Designed for both experienced and new sales staff, this course focuses on how to identify business opportunities before the prospect even realises that the opportunity exists – improving your ability to control the sale and minimise competition. It examines the early stages of the sales process, including research, prospecting, issue identification and structuring customer meetings for a successful outcome.

The course has a strong practical component, with individual and group exercises and role plays. 

Key subject areas covered during the two-day workshop include:

• A new philosophy of selling – sales as solving customers' problems
• An overview of current problems being faced by small and medium businesses
• Weaknesses in the Microsoft Partner community's current sales approach to this market
• Marketing to generate high quality leads
• Prospecting for new sales leads – including how to cold call, run events, and undertake direct mail campaigns
• Different levels of buyer need
• Buyer behaviour and drivers
• Planning to a sales meeting
• Structuring sales calls and meetings
• Questioning to understand customers' pain points
• Creating a compelling vision of a solution
• Objection handling
• Getting a buyer's commitment
• Selling in partnership with Microsoft

Course elements are designed to link into the Microsoft Solutions Sales Process (MSSP) to facilitate group selling with Microsoft.