How Reagan Would Sell Your Software

With politics top-of-mind this month, ISVs can learn persuasive techniques from the former president and improve the impact of their sales presentations.

By Steve W. Martin

Whether youíre trying to close the next round of funding, win the big multi-million dollar account, or sway industry analysts, your corporate sales presentation is a key event in most every deal. It is the pivotal moment where you can communicate your advantages, gain momentum, and develop the personal relationships necessary to achieve your goal.

After reviewing hundreds of corporation presentations over the past four years, I can honestly say that they all are basically the same. You could almost take slides from one companyís presentation and insert them in another, and no one would even notice.

They are all fact-based infomercials that approach customers with the same message: ìWeíre the industry leader with a state-of-the-art solution who partners with our customers.î The problem is all the competitors are making the exact same claims. As a result, nothing unique is communicated. Therefore, the real question to ask is: How can you differentiate your corporate sales presentation?

The answer to this question may be found by studying ìThe Great Communicator,î former President Ronald Reagan.

Webinar This Week:
John Hagel III on Finding New Sources of Strategic Advantage.

To help professional services organizations better understand the changing market dynamics and the path to profits, Primavera will host a live webcast featuring renowned author and business strategist John Hagel III. He will discuss how you to identify and capture profit opportunities created by new sources of strategic advantage, new management techniques to build these sources of advantage and new approaches to business strategy.

Find out more and register now for the webinar which takes place this Friday, Nov. 17, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. EST

Market Leaders as Sitting Ducks?

Watching the results of the NY Marathon, Tony Baer of onStrategies was struck by how the raceís surprise winners bore a strong resemblance to todayís software upstarts.Ý It is easy for market leaders ñ and marathon favorites - to become too comfortable in their positions and get passed by. Read Tonyís perspective on which vendors are most at risk in this weekís post to the SandHill.com Blog on software megavendors.

SOA is Redefining Enterprise Software

Whether part of megavendor acquisition strategies or part of CIOís enterprise IT strategies, services-oriented architectures are enabling the redefinition of enterprise software as it is known today. S. Sadagopan of Satyam explores the wide-ranging impact of the technology in this weekís post to his SandHill.com Blog, The Deep End.

Publish Your Perspectives!

The SandHill.com Blog wants your opinions. Send your thoughts on the enterprise software industry to editor@sandhill.com and weíll publish them in our blog.

Winds of Change

Steam picks up behind Enterprise 2.0 and SaaS; plus Andreessenís new venture named one of five ìInternet Stars to Be,î IBM targets the brightest Internet star, the courts say open source is O.K. and researchers say BPO market growth isnít. ÝRead these stories and more software news of the week in the SandHill.com news summary .

The Latest Thinking on IT Strategy

Enterprise customers are becoming more savvy about how they choose enterprise IT investments. Today, some companies are using venture capital-like models to differentiate between the level of IT support needed for various business initiatives. Learn more about how CIOs are making these decisions in this article from The McKinsey Quarterly.

Poll: Impact of U.S. Election Results on Software?

Will the change in U.S. congressional power be a good thing for the software industry?
Take our Pulse Poll >>

Last week, readers gave their opinions as to which pair of vendors makes the strangest open source ìbedfellows.î
Give us your opinion and see the results >>

More at SandHill.com:

IBM irks HP by targeting its customers.
Read the most important enterprise software industry news of the week >>

Agiliance receives $6.5 million.
Monitor the latest software venture capital deals >>

Motorola buys Good Technology.
Size up last week's software M&A deals >>

Scali names Jack Kay as president and CEO.
See who's made it to the top in our list of recent software executive appointments >>

Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site.

Parting Thought

ìCompetition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.î
ñAyn Rand

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group