| On My Personal Site | |
Prospect, qualify, present and close. Those are the four basic elements of the conventional sales process, which most organizations still follow today. We must deal with complex problems and correspondingly complex solutions that involve multiple decisions and multiple decision-makers. most of whom are having an ever-increasingly hard time understanding how their own problems and the solutions that will best resolve them fit into the dynamic of the rest of the company.
The best salespeople walk into an opportunity with much higher levels of experience than their customers. They know the products, services and programs they are bringing to market inside and out. In addition, they spend most of their time with customers. They see an entire industry, come into contact with a full range of operational practices and should become experts in their customers' businesses.
In fact, the advanced perspective and comprehension of sales professionals experienced in the complex sale should stand in vivid contrast to that of their potential customers. Client and customers intrinsically believe that their products ore unique and thus require unique solutions. They see the plethora of solutions that are ‘generic’ and fail to realize that it’s the application of the solution that is unique not the solution.
The result is a confused and disheartened customer who ends up going with a competitor's solution because it's ‘cheaper’ after all, when he doesn't understand his problem or your solution, all he can do is fall back on the common denominator of price. And the unpleasant experience deepens the schism between sales professional and customer.
Most companies follow the doctrine that by hiring sales reps that have contacts and relationships they have implemented a workaround to maybe get the sales engine started, but does not keep the sales engine running. You need the constant flow of fuel (prospects) from marketing/telemarketing/trade shows/advertising/ leads to keep that engine pushing out maximum power
Sales Executives (replace with your own definition) are just that, a customer intense, client-facing step in the sales process. Prospect development is an essential part of the sales processes that are not as client intense, not as one-to-one. There are only a fixed number of selling hours per week. Your sales force should spend as much time in front of the client as possible. That means our sales force should be supplied with the following services before venturing into the field;
Experiences with technology companies show that some of the most effective ones have inside rep/outside rep sales teams. It has also been shown that the most ineffective ones do not have anything that is effective at assisting the field sales reps with these services. It is also easy to opt out of this discussion by deciding that your product or service is unique, and therefore your selling process is unique – the rules don’t apply to your business.
You are fooling yourself - The rules DO apply!
I have spent many years designing , defining and implementing sales oriented delivery programs. During the course of my career I have attended sales objective courses at many of the larger companies in their fields;
So, now that I have this experience across a broad spectrum of IT consulting areas, including IT strategy, IT business case analysis, technology planning, technology architecture, IT benchmarking, systems development, systems deployment, IT outsourcing and IT performance optimization. What can I do for you?
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MTM |
This is a start up marketing related firm that is currently not using any accounting software. Technically this program will be addressing the needs of more than one company. Accounting will be address through a parent company, however no consolidation will be required. They anticipate substantial growth. Within the first five years, they expect to triple their employees and will look to add 40 concurrent users. They therefore need to find a very scalable program.
They are very open to the idea of implementing an online / hosted solution if appropriate. At this point they may or may not outsource payroll. They noted that it may be appropriate to track each advertising venue as an inventory item. It was unclear whether this will be needed, however. They also noted that CRM functionalities would be very helpful, however will not be required. They need to track commissions. They will purchase a network server and database according to what accounting system may require. Engagement Metrics; NetSuite implementation 45k 4months complete |
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Intervention ERP. NetSuite implementation proposal
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Company PWC
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Deliverables Major Vendor Software sales Respond to RFPs, develop long term client relationships, analyse business needs and practices to enable ERP intervention with current practices. Update best practices when possible, Manage client relationships. Interact with user groups to provide team feedback on design issues. Assist in preliminary scoping of the projects Engagement Metrics; JD Edwards Genesis channel Clients… Moosejaw… Yukon Energy… Purdy’s Chocolates. 250k to 780k |
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Intervention ERP. JD Edwards Implementation Proposal 98 –00 |
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Company Productivity Point International |
Deliverables recruit hire and train a staff of 5 sales and sales support Professionals, including direct sales management, territory planning, retention strategies, coordinating sales training and assisting reps in closing accounts. Co-ordinate Regional sales in western Canada and international sales through Chicago and Orlando, Florida. Define transfer components and project deliverables engage follow-up surveys and quality feedback
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Knowledge transfer, Technical training |
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Mitsubishi Canada |
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Intervention Sold Internal training program for technical software team |
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Company Sovereign Management Associates
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Deliverables Software sales, Vancouver, Calgary, Los Angeles Seattle. Support and participate in business development and sales, client management, project management and management of direct reports (recruiting, staff development, performance appraisals). Experience planning, designing and implementing decisions support systems. project management and engagement P&L experience. In-depth understanding of and experience with coupling, design and business deliverables
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Intervention Software Design and Delivery 94-97 |
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Company GA Wright Inc. |
Deliverables Sales and inventory analysis, create program customised for the client and industry, supply beat practice methodology for the industry and demographic regions. Research demographic buying patterns for the industry where applicable. Document progress and supply metrics for program success. Create achievable targets and meet objectives Engagement Metrics 2 years, project of 6 weeks to 4 months, average 15k, several projects extended at company request. 3-8 people mostly client staff |
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Intervention Retail Sales and marketing programs 90-93 |
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Company Top Hats Ltd…
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Deliverables Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary., Franchise Development business design strategy, implementation of franchise methodology For the company, as part of a performance measurement reporting system implementation project: Analysed and assessed financial and billing systems for use as source systems; Defined source data requirements, designed and developed interface processes using Access database and tools. Directed a team responsible for maintaining overall management applications (purchasing, production management, cost accounting) for a Franchise Hat Manufacturing. The duties included project management, systems analysis and integration testing. Engagement Metrics |
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Intervention Franchise Development ‘94 |
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Company Ella’s Designer Blinds
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Deliverables For the new and existing franchises; Sales Program deployment, Best Practices design operations manual, Franchise development- business design strategy, implementation of franchise methodology, Team Development and change management. Documentation to support change management , tools include: computer stations, accounting programs, franchise client reporting methodology and physical reports and subscriptions to on-line databases. |
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Intervention Franchise Development 6/94 – 2/96 |
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Company Home Real-estate |
Deliverables For the new and existing franchises; Best Practices design, Sales Program deployment- business market & sales strategy, implementation of national sales methodology. Team Development and change management
Engagement Metrics 14 mo contract, 3 people + variable client staff, per site basis, 8-12k per site |
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Intervention Sales Program for member Companies 94 –95 |
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Company Plaza M&S
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Deliverables …Sales… recruit hire and train a staff of 10 sales and sales support professionals, including direct sales management, territory planning, retention strategies, coordinating sales training and assisting reps in closing accounts. Storage , Freight contracts, Long Haul truck shipments, Fields, Marshal Wells, Kitsault Mining. Support and participate in business and sales, client management, project management and management of direct reports (recruiting, staff development, performance appraisals). Experience planning, designing and implementing decisions support systems
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Intervention Sales and Sales Management 75 –81 |