Sales & Marketing Management - September/October 2008 - (Page 11)

SALES STRATEGY South, Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging and Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes. Finally, one of the most critical aspects of site selection is the specific clinical focus for medical or applications focus for other industries. In other words, the prospect’s and the site’s focus and application needs must match. If a show site is primarily conducting abdominal imaging, the visiting prospect will not be happy visiting that site if they are primarily interested in neurology imaging. quarters operations—and perhaps your training facility or manufacturing operations—there are meals and transportation to be arranged. Also, it’s not unusual for a company to host more than one customer group in a single day. Each of these visits lasts at least a few hours and must be carefully coordinated, so that customers are not feeling rushed to make room for the next group. Senior management commitment Few business activities are successful without senior management’s commitment, and the site visit is no exception. At least one (and many times, two or more) of the company’s senior executives should spend time with the visiting prospects. The executives should take special care to make sure they understand the particular issues and concerns of each visiting site and ensure that all customer questions are addressed. Details make the visit Reasonable or not, how the details of a site visit are managed can create lasting impressions—positive or negative—of how the company manages its business overall. That’s why it’s crucial to pay attention to every component of the visit. Each site visit presents its own special challenges, from organizing cross-country travel to booking hotels to developing the site visit schedule. A dossier should be prepared on each account, with information gathered on each of the prospects. Presentation schedules should be developed and sites selected based on the type of facility, their specialty The ROI Because of the tremendous costs associated with a site visit program, each request for a visit must be carefully evaluated. Prospects should be fairly far along in the sales cycle to warrant a trip to headquarters. The customer should have already had a technical presentation made by the local sales team and be carefully qualified as a legitimate prospect—not just a group looking for a free trip. At Toshiba, about 75% of potential new customers choose to visit a site, with approximately 50% of them then purchasing one or more of Toshiba’s imaging systems. The return on investment is measured in more than just dollars, however. “During these visits, customers see what we are about in a very controlled setting,” Sherman says. “Showing prospects, in carefully orchestrated presentations, why your company’s products are unique provides an extra edge that can make a big difference in a very competitive marketplace.” It’s important that prospects know, understand and feel confident about the company they’re doing business with when huge numbers are at stake. (radiology or cardiology, for instance), the equipment they are specifically interested in (Xray, CT, MR or ultrasound), the protocols they use and the participants’ positions within their respective company. Site visit participants in the medical industry should include not only physicians and technologists but also senior executives, administrators, purchasing managers, facilities representatives, financial officers, physicists and biomedical engineers. Appropriately matching your company’s site visit personnel with the prospects can make or break a visit … and mean the win or loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars of business. [THE PULSE] The headquarters visit The headquarters visit presents special challenges. Coordinating senior executives’ schedules to make sure each visitor feels special and appreciated is no small feat. In addition to the visit and tour of your headwww.salesandmarketingmanagement.com SOURCE: DELOITTE/ORACLE STUDY 46 PERCENTAGE OF SALES FORCE LEADERS WHO THINK COMPENSATION PLANS HAVE BECOME MORE COMPLEX SINCE 2006. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT 11 http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - September/October 2008

Sales &�Marketing Management - September/October 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Brian Tracy University Smart Sales Sales Strategy Smart Marketing Marketing Strategy Smart Management Management Strategy The Low-Cost Sales Leader Why Sales Process Gets the Shaft Training Q&A Technology Making the Case for Travel (Part II) Travel/Meetings On the Road The Way I See It

Sales & Marketing Management - September/October 2008

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