Expert Panel Sample Work Session Agenda

1. Expert Panel Sample Work Session Agenda

2. Agenda

3. Introductions • Name • Office Location & Role • Tenure @ ABC Corporation • Prior Experience • Expectations for the Session? January 26, 2012

4. Purpose of Today’s Expert Panel • Obtain Point of View of ABC Corp. Top Performers • Validate/Invalidate hypotheses about tools the field needs to be successful • Identify Best Practices • Pinpoint highest impact areas of opportunity January 26, 2012

5. Ground Rules • No Idea is a Bad Idea • A lot to cover – let’s stay on topic • Everyone contributes • When we wrap-up, all will be asked to share 1 item they discovered today from another panel member that will be put to use in their future sales efforts. January 26, 2012

6. Wins Activity • Take 10 minutes to record the following on the hand out: • Customer Name • Annual $ spend before the Win • Annual $ Amount of the Win (incremental revenues) • Product Category(s) Won • Specific competitors you were up against - if so, who? • Time from Identification of Opportunity till Close • “Moment of Truth” - specific situation with buyer that pushed them from consideration to buy – what did they say and do? What did you say, do and feel? • “Big Hurdle” – One specific objection that stood most in the way of closing deal and how you overcame it. • Describe one specific aspect of this Win that was the most important “take-away” that can be applied to future sales situations? • What was the value proposition you put forth for this win?

7. Loss Activity • Take 10 minutes to record the following: • Customer Name • Annual $ spend • Annual $ Amount of the Loss • Product / Service Category(s) Lost • Specific competitors up against - if so, who won? • Time from Identification of Opportunity till Loss • “Moment of Truth” - specific situation with the buyer that pushed them to a non-buyer – what did they say and do? What did you say, do and feel? • “Big Hurdle” – One specific objection that stood most in the way of closing deal and how you tried to overcome it. • One specific aspect of this Loss that was the most important “take-away” for you to be applied to future sales situations? • What was the value proposition you put forth during this loss?

8. Competition • Take 10 minutes-record the following on the hand-out: • Top 2 Competitor Names • 2 Biggest Benefits they provide to The Customer • What do you know about each Competitor as compares to ABC Corp for these categories: • Pricing • Product Selection • Customer Service • Sales Compensation • Structure by Function (Field Sales, Telephone Sales, Customer Service, etc.) • When your customers talk about these specific competitors, what do they most often say?

9. Portfolio Review • Take out the listing of all your current customers and their spend with you. • If you only had the opportunity to personally visit 5 customers in a given month, record in “Top 5” box, with their annual spend and briefly include a specific reason why you include them in Top 5 • Now, if you could find more time to visit an additional 5 customers in a given month, which 5 would you add and why? Do the same as above in the “Next 5” box. • How many customers remain in your portfolio? • What portion of your annual revenue remains outside of the Top 10 you designated?

10. Portfolio Review - Increasing Share • Thinking about your 5 most important customers identified in the prior exercise, take a moment to record: • What is the current share (in %) ABC Corp has of their total spend among all products? • What specific steps would you take to increase your share among these customers? • How do you identify up-sell opportunities within existing customers? • How do you prioritize opportunities within your existing customers? Which do you go after first and why? • What would you need in terms of support from the organization to significantly increase share? • More Time? Where would you find it? • More Support? In what form? • What Else?

11. Lead Generation & Lead Management • Approximately, how many leads do you receive from others inside of ABC Corp. in an average month? • What sources do these come from? • How “warm” are these leads by source? • How many turn into closed deals? • Approximately how many leads do you generate yourself in an average month? • What sources do these come from? • How “warm” are these leads by source? • How many turn into closed deals? • What other sources of leads do you think are available that ABC Corp. should explore? • When you receive leads or identify leads yourself, how do you: • Decide when to make contact? • Generate interest? • Identify the prospects pain point(s)?

12. Best Practices • What are the top 5 tools/sales aids that you use?  • Is there a certain step, approach, or process that you consider a key to your sales success? • How do you stimulate interest in a prospect to consider your solutions? • How do you create a compelling need to act in your accounts? Do you have a business/action case you use? • What are the top 5 things you do to keep existing customers satisfied and increasing their purchase (i.e. revenue) levels? • What is the most distinctive thing you do in progressing a deal/opportunity (i.e. sales campaign) that sets you apart from your peers?

13. Challenges & Solutions • Brief Description of the challenge: • How this impacts the sales process/effort: • Possible solution to this challenge:

14. Wrap Up • Please give us the one most important learning you’ve taken away from today.

15. Next Steps • Incorporate all you’ve learned today into your daily work • We’ll ask you to assist in delivering recommendations to other ABC Corp. senior leaders (week of xx) • We’ll call on this Expert Panel again • You, as leaders in the Sales organization, will be instrumental in helping drive implementation and adoption.