I have been following this campaign closely over the last year or so. It has been as educative as it has been entertaining. Although the American political system is identity based, it is interesting that the character, track record and public perceptions of the candidates themselves are considered extremely important. The candidates need to sell themselves to the electorate. Just like clients in our world examine contracts and ask probing questions, presidential candidates are put through the fire by the media. They are forced to explain their strengths and weaknesses and need to answer questions about their abilities just like we field objections about our services. BO has proven himself to be not just a great leader but also a super salesman. Here are the top five sales leadership attributes that I learnt from BO:

Mapping your strengths against customer needs: The most explicit 'need' in this election has been the need for change at a time of turbulence. Both the candidates realized this. Both campaigns focused their fire to varying degrees on President Bush. The crucial difference was how the candidate's demonstrated strengths measured up against explicit need. BO's perceived strengths were a). Sharp intellect b).Calmness under pressure c). Self made man who has middle class values d). Ability to unite people e).Great oration. These strengths, when put together, positioned BO as the candidate best equipped to bring change at a turbulent time. BO showcased these strengths repeatedly and consistently throughout the campaign lending credibility to his candidacy.
Sales lesson: Consistently and repeatedly showcase those strengths that address client needs directly. 

Predicting client objections and turning them around into needs: Several times during the campaign objections were raised on the BO ticket. Lack of experience, the race card, the fact that his father belonged to a minority religion are some examples of these objections. BO masterfully predicted these in advance and turned them into 'needs'. His 'inexperience' got transformed into a necessary attribute for bringing about the much needed departure from 'business as usual' in Washington. The fact that he belonged to a minority race was repositioned as something that can help him unify the country by cutting across demographics at a time where unification is clearly needed. The fact that his father practiced a different religion was positioned as something that would help him 'understand those people better'.
Sales Lesson: Predict customer objections and weave your story proactively to turn these into needs.

Really, really understanding the customer: BO really understood the electorate. Not just from a needs perspective but also from a more strategic demographics perspective. He realized that the American electorate had become too diverse for traditional republican versus democrat, left versus right segmentation. He segmented his electorate differently. Realizing the latent potential in younger voters and the crucial nature of independents, he crafted a message that attracted these segments in droves and in doing so has built a foundation for 2012. Brilliant!
Sales Lesson: Be prepared to think about your customer differently. Understand the changes her organization is undergoing and craft your message accordingly. 

The urgency factor:  How many times have we faced a situation where the client loves a solution but thinks it can wait? This happens when the problem has not been built up to the point where the urgency of the problem has become an issue in itself. Some people hinted that BO was too young and that he needs to wait. The message was "Great guy, great candidate but it's not yet time". BO handled this by falling back on not just the importance of change but the urgency of bringing about change. "I can take four more weeks of attacks but you can't take four more years of the same" was his masterly retort.
Sales lesson: Don't just focus on the value in your solution, also focus on the cost of NOT having your solution NOW.

One consistent message instead of several: Too many dimensions to your value proposition and lurching from one message to the other can confuse the customer. The republican campaign did precisely that. It started with a message centered on superior experience, shifted to a message of maverick change, degenerated into attacks and finally ended up confusing the electorate. The BO campaign always had one consistent message, the message of change. Virtually every single ad and campaign tactic centered around change and why BO is best equipped to bring about change. This consistent message centered on the most important need ultimately carried the day.
Sales lesson: Focus on one or two critical value messages and build your brand around these messages. Make sure whatever you do is consistent with this message.

Jonathan Farrington over at the "Sales and Sales Management" blog writes about the importance of having relationship objectives for large accounts:

"Everyone in the account team needs to know what we want the relationship to feel like."

Accounts, both large and small are all about relationships. Before relationships can be built and sustained, it is important to have clear and well defined relationship goals. These goals need to be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Result oriented and Timely and most importantly, they need to be consistent with your larger account plan. 
 

Figure out where the money is headed:  You will have a much easier time selling if you know where the money is headed - even if you are a super confident, super smart, gunslinger salesman. So, talk to your coaches and figure out where the spending is headed- which lines of business (of the client), what buying centers, which technologies and whether the spending is discretionary or non-discretionary. Knowing these details is the first step towards "SMARTNESS". It is the foundation needed to make your relationship plan Specific (Which clients to target), Measurable (How to tangibly measure relationship success), Actionable (Having an operational plan to 'actionize'), Result oriented (Ensuring relationship goals translate into revenue), Timely (Your targets are time bound, can your relationship plan be otherwise?).

Map out your relationship value chain: Now that you are done playing Sherlock Holmes, it's time to dive deeper. Knowing where the money is headed allows you to break down your overall revenue target into more detailed sub-account level numbers. It also lets you know how much can possibly be "mined" from existing buying centers and how much needs to be "hunted" from new areas. 

A single line of business might have multiple, distinct buying centers. This distinction is important as your relationship plan for a given line of business needs to align with these specific and distinct buying centers. The way the IT division that servers the treasury department of a bank ("Treasury" line of business for you) buys a consulting project might be completely different from the way it buys production support. You need to map out the relationship value chain for each buying centre that you need to engage with. By "relationship value chain" I mean mapping out the user buyer, the economic buyer, the technical buyer, influencers and gatekeepers. You can have the same person on the client side playing multiple roles, but knowing who is wearing which hat is critical. A very basic relationship value chain could look like this:

The language wizards at Oxford define "commitment" as

commitment
  • noun 1 dedication to a cause or policy. 2 a pledge or undertaking. 3 an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action.

Let me give it a little sales twist by defining "client commitment" : Clients showing dedication to your cause. Make a pledge to give you business. Get into an obligation that prevents them from going to competition.

Just writing that sentence made me feel wishful. Getting a client to say yes, means so much for recognition hungry sales people, one more step towards that magical close. At least in the complex world of software services sales, "closing" often equates to "getting commitment". Of course, the level and the type of commitment would vary depending on where you are in the sales cycle. At the very outset, a commitment to give you a hearing is victory. At the apex, a commitment to pick up a pen and sign on the dotted line is victory. A sale is nothing but the culmination of a series of client commitments -usually of increasing promise to the seller. The specific techniques one would use to gain client commitment would be contextual, but there are some common principles that are a must to get to the magic 'Yes!'.

Show value: Whether it is an introductory call or a formal RFP presentation, never go to a customer meeting without being in a position to offer something of value. I don't mean that a fifty page formal presentation is needed every time. But there should be something you give the customer that would make him want to speak to you again. It could be an alternative perspective on the problem at hand. It could be a case study story of what the competition is doing. It could be an industry analyst's viewpoint on a problem the client is interested in. It could be anything, but the common thread is value. When you ask for commitments without showing value, you make the customer think "He wants to make me buy something that I don't even know will help me. What a looser." When you show value and then ask for small commitments, you make the customer think "He wants to give me more value. Fair enough. What do I have to loose? Let me check this thing out." When customers associate your advances with value, they will become open to commitment.

Build a personal rapport: People like to buy from people they like and that applies regardless of how good your service is or is not. Be a 'smiley', be warm and be ready to look beyond people's titles. A CEO is as human as any of us. Sometimes, especially at the outset, clients will try to rebuff your advances. They still see you as a 'salesman' and not as a human being trying to make a connection with another human being. Relax and keep pushing. Have a few conversation threads ready to go. These topics need to be light, off work, something people would be passionate about and should help you engage at a person to person level. Reading a lot about a wide variety of topics surely helps. The wider your intellectual scope, the more things you will be able to speak about and the better your conversations get, the easier it will be to build rapport.    

Focus on the context and not your expertise: Keep the focus on the needs of the clients, rather than your expertise. It is easy to think that something that your company has pioneered will be of value to the customer. You will have people in your company trying to 'push' a solution on the customer. Push them back. Yell, cajole, coax. Do whatever. But never let anyone reach out to your customers with a "solution" without understanding the context and the needs. When people see that you are genuinely interested in spending time to understand their needs, that you really feel the pain from their perspective, they will be more open to making a commitment.

Keep irritants for the SOW: One of the worst practices in this industry is mixing up proposals and SOW's. Too often SOW's try to sell and proposals try to derisk. De-risking in a sales proposal is like telling your prospective wife about all the things that can go wrong if she marries you and then hope to get a yes. Good luck! There will always be uncertainty and risks in most complex software sales situations. De-risking too early and too explicitly is the fastest way to derail your sales wagon. It will give the impression that you are too conservative, closed, unwilling to work through issues and basically make the whole thing transactional.

Be honest: Be candid about the mistakes your company made in similar situations. Show the customer how your company worked with clients to resolve these issues. This is a huge step towards getting commitment. By being honest you show the customer that you truly understand the deeper issues involved and that you have been there before. By speaking about how you solved these issues, you build client confidence in your ability to deliver despite odds. The client will see you in a different light from the run of the mill salesmen.  

What are your thoughts on getting the client to commit?

Does your customer make you feel like you are Derek Anderson up against the Dallas Cowboy's Defensive line?  Those who watched last week's royal thumping of the Browns would know what I mean.

Delivery is failing-repeatedly. Resourcing is pathetic- universal problem eh? All the "salesy" commitments you made to get the deal are coming back to haunt you. The customer has stopped a payment and the whole world is baying for your blood. What do you do?

Don't react but validate: It's Monday morning and you are getting ready to go to work. Your cell phone rings and it is the customer.
You: "Hi Laks, How are you ?"
Customer: " I can be better. I just got a call from your project manager that he needs one more week to complete the system testing. The worst thing is that he is blaming it on our SME's! You know how much is at stake here? The business will kill me."
You: "Let me explain Laks. Actually, what happened was that John, your SME went on leave and this lead to…"
Customer, cutting in: "This is RIDICULOUS! I am calling the CIO right now".  

What went wrong? You were actually right. The SME did go on leave and the requirements review did not happen. That indeed was the root cause. On top of it, your offshore team has been working weekends. An escalation is an escalation even if it is unfair.

When you get a complaint, especially when it is on the phone. Don't react or explain. First validate the feelings the customer is experiencing and ask for a meeting. This is not the same as agreeing that you are at fault. Saying something like.."I understand what you are saying. The delivery has slipped and this situation is not acceptable. If I were in your place, I would be just as upset. Can we meet first thing in the morning, at say 8 am and talk about this? I want to make sure this is resolved immediately." By validating the customer's feelings and by giving a commitment to solve the problem you are a). Making sure the relationship is intact - at least for now. b). Ensuring that the buck stops with you. c). Have given the emotional customer the psychological air that he so deperately needs at that time. However, if you had stayed the course of pure logic, you could end up winning the argument but spoiling the relationship. 

Meet the customer face to face: Go into the meeting with an attitude that this is "my" problem to solve. Set the tone of the meeting by showing that you are ready to own the problem, no matter what you think is the root cause. You might be a small cog in a billion dollar company. But act like you own the place. Once you have set the right tone with your openess, ask the right questions. Focus the questions on identifying the root of the problem from the customer's perspective - not your perspective. Continue to validate what the customer is feeling. You will see him opening up and becoming more receptive to you. Once you see this happening, ask the questions that will help you find the root cause from your company's perspective. Armed with this information, end the meeting with a promise to come back with a solution.

Do a deep dive: Call a meeting with all the key people from your team. Set the tone that this is a problem that the team needs to own. Ensure that the team understands that while they need to own the problem, the solution can be a joint one with the customer. Before sharing the customer's perspective, ask the team for their own perspective. Don't forget to give them the psychological air that you gave the customer. You might end up uncovering hidden issues and problems. Encourage the team to come up with creative solution options that not only solve the immediate problem, but address the root cause. Ensure that any actions are documented and owned by the project manager and not by anyone else.

Circle back with the customer: Go back and share the solution options with the customer. Always project the solution as a joint one. This is because almost always there is something that the customer can do to help you do your work better. Share your action plan and ask for feedback. Document the actions in a mail and always follow up to check if the actions have had the desired result. 

Note of thanks: Drop a note of thanks to the customer for giving you this chance to improve the service. Ensure that all actions and commitments - on both sides are documented.   

BTW, If you are a Browns fan you can take solace that you have me for company. Let's hope they do something better when they visit the Steelers.

Account management is all about relationships. You can deliver all you want, but if relationships are messed up, it's time to polish the resume- guaranteed. You will get big time escalations over little things. Well ? Did someone say that the little things are the big things when it comes to relationships ?

In some ways it is funny. Relationships, something essentially emotional, should play such an important part in selling something that is thought to be a product of logic. In any type of a complex sale, relationships play a key factor. In account management; it's everything.

OK. Relationships are everything. So how does one go about building them ? One of the keys to building lasting customer relationships is to be the first to give value and to keep giving value without expecting anything in return. Find out what matters to your customer and think of small, incremental and creative ways to deliver the same. Your delivery style should be open, friendly and engaging. Do this, and you are well on your way to building lasting relationships.

A salesman's job is to shape needs and generate demand. With the economy in recession, many clients are cutting budgets. Prabhu says there is evidence that budgets are getting halved in several industries. Demand seems to be either stagnant or is taking a nosedive.
     Talking of demand, there have been very different times too. Most people of my generation (read oldies!) have seen the Y2K boom followed by the rollercoaster dot com era - dog food selling websites getting valued at billions and then getting dumped at values lower than even their tiny dog food inventories would command. The dot com era also saw the demand for skills like 'digital strategy'. You could download a few articles on B2B and B2C and take a month rehashing them into a nice looking ppt titled 'Monetizing Eyeballs', replete with clouds and arrows and bill at $250/hr while you are at it. Oh! Did I mention fat perdiems ?
      Most attempts to understand demand are done from a vendor's perspective. Starting with staff aug and ending with consulting. Co-sourcing and managed services bring up the middle. Makes perfect sense. The only problem I have is that this is a very inward way of looking at demand, it's demand from a vendor perspective. The client simply does not think on these lines. From a client's perspective, there are two broad classes of demand a). Steady state demand (SSD)-The keep-the-lights-on part that is responsible for keeping the business running and b). Transformational demand (TD) that seeks to change the business. Steady state demand, while being unglamorous, provides much the needed revenue stability that comes with an annuity business. It allows you to meet your numbers, build operational relationships and acts as a backbone during tough times. Transformational demand has peaks and troughs, is sometimes based on the whim and fancy of client execs. Tapping into transformational demand needs a different style of engagement, centered on thought leadership and the business domain. It demands that you take a point of view when you talk to customers instead of just asking them "I have great people with me. How can I help ? ". What makes transformational demand most critical is that today's TD is tommorrow's SSD. Here are some key differences between the two streams of demand and some thoughts on how to engage.

Happy New Year everyone and hope your year is filled with prosperity, good health , peace and happiness.
Many thanks for visiting my little blog, giving me suggestions for improvement and most importantly for your comments. I have learnt a lot from you and hope I can continue to learn.  

The year 2007 has been a significant one for me. A job switch and relocation to the US have been the big changes. I am playing a new, exciting role at work. One where I am responsible for growing topline while addressing delivery escalations with the  customer. In order to be successful I realize I will have to learn new skills and unlearn some old ones leading to a strategic paradigm shift in my approach and my thinking. Here are my five New Year resolutions to that effect.
-Never say 'No' to the customer. But look for creative ways to satisfy customer needs by exploring interests rather than sticking to positions.
-Never take a 'No' from the customer as a rejection, but stay positive and importantly stay engaged. 
-Engage at multiple levels of abstraction and be flexible enough to engage both tactically and strategically as the context demands.
-Build relationships outside the immediately visible stakeholders and lay the ground for future growth.
-Make maximizing customer value as the central theme within my portfolio.