Sales Management Under Pressure

The hardest thing for me about sales leadership is the lack of control. The head of sales is responsible to the board for outcomes. However others are on the front lines.

My natural tendency is to put pressure on direct contributors which creates stress and anxiety hurting results. A hands off approach leads to drift and inefficient development of best practices.

A solution exists. Interview each sales team member and find out their perspective on what is needed to drive success. Here is the key. Don't conduct the interviews yourself. People will not tell you the full truth unless the comments are anonymous.

My suggestion is to have a neutral third party get the information. You will get honest feedback and ideas to help the team rise to their maximum level of performance. From a personal perspective you will feel a sense of control, which acts like a safety value releasing pressure.

Selling New Solutions to Satisfied Buyers

Keith Eades in Solution Selling defines what he calls "latent opportunities"as problems waiting to be solved that do not have known solutions. This is different from "active opportunities" where management is looking for ideas to fix known problems.

The book Selling is Dead introduces a different way to think about latent opportunities. The author believes that most sales organizations are not equipped to engage buyers who are satisfied but with the right help will adopt often disruptive new solutions. 

It is critical, from their perspective, to build a business case showing the value change will deliver. Until that happens, even solutions that remove pain will not be adopted. Once this step is completed, risk mitigation strategies are needed. That is based on a full understanding of the potential for fear to derail the sales process.

I sold a large complex marketing solution to a major technology company. A manager was curious about my company and thought we could handle overflow work for an overburdened department. Because my questions were focused on larger organizational opportunities, she realized we could help enable a mission critical strategic growth initiative at the CEO level.

Before working for this company, I reported to a CEO whose perspective was limited to finding known opportunities. He wanted me to "get us on the RFP list" and stop wasting time talking to people who were not ready to buy from us. After selling a major product launch marketing solution to a corporation that was not looking for a vendor he changed his mind.

Barriers to selling disruptive marketing services and technologies

Those of us who sell cutting-edge marketing solutions are not always aligned with executives who fund and managers who use new methods and technologies.

We think impacting financial performance and solving business problems should close the deal. It is not always the case. There are all kinds of reasons why people buy or don't buy something that works better. Maybe the person who has to run or implement the test is perceived as barely competent. Or the manager is afraid of looking better than his boss.

The lesson is to find out what matters early in the sales cycle. We need to know not only how to solve business problems but align ourselves with hidden personal and political issues.

In Russia during communism expensive champagne was served during intermission at the ballet. The bartender moved so slowly that not everybody got some. The American visitor asked his Russian friend if servers were always lazy in his country. The Russian said that there was not enough to go around and to save face the theater asked them to go slow.

I read this somewhere and always remember when a potential client engagement makes no sense to me. People always have a reason for doing what they are doing.

So what does your ad technology company really do?

Marketing technology companies are run by some of the smartest people in the country. However, industry leaders created a matrix of jargon equal to that used at the Pentagon.

A writer said he didn't have time to write a short letter because he was too busy. It is easier to talk industry shorthand than simplify messages for those who don't read AdExchanger.

When sales teams "educate" decision makers about the latest in Demand Side Platforms, programmatic media buying, or dynamic optimization the conversation is over quickly. 

The best way to stay out of the technology cubicles is to hire "translators" in sales and marketing roles. Focus on buyer persona and how people talk within their industry. Keep the jargon for those who need it but don't make that the main message.

Companies that do this will stand apart and differentiate same sounding technology to those who control budgets.

Expanding Business in Key Accounts

The goal of new market development is to engage key accounts that contribute significant revenue. Small projects divert time away from focusing on meaningful business.

My approach is to offer the prospect a more valuable and profitable strategic opportunity, based on the success of a smaller test project that meets an immediate need. When the prospect will not discuss this it is a sign not to waste too much time with them.

It is possible to propose, based on the success of a small project, a contract that allows the prospect to take full advantage of your services. Unless the potential scope does not align with management's idea of a key account the prospect is not important. It does not matter how important or large the company. Have this discussion before scoping the first project.

It takes discipline but do not waste a lot of time or scarce resources. When the prospect tells you that once the work is completed a huge opportunity awaits, know that unless they are willing to spend time talking in detail nothing will ever happen.

How to mine and develop a new market

How to get meetings that lead to sales is one of the most challenging problems companies face today. It is a particular issue for companies that do not yet have a brand name.

The article about cold calls and getting past the gatekeeper prompted a new thoughts:

• When the message is on target cold emails and calls work

• LinkedIn connections are the best way to get great meetings

• When the addressable market or territory is small connections often don't work

• It is always critical to follow industries, companies, and prospects through social media

• Building a network offline is always important even when the individuals are not prospects

Today's sales leaders prefer a direct approach that is focused on cold outreach. Networking with people who are not direct prospects is not considered valuable. Social media is seen as a waste of time as monitoring for trigger events takes time away from sales.

 This has to change as prospects today prefer a different way to engage.

Social Data - Keep on top of consumer preferences

At the #blogwell conference in Chicago a speaker, from an industry leading global brand, talked about social media. His company thinks about social as a strategic platform to bring the consumer's voice into the organizational decision process. The focus is not on Facebook or Twitter as separate engagement channels.


The true revolution in social media is to utilize the data to impact major business challenges. This is a much broader opportunity to impact the business than narrowly focusing on social media marketing