Global Ambition, Global Sales Outline of a Discussion ESADE FORUM Barcelona, 23rd October 2013
Kenneth P. Morse Serial Entrepreneur, Angel Investor & Sales Veteran Visiting Professor, ESADE Business School Member, National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (NACIE), Washington Founding Managing Director (1996 – 2009), MIT Entrepreneurship Center
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Tel Spain: 659-11-9898 US Mobile: +1-617-930-2340 Euro GSM: +32-475-258507 Email: KEN.MORSE@esade.edu
Desired Outcomes of Presentation 1. You understand, and buy into, the critical roles that market focus, missionary sales, elevator pitches, and “A” teams play in building world class companies. 2. You believe that sales is a science, not an art, and can be learned, even by engineers! 3. You understand how to calculate economic benefits, ROI, and the value proposition throughout the value chain. 4. You begin calculating how to craft a divine elevator speech, and practice it here. © 2013 Entrepreneurship Ventures Inc.
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De-select Markets & Customers It is important to know: • Which markets you have selected & de-selected • Which customers you will not sell to • Who in the “Jury” you must sell to first, and who you will not call… until later. Examples: • Dell • Others….
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The Key Role of Missionary Sales Your innovative solution is: – High value, and … – Purchased through a highly rational, ROI-driven decision making process. It comes down to WIFM: “When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it; When you can not measure it… your knowledge is meager and unsatisfactory.” -Lord Kelvin
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The Concept of the “Jury” or Decision Making Unit (DMU) Let’s say that the Manager can approve a modest amount, and the Big Guy can approve more… Top Decision Maker
“Jury” DMU Influencer #2 Finance / “Dr. NO”
Influencer #1 (CTO/CIO, etc.)
Legal / Purchasing
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Meeting the Prospect/Client Preparation – – – – –
AR/Website/other sources Reference checks/relationships Organization Chart Business Drivers Who has the power?
Remember: You only get one chance to make a good first impression.
Pre-meeting chit chat Introductions/positioning D.O.O.T.M. Stay on the game plan; keep a checklist Asking questions vs. Making a presentation If the big guy leaves, what do you do? Who else do you meet today? Will you have lunch at the site? © 2013 Entrepreneurship Ventures Inc.
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Building and Managing the Sales Force It starts at the top: the CEO must be committed to selling, and to supporting the sales team internally. What happens if your CEO is not passionate about delivering customer value? Best selling builds ten (10+) year relationships; never an ONS. Missionary selling -- changing the clients’ business processes -- is far more difficult than selling into a well-defined need (Facilitated order taking/3D salesman). Average sales guys abound; Missionary Sales Persons and superb relationship managers are worth their weight in gold. They typically get paid more cash compensation than the CEO. Incentive Compensation: –
60% base, 40% bonus for sales account managers (SAMs)
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90% base, 10% bonus for technical account managers (TAMs)
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Some Q-to-Q linkage
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Quota ranges: €750K - €2.0M
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OTE ranges:
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Some stock options, 4-5 year vesting
€80K - €200K+ varies f(quota)
Keep SAM and TAM linked together when possible. Avoid changing territory: encourages higher investment + long-term orientation. The best CEOs are thrilled when a SAM makes more money than they do..... © 2013 Entrepreneurship Ventures Inc.
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Preparing Your Elevator Pitch Quantify the benefits: to understand customers’ economic benefit, you need to get in their heads (“needs processing”) and model the effect on their business of using your product. Step 1: Understand how they are currently solving the problem.
Step 2: Understand how their work processes will change by using your product.
Step 3: Calculate the change. It must deliver payback.
Bear in mind that the forces of evil which fight against innovation are rampant, devious, and well-organized. To justify the risk of change, and of being a small company, you must be at least 2X faster, 2X better, and 2X cheaper than the known alternatives.
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Delivering Elevator Pitches Effectively 1. Convinces the “target person” to schedule a longer meeting with you, and to be receptive to doing business with you and your company. 2. Empowers and enables the “target person” also to convince other appropriate people to become interested in your company. 3. Resonates; Demonstrates sincerity. 4. Communicates a sense of value, empathy, and urgency. Quantifies the value proposition clearly. 5. Combines thorough Sales and Market Research. 6.
Requires no more than 1-2 minutes (55 seconds is best).
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ANY QUESTIONS?
Thank You for Your Attention!
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