Winning New Clients: Sales Myths

Getting inside complex, Fortune 1000-sized companies requires major account development strategies and tactics.

Becoming a preferred vendor enterprise-wide is the route to multiple assignments and a dependable revenue stream.

In order to win a major account, the tactics are different from a sales process.

Let's make 3 distinctions between sales and major account development:

1. Sales focuses on getting a yes/no answer to "are you ready to buy?" in every interaction.

Account development takes into account the fact that there are multiple stakeholders.

2. Sales assumes that if you get to the "top" or the "right person", a deal can be done.

Account development understands that each stakeholder group and has a different views of the business challenge. It's much like the fable of the blind people & the elephant; if you're holding the elephant's trunk, you'll describe the beast differently than if you're holding the tail.

3. Sales assumes that it's best to get the first assignment and then move around the organization with internal sponsors.

Account development,realizing that there are multiple "silos", each with their own budgets and revenue responsibilities, takes the approach of conducting a "sales" process inside each business unit.

The credibility earned in one business unit or operating group is not always percieved as relevant by another group, even if they are all under the same brand banner.

Myths about Winning New Clients

Discussions about how to win new clients usually involves a couple of these myths:

1. Knowledge-based businesses are best sold by experts

2. Networks are the best way to get inside large companies

3. If you get to the right person, a deal can be done.

The larger the price tag of the service you offer, the broader the impact of your service and the more stakeholders it affects, the more people will be involved in the decision to hire you.

As a rule of thumb, you should plan to hold "discovery conversations" with all 3 roles in the decision (cheque signer, influencer and implementer) before starting discussions about a specific solution or proposal.

Development can be viewed as a chessboard, with each player having a defined range moves. You will have stratagems, but as each player makes a move, your stratagem will change.

Winning new clients: Myth 1: The Expert

If you are a sales manager, a major account executive or are responsible for high-value client relationships, what role does the subject matter expert play & at what stage of the account development process do you involve them?

Here are some of the most common questions:

1. Do you send your best subject matter expert to first-time meetings?

Generally, experts are most comfortable in peer-to-peer discussions, where a defined scope of work has been established. Most experts prefer to deal with facts, such as processes and methodologies rather than uncovering a potential client's preferences.

2. Which stage of the sales process is the expert most effective?

Experts in large companies are found in user groups, project implementation specialits and vendor management.

Since the subject matter expert inside client organizations often has the role of “implementer”, a peer-to-peer discussion surrounding project parameters and specifications is usually the best time to involve your expert.

3. If you are a business owner and/or a specialist practitioner, isn't your network of other experts the best way to find new clients, since other experts will understand the value of what you're offering?

It is likely that your access and affinity within a large company is with the “implementation” role. This may be where your network takes you and where you are most effective. While subject matter experts can nix a deal on the basis of your competence, they are not the "cheque signer". Therefore, starting discussions with the head of the business unit and being referred to the "implementation" group is a better strategy.

Winning new clients: Myth 1: Role of The Expert

If you are a sales manager, a major account executive or are responsible for high-value client relationships, what role does the subject matter expert play & at what stage of the key account development process do you involve them?

Do you send your best subject matter expert to meetings?

If you are the subject matter expert do you take over from your people in the sales role?

Generally experts are comfortable in peer-to-peer discussions, where a defined scope of work has been established.

What stage of the sales process is the expert most effective?

quite often the expert inside an organization consists of user groups, project implementation or vendor relations specialists. They seldom have final budget authority.

The subject matter expert inside the client organization often has the role of “influencer” in the decision rather than “cheque signer”.

If you are a specialist practitioner, it is likely that your access and affinity is with the “implementer” role. This may be where your network takes you and where you are most effective.

However, a single point of access and visibility with a single stakeholder is not sufficient if your goal is to become a preferred vendor company-wide.

We have discovered that broad-ranging “discovery” conversations, held with players in each of the 3 stakeholder roles BEFORE a project is defined ("cheque signer","influencer", "implementer") is the most effective way of differentiating yourself.

Winning New Clients: Myth 2: “Networking”

As the owner of a specialty business services firm, you may have recruited salespeople because they "knew everyone" and you believed their networks would bring you business. Since you're a believer that word of mouth marketing and referrals is the most dependable way to win new clients, having access to as many people as possible on a personal basis makes good business sense.

The limitation of what I call a "natural network", or face-to-face networking is this: it is likely to be made up of people who resemble each other. In other words, they will be people in similar disciplines and at similar levels of responsibility. More importantly, a natural network is often limited geographically.

Therefore, "natural networks" may not provide access to the companies on your wish list of new clients. Social media can help overcome the limitations of a "natural network".

Let’s say your firm has a lot of consumer packaged good companies on its roster but the industry is stagnant and you’d like to do work in the wireless industry, where there is more growth.

You are considering hiring a CPA who has spent most of her career in consumer packaged goods, supply chain finance. She has strong expertise in your firm's specialty and is a superb networker.

Will hiring this person, even though they have a Rolodex to die for, help your firm to diversify into the wireless industry, where long-term prospects for growth are better?

Should you hire a specialist from the wireless industry?

Or might you use social media to help diversify your "natural networks"?

Winning New Clients: Myth 3: Right Person

If you want to secure preferred vendor status with a major account, there will be multiple stakeholders in each division or operating group. Not only are there "silos" or independant revenue groups with their own budgets, but the stakeholders have different responsibilities with

respect to a decision to hire your firm.

Each stakeholder group may see a different part of the elephant (as in the fable of the blind people and the elephant) and each stakeholder represents a go/no-go point in the company's buying process. Therefore, your firm will make a "sale" to each stakeholder group.

I'll give you an example from a client project. We had set our sights on signing a preferred vendor agreement with at least one of the top 10 globally integrated American banks.

All our development metrics for the outreach program were being achieved:

a) Number of executive briefings received b) Number of discovery conversations heldc) Referrals to key opinion leaders surrounding the decision d) access into each of the business units and operating groups

Still, no project had been identified.

One of the influencers then asked us to take part in a discussion with field executives at an internal conference. We thought it was going to be a "beauty pagent".

The subject matter experts in the implementation group had told us they had "no budget this year". However, the head of the business line, with whom we had started conversations in the company had told her team that if get buy-in from the field at this conference, she would approve a pilot out of her discretionary budget.

Had we gone away when we were told "there's no budget", or stopped asking for meetings with other business lines, we might never have nudged the project into existence.

Because we had covered all the roles in the decision in 6 different lines of business (each having discretionary budgets) and because, as we argued, my client's solution would have a cumulative effect if implemented enterprise-wide, the contract was awarded.

Major Account: Discretionary Budgets

Owner-managers tell me they are on a rollercoaster. They are either too busy delivering client assignments to go after new business or they're frantically chasing down the next assignment because there is no work.

Preferred Vendor agreements can lead to annuity types of assignments.

1.Annual budgets are recurring expenses and are administered by purchasing departments.

When you are told "It's not in the budget", this usually means not in the annual operating budget. This is the budget which pays for expenses that occur every year.

For example: marketing, advisory services, Cost of Goods Sold.

2. Discretionary budgets are signed off by senior officers, to be spent on special projects outside of normal day-to-day operations.

Where can you find discretionary budgets inside large corporations and how do you position your firm's offering there rather than within annual budgets?

Discretionary budgets support short-term, critical objectives. The executive committee may have made public commitments to investors or shareholders, so the best place to learn what discretionary budgets are likely to be spent on is in quarterly earnings reports.

Looking at the investor relations part of a company's website, where public presentations are stored, will also give insight as to what the executive committee is concentrating on.

Look for objectives which sound like this:

“2% gain in market share this year” “entry into the China market by 2015” “move to # 5 position in the industry” Demonstrating how your firm can help the company reach those goals rather than with general benefits like "we help drive sales" will get you into the C-level executive's suite.

Funding a first-time assignment from a discretionary budget improves the odds for a new vendor.

Major Accounts: The Advantages of being "Super-Niche"

You may be a new firm, a small firm or you may have very little experience in the industry you want to pursue. Yet you have your sights set on big company you would like to have as a client.

Here are 3 ways to carve out a "super-niche" for yourself and overcome these limitations.

1.Track the companies you'd like to win as new clients:

a) Go to the investor relations' area of their website & get on the distribution list for shareholder materials. You do not need to be a shareholder and the slide presentations made at conferences or news releases will come to you. b) subscribe to newsletters from the most influential industry publications.

You are educating yourself. In order to speak to business leaders, you need to see the world through their eyes, speak their language and understand how the "cheque signer" views what your firm does.

2. Express your firm's expertise in relation to industry-wide pressures. A similar challenge in a different industry is relevant. For example, new regulations or compliance requirements affect businesses in all industries.

Showcase project(s) where the business challenges you addressed were driven by compliance pressures.

3.When speaking about your firm's expertise, demonstrate how you have helped deliver on a company's promises made to shareholders.

When you're funded out of a discretionary budget, timelines are short. Your "super-niche" may be that you deliver using a company's intranet and therefore have global reach and rapid turnaround. Back your statement up with a generic project path document.

As you become familiar with industry pressures and how that relates to shareholder promises, your "super-niche" will become apparent.

Building Credibility: Different Strokes for Different Folks

Liability for an outside firm's performance may be one of the biggest hurdles to decision-making since it can represent a career-limiting move. Defusing concerns about what might go wrong during a project is the best way to build credibility.

There are 3 "functional" roles around a decision:

1. cheque signer and/or champion

2. influencer (an indirect beneficiary of your service eg. a services group such a legal or marketing)

3. implementer and/or user group

Each of the 3 roles respond to different sorts of validation.

1. Cheque signers and/or champions want to know about your firm's

a) accountability, transparencyb) where the buck stops in the case of non-performancec) the demands of time and resources you will make on their people.

Cheque signers' questions are often about process, reporting, performance metrics. Anticipate these kinds of concerns and answer them before they are asked.

When choosing which of your many "features & benefits" you will present, even in a preliminary discussion, head off a cheque signer's concerns by focusing on:

how you report progress to senior executives how you have safeguards against non-performancehow little time you will need from their internal people.

2. Influencers' questions may sound like they are unrelated to an initiative that is being discussed. You may want to talk about how your firm would develop a solution while an influencer may ask about your documentation or about your success measures.

Offer to give influencers:

a) pro forma pricing contracts b) standard service agreements your firm uses c) sample scope of work statements

Offering these documents before they ask for them can build credibility with influencers because it shows that your firm is sensitive to their processes and that your are an experienced supplier.

3. Implementers are frequently subject-matter experts. Their questions are often about how you do your work.These may be the people you have the most comfort with because they understand the value of what you do.

Implementers are pursuaded by:

a) demonstrations of your work processes b) documentation on expertise in your firmc) illustrations of outcomes Implementers may give you what sound like "buying signals" when they appreciate your firm's work. They may even ask for a statement of work or pricing. Don't be fooled.

Budget authority in this group usually relates to annual line items, goods or services purchased every year. If your service is identified in this year's budget, the supplier has most likely been identified and the budget provided by your competitor.

Customizing your message to the role people have in the decision to hire your firm, improves impact inside a large, complex organization.

Demonstrate Process and Document how You Deliver Visibility

Your task is to help reduce a potential client’s uncertainty about retaining your firm. Bland

reassurances or even glowing reports from previous clients are less reassuring than examples of procedures and documentation which can function as levers for them throughout an assignment.

You don’t need fancy flow charts or project maps.

A thorough approach to risk management can be demonstrated by sharing the documentation you would use during their project. You will notice that I’m not suggesting conventional promotional materials. I’m suggesting sharing the documents you would use in their project. This is the most convincing "show & tell". Displaying your standard documentation assures a potential client that, although they believe their needs are unique, your team will use standardized methods and therefore they can expect predictable outcomes.

These documents demonstrate how your firm handles accountability and reporting, the principal concern of senior executives. Risk for your client is likely to revolve around not yet knowing what the solution will be. Project definition and research are likely to be the first phase of a customized offering, so your client may be paying fees in order for you to develop recommendations or design a solution.

Examples of your standard project documentation, sample reports, case studies, impact reports or “demonstrations” of work for other clients can help consolidate agreement among stakeholders. Without knowing in advance how a customized solution will be arrived at and delivered, your task is to demonstrate quality control checkpoints and procedures throughout an assignment whose intention is to reduce their risk and give them a porthole during an assignment. Case studies substantiate successful application of your process management.

Sending the same electronic documents consistently across an entire organization serves the same objective as using only one briefing document and covering email to secure initial meetings: it safeguards your message. Providing documentation empowers your champions and influencers so that they distribute your message on your behalf.

2. Safeguard Consistent Perception by all stakeholders

Probing, tailoring statements to the stakeholders' roles and responding to concerns will be part of your conversations during the process of winning a new client. As “the buy side” misconstrues your information or misinterprets documentation, you gain valuable insight about how your message is being heard.

Staying informed about industry and company news is a great way to tailor your message as well. Managing the loose/tight conundrum of following a consistent format means that the basic elements become a habitual underpinning which allows more personalization and listening when conducting a conversation. The more skillful you and your people become at supplying only what is relevant to a stakeholder group, the more impact your conversations will have and the more quickly a business unit can make a decision to retain your firm.

It is this nuanced evolution of your message which will yield the exquisite impact of capturing and sharing intimate knowledge. Becoming a trusted advisor to a large, complex organization is so much more than delivering a solution as promised. It is the ability to consistently illustrate your firm’s position as an insider: an insider to sector concerns and an insider to that company’s business challenges.

iii) Defining Your Offering

The third component of a structured conversation is framing your offering in terms of market trends, a broad-brush description of your unique approach or processes and your pricing model by way of scope.Providing a context before describing your offering establishes credibility. A review of trends explains why you are targeting this company and can build early agreement that you understand their challenges.

a) Market TrendsSummarizing the principal challenge facing your client's industry provides a context for your offering. A synopsis of what you’ve noticed going on is intended to solicit an “OK, you understand us” response from the other person. The summary of a trend need not be lengthy, and is intended to foster opportunities for the individual on the other end of the phone to amplify their views or even signal specific concerns.

The more conversations you have had with people in a given sector, the more pointed you will be. When you first start, you may find yourself speaking in generalities but after several exploratory conversations, you will be able to “drill down” to your potential clients' point of view.

For example, if you are speaking with an executive in Wealth Management, you might observe:

“Customer experience challenges in the High Net Worth client segment appear to be around capturing more of each customer wallet share.

Platform integration and advisory teams are the way some institutions are responding.

Is that consistent with your group’s approach?”

Your research on the company’s website and industry publications may even permit you to probe with Point of View questions such as:

“Your product offering seems to be designed to capture increased customer wallet share.

How are your channel partners responding?”