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May 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)
A sales force challenge
Dear Bob ...
I'm in a 1,000+ employee company, focusing in Greater China. We're used to and still very much focused on product selling vs solution selling.
I'm building a team focusing on Enterprise Content Management. We've earned a little bit of success in the past 2 years. Yet, I found it very difficult to get the 50+ sales teams to sell the ECM solution.
I believe fewer than 5 are really willing to sell it. Others either don't know how to do it, or think selling ECM is just too long a selling cycle (reasons are just my guess).
I believe in ECM, but I'm not sure how to push the thing forward.
- Content-driven
Dear Driven ...
I'm hampered here by a lack of in-depth knowledge of Chinese business culture. I'll answer based on what I know of what works here in the U.S. but it might be completely inappropriate for your sales force.
If I understand the situation correctly, you have a sales force that has a variety of products to sell. They spend less time and effort selling ECM than some of the other products. My first thought is that it's time for you to stop guessing. If they aren't successfully selling ECM, sit down with each of them and ask what the problem is.
One way or another, the answer will turn out to be that the time per sale compared to the commission per sale is worse for ECM than for their alternatives. Once you know the details you'll know what you have to do to remedy the situation: Add a "spiff" (additional bonus) to their commissions for ECM sales; provide a better sales toolkit; provide additional training on how to successfully sell ECM; or provide more direct support for the sales process - perhaps you might participate more, so that they don't have to invest so much time in each sale.
Here in the U.S., at least, most sales professionals are financially driven. If you want them to sell your product, it has to generate enough income for them for it to be interesting.
- Bob
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Posted by Bob Lewis on May 7, 2007 05:12 PM
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If China is anything like Japan - and my understanding (from Axtell's books) is that they are similar - face is very critical. If they don't understand the product, there is no way you will be able to get them to say so, even in one-on-one sessions - unless, maybe, after a considerable amount of time with them after work drinking, they feel comfortable enough with you to say so. Also - depending on the individuals, group think and act is more of a driver than money. If you want to solve your problem, it may be a matter of one-on-one teaching with the "leader" of the pack - who is probably the eldest, went to the most prestigious university, speaks the best english, or some other way of establishing pecking order. If that person feels incapable of selling the product, no one will be capable of selling the product.
Posted by: Ed at May 9, 2007 11:12 AMI have had a couple of experiences trying to get a sales organization to sell a new product. Only in the US. Product sales people are different than solution sales people. Product sales people are order takers. They depend on their relationship with the buyer for sales, not on the value of their product.
To paraphrase a mentor I had, "Product sales people push the down button on the elevator to go to the purchasing department. Solution sales people push the up button to go the executive suite."
The solution is a separate sales team with a different compensaation system.
Posted by: John at May 9, 2007 08:16 PMHaving managed sales teams in both arena's, I understand your team's dilemna. Software "solution" sales are generally more complex, have a much longer sales cycle and have a different target audience. So, I understand your sales team's reluctance to promote the ECM solution, as it is often outside of the comfort zone of hardware salespeople. If the margin "allows", I would recommend setting up a small, specialist division whilst offering an incentive for the existing team for opportunity identification and introductions i.e. appropriate sponsors, into their accounts. Last, but not least, I believe that software sales demands highly skilled pre-sales resource/s, so include this in your ROI analysis for the software division.
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Three books. Three ways to change the world, your life, or at least Bob Lewis' bank account. Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World distills the world of IT leadership into eight learnable skills and gives you concrete, practical techniques for each one of them. Bare Bones Project Management: What you can't not do makes project management manageable, even for first-time project managers with no formal training in the discipline. ManagementSpeak: What managers say/What they mean … well, it won't help your career, and won't make you a better manager. Mostly, it will make you chuckle, guffaw, and maybe even chortle. Make friends - it's the perfect gift for anyone who has ever suffered through one of those meetings. Order your copies today! |
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