Fast Growth
In the four defined maturity phases in a product's life cycle the second phase is 'Fast Growth. As the technology advances, often in big jumps, features and options increase rapidly. In this phase there is often a custom tailored implementation for different customer needs. Though more valuable to a broader range of people, the technology stills has many skeptics.
| Phase | Description |
|---|---|
| Product | More advanced, new features and options. Increased Complexity |
| Sales skills required | Wizard |
| Customer characteristics | Progressive customers |
Customer characteristics
In Selling the wheel Progressive customers are the second group of customers to target during the Fast Growth phase of the Maturity phases in a product's life cycle.
Progressive customers:
- Want an advanced solution or capability
- Are buying state of the art
- Are first time buyers making a complicated purchase and need expertise from the sales person to make the best decision
- Examples are managers with line responsibility buying the first generation of high tech systems.
A Wizard is the best sales person for this type of customer.
Sales skills required
In Selling the wheel hiring a Wizard is one of the different sales strategies a company can deploy. This sales strategy works best in the Fast Growth phase of the Maturity phases in a product's life cycle.
The Wizard
| Description | ||
|---|---|---|
| !Personality | ||
| Character | Confident, "Buttoned down. Both a team player and a team leader. Professional demeanor and attire. Enjoys the challenge of creating unique solutions for customers. Thrives on managing complexity | |
| Major drives | Sees sales as a stepping stone to a managing position | |
| Important skills | Needs to have good organization and communication skills. Needs to be highly skilled in resolving objections | |
| !Marketing | ||
| Ideal company to image | Smart, Progressive, Superior, Advanced technology, A team of experts to support you; the customer. Offering customer systems much better than the current standard | |
| To generate sales leads | Offer free knowledge Write articles for professional journals. Mail reprints to prospects. Publicize technical accomplishments. Do speaking engagements. Do problem-solution style advertising | |
| Qualifying customers | You are often going to be dealing at multiple levels at the customers organization. You need the right contacts at each level. Where you are starts depends upon what you are selling | |
| !Sales | ||
| Sales Presentation | Tend to be formal, sit down. Conference room affairs. Good audio visual aids and literature are a must! | |
| Typical Objections | Does the benefit outweigh the cost and headaches of making a radical change? Is this design really the best solution? | |
| Resolve by | Showing a realistic timetable for completion. Present data to demonstrate that the pain is worth the gain | |
| Closing | Suggest a starting date. Send a letter of agreement. Recommend a smaller scale pilot to test performance and results | |
| !Service | ||
| Great service means | Total support. Doing whatever is necessary to provide results as promised. Taking measures to minimize disruptions to the customers operations | |
| Key to repeat business | Due to the maturity state of the technology, often leads to a repeat sale. Suggest improvements that may lead to add-on sales. Forge good working relationhips and look for new projects you can competently execute |
