a risk averse environment

Business

client needs

sales process

cambiar team

sales practice

cambiar overviewfounded

vp research

market research industry

sales review