SAP Those things - Theory -18- How to do SAP pre-sales

SAP Those things - Theory -18- How to do SAP pre-sales

When it comes to pre-sales, SAP circle is usually referred to as "making orders", "taking orders", the basic process is as follows: according to the customer's bidding requirements (may be open bidding or invitation to bid), nvidia partner usually provide technical and business tenders, technical tenders respond to customer needs, business tenders respond to customer prices and after-sales service, general consultants are mainly involved in the production of technical targets. For example, the response of SOW and the preparation of technical plans, etc., while the sales colleagues were mainly responsible for the business part. Undoubtedly, how to get the order ultimately depended on many factors (in many cases, there were many non-technical factors, so the so-called business consultant could do his best), and some even depended on the registered capital of the company. As we have discussed before, in the ERP-SAP industry, the product itself is a standardized finished product, and the experience and professional ethics of the consultant are very important. A good project manager, a qualified and experienced consultant and a highly cooperative user will lay a good foundation for the success of the project. The following is some experience of personal pre-sales work for mutual reference.

1. Current expectations of enterprises on informatization

1) Enterprises pay more and more attention to management consulting

At present, in addition to their own needs for informatization, enterprises also hope that consultants can put forward constructive suggestions for the management and process of enterprises based on similar experiences of other companies, that is, part of the demand for management consulting is put forward. SAP Outsourcing This requires consultants to constantly learn theoretical knowledge related to their modules and mainstream business processing methods, so as to provide advice to clients.

2) Data analysis includes KPI and business processing simultaneously, that is, OLTP and OLAP are combined into one.

SAP ERP+BW can meet this requirement. Some enterprises have migrated BW to HANA platform. smart waste managementSAP's latest S4 HANA migrates ERP to HANA platform after changing the data structure of the underlying software, which in a sense has realized the combination of OLTP and OLAP.

3) The system should be flexible and automated.

For example, the change of one node in the business process leads to the change of the overall plan, and the system is expected to automatically change the plan of other nodes. In addition, for the business or information that needs reminding, it is hoped that the system can automatically warn and notify the relevant departments or individuals. From a practical business point of view, if it is still at the level of the plan has not been issued and implemented, then the change of the plan will be relatively easy, if it is already in the implementation stage, then it can only be handled according to different situations. As for automatic notification and early warning, that is, abnormal deviation of data can be achieved through workflow, but SAP's own workflow module is more complex, it seems that there are few consultants in China who specialize in this module, you can consider the implementation of SAP plus email distribution.

4) Financial accounting and internal assessment are more detailed. In addition to departments, it is also necessary to account for teams or individuals.

It is relatively easy to achieve multi-dimensional accounting, nothing more than adding a few fields can be, the current relatively new version of SAP support custom increase accounting fields. For the assessment of internal management, it is suggested to use SAP management accounting (cost object, cost factor, cost flow) as far as possible.

5) Integration of ERP system and peripheral systems, such as marketing system, OA system, PDM system, quotation system, etc.

For the integration of different systems, ERP system must be the core, the integration method is recommended to use middleware implementation, compatibility is better and more convenient to change, such as SAP PI or a third-party specialized system integration software for unified management of system interfaces.

2. Advantages and disadvantages of SAP

Advantages:

1) Plan (material requirement plan, capability plan, financial capital plan, cost expense plan of management accounting) Plan example: MRP/ATP/ credit control/cost (different stages, different dimensions)

2) Integration (seamless integration between modules, flexible definition of which business data generates financial vouchers according to which rules)

Integration examples: The impact of purchase orders on future costs (commitments) and funding plans (program level) of projects (internal orders). On the practical level, take automatic Posting as an example.

Through these two points, the "pre-planning, control in the matter, and post-accounting" have really become reality.

Weaknesses:

1) The system is too complex, difficult to implement, which is almost impossible to avoid, the more powerful the system, the more complex it must be, like stability and flexibility, can not have both, can only be a balance.

2) The interface (UI) is not friendly enough, and the input is not very relevant.

3) Chinese translation is not accurate enough.

4) Individual functions can be realized, but have not been improved, such as invoice verification can enter special ledger identification to modify the control accounts, such as domestic sales cost accounts are often subdivided, difficult to achieve under standard configuration.

3. Precautions in the pre-sale process

1) Empty your mind and listen to your customers

When going to the customer for the first time to understand the needs, the best practice is to think of nothing, do not want to have preconceptions, empty yourself, when you do not know anything about the customer, only with your ears, how long the customer says without interrupting, listening and recording. On the one hand, this is to respect and attach importance to the customer, on the other hand, to avoid not fully understand the whole situation before expressing opinions, in case it is wrong, leaving a bad impression on the customer. In future contacts, try to maintain this attitude. Of course, if the customer needs our feedback, we also need to give feedback in time, and pay attention to the feedback not to repeat what the customer said, but with a summary and suggestions.

2) Try to use custom language

Considering that the customer may not be familiar with SAP, so try to use the customer's customary expressions or expressions to communicate, then the customer is easier to accept. It's important to avoid a lot of SAP jargon. If you don't know anything about SAP, you won't be interested in people talking about SAP terms.

3) Try to temporarily abandon the system (SAP)

In the initial contact, it is not necessary to give specific plans, but mainly to understand the needs. If the customer asks how SAP is implemented, it can be discussed. If not, try to focus on the business itself and the process to understand what kind of business process or management system or even the market environment and policy itself have led to the current problems. Has the enterprise tried any way to solve it? Can it solve the problem from the management level or business process? If the ERP system is implemented, what help can the system provide, to talk about the general idea of ERP, rather than how to talk about SAP, which gives the customer the suspicion of strong sales, and will give the customer the impression that the consultant does not know enough about the business in addition to SAP functions, and the effect is not good. In fact, in the final analysis, the system is also the mapping of the actual business logic in the software, if the actual business can not do things, but ask the system to help achieve, which is already the cart before the horse.

4. Design of pre-sales plan

1) Accurate understanding of customer needs

This is the premise of the scheme design, it is best for customers to have actual business examples (you can consider reflecting the actual business examples of customers in the scheme, which will help to improve the persuasion of the scheme), which is of great help to understand the requirements.

2) Integrity and key points

The scheme should first have an overall framework and ideas, and then consider how to implement the key points under this overall scheme.

3) Clarity of the scheme

The plan should be relatively clear, what can be met, how to achieve? What can't be satisfied and why? For the clearly unattainable needs to blur, or want to muddle through, I believe that they are digging a hole for themselves, and it is not worth encouraging.

4) The constructiveness of the scheme

Demand response: Whether or not it can be achieved, all requirements listed by the customer should be responded to and answered accordingly, and the reply should be as detailed as possible.

5) Presentation of the scheme

Demo is the best, followed by PPT picture description, followed by text logic description. The display content needs to pay attention to details, and the place that needs to be shown to the customer is highlighted.

6) Explanation of the scheme

A good solution also needs a good explanation. Our solutions meet the needs of customers, are targeted, and try to use a language that is easy for customers to understand.

Explain to have confidence, explain to their own program must have confidence, believe that is to solve the customer's problem, is valuable, this is very important.

If the explanation process not only meets the customer's current needs, but also takes into account the customer's unexpected needs, that is, beyond the customer's expectations, it is perfect!

The program as far as possible to fully reflect the attention to customer needs, so that customers feel that we sincerely consider for customers, and do a lot of solid and effective work.

5. How to evaluate whether a program is suitable

1) What problem does the solution solve for the enterprise

For example, to solve the process connection, information transfer, internal control, data statistics, report requirements, improve work efficiency, etc., need to be clearly stated. Just like a process, if you can't explain the necessity of the process, then whether the process should be preserved is a question mark.

2) Whether the plan of the business point is compatible with the overall plan

Whether it has a good connection with the overall process and the overall program, do not say that the program of this point can be realized independently, but it conflicts with the overall program, then the program is problematic and needs to be adjusted, it is simple, part is subordinate to the whole.

3) Whether the scheme has good feasibility

In particular, the workload and complexity of the operation of the end user should be considered. If the operation is too large or too complex, the user experience is poor, and the smooth operation of the system may be affected after the system is launched.

4) Whether the plan can make use of the subsequent business changes and development of the enterprise

The solution should not only solve the current problem, but also consider the future changes and development, that is, the solution has good scalability and flexibility of challenges, and the purpose is to reduce the operation and maintenance cost of the enterprise as far as possible.

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20190222 Updated:

Today, I participated in a pre-sale, more than 11 o 'clock last night, wrote PPT until 5 o 'clock in the morning, got up at 7 o 'clock, 8:40 to the customer to talk about the program (not what I said), the mental state is not good, there is a question prepared in advance, did not answer in time, a little sorry, but nothing, continue to summarize and move forward is it.

Today, I would like to summarize the customer's expectations for pre-sales, first, I don't want Party B to talk about how good their company is, what qualifications, what projects have been done, what customers, how much experience consultants have, how much industry experience, etc., second, I don't want to talk about the module program of SAP standards (with the popularity of SAP, everyone knows something about it). The key is not targeted). On the other hand, the customer wants to put forward a targeted and landing plan for the customer's business (or even specific needs) (details are better, no details, at least the understanding of the demand to the request, the logic of the program is clear), and the other is to emphasize what advantages you have if you take this project.

For pre-sales consultants, there are several details to pay attention to, familiar with the industry background and customer needs in advance, and your understanding of the project and the key points and difficulties of the project plan (combined with the actual business explanation), which will almost certainly be asked. The customer's questions need to be quickly understood, quickly responded to, and quickly answered (this takes practice). The other is to remind colleagues of the time and so on.

In short, before participating in sales, figure out your positioning, and then determine what you can do according to positioning, prepare in advance, and answer confidently on the field (remember, in the field of information, you are an expert, our attitude is equal discussion, but experience must believe that your understanding of information is much better than the customer).

SAP Those things pre-sales

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