First Research Industry Intelligence Key to Consultative Selling

New white paper outlines link between understanding customer’s business pains and closing the deal

RALEIGH, NC – June 7, 2006 – First Research, Inc., the leading Industry Intelligence company, announced today the release of a comprehensive white paper that presents an in-depth look at the correlation between Industry Intelligence and effective consultative selling. This exclusive paper, Industry Intelligence: The Missing Link, is designed to show sales professionals how Industry Intelligence can help edge out the competition, streamline call planning, identify cross-sell opportunities, develop powerful vertical strategies and easily transition from salespeople to valued business consultants.

First Research is the only provider of Industry Intelligence written specifically for sales professionals and customer-facing organizations working to connect with customers and prospects across multiple industries. In today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, sales teams must work harder and smarter to win the trust of wary buyers. First Research is poised to lead sales teams to success through the use of Industry Intelligence to make better first impressions, develop stronger relationships as well as win and retain more business.

“In this white paper, we explain the vital role of Industry Intelligence, its impact on the sales cycle and outline how sales teams can use it to better connect with clients and prospects,” said Bobby Martin, co-founder and president, First Research. “Industry Intelligence has long been the missing link in many organizations’ sales efforts and our goal was to demonstrate the value it can bring to any sales process.”

New research from the Yankee Group indicates that today’s sales professionals must move beyond traditional sales tactics to quantify the value of their offering, illustrate a compelling value proposition and embrace consultative selling tactics.  That same research indicates that sales teams struggle to bridge the gap between knowing a customer and closing the deal even when equipped with the latest in high-tech customer relationship management (CRM), sales force automation (SFA), and company information solutions.

“In order to win more deals, sales professionals need to sell based on value and employ consultative selling, which means they must understand the customer’s business problems and how the product or solution helps solve those problems,” said Sheryl Kingstone, Director, Customer-Centric Strategies, Yankee Group. “By identifying those problems, a solution provider demonstrates to customers and prospects a better understanding of their business.”

Most sales professionals do not have an easy way to understand their clients’ critical business issues and lack the insight to articulate how their products and services could help address these issues. With First Research Industry Intelligence Tools, sales teams have insider access to their prospects’ and clients’ business issues and are always prepared to sell based on value to the client. Winning sales teams use First Research Industry Intelligence throughout the sales cycle to close more deals as they can easily distinguish themselves as insiders who truly understand the dynamics of their existing and potential client’s business pains.

To download a copy of First Research’s white paper, Industry Intelligence: The Missing Link, and to learn more about leveraging Industry Intelligence to close more deals and retain more business, visit www.firstresearch.com/themissinglink.asp.

About First Research
First Research is the leading Industry Intelligence company that helps sales teams perform faster and smarter, open doors, and close more deals. First Research performs the “heavy lifting” by synthesizing hundreds of sources into an easy to digest format that a sales person can consume very quickly to better understand a prospect’s business issues. First Research updates each Industry Profile quarterly and pushes out email alerts to ensure that content is both timely and top of mind. Customers include leading companies in banking, accounting, technology, telecommunications, business process outsourcing, and professional services including Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. Used by over 50,000 sales professionals, First Research can benefit any organization that has prospects in multiple industries. First Research is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, visit www.firstresearch.com.

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Media Contacts:
Kristin W. Bear
Crossroads Public Relations (on behalf of First Research)
(919) 784-0445 (office)
(919) 349-1856 (mobile)
kbear@crossroadspr.com

Shawn Ramsey
Crossroads Public Relations (on behalf of First Research)
(919) 359-0947 (office)
(919) 621-0737 (mobile)
sramsey@crossroadspr.com