Your Three Q1 Imperatives

Posted on January 10, 2015 by douglaswallen

For most in our business (and for many of our customers), a new fiscal year has begun. With that often comes changes in go to market models, sales coverage plans, management structures, priorities, and many other organizational aspects. This often leads to a great deal of consternation and “noise” in the system that creates distractions and can keep you from immediately pursuing success in 2015. So to help you get your head above the fray, here are my top 3 focus areas for your consideration:

1) Close out last year. And I mean right now. If you owe your manager documentation on last year’s performance, get it turned in today. If you need to send feedback on your colleagues to their management, get those praises aired now. (You should have been documenting both of these throughout 2014, so final submission should not be very arduous). If you thought that you would address any lack of hygiene in your CRM, forecasting, or reporting systems over the holidays but ended up spending that time with the kids on the new PS4, get those applications updated before the sun rises again. Even if it means pulling an all-nighter to get these tasks off your list so you can focus on the future.

2) Understand your management and colleagues. This is particularly true if your organization is changing. Knowing your reporting chain, the responsibilities of your colleagues, and your broader organization will enable you to more rapidly and effectively engage all of them to help your customers and pursue your goals. You will need your colleagues in the field with you and your customers as soon as possible. You will need your management’s support to deal with challenges and reward you for your success throughout the year. The faster you engage with both, the more confidence you will have with #3, which is…

3) Focus on your customers. Of course you know that this is always our #1 priority, but at the beginning of a new year we often have to address numbers 1 and 2 in order to give full focus to #3. This includes both your “old” and “new” customers. If your organization is altering coverage models or changing territories, introduce your customers to your successors who will be taking over those relationships. This will ensure a smooth transition and give your customers the confidence that your company, regardless of the individuals assigned, remains dedicated to their success. If you are getting assigned a new territory, dive into the details of those customers. Understand their current relationship and prior investments with your company. Download their 10-Ks, annual reports, and use services such as FirstRain and Hoovers to educate yourself on their priorities and industries. Most importantly, immediately start reaching out, introducing yourself, and getting together face to face with your new customers and lay the foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship. And remember, your customers are likely changing aspects of their organizations as well. So even if you do not have a new set of customers, you may need to begin working with new individuals at your customers.

Successful businesses are always evolving and the beginning of the calendar year is as logical as any time time to implement changes. Don’t let yourself get bogged down by the uncertainty that may be swirling above and around you. If you find yourself getting caught up in the maelstrom, clarity of your mission can always be found by spending time with your customers. Best of luck as you begin 2015.

Who’s Got Your Back?

Posted on December 20, 2014 by douglaswallen

We all have career defining moments when we know that we were part of something unique. I was part of a management team several years ago that had it all. We had a regional set of customers across several industries who were growing their businesses as well as their business with us. We had a dedicated group of knowledgeable sales and technical sales professionals who understood our offerings and how to help our customers use them to run their businesses. We had a leader who thoughtfully accepted their role and had a goal to deliberately create something unique. We had a management team that was dedicated to our customers, our employees, and each other. We were aligned with regard to finances & forecasting and were constantly collaborating on new ideas to help us grow our business. We openly discussed our employees’ performance across each of our sub-teams and freely shared praise and areas of improvement for each others’ direct reports. We were a well tuned, world class sales organization that had everyone in sales and technical sales rowing in tandem to serve our customers and grow our business. In short, we had each others’ backs.

As always, business evolves and talented people move on to other roles, organizations, and companies. Even though our merry band of managers has now dispersed (in fact, many of us are now competitors), about every year several of us gather to renew bonds and share in some professional revitalization. Our gathering this year reminded me of the power that organizational trust can have when a management team truly gels. Although we all recognize that our former team was somewhat of a perfect storm as a growing business met a talented sales force and a motivated management team with compatible personalities, everyone still agrees that it was one of the most collaborative and rewarding work environments that any of us have ever experienced. Our approach, enthusiasm, and results were noticed by upper management and we were asked to pilot several new coverage models and employee engagement methods for the company. This further expanded the experiences of the management team beyond merely driving revenue and customer satisfaction and opened up some new feedback mechanisms for employees. To this day, many of us strive to create that same environment within our current organizations, with varying degrees of success.

So how can such an organization be created? Several years removed from this experience, I have come to believe that such an organization cannot be forced. But it can be encouraged via:

Strong leadership. Someone dedicated to the principles of servant leadership and who is as much interested in the people as they are the process and the profits. And has specific ideas about how they will lead the organization.
Transparency. Each manager must understand their peers’ goals, financial incentives, products & offerings, and employees. From that the management team can develop a desire to help each other – which leads to helping customers and employees to achieve their full potential.
A belief in the possibilities. Every manager on the team must have a desire to create some sort of legacy for themselves as a manager. Managers who have a mission to build something unique for customers and employees will look at every situation with fresh eyes and push the envelope with new solutions.

As you close out 2014 and finalize planning for 2015, take some time to consider your level of organizational trust? How well do you understand the goals of your peers? What are you doing to help your manager create a culture that is focused on the success of your customers and employees? Do you have each others’ backs?

The Fundamental Framework: Partnering

Posted on August 12, 2014 by douglaswallen

The final focus area for the foundational framework involves service and relationships with the customer after the sale. The closing of a new opportunity is just the beginning of what should become a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the customer. After all, the real value for the customer comes in successful implementation of the solution and its business value to their company. To truly differentiate one’s company from the competition and secure a foundation for the business relationship to follow, the technical seller needs to:

Ensure the customer is taking advantage of training, additional services, etc. (i.e. follow up on all of the implementation readiness information that was provided during the Progressing stage, as sometimes this sort of information needs to be repeated to ensure customer awareness).
Educate the customer on the process (also provided during Progressing) and broker initial interactions with the support organization. Although the customer may initially believe that calling the technical sales rep with questions is easier, the supplier’s dedicated support organization is much more capable of troubleshooting, retrieving information about other customer experiences, and logging/tracking customer support questions than someone with other customer facing responsibilities.
Stay involved in key implementation activities. In particular, an on-site presence during particular “go live” milestones can be a very effective means of assuring the customer of the supplier’s dedication and allow the technical seller to act as an escalation point to the support organization if the need arises.
Provide the customer with information about and invitations to conferences, webinars, local user groups, etc. to enable interaction with other customers, understand future product direction, and explore the possibilities of complimentary offerings to help the customer’s business.
Always strive to understand the business value being provided by the solution — how is it helping the customer make money, save money, and/or mitigate risk?

I once read that few things can kill the productivity of a sales organization faster than getting bogged down in post-sales support. Similarly, customers are sometimes left with the impression that sales teams do everything possible to land a deal and then abandon the customer to their own devices after the sale. Both of these are likely true in some respects. Therefore, delivering a truly world class, best in industry customer experience requires the technical seller to follow up with the customer and ensure that the solution is delivering value for their company. As the Peter Drucker quote goes, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer”. Keeping and expanding a relationship with an existing customer is easier than creating a new one.

So there it is, a simple, foundational framework for operating an enterprise class technical sales organization. Driving the technical sales mission of assisting customers in the understanding, design, and deployment of solutions based on your company’s technology, thereby increasing customer business value and expanding your business is possible via Prospecting for new opportunities, Provoking customers with new ideas, Progressing opportunities through the sales cycle, and Partnering with the customer throughout solution implementation.

The Fundamental Framework: Progressing

Posted on August 11, 2014 by douglaswallen

The third element of the framework is simply the execution of sales strategy and the movement of opportunities through the pipeline to closure. It builds on the previous elements by taking the customer’s business needs, how the solution meets those needs, and the provocative ideas to establish the activities needed to help the customer acquire the solution. The bulk of the sales organization’s time is spent here, as this is where the actual blocking and tackling required to drive new revenue occurs.

The sales engineer must determine what it will take to achieve the “technical win” in the eyes of the customer. They must then work with the rest of the sales team and the customer to establish a plan to achieve it. Depending on the level of effort required by the customer, progressing opportunities may require some, many, or all of the following:

Understanding of the customer’s budgeting and purchasing process
Relationships with the customer’s decision makers, influencers, implementers, and anyone else who needs to bless or approve the solution
Knowledge of the customer’s decision timeline and timeline for solution implementation
Solution demonstrations
Delivery of technical artifacts to set the vision for how the solution will fit in the customer’s existing environment
Proofs of concept or pilot projects to test the solution in the customer’s environment (properly scoped with success criteria, execution milestones, and dates)
References from other customers and examples of how the technology has been used to run their business
Sample project plans to help the customer understand the level of effort required for implementation
Services and education proposals to help the customer jumpstart their implementation
Anything else required to positively differentiate the solution from the competition (and the customer “doing nothing” should always be considered a competitive threat)

There are many methods to track deals through sales stages, forecast revenue, and manage an opportunity pipeline. Every sales organization has their own process established by finance, CRM tooling, etc., so I will not spend any time discussing that here. I will only mention that the completion of the aforementioned activities are critical gates that typically have to be passed in order for opportunities to move from one sales stage to the next. It is the sales engineer’s responsibility to ensure that they are included in any opportunity pursuit plans and to lead the execution of these activities.

The Fundamental Framework: Provoking

Posted on August 8, 2014 by douglaswallen

I mentioned in my last post on Prospecting that the technical seller has the deepest understanding of how their company’s solutions work and how they can be optimally implemented to help customers run their business. The Provoking focus area is where the technical seller’s knowledge and enthusiasm for their business can really shine. First, let’s dispel any negative connotations or implications that can be drawn from the word “provoke”. By now the March 2009 Harvard Business Review article, “In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers” by Philip Lay, Todd Hewlin, and Geoffrey Moore has become somewhat ubiquitous; and titles such as Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson’s “The Challenger Sale” have cemented the cultural shift towards consultative selling that arose at the turn of the century. Enterprise customers’ need to constantly evolve the means by which they make money, save money, and mitigate risk means that they need their suppliers to constantly provide them with new ideas. Rather than the goading or inflaming that is typically associated with the word “provoke”, this is best done via proactive, thoughtful, professional quality proposals that can change the customers’ business – even just a little – for the better.

The high performing technical seller can use this opportunity to advise the customer of:

Methods to address trends in their industry
New methods to use their existing investment in the supplier’s solutions to run their business
New acquisitions and solution offerings from the supplier
New product features and the business benefits of such

Providing and supporting quality products and solutions is expected in the enterprise technology industry. Provoking customers with new ideas is one of the best ways that the technical seller can add additional value to the business relationship and truly differentiate their organization from its competitors. This requires the sales engineer to have a broad understanding of the customer’s current and future business and how their own organization’s solutions can be applied. Most importantly, it requires the assertiveness to develop a point of view, put it in front of the customer, stimulate their imagination of the possibilities, and incite them into action.

The Fundamental Framework: Prospecting

Posted on August 7, 2014 by douglaswallen

The first focus area is Prospecting. As step zero in the development of any business, this is, quite simply, an examination of the customer’s business and how your solutions can help them run it. There are those who may contend that this is the responsibility of marketing or “pure” sales rep roles, but I wholeheartedly disagree. The sales engineer often spends more face to face time with customers than any other role in the sales organization. Therefore, they often have the most opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the customer’s business and how their solutions can be optimally applied.

Prospecting includes gaining a deeper understanding of the:

customer’s current environment as it pertains to the supplier’s particular solution offering(s)
customer’s business strategy, priorities, and the current state of their pursuit of such
customer’s industry and their position in it
position of the supplier’s competition at the customer
past experience of specific individuals at the customer with the supplier’s company, products, or services
specific individuals at the customer who are accountable for accomplishing their company’s objectives

Gaining this understanding will lead to ideas for how the customer can use the supplier’s solutions. Collaborating with the rest of the sales team should, in turn, lead to new business opportunities. From a management perspective, the primary metric for Prospecting is opportunity pipeline. Much as an army moves on its stomach, a sales organization moves on its pipeline. If a company is not constantly developing new pipeline for its solutions, there is no reason for that company to exist as a going concern. The technical seller is often the first and primary contact that many customers have with a supplier. The technical seller has the deepest understanding of how a technology works and how it can be implemented to help customers run their business. Therefore, the technical seller plays a critical role in identifying new opportunities for customers to expand their use of our solutions.

The Fundamental Framework: Mission

Posted on August 6, 2014 by douglaswallen

As painful as it may be, sometimes we have to commit ourselves to a cliche. Sometimes the simple approach really is best. Although I have blogged about topics such as The Mission of Technical Sales, Hiring, and The Technical Sales Balanced Scorecard, I keep returning to a much simpler model of the profession that I developed several years ago. I have found that it is the most concise, efficient, and effective way to engage a technical sales team in driving business and customer outcomes. It sums up the role of the sales engineer in terms of a “why am I here?” purpose and provides a basic management framework for the technical sales organization. No matter how often or in how many ways I hear job responsibilities of sales engineers sliced and diced from product line to product line or company to company, I always return to the following:

“The mission of technical sales is to assist customers in the understanding, design, and deployment of solutions based on our technology, thereby increasing customer business value and expanding our business.”

I tell employees and candidates that the above establishes their role. We will have many tools, techniques, objectives, and initiatives along the way, but if they always keep the above in mind and don’t do anything illegal, immoral, or engage in behaviors that violate our own or our customers’ guidelines for conducting business, they should find success. The mission itself is succinct and descriptive enough that it can be shared with customers to help explain the technical seller’s role in a fruitful business relationship between the two companies.

This mission can be operationalized for the technical sales organization to provide direction and focus areas for which metrics and outcomes can be established. Whether we call them priorities, principles, or the preferred preeminent practices of the profession, the four focus areas each begin with the letter “P”: Prospecting, Provoking, Progressing, and Partnering.

I will explore each of these further in subsequent posts over the next few days.

Who Owns the Innovation?

Posted on March 2, 2014 by douglaswallen

I like the word “innovation”. As opposed to its come-up-with-something-completely-new-completely-from-scratch cousin “invention”, I like the idea of coming up with new uses for that which we already have. Innovative pursuits often lead to the discovery of capabilities that no one had previously considered and can do so in a more economical fashion. Additionally, innovation provides a creative outlet for those types who once turned their mother’s hair dryer into a toy gun or modified their first car so an unused fog light switch in the dash could be used to operate the stereo without the hassle of putting the key in the ignition (many of you will recall when ALL cars required the keys to be inserted into a hole and turned before the car could function).

I have recently read about how companies are paying more attention to how much they are able to innovate or, taken a step further, “reinvent” their businesses. Many are even exploring and implementing methods of tracking and rating these efforts. Whether by exploring the true needs of their customer’s customer or expanding their ecosystems around complimentary products & services, innovative organizations are constantly looking at what they already do (whether they do it well or not) and considering methods to modify those capabilities to engage in or even create new markets. This begs the question of how, as technical sales professionals, can we assist our customers in this regard? Although we have the ability to bring new customer requirements back to our respective labs and R&D organizations for future product enhancements, our mission is to help our customers invest in the here and now in solutions that are currently available (i.e. the old “sell what is on the truck” adage). In effect, we are primarily here to help our customers make money, save money, or mitigate risks in the immediate rather then the longer-term future. (Don’t get me wrong, obviously we also want to help customers for the long term with strategic ideas and solution, but we cannot get there without first securing short term business. And at the speed of today’s business, it is what we are providing NOW that matters the most). So how can we, as a part of the field sales force charged with aiding customer success in the here and now, be innovative?

Be a Customer of Your Customer – There is no better way for you to get to know your customer than to be a consumer of their products and services. This truly puts you in a position to provide them with feedback on how they are doing as well as ideas for what else they can do for you. I have a colleague who, upon getting assigned to work exclusively with a large financial services customer, moved all of his personal financial services business to that customer. Being “all in” with his customer has enabled him to provide ideas and recommendations based on first hand experience working with several of their lines of business. In taking a similar approach, your unique position as both a customer and a supplier could result in a scenario where you get to create a better consumer experience for yourself, while helping your customer expand their business, while also selling more of your company’s offerings. Forget win-win, this is win-win-win.

Know Your Customer’s Industry & Competitors – Knowing your customer’s industry is sales 101. However, knowing how their competitors run their businesses and, if possible, how their competitors may be using some of your company’s solutions will provide you with insight into proven ways that they can also utilize those solutions. There are obviously situations in which confidentiality may prevent you from disclosing specifics about new offerings, differentiating processes, etc. However, those situations are likely few and far between, as most industries already collaborate on similar issues and problems via trade associations, user groups, and good old-fashioned human networking. Knowing how CompanyX used your offerings to streamline their roll out of ProductX will undoubtedly help you help CompanyY as they seek to roll out ProductY.

Know Other Industries’ Application of Your Solutions – Pay attention to how customers from other industries are using your company’s products. There are many examples of customer contact scenarios, business processes, and supply chain situations that can be easily adapted across industries. For example, from a solution perspective, there are parallels between warranty claims processing and the adjudication of insurance claims. Methods for delivering a first class retail sales experience can be leveraged to meet the packing and shipping needs of small businesses. With a little knowledge and creativity, it is not hard to share ideas from other industries to help your customer drive their innovation.

A senior executive once told my team, “in the final analysis, it is the CUSTOMER who owns the innovation”. Having been a customer before I was a supplier, I can guarantee that this is true. But it does not absolve us from the responsibility of bringing innovative ideas to our customers. If we are constantly provoking our customers with new ideas on how they can use our solutions to run their business, as well as providing them with ideas for how they can get more value out of their existing investment with us, we will be viewed as innovators. Because we are part of the sales organization, we do not necessarily “innovate” in terms of directly developing or enhancing new products for our customers. Rather, we must be innovative in the manner in which we bring them new ideas, develop relationships with new buyers, and contribute to the success of their business.

Optimizing Opportunity Pursuit Plans

Posted on October 24, 2013 by douglaswallen

One cliched phrase after another has been appropriated from the military (as well as athletics) and used to illustrate points and concepts used in business. Like all cliches, they continue to be used because they are effective descriptors of situations. And few are more effective at accomplishing objectives under incomprehensible-to-most-of-us pressures than the free world’s best military organizations. So how, once an opportunity to help a customer has been identified and qualified, does the technical seller plan the engagement and get themself into the best position to win the business? The United States Special Forces have a simple framework that is used to guide leadership judgement that is also useful in technical sales. The framework is known as METT-T: Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops, & Time.

Mission:

What is the CUSTOMER’S true objective? What do they need to accomplish? It is easy to focus on sales methodologies and textbook opportunity progression techniques & deliverables and overlook the entire reason that you are in business in the first place – to provide your customers with solutions. Although their objectives are ALWAYS business driven (make money, save money, mitigate risk), sometimes they are more obvious than others. They may be driven by a new business initiative such as launching a new product or increasing the effectiveness of their employees; or technology driven, such as fixing an overly complicated existing duct-tape-and-baling-wire systems integration solution. Understanding your customers’ motivations and desired outcomes is key. This should be well documented and communicated to both your team and the customer to ensure that everyone stays on target.

Enemy:

This element deals with the human elements that will hinder your success. Who might keep the customer from choosing you? Who – politically, financially, or otherwise – might keep you from being selected? Why, and how? How will you address their objections or help them understand the benefits of your solution? Is there a group within your customer who feels that they can build everything themselves faster, for less money, and with better results than an enterprise technology provider? Each of these should be documented and a plan put in place for how their concerns will be addressed.

Terrain:

This deals with the non-human elements that will hinder your success. What are the customer’s alternatives? Is there an incumbent solution already in place that might meet their needs with minimal modification by the customer or a competitor? Is their something unique to the customer’s specific business or their overall business environment that would prevent them from selecting your solution? What about conditions that might make the customer choose to simply do nothing? Similar to the Enemy, risk mitigation plans should be developed for each of these.

Troops:

What skills do you need on your team? This includes not only the technical skills but an examination of who might have the most appropriate relationships with the decision makers at the customer. Do you need to bring in additional financial expertise to establish the right level of ROI with the customer? Do you need to get your management involved to further demonstrate your company’s commitment to delivering the customer’s solution in the timeframe that they need it? Who else is in the best position to help you win this business? Documenting who is going to do what when is crucial and will help ensure that both your team and your customer know what the next steps are.

Time:

When does the customer need to have the solution in place? Your plan should backtrack from this date and use that timeframe to plan your opportunity pursuit and establish a decision date with the customer. As the saying goes, “time kills all deals”, so the sooner you can demonstrate the superiority of your solution, the better off you will be. Similar to the mission mentioned above, this date should be highlighted in all of your communications with your team and the customer to ensure that everyone remains in agreement with when a decision will be made.

My personal respect for those who serve and have served in the armed forces of the free world runs deep. I would never dream of suggesting that the enterprise technical sales profession is comparable to the challenges that they face or that the skills we require compare to theirs. But as a method for organizing a team and rapidly pursuing an objective in a fluid environment, METT-T serves as an enabling framework that can help you win more business.

Your 3 Critical Customer Conversations

Posted on October 18, 2013 by douglaswallen

Ensuring that your customers are getting maximum value out of their investment in your solutions is the most fundamental aspect of any enterprise technology sales organization. It ensures the development of deeper relationships, which lead to an expansion of mutually beneficial business opportuntiies and higher levels of customer satisfaction. It lays the foundation for everything you do to differentiate your organization from your competitors. This requires constant follow up and regular discussions with your customers. Of all of the possible topics, trials, and tittle-tattle that you might engage in, there are three conversations that you should ALWAYS be having with your customers.

1) Thank you

Thank you for your business. Thank you for the opportunity to help you run your business. Thank you for the trust that you place in my organization and my people to contribute to the success of you and your team. Thank you for your investment in our solutions, which helps us continue to invest in enhancing those solutions for the benefit of your business. A simple expression of heartfelt gratitude always goes a long way (and if you do not truly feel at least a little heartfelt gratitude towards your customer, a gut check on your career choice may be in order). This is still a universal truth. I find it amazing how rarely that I, as a consumer, am actually THANKED by the individuals at establishments with which I do business. It seems that more often I am the one verbally expressing thanks to them, which far too often elicits the tepid response of “no problem” (I won’t waste space here splitting hairs in the ever-evolving English language between the implied meaning of “no problem” vs. “you’re welcome”).

2) Are you hiring?

Are you hiring for new positions on your team? Are you backfilling recently vacated roles? How about in other areas of the company? Are you targeting recent graduates or experienced candidates? What sort of skills are you/your company looking for? Questions like these can lead to all kinds of discussions about your customer’s business, their needs, and their plans for the future. It will help you get an idea of which areas of their business are growing and which are contracting. From a practical prospecting perspective, it will help you uncover new opportunities for your solutions in other areas of their company. Depending on your tenure in the industry, experiences with other customers, and the breadth of your professional network, you may also be able to provide them with references of skilled individuals who can help them meet their staffing needs. As a manager, I have also found that the conversation eventually traverses into my own hiring needs. This has led to some outstanding hires on my part over the years. If you are not in management, I am sure that you are equally interested in increasing the talent level at your own company.

3) Are you getting everything you need from us?

At the risk of splitting hairs again, this is not “are we giving you everything you need?” because the focus should always be on the value the customer is getting from your business relationship rather than what they may think you should be “giving” them. This should drive a discussion towards the specific products, services, & intangibles that you are providing and how they are benefitting the customer. It should lead to discussions of other technical or business domains in which you can provide assistance. It will give you some idea as to how you stack up in terms of post-sales support vs. your competitors. It will provide you with some headlights into areas of dissatisfaction for you to proactively address. It reiterates to your customer that you view your relationship as a long-term partnership and that you are always interested in providing more value to their business.

Continually having these three discussions with each of your customers will help you further cement and expand your business and professional relationships. There is no simpler way to affirm your appreciation for their investment in your organization and put you in the best position to expand that investment.

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