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82 • The 100 Greatest Ideas for Building the Business of Your Dreams

of a business case for the customer on which he could make a decision to buy. The
subsidiary questions are as follows:

7s it a real need?
The professional seller is well aware that all managers and technicians are interested
in new things. The purchasing department of a large retailer will include people who
are constantly monitoring the market and the suppliers to it for new products.

Computer and telecommunications people at all levels are notorious for look-
ing into new technologies, studying them until they understand them and then drop-
ping their interest as soon as something which is two keystrokes better comes along.

Selling teams are on their guard for timewasters, and this question is a good
starting point for establishing whether or not the prospect is seriously going to con-
template what you are proposing.

The best test is: 'If you, the selling team, were running your customer's business,
would you buy this product and go into this new environment?' If the answer to this is
'Yes' then you have the start of a qualified prospect. If the customer at high level also
expresses a real need for the solution, you have the beginnings of a real runner.

A new technology is particularly difficult to get past this simple test. The fact is
that if a company to date has found no need for a smart card which can also be used
to dial telephone numbers, then you are going to have to persuade a lot of executives
to take the initial risk.

Is the requirement strategic to the customer?
The work that the team has done in assessing the customer's business situation will
tell it the strength of its situation in this regard. If the team can identify and sell the
link between the project and the customer's strategy, the team will score well here.

Here is an example of a team swallowing the pill of a difficult qualifying deci-
sion.

An advertising agency put a lot of effort into a bid for the business of the Singa-
pore subsidiary of a global pharmaceuticals and chemicals company.