Selling to 'Zebras' to Overcome Tough Times

5. Build a "force success" proposal: What amount of education will your prospect need to be successful? Include it. Are independent partners providing part of the solution? Then you will need partner management. Include it! Include a change-management component in your solution. To ensure your customer is successful and that you help "force that success," your proposal needs to include all product, education, consulting, executive management, change management, partner management, and overall customer service and support needed to all but guarantee your prospect will achieve the expected value.

Q. What are all the elements of a good sales plan?

Koser:That is a question that could require someone to read our entire book, but I'll be brief.

1. Start with perfect prospects. These should include Zebras where you have provided unique, quantifiable value in the past. As part of the Zebra-creation process, be sure you speak with Power in your existing customers to find out the business issues that your product or service solves for them and the resulting value created.

2. Research each prospect to find evidence they have the same business issues.

3. Contact Power and confirm they have the issues you solve as well as a desire to solve them.

4. Schedule your first appointment with Power. Position the value you would create by solving these same issues. Value claims must be backed by actual customer success that is repeatable.

5. Ask Power to partner with you. Partnering involves identification of process owners they would trust to verify your value claim.

6. Verify your value claim with Power's people and co-author a presentation back to Power.