Author: cyprien

difference between benefits and features

Are you making the difference between benefits and features?

cyprien 1 Comment

For those who know the answer, this question seem trivial…but that’s not the case for everyone and that’s why I am writing this post.

Actually, once when I was a young engineer without knowledge of sales or marketing, I didn’t know the difference myself. When I discovered there was a HUGE difference between benefits and features, I started to stop to use these 2 words interchangeably and I started to pay attention on what I was really saying to prospects and clients.

I hope this will enlighten you as well!

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Why you NEED to study Sales to be successful

cyprien Leave a comment

When I started to work in technical Sales, I wasn’t convinced at all of the need to learn about Sales.

I was thinking that “Sales” is not something that could or should be learnt… because:

1- People choose to buy if they want and if they need what I have to sell.

2- If what I sell is really good, I don’t need to sell anything, people will see it and buy it.

I was blind and stupid.

face palm sales

That’s something that I can only tell after “experiencing” how much I was wrong…

(and that’s not easy to say it, but that’s the truth…)

I don’t know if you feel the same than me but sometimes I just think “I am so right” and I try to prove to everyone around how much I am… to discover few weeks (or months) after that I was in fact telling bullshits…

Here are the reasons I was wrong

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Why having a good technical product is not enough

cyprien 2 Comments

One of my major problems was to think that if I had the best product on the earth, selling it would be a mere trivial thing to do.

Maybe that’s kind of a problem that engineers have…I am not sure.

As an engineer, I have always been focused on the following facts:

  • Having enough features
  • Having the best and fastest interface
  • Having a good price

I thought that if I could have a product that have all that, anyone would jump on it and buy it…

I was imagining that if the software was not selling, that was only because people were not “aware” of it.

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Prospects Never Think it Over

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That was the perfect technical demo ever…

I think that this arrives all the time, especially when you are selling a complex and technical product or software.

You present your product in the best way you can. In fact, you practiced so well that you know it is a killer demo and that everyone will definively be convinced about the incredible performance of your product.

You showed all the best features and the prospect seemed interested and asked you very pertinent questions.

You were the expert and you knew that with this product nothing can fail and that’s the best choice for your prospect.

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8 Strategies to control better your time and become efficient

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Let’s face the reality, in this connected world, time seems scarcer and scarcer!

Every day seems like a rush and we never have sufficient time to do whatever we want to do.

But Why??!

The conclusion I found was:

Time is the same for everyone, so if I don’t have enough time, that’s because I have simply poor skills to manage my time

When I came to this incredible enlightenment (I guess that’s never easy to realize we are bad at something), I took the decision to improve myself and find some ways to become better at time management.

Here’s the 8 strategies that are working for me:

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Should I trust him when a prospect tells me”I will buy if you develop this feature”?

cyprien 3 Comments

I guess that’s a big problem for technically complex problems because so many factors are involved that it is most of the time very difficult to say where the problem actually lies.

Most of engineers are thinking that it is because of the product you’re trying to sell is not good enough or doesn’t have enough features…but that’s just not the reality.

Let’s face it, even if you met every day some prospects telling you that they won’t buy because you don’t have a specific feature that they want, don’t be deceived that it is the true reason.

Think about it… If you develop this feature, will this customer buy?

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How to save hours of stupid work in Excel

cyprien 1 Comment

Today, that’s a huge trick that I’ll share with you!

The thing is that I learnt that only yesterday… so I say to myself that I will share that on the blog while it’s still hot in my memory.

I am sure that you will save a ton of time like I did by using this simple function of Excel that is rather unknown to the people who are not full time data analysts.

Let me give you a small example of what I am talking about…

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How to stop negative thoughts and find the greatness inside you

cyprien 7 Comments

Dear Engineer,

Sometimes your job can be extremely painful and frustrating, then you may start to doubt about yourself and about your abilities to “find the path”.

It’s like you’re coming to this job every day but you are not sure any more if that’s what you should be doing. Your manager doesn’t understand you and you feel that whatever the value you create, no one really cares.

I would like to tell you what I think about all that because I think that I have been there.

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