This blog post is about three things:

4 Winning Questions

In my last blog post I introduced what I thought was the #3 Sales 2.0 tool (Survey Analytics) and asked what kind of analysis provides the most value to an organization and what kind of questions should be asked as part of that analysis.

Here are my answers to those questions. I have found the most valuable analysis is analyzing the deals you win – what I call a Won Sales Analysis (aka Trigger Event Analysis ).

For almost 20 years my own sales managers had a perspective “If you lost the business never lose the lesson” and I did that for many years. But in the summer of 2002 I did something very different I reflected on the 20 years of sales I won and that’s when I noticed the pattern behind every 6, 7, and 8-figure deal I analyzed.

The real epiphany came shortly after that when I went to Google and searched for the term “sales analysis” – the importance of the quotes is that the results must contain both words in that order. In the summer of 2002 I found about 500,000 pages that talked about “sales analysis”.

I then did a search for what my sales managers had always taught me – “Lost Sales Analysis” – and I found around 2,500 pages that talked about how to win more business by conducting a sales analysis after you lose a sale. Do you want to guess how many pages I found when did a search for the term “Won Sales Analysis” in the summer of 2002 TWO!

Of all the pages that talked about “sales analysis only .0004% talked about how to replicate your wins by analyzing the business you have already won. Even in the summer of 2008 there were only 34 results. Today you”ll find about 3,500 pages that talk about the value of conducting a “Won Sales Analysis”.

Here are the four best questions to ask a customer when you win the business:

  1. What events lead up to this purchase
  2. When did they happen
  3. What made you choose us
  4. How can we make it easier to become our customer

One of the most important things about this analysis is that its’ not something you just send a survey link to a new customer or outsource to someone else. In order for your sales teams to start seeing “Trigger Events” all over the place they need to ask new customers these questions in person – either on the phone or face to face.

If you want to learn more you can view the brief video at http://TriggerStrategy.com.

Skip to slide:

  • #10 if you want to learn more about the impact of getting to decision makers at EXACTLY the right time
  • #14 if you want to learn more about the Trigger Events that cause people to buy
  • #26 if you just want to learn more about how to best conduct a Won Sales Analysis

I could talk all day about the power of this analysis and what you can do with insights you can learn from this process. Feel free to call (+1.403.874.2998), Skype (Craig.Elias) or email me if you have ANY questions.

Keith Ferrazzi Webinar

Save the date: 12:00 Eastern | 9:00AM Pacific on Wednesday March 16th.

On that day Keith Ferrazzi, myself, and T.A. McCann – the founder and CEO of the company that makes the coolest relationship management tool on the planet: Gist – will share the what, why, and how of building powerful relationships that will help you grow business faster.

Titled “3 Ways to FIND HIDDEN OPPORTUNITIES” during this 60 minute web event you will learn:

  • How to connect with those you want
  • Who you want to connect with and why
  • How to leverage technology to make it happen

Gist was recently acquired by the makers of the Blackberry – Research in Motion (RIM) – so we need a few more days to implement the registration page. I’ll be sure to write another blog post once the registration page is up.

Date: Wednesday March 16th
Time: 9:00AM Pacific | 12:00 Eastern

UPDATE: Here is the registration link: http://bit.ly/FindHiddenOpportunities

Trigger Buzz #9 – Closing

Tonight’s Trigger Buzz (6:00PM PST | 9:00PM EST) is on you can harness Trigger Events to close more business.

Details on TriggerBuzz and how it works can be found at http://ShiftSelling.com/TriggerBuzz.

Have an eventful week!

Craig