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Clarity

Bob Hatcher

Greater Boston Area

Big ticket, B2B sales expert for the high tech market. Hardware, software, networking, Saas sales. Long time tech executive now teaching and consulting to some of the biggest names in technology. If you have all the revenue you need, you don't need me.

I am also an expert and certified sales consultant for Miller Heiman, the gold standard in sales training. My work ranges from working with sales reps to sales vice presidents and CEOs and dealing with the basics of effective call planning and customer focused interactions, to closing big deals, to managing large accounts.

$4.17/min

1 Call

9 Reviews

34 minutes
Avg. call

Sales Sales Management Marketing Strategy Coaching Negotiation Executive Management Direct Sales Forecasting B2B Marketing Executive Mentoring

Answers 30
Reviews 9

Answers

Bob Hatcher answered

I need good & simple WYSIWYG HTML Email editing program so non-program me staff can edit existing HTML emails template quickly and easily. For Mac.

I use Notepad ++ on a PC. I'm not sure it is available on a Mac, but if they run Windows on their Mac, then it'd work. It's clean, fast and well done.

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HTML emails

Email Marketing

Email Newsletter Design

Bob Hatcher answered

What is the best way to determine the amount to charge advertisers per click/impressions?

You really don't need to do that. Most people use an "ad-exchange". See this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_exchange

I've used RightMedia in the past (now part of Yahoo).

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Online Advertising

Direct Sales

Bob Hatcher answered

What are the best B2B marketing books out right now?

What are your channels? What are you selling? How long is your sales cycle? The answer to your question is much different for the guy selling $20/month subscriptions (e.g. Constant Contact) versus IBM Global Services selling $100 million IT outsourcing deals. They are both B2B but are much different.

Anyone who jumps at an answer here without knowing these answers is missing the point.

Here's one thing to remember with B2B... "prescription without diagnosis is malpractice"

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B2B Marketing Strategy

B2B Marketing

B2B Lead Generation

Bob Hatcher answered

My direct competitor is growing fast, my start-up is still at an early stage. Do I need to cancel the initiative and try something new?

The fact that you say "he can quickly imitate what I could differentiate myself" shows me you don't understand business. Product differentiation is but one way to differentiate yourself. The others include customer relationships and operational efficiency. I suggest you read "The Discipline of Market Leaders" to better understand differentiation. https://www.amazon.com/Discipline-Market-Leaders-Customers-Dominate/dp/0201407191

Does IBM have the best products? Does McKinsey have the best consultants? Well, they are pretty good, but not the absolute best. These two companies differentiate themselves by how they manage customer relationships.

Does McDonalds have the best hamburgers? Does Acer have the best PCs? No, they differentiate themselves through their operational efficiency which translates to low cost.

Do Apple and Lexus have the best products? Maybe, maybe not, but they have that perception in the marketplace. They choose to compete on product superiority.

I have clients with me-too products who are leaders in their space because they know how to manage relationships for the long term..

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Startup Consulting

Market Research

Early-stage Startups

Bob Hatcher answered

I would like to hold weekly one-to-one meetings with my telesales team. What structure and questions deliver the best results?

It would be nice to know what you are selling, the sales cycle, the types of buyers, etc. This is important and would let me customize my answer for you. But, here are some generic thoughts.

The problem with sales meeting is keeping it interesting for the people who are not speaking or giving their "update" and to make it a learning experience rather than an update of what they did.

One thing that has worked very well with me to ask each person to come prepared to discuss these topics:

1. Give me three things you did this week that you think worked really well and you want to share with the rest of the group.

2. Give me three things you did last week that you won't do any more, that you think just are not working.

3. Tell us about the biggest sale you made last week. What made it close? What value proposition did the customer buy? How can you take what you learned from that and use it for all sales in the future.

I work with a lot of inside sales teams helping them craft their messages and sales process with the goals of improving close rates and increased sales velocity.

Bob

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Sales Management

Direct Sales

Sales

Bob Hatcher answered

How important is it for a two month old startup to have a business plan and/or financial projections when seeking seed from angel investors?

Don't think if a BP as just a big set of spreadsheets - I agree those are probably worthless, but MUCH more important is how you will generate leads and close business. As an investor that's what I want to see. That as well as your cost to acquire a customer. I also want to see how you will position yourself in the marketplace and differentiate yourself from your competitors. For example, I want to see if you will compete via products, price, or the type of relationship you will have with your customers. I want to know if you are a BUSINESS PERSON or a product inventor who wants to be in business.

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Fundraising

angel investing

Bob Hatcher answered

How should I increase my outreach for a technology solutions provider company?

Before doing any more outreach you must truly understand why your customer buy from you. Have you had 1 on 1 conversations with your clients asked them why they bought initially and why they continue to buy from you? Do you know the value you are bringing to them? (it might be that you are easy to do business with, you're the cheapest or you have the widest range of services.)

MAJOR FLAW, most companies think they know and the dont't bother asking. Don't do this! Go and have the conversation.

The reason for doing this is that once you know? Then you can go find people who want that kind of value. For example, if you are expensive but do great work, don't bother chasing the prospect wanting the cheapest solution.

So, make your outreach more focused and more targetted. Qualify ruthlessly and win more of the deals you pursue rather than chasing everything.

This is a good example of the kind of problem my clients have relied on me to solve for 20-yrs.

Bob

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IT Solutions

Sales

Marketing

Bob Hatcher answered

Does it pay to hire people to get appointments for you? I have a B2B SAAS software for enterprise applications.

It's really simple arithmetic. If you pay your sellers to close deals and they make, say $200k, why would you want them to spend time doing what you can hire someone for $60k to do?

I've used the outside "appointment setter" companies. They usually charge roughly $700 per appointment. So, do the arithmetic again. If you close one in, say four, then add $2800 into your cost of sales and see if it makes sense.

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Sales

Direct Sales

Bob Hatcher answered

In a highly competitive field, should we continue with our startup or call it quits?

It's not "are you and your product good enough"... It's all about differentiation. Is your offering different enough in the eyes of the customer to gain a foothold in the market? I say "offering" rather than "product" because you need to think broadly about it.

Ask yourself, what is Uber? What is the "product"? Is it getting a ride, or is it the UI on the phone (and the integration of maps and crowd-sourcing) for getting a ride? The answer is ALL OF THE ABOVE.

There were several competitors to Uber but they were the only one to consider their offering/product so broadly.

So, if I were you, I'd be out talking to as many people as I could to find out what you could offer that was truly different that would make people come to you versus the competitors.

Doing things differently is the key to business.

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Start-ups

Business Development

Entrepreneurship

Bob Hatcher answered

How do we get customers to skip the trial version of our B2B SAAS product and instead make the purchase directly?

That's like asking "how do I get that fish to take my bait so I can catch him". The answer is you can't make them buy you have to figure out if your product (the bait) is appealing enough to skip the trial.

Do you have any customers who have bought without the trial? If so, ASK THEM why they did it. That will give you much better answers than the people here who are giving good, although generic answers. You need specifics about your product.

Perhaps you are asking the wrong question. The bigger question might be "how do I double my buy rate after they've done the trial."

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Sales

Direct Sales

SaaS Sales

Bob Hatcher answered

What are some books that can teach you sales scripts or prospecting scripts?

I really like:

Think Like Your Customer http://www.amazon.com/Think-Like-Your-Customer-Understanding/dp/0071441883

Conceptual Selling http://www.amazon.com/New-Conceptual-Selling-Face---Face/dp/0446695181/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459434489&sr=1-1&keywords=conceptual+selling

You can learn how to craft your messages from books, but the real answer to your question is to ditch the books and go to your existing customers and ask them:

- Why did you buy?
- What value do you get from what you bought?

When you have the answers to those questions you can then craft a script that goes to solving someone's problem, not pitching a product.

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Direct Sales

Sales Prospecting

Sales

Reviews

I credit Bob with making me a more professional and solid salesperson. I came to i-Cube a good, but rough at the edges sales professional. Looking back at my time under his and Maria Cirino's leadership I realize the positive changes they made in how I work, analyze, and manage my sales relationships. I can't thank him enough for helping me take the tough steps to be better at what I do.

Andrew Urban Source: LinkedIn

Bob and I met when I was looking for a way to improve our sales results through the alignment of our sales process with our customer's buying process. In speaking with Bob he took the time to understand the unique makeup of our selling organization, while focusing on our strengths. Bob also partnered with me to manage through the areas of improvement where we could have the greatest impact. For a methodology settled Miller Heiman's Conceptual Selling course. Our lead to opportunity conversions have improved by 15%, and our average order sizes have nearly doubled since we began our work together. I highly recommend Bob if you are looking to make a difference in your organization.

Pat Loring Source: LinkedIn

Bob has a unique ability to quickly cut to the core of sales and marketing issues facing you and your organization, and to provide practical step by step business solutions that actually gets the job done.

Martin Shulkin Source: LinkedIn

I worked for Bob at Lotus Development, Senior Director. Bob managed the IBM relationship where he negotiated technology deals, licensing, bundling, and the joint development. What I like about him is that he has the ability to see things others cannot. If you are looking for someone with business sense, easy going manner, and a tough as nails negotiating style then Bob is your guy.

James Mingle Source: LinkedIn

Bob is an engaging and highly motivating sales coach. As global head of sales for my company, I engaged Bob to conduct a 3 day session for the sales team, using the Miller Heiman methodology for Strategic Selling and Conceptual Selling. Bob’s style was powerful and his teaching technique was inspirational. His follow-up, with additional coaching sessions and calls to check in showed that he really cared. Sales, management information and coaching strength throughout the sales process, and the quality of individual sales approaches picked up strongly as a result of his good work. I would hire him again in a minute.

William Kelly Source: LinkedIn

Before accepting the President’s role here at Ipswitch, I was tapped by our CEO and founder to run the WW sales organization for Network Management products. As a career product management professional I had lots of the product knowledge and leadership to do so but I was also lacking in sales experience. I reached out to an outside sales expert, Robert “Bob” Hatcher. Over the last 2 years and continuing into my presidency Bob has helped us transform our sales organization into a sales machine with much more runway. Additionally, the Sales Summits (peer group) has been a powerful sounding board and idea lab that has helped me and my sales management aspire to new achievements. The Sales Summit is comprised of diverse, successful and “smart” professionals spanning a number of industries. I enthusiastically endorse Bob and the Sales Summit peer group.

Ennio J. Carboni Source: LinkedIn

I brought Bob in to assist with our approach to client requirements in 2009. Bob helped me bring a sales team from a "tribal approach" to a well defined sales process that pursues profitable business (not any business), works to get commitment from clients, and makes sure that they are providing value for our clients. Our investment in Bobs time has proven immensly valuable for our firms bottom line.

Brian W. Mullaney Source: LinkedIn

Bob is a phenominal consultant who's passion really shines through in the way he teaches. Bob introduced business process to me and my colleagues which allowed us to start measuring our successes and more important where we could improve with our customers. Bob's material is relevant because it works.

Kelly Walter Source: LinkedIn

Bob combines his experience managing a unit of a large company, with his certified expertise on effective sales practicing, to teach and mentor technical professionals to be high impact rainmakers.

private private Source: LinkedIn

Member since August 2013