We wrapped up our Value Proposition workshop at BMC today, working with BMC partners on messaging and executive level conversations.  A few key points from our discussions:

1. Product opportunities simply indicate that justification has already been made.  If you didn’t create the justification, you’re likely competing on price (unless you already own the product business).  This ownership may be short lived if your only value is low pricing.

2. RFP responses are similar.  In this case, low close rates generally indicate that a decision was made prior to issuing the RFP. This means IT is being forced to go out for bid to get the lowest price.  Chances are they’ll write the RPF with a winner in mind.

3. Presenting value at the executive level takes practice.  Demotions happen when you ask IT questions, talk product, or when your meeting interaction just doesn’t interest buyer level audiences.  All of this  can be fixed with some planning and practice.

4. Moving up in the organization requires some strategy.  One strategy includes aligning your sharpest technical presales people with their IT people.  Once that relationship is solid, IT will allow you to move up.

5. When executives are firm on having you work with IT, an executive event may be your only option for getting reconnected upstairs.

6. Great messaging always wins over brain power.  Learn to market and brand…this is the key ingredient if you plan to win the sale.

7. Sales micro management simply means, sales management is under pressure and does not understand how to beat budget cuts with value messaging!