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Are your prospects throwing you under the bus?

July 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

For those of you involved in business development for your company, it’s getting difficult to tell whether you’re going to close on a contract. I mean, the client is interested and engaged and then… nothing.Clue card: I’m talking to all of you within the sales-engineering continuum at your company. Because business development isn’t just the job of the “sales guy or gal” or even the President, whom you think is just playing golf with prospective customers for the heck of it.

OK. Back to task.

If everyone inyour company, regardless of function, is involved in the business development process, why do so many “sure fire” deals go south? Why are your prospects throwing you under the bus?

Without ever having made a decision to go with another firm?  Without ever having made a decision at all…except to stay with their status-quo.

Let’s consider the essential elements of that bus you are getting thrown under. In fact, we can start and stop with the steering wheel and the tires. No wheel, no direction. No tires, no traction, no momentum.

So… how do you provide momentum for your prospects and clients? Do you:

1.Engage them in non-self-serving discussions? Is every customer touchpoint simply another version of a sales call? Or are you sending them relevant information related to the industry they are in or the issues they may be facing from an administrative, regulatory, production, quality, financial or marketing perspective?

2.Provide case studies related to the factors impacting the “state of their industry” or marketplace? Note:these case studies don’t necessarily reinforce why they need to decide upon you as their vendor of choice as much as reinforce how others in their industry may have used your/other solutions to address these key factors.

3.Involve all decision makers in their organization in addressing the importance of moving off their often self-imposed status quo (aka, the cost of doing nothing) vs. the value of bringing incremental change to their organization? Yup, although all of us are going after the big sexy multi-solution sale, that type of broad-sweeping solution can be daunting to small-to-mid-sized organizations with limited budgets and decision makers who wear multiple hats.In other words: do you know who’s driving the bus? And who are the passengers on the bus?

If they are steering, then you are one tire. And you know, tires are pretty important. Otherwise there is a lot of over-steering to compensate for faulty navigation.

How are you making yourself an important tire on the bus? The tire that the decision making team needs to check in with, based on the importance of that tire in the strategic and tactical directions they choose to take? (Clue card here: re-read points #1-3, above).

Everyone in your organization needs to self-assess to determine their functionality to each, specific“client bus” and “prospect bus.” Yes, and I’m even talking to the folks hiding in cubicles waiting to be told what to do based on the “orders” received and/or contracts won. You aren’t functional if you are non-participatory.

You know, when you think about it, there are no non-functional tires on any bus. Understanding your role AND understanding how you can become functional and essential to each client and prospect is a critical element of business development.

It’s not just up to the sales guys and gals. Understanding and implementing the inherent value you provide to your clients and your organization only underpins your own value to yourself. And the direction you steer yourself towards in the future.

Think about it.

 

 

Filed Under: Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: , , ,

Do you provide simple solutions for your clients?

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

You know the saying as it relates to engineering. Some variation of: “Don’t ask Jack/Jill what time it is. He/she will build you a clock.”

 

You probably engineer some pretty awesome clocks. But how do you get from the conceptual clock (e.g., what the client wants) to the outcome (e.g., what the client needs)?

It all depends on how simple and how RELEVANT you keep the process, including your explanation of the pathways towards the solution.

Ask yourself these questions:

 

  1. When my customers ask me for an answer, I provide one answer encompassing all the possible ramifications of a solution that I can think of.And I may call them back with even more solutions once I really start to think about things.
  2. When my customers ask me for information on a project, I provide them with the full breadth and depth of data available that support the project.
  3. When my customers ask me for a timeline, I provide multiple dates related to the multiple possible ramifications of the proposed solutions based on the full breadth and depth of data available that support the project. Whew!

If you answered YES to any one of these questions, let alone more than one, no one will ever accuse you of providing a simple, relevant solution for your client.Ever.In fact, your customers may perceive that working with you is the equivalent of trying to clean out their garage. Too complicated and too overwhelming.

Regardless of whether you are talking to a peer or a decision-maker, keeping things simple – and relevant – is the goal. Who has time anymore to ponder the logic and profound nature of all the glorious information you are providing to them?

I’m not proposing that you dumb-down your responses or omit important information. However, why choke your clients on information overload when you can feed them bite-sized chunks? And probably get your point across a whole lot better since you aren’t cluttering their minds with information perhaps only you feel is important – or relevant.

Question #1: When customers ask you for an answer, provide a simple answer that addresses the issues that are most important to them. Make it easy to work with you. Your customers may be The Company Decision Maker or the Lead Engineer or the Technical Support Person or the Summer Co-op. Determine to whom you are talking and what types of issues are important to them. Find out what’s relevant and what’s not. Give them the answer that addresses the scope of their responsibilities and the context of their query. And then ask one more critical question: is there anyone else you need to be discussing this issue with? In other words, to whom are they handing-off the information you provided them? Because things will get lost in translation.

Question #2: When customers ask you for project information, provide succinct responses.In order for you to be responsive and succinct, you need to determine what the real issues are behind their questions. Establishing the context – and the relevancy – of their question and your response may uncover unaddressed needs, additional project opportunities and gaps in the current scope of the project. But you will never find out this information if you are providing a broad-based doctoral thesis defense type of response to their query for project information. It’s not about you and what you know. It’s about them and what they need.Make it easy to work with you. Make it understandable to work with you. That’s how clients learn and become loyal, repeat customers.

Question #3: When clients ask for a timeline, provide a simple answer with a caveat that covers your – and their – ability to meet the proposed timeline. Having an extensive “if-then” type of timeline is perceived as waffling. If they propose an unrealistic timeline, find out the reasons behind this timeline. “Their” timeline may have nothing to do with the project as much as it has to do with other issues they have to deal with, outside the context of your project. You’re not an order-taker. Arrive at a set of deliverables, collaboratively.

Building a clock and providing your client with straight-forward, succinct, simple, relevant information along the way is a powerful tool for customer retention.

Don’t forget to keep things simple and relevant any and every time you have a chance. It’s a great way to gradually change how you communicate with your peers, colleagues and, most importantly, your customers.

Think about it.

Filed Under: Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: , , , ,

Stuck in a rut? Try thinking like a start-up!

July 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“But we’ve always done things this way and it’s always worked.”  Now THAT’S the definition of the status-quo.  And you know about Einstein’s definition of insanity, paraphrased as doing the same things the same way and expecting different results.

I always ask my clients how the status-quo has been treating them.  And they don’t know how to answer. You may want to ask your clients and prospects the same question.  And yourself.

Because most of the time, you don’t know you are stuck in this rut. You are surrounded by the churning and burning of business development and design activity. Your project pipeline appears full, but is it full of “stuck” projects rather than new projects?

What if you were a start-up? What if you had no customers, no past, only the present and the future in terms of attracting investors, vendor-partners, creating processes and best practices?

What if you were given a blank slate and asked to create your own status-quo for the future? What would you do first?

And I’m not talking about the “if I could do it all over again” mentality. That coulda-shoulda-woulda logic is worthless. And non-productive.

I’m talking about what if you could step out of your current context, your current shoes, and start a new company.  From scratch. 

Would you just copy from your existing experience, creating a patchwork of processes and, potentially, work-arounds?  Keep in mind that any existing corporate entity, even under the best of circumstances, is dedicated to preserving their own status-quo. Which includes working around a situation rather than committing time, money and personnel towards implementing new systems, policies, practices, procedures.  You know, change.  Folks will do anything but utilize a start-up mentality.

Would you be able to articulate your vision, capabilities and deliverables to potential investors and vendor-partners? And I am not talking about some sort of rehearsed “pitch”, including PowerPoints and financials.  While those presentations are a necessary part of the start-up process, most entrepreneurs are ill-equipped to stray outside the lines of their well-oiled, well-rehearsed spiel.  Which is the crux of the matter. Walking beyond the rehearsed talk. How articulate are you about what you are passionate about? Because that’s what’s involved in having a start-up mentality.

Would you believe in yourself? Because self-belief is the hardest thing to achieve. Yet, once achieved, it is the easiest to articulate to those investors, vendor-partners and potential customers.  Many entrepreneurs are engaged in the start-up process because they have exited, or been forced to exit, a prior, undesirable situation. Many have had a dream they’ve not had the opportunity to address.  Some entrepreneurs are straight out of college or grad school or wherever.  Overcoming your self-doubt (you know, overcoming your own objections to yourself) is the heart of the matter.  Your passion and Self belief can be infectious.

For those of you gainfully and satisfactorily employed, think about whether or not you or your company is in a rut. Any company certainly is stuck maintaining their status-quo way of doing things. Shaking things up doesn’t have to mean housecleaning, heads rolling, layoffs or firings.  Being in a rut sometimes simply boils down to being stuck creatively. Having distilled everything down to what feels like a formula for response. The status-quo can even be boring. Easy.

Snap out of it!

At your next project meeting, ask everyone whether they would solve the problem the same way – if you were a start-up company? You know: What Would A Start-Up Do? (WWASUD)

Then compare their responses to the way you currently are engaged in problem solving. There may be a tweak here and there that brings out a bit more in the solution. And gradually, people will begin a project from “start up mentality” mode rather than bringing in that perspective mid-way though the project.

Changing the way we see things and solve problems isn’t an easy task.  Start-ups have it easy. And at some point in our careers, we’ve all been there.  No status quo.

Now that’s something to think about at your next project kick-off meeting.

 

Filed Under: Angels, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: , , ,

Do you play well with the other children?

July 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A colleague of mine who works in marketing was relating her frustration to me. The engineering department was unwilling to relinquish ownership of a project.She understood the company was engineering-intensive.Of course the engineering department had come up with the idea that her department was now going to commercialize and, for that matter, make more profitable.

Yet the engineering department was reluctant to lose control of their “baby” to those non-techie marketing and sales types.Even though the commercialization of this engineering marvel would lead to profits offsetting and exceeding R&D costs.

You know the scenario.In fact, you may contribute to just a scenario within your company. C’mon. Admit it.

Pride of ownership is a difficult thing. Because ego is also tied into the equation, although we don’t like to admit it. And we are afraid that if we let our “baby” go, it will turn into something we don’t recognize. And we will lose control. So instead we think of ways to prevent our having to relinquish control.

Which really makes waves among our co-workers. And, by the way, turns what should be a win-win hand-off into an “us vs. them” drama. And perpetuates the status-quo.

How well do you play with the children at your company? With all due respect, I am not calling any of you children. You are highly trained professionals, whether you are engineers or marketers.For the purpose of this discussion, please follow along with my analogy.

Because this analogy not only covers how you get along with the various disciplines within your company, but also how you get along with your clients and, for that matter, with your vendors. You know, the children from the other playgrounds.

Learning to defer to the expertise of others and let them do their “thing” is a real challenge. Especially when we have had our way for so long within a company OR things have been a certain way for so long. We can’t imagine how things will turn out if we are not an integral part of the equation. So we try to interject ourselves back into the thick of things, without respecting the new process.

Which means we become a roadblock for process quality and throughput.

Did you ever think that what you were doing was creating a roadblock? And I don’t need to tell you that all your second-guessing often mis-interpreted as micromanagement.

Project hand-off doesn’t mean you walk away and wash your hands of the project.And yet, that’s exactly what keeps engineers too hands-on for too-long. They are concerned that the marketing and sales efforts will lead to a failure that the engineering department will be accountable for. In fact, engineers are concerned that hand-off to another engineering department (you know, the kids from the other playground) will be unsuccessful in the long run.

Project hand-off means you take a new seat at the table and serve a different collaborative role. This is where you become “all ears” and listen to the language of marketing, sales, business development and perhaps even an engineering department half-way across the globe. This is where you ask great questions (not the second-guessing kind) that allow you to provide even greater value to the team.This is the point where you gain a 360 degree perspective and return that perspective to the engineering department for the next round of new product development.

Do you know what kinds of questions to ask after hand-off? Do you know enough about what goes on post hand-off to formulate these questions?

Of course, more often than not, the hand off between engineering and marketing/sales is so contentious that no one is in the mood for further collaboration. Stop it! That’s not the way you play with the other children. No one was hired to be a solo act at your company.

It all boils down to a matter of trust between colleagues. Even if they aren’t all engineers, aren’t all MBA’s or aren’t all the same age as you are. Depending on where we sit at the table, we see the same things differently.So why not respect a project hand-off as an opportunity to learn from your colleagues?

They just may know what they are doing. After all.

Think about it.

Filed Under: Angels, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Entrepreneurs and StartUps, Professional Development & Social Selling, Sales, Pitching & Business Development Tagged With: , , , ,
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