Biggest hurdles from sales to solution sales

Hello Forum,

I'm a successful IT rectruitment consultant living in London. I've built up a client base that works in a specific sector, have an apprecaition of the technology and have built up a reputation for delivering good professional service consultants.

I'm now looking for a bigger challenge and over the last 3 months have been contacting sales directors within mid-market vendors in order to move across to solution sales. I've had a pretty good run with one vendor who I'm keen on joining and after meeting the MD have been asked to write a document on what I think my biggest hurdles would be for me and how I would overcome them. So far I have the following content:

1) Understand the industry sector: without understanding how the organisations run/Understand business drivers/what their biggest challenges are & how they can be improved it will be impossible to sell to them. With being a software vendow having indepth knowledge is of paramount importance to beat other other vendors and cheaper resellers.

interact with peers, Read-up on white papers, on the net, research trends, go to exhibitions, network.


2) Sales technique/process: advanced methodology/timeframe, multiple decision makers across business units, gathering busiess and technical requirements

interact with peers, read Jim Holman (who MD recommends), TAS, Spin, Miller-Heiman, in house documentation


3) Understand the competition: recognise their strengths and weaknesses

interact with peers, read publications, market reports, exhibitions, netwrok


4) Contracts/finances: the applications go from £20k - £200k+ , not like recruitment where they can pay up straight away.

interact with peers, learn pricing plans, contract negotiation, read past contracts where company has had to be inventive.


5) companies structure and methodology.

interact with peers, Read inhouse documentation.


6) Take the pressure of a new sales environemnt and remain confident in my ability:

Remember my first 6 months in recruitment being so difficult, perservied and now top biller in company etc.


If anyone has any other suggestions I'd very much appreciate them. The MD said Jim Holden's introduction in The Selling Fox: A Field Guide for Dynamic Sales Performance would give me some clues but it's unavailable in all London bookshops and libraries. If a user has a copy any input would be a fantastic help.

Apologies for the essay but I'm determined to get this document spot-on and thought what better people to ask than the ones in the business!

Cheers
F