Author: Editor

Connecting Your Embedded PS Business to Your Strategy: Turning the Primary Revenue Gears to Drive Growth & Value

Many corporations have added Professional Services (PS) to their businesses to drive greater customer intimacy and differentiation.  But, how do ensure you’re maximizing the benefits? If you’re looking to unlock greater opportunity provided by your PS business, consider the following questions:

  1. What is the role of PS in your overall strategy: For most product-based companies, PS cannot drive significant enough revenue on its own to greatly impact growth or valuation. The primary function of the embedded PS wheel is to enable the big revenue wheel (i.e., core products and services) to improve outcomes for both the client and your broader organization.

There are three keys ways that PS drives the bigger revenue wheel:

1) Providing differentiation

2) Creating intimacy with your customers

3) Pulling through your products and services

  1.  Are you applying PS correctly to fit that role? Once you define the objectives of your PS business, you can apply PS to achieve objectives that fulfill its role in your strategy; PS can serve a multitude of purposes, including but not limited to: generating demand, guiding clients with impactful ideas, moving above the Line of Safety, De-risking the Purchase Process, and engaging through a Land and Expand Lifecycle.

These benefits can be accomplished through more specific strategic approaches such as:

  • Entering new accounts
  • Protecting your share of wallet at current accounts
  • Growing your share of wallet at current accounts
  • Pulling through specific products and services
  • Maintaining relevance between purchase or renewal cycles
  1.   Are you deploying PS in the right places?

In addition to defining the purpose of PS within the business, you should establish where PS will have the greatest impact in the market. This entails determining which segments PS can provide you the greatest impact.

Additionally, you must consider the effect on your portfolio. Taking PS into account in your portfolio allows you to express your portfolio across an account lifecycle. PS should provide new account entry offers, offers that maintain customer intimacy across the life of an account, and offers that drive the account on buying journeys of products and services.

  1.  Is your PS business running according to best practices?

Once you’ve developed an understanding of your high priority segments and how to serve them, you can unlock the full benefits by implementing PS best practices.

You can analyze PS performance by reviewing diagnostic indicators including:  project margin, realization, utilization, and account growth.

Then, to address the PS diagnostic indicators, you should leverage a framework (such as our 8 Pillars) that categorizes best practices into focus areas.  For example: Value Proposition, Brand/Legitimacy, Client Intercept, Service Lines/ Offerings, Financial Management, Organization and Talent, Practice Management, and Delivery.

  1. Is PS properly Interfacing with Your Commercial Organization?

PS is a powerful enabler of the commercial organization, but it must be integrated and leveraged to fulfill its mission. PS requires a new selling motion and often proves to be difficult to shift into because it requires the sales team to think and act differently. It allows you to intercept your customer’s natural buying mindset earlier than usual.  It also shifts the role of your salesperson from the communicator to the coach and the validator.  Because of this, it is important to be deliberate about how you integrate it into your sales and account management organizations.

PS has the ability to unlock a tremendous amount of value for you and your customers. To understand how to fully enable PS, access the presentation and whitepaper by clicking here.

 

 

Written by: Dean McMann

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About the Author: Dean McMann is a Founding Partner at McMann & Ransford with 35+ years of experience in consulting and professional services.  He is a sought-after expert and speaker on topics of: B2B differentiation, professional services best practices, and overcoming commoditization.  In addition to his extensive experience in the Professional Services space, Dean also serves on the board of various non-profit organizations.

 

Service Chains – The Manage Phase

This blog is part of a series on Service Chains.  To read the first blog in the series, click here .

The Manage Phase is the last phase of a Service Chain in which the client agrees to and pays for an on-going pre-determined role for you that is integral to full realization and/or maintaining the value and benefits of the Idea and solution.

The Manage Phase maintains a meaningful and valuable presence with the client to sustain relevancy between further buying cycles, to create new buying cycles, etc.  In other words, this phase is leveraged in the overall account journey and becomes integral in account management – done correctly the buyer pays the seller to remain engaged and creates the avenue to introduce or identify new opportunities and Ideas.

The Manage Phase encompasses continued or expanded realization of benefits, evolution of the organization’s application of the Idea to be more efficient or effective, and identification of new opportunities.   It can involve a wide range of different activities.  Examples include:

  • Post-install tuning and optimization
  • Training and support
  • Maintenance Services
  • Managed Services
  • Business process outsourcing
  • Technology hosting
  • Periodic re-evaluation of performance
  • Advice or assistance in managing or maintaining a new process, tool, etc.

These types of interaction can provide many benefits, including:

  • Formal means to measure and the show impact of the solution
  • Periodic executive touch points
  • The platform to promote and build on success
  • A forum to bring new ideas to the table for further business improvement
  • The opportunity to proactively manage expectations

To be successful, the Managed Phase will have these characteristics:

  • Fees commensurate with on-going benefits
  • Maintaining executive level contact with the client and focusing these interactions on the business outcomes derived, not service levels
  • Dealing rapidly with barriers to progress that arise
  • Participation from key stakeholders for future purchase decisions. This objective should be explicitly planned for and effective use of the Steering Committee can accomplish this goal
  • Expanding participation to other influencers within the organization to build rapport and credibility
  • Using the access to the client organization to identify and present new opportunities and ideas to the client

Some of the challenges we see for our clients in executing the Manage Phase include:

  • Losing focus on the value and outcomes for the client and focusing solely on service levels
  • Failure to bring new Ideas to the client’s executives
  • Failure to guide and advise the client as an expert on their business processes and objectives, rather than technical aspects of the solution
  • Not dealing with service or performance issues directly and swiftly
  • Not holding the client accountable for their responsibilities or performance

Written by: Doug Long

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About the Author: Doug Long is a Partner with McMann & Ransford and has more than 26 years of experience in consulting across various industries, topics, and client challenges. Prior firms include Deloitte and GE. He currently leads our Healthcare Practice.

 

 

Service Chains – The Implement Phase

This blog is part of a series on Service Chains.  To read the first blog in the series, click here .

After the Proof Project, the next step in a Service ChainSM is the Implement Phase, Project, or Projects. The Implement Phase is the portion of a Service ChainSM in which the complete value of the solution is unlocked for the client by realizing the benefit, addressing the challenge, or fixing the problem.  In some cases, the Manage Phase is required to fully realize the potential, but in those cases the Implement Phase fully prepares the organization to realize the promise and sets up the Manage Phase for success.

Because the Implement Phase unlocks the full value potential of a solution for a client, it is the core of a solution or Service Chain.  As such, it is generally the most resource intensive for both the client and you; it also has the highest fees.  In some cases (e.g. large outsourcing and hosted technology contracts), the largest fees may be derived from the Manage Phase and the Implement Phase ensures both organizations are prepared for the long-term contract.

Implement Projects can encompass a wide range of activities depending on the type of solution and could be single, multiple, or phased projects.  Typical Implement Phase includes:

  • “Lift and Shift” transition
  • Business process transformation
  • Phased development
  • Pilot driven roll-outs
  • Combination phased development and pilots

Many services companies already have the capabilities for Implement Projects developed and in place before adopting a Service ChainSM methodology, as it often it involves deployment of the core product or service to be pulled through; therefore, emphasis is on:

(1)   getting here faster

(2)   with client expectations properly set

(3)   the product or service correctly priced

(4)   implementation de-risked (for both parties)

Successful Implement Projects have the following characteristics:

  • Fees and organizational time/disruption commensurate with the value to be achieved through the idea, although the specific time to deliver and fees depend on the scope, number of phases, etc.
  • Effective change management and rigorous project/program management
  • Dealing rapidly with barriers to progress
  • Participation from key stakeholders for future purchase decisions (i.e., the Manage Phase and other offerings).  This objective should be explicitly planned for and effective use of the Steering Committee can accomplish this goal
  • Expanding participation to other influencers within the organization to build rapport and credibility
  • Deliverables that make the next steps (i.e., Manage Phase) self-evident and an easy decision to buy to sustain and enhance the value achieved
  • Using the access to the client’s organization to identify other opportunities

Some of the most common failure points include:

  • Losing focus on the value and outcomes
  • Lack of flexibility in adjusting the standard activities to unique client circumstance – i.e., an overreliance on “that’s the way we do it”
  • Failure to guide and advise the client as an expert on their business processes and objectives, rather than technical aspects of the solution

As mentioned in an earlier post, some Service ChainsSM end with the Implement Phase; however, if your strategy includes managed services or long-term contracts, a Manage Phase follows.  “Pure advisory” Service ChainsSM can, and when possible, should also include a Managed Phase that keeps you involved in the success of the client and generates recurring revenue.  We’ll discuss this further in the next post.

To read the next blog in this series, click here.

Written by: Doug Long

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About the Author: Doug Long is a Partner with McMann & Ransford and has more than 26 years of experience in consulting across various industries, topics, and client challenges. Prior firms include Deloitte and GE. He currently leads our Healthcare Practice.

 

 

Typical Corrective Actions by Sales Leaders

“The Challenge of Meeting Sales Goals” introduces a high-level discussion about why so many B2B companies struggle to meet revenue targets, highlighting how poor planning and poor execution impact sales performance. This blog will explore some typical actions that a sales leader might take to address either missing sales goals or projecting to miss sales goals.

We will not delve into organization-wide gap closing measures as illustrated by an executive at a Fortune 100 client: “After the first quarter miss, we spend the next three quarters in institutional gap closing measures that detract from our ability to interact with customers and close business.” These reactive actions are rarely effective, but create the levels of action and the necessary response in many organizations to meet the need of leaders to “do something” in face of adversity.

We will focus on five key tools in a sales leader’s bag – actions that he or she likely has control over that require little to no organizational oversight. These actions include:

  • Skills Coaching and Training – Many sales leaders continuously evaluate their teams for gaps in capabilities. There are copious skills training programs aimed at augmenting sales skills, and while sometimes effective, training often reflects the “flavor of the month” pattern as organizations and leaders try to stay abreast of the most popular and latest sales methodologies.
  • Territory Adjustment and Alignment – Following skills training, sales leaders commonly look to “move the chess pieces around the board” in an effort to realign their territories and regional gaps with sales people of different skillsets and capabilities. This could be as small a shift as assigning a key account to a sales person with more of a hunter skillset to open new doors, or it could be as drastic as reorganizing and redeploying the entire salesforce.
  • Tools and Rigor – Few sales organizations maximize the potential of their CRMs. CRMs are often chockfull of bad, old, or duplicated information. Additionally, the sales processes and tracking methodology tend to deteriorate over time without constant reinforcement. As a result, many sales leaders will periodically perform CRM clean-up and tracking rigor (managing to the milestones) initiatives which may be temporarily helpful, but are difficult to maintain.
  • Compensation Plan Adjustment – The next thing that a sales leader will do is go to the compensation plan to provide extra “grease” to motivate their sales team. When well thought-out and done in conjunction with HR, finance, and a compensation professional, working with the compensation plan can be an effective tool for a sales leader. However, there are plenty of cases where ad-hoc spiffs and bonuses miss the mark and fail to produce the desired results.
  • Performance Evaluation and Management – Finally, a sales leader will use end-of-year performance evaluations as an extension of the skills coaching mentioned above to leverage a formal process to adjust their sales team’s behavior and performance. This is often used to reward the sales members that do well and to remove sales team members who are systematically not achieving success or showing the potential to do so. The latter creates the opportunity for a sales leader to re-invigorate the sales team by bringing in new blood. And while managing and rewarding performance is absolutely critical, without understanding the underlying causes of performance variation, it may demoralize the team by rewarding chance or creating unnecessary churn.

All five of the actions listed above can be effective when done with care, patience, and ample planning. However, when they are not properly planned and executed they may have the exact opposite effect of what the sales leader hoped for, and in some cases, they may work against each other to negate any positive effect on sales performance. For example, coaching and training are some of the most cited requests of sales team members in employee surveys, yet overindulging in this training can have a negative effect on a sales person’s customer facing time and their ability to close deals.

Another example is using spiffs and bonuses to drive specific sales actions and push particular products. Usually the reason a product, service, or solution is failing to resonate with a customer is product management and marketing related, not due to the sales effort, so spiffing an action does nothing but drive up the cost of sales that were already going to occur.

Finally, performance managing someone out of the organization is sometimes necessary, but many sales leaders feel pressure to adjust their sales team too quickly. One executive we worked with felt that it took 12-18 months to bring a new salesperson up to speed, but there was no organizational patience for this timespan. The result was unnecessary and costly churn which exacerbated the sales goal misses instead of fixing them.

There is good news, however. The Commercial Sustainability StrategySM has a more holistic approach to addressing sales goal misses and often works to magnify the above actions to drive increased sales.

Written by: Marc Cottle

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About the Author: Marc Cottle is an experienced sales leader with 15 years of experience; he is a Principal with McMann & Ransford and leads the Commercial Practice at the company.

 

Service Chains – Proof Projects

This blog is part of a series on Service Chains.  To read the first blog in the series, click here .

Moving through the steps of a Service ChainSM, after the Entry Project comes the Proof Project.  The Proof Project is the step in a Service ChainSM designed to provide proof of concept and/or clarity of the path forward – ideally both.  Generally, it follows an Entry Project and precedes an Implement or “Fix It” Project.

Proof Projects provide buyers with the information they need to feel confident to take action, such as demonstrating the process, proving the economic model or benefit, and/or defining a clear and detailed path forward.  Generally, they deal with the buyer’s question of “how to act” – demonstrating your expertise and value proposition – and position you as the obvious choice for “with whom” to act.”

Proof Project typically accomplish some or all of the following:

  • Provide a base line from which to quantify business benefits
  • Identify specific opportunities for improvement
  • Demonstrate what the solution would look like (the level of detail required depends on the situation)
  • Identify and address potential implementation risks for both buyer and you
  • Provide a clear economic case to realize the opportunity (i.e. the Idea)
  • Lay out a clear implementation plan
  • Build stakeholder advocacy for solving the problem (i.e. the Idea)
  • Provide the decision maker with everything they need to justify his/her decision within the buying organization

Compared to Entry Projects, Proof Project fees are higher, and the project duration is longer.

Example Proof Projects include:

  • Situational assessment, pilot
  • Solution architecture
  • “Small fix” in an area identified in the Entry Project
  • Business case for action
  • Road map for action

Some critical success factors include:

  • Fees commensurate with the value received by the client in relation to the full value proposition of the complete Service ChainSM or solution
  • Participation from key stakeholders for future purchase decisions and/or implementation considerations.  This objective should be explicitly planned for and effective use of the Steering Committee can accomplish this goal
  • Expanding participation to other influencers within the organization to build rapport and credibility
  • Deliverables that make the next steps (i.e., Implement Project or Phase) self-evident and create momentum for action

Let’s close with some of the pitfalls, obstacles, and challenges:

  • Failing to match the size, scope, or cost to the trust, credibility, and value achieved, and thus, to the buyer’s mindset
  • Failure to have implicit, logical connections or linkages to the next project in the Service ChainSM
  • Losing focus on the entire vision and future state, by focusing on the “proof” as a stand-alone proposition

To read the next blog in this series, click here.

Written by: Doug Long

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About the Author: Doug Long is a Partner with McMann & Ransford and has more than 26 years of experience in consulting across various industries, topics, and client challenges. Prior firms include Deloitte and GE. He currently leads our Healthcare Practice.

 

 

Service Chains – Entry Projects

This blog is part of a series on Service Chains.  To read the first blog in the series, click here .

Entry Projects are the first step in a Service ChainSM.  They start the client on their journey to realizing a solution by allowing them to understand the applicability of an Idea to their business.  It should always be a paid engagement. 

As the first paid engagement on the client’s journey toward the full solution, the Entry Project is critical.  It must provide certainty that the Idea applies and warrants further investment to attain the benefits of the solution, thereby moving the client forward in their decision process.  Execution of the Entry Project sets the tone and expectations for all the work to follow in the Service ChainSM.

Alternatively, an Entry Project may show that an Idea is not germane to a particular client.  While not ideal from your perspective, if the Entry Project is well positioned and executed, the client still derives value from understanding the lack of applicability of the Idea and you retains the right to bring additional Ideas to the buyer in the future.    

Entry Projects focus on proving applicability of an Idea to a client and making the case for action.  Thus, they typically include some or all of the following components:

Verifying that the client is experiencing the particular issue, challenge, or problem that the overall solution is designed to address

  • Confirming that a particular opportunity exists that the client could or should pursue
  • Sizing the impact of addressing a problem or pursuing an opportunity, including: cost, benefit, level of effort, amount of disruptions
  • Identifying or validating root causes
  • Showcasing the advantages of your approach to the challenge or opportunity
  • Planning for the solution
  • Assessing resistance to the Idea and gaining buy-in from key stakeholders for the change required

To accomplish these objectives, Entry Projects can take many forms.  Examples include:

  • Ready Offers which can be sold in 1 or 2 meetings without extensive application of subject matter experts or delivery resources and are pre-priced and highly standardized:  Executive Briefings, Planning Workshops, Mini-Assessments
  • Tailored Offers which must be created for a client-specific situation and client-specific needs, and therefore, require more input from delivery resources and subject matter experts:  Custom White Papers, Detailed Assessments
  • Sense and Respond Offers which are defined through the selling process with significant involvement from subject matter experts to define a custom solution:  Custom Assessments, Executive Working Sessions

The size, scope, speed, and cost of an Entry Project are critical elements to success.  While specifics of those elements vary by industry, Idea, overall size and impact of the complete solution, authority of the buyer, and other factors, guiding principles include:

  • Fees should be below the executive’s budgetary authority, but sufficient to attach importance to the effort for the executive and the organization
  • Length and scope must include sufficient time to develop meaningful analysis, insight, relationships, etc. – it must maintain momentum for the full solution.  Typically, the timeline is measured in days to weeks, not months
  • Participation often includes key stakeholders for future purchase decisions and/or implementation considerations.  This objective should be explicitly planned for and effective use of the Steering Committee can accomplish this goal
  • It presents an excellent opportunity to expand relationships to other influencers within the organization to build rapport and credibility
  • As you gather data and input, you often have the chance to expand your understanding of the client organization beyond simply the Entry Project scope, which can be very valuable to the account plan
  • Deliverables must make the next steps (i.e., Proof Project) self-evident and create momentum for action

While mentioned earlier, we must emphasize that the buyer must write her first check for the Entry Project.  All too often, our clients want to “give away” the Entry Project or bundle the fees into a discrete purchase of core products because they think it will make selling it easier – “once we are in the door and they begin to see value, we can start charging them.”  This is a major mistake.  Doing so fundamentally undermines the journey because it diminishes the buyer’s attention and commitment to the effort.  If the idea is valuable, the buyer should and will be willing to make an explicit economic investment.  If she is not willing to do so, then you should view this as a red flag indicating one of two things:

  • The value of the idea has not been well positioned in the selling stages
  • The buyer is not committed to achieving the outcomes

In either case, the risk of failure for both parties increases dramatically.

To read the next blog in this series, click here.

Written by: Doug Long

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About the Author: Doug Long is a Partner with McMann & Ransford and has more than 26 years of experience in consulting across various industries, topics, and client challenges. Prior firms include Deloitte and GE. He currently leads our Healthcare Practice.

 

 

Service Chains – The Components

This blog is part of a series on Service Chains.  To read the first blog in the series, click here .

Our last post introduced the concept of the Service ChainSM.  Remember the goal is to establish an executable and repeatable offering as the means to deliver on the full promise of the True SolutionSM or Service ChainSM with messaging that resonates in the market and addresses topics that executives are or should be interested in.

Now we will begin to break down the components and explore it in more detail.

This graphic represents the Service Chain with two boxes (meetings) in “Creating Opportunities” and four boxes (projects or phases) in “Delivering Value.”  Not every sale is won with two meetings and not every offer has four distinct projects; in both cases, it may be more or less.  Some common examples:

  • The Implement Phase may contain multiple distinct projects, such as phased implementation in different parts of the organization or distinct modules of the solution
  • Some offers are indirect (meaning they are not intended to pull through any other product or service); these offers may not have a manage phase
  • If the size, urgency, and steps to realize an idea support it, some Service Chains move from an Entry Project to Implementation with the objectives and outcomes of the Proof Project incorporated into the Entry Project or early stages of the Implement Phase
  • The diagnosis and agreement on the scope of a client’s challenge may be agreed upon during the Stakeholder Meeting. Thus, some of typical activities and objectives of an Entry Project may not be necessary and the first delivery project may look more like a Proof Project (although size and timing will need to address the Entry Project characteristics that we’ll describe later)

However, each step shown in the graphic has the explicit objectives and outcomes described below that must be achieved to move the buyer effectively through the decision (dating) process to the total solution (marriage).  Service ChainsSM accomplish these objectives and outcomes by disaggregating the big purchase decision into smaller decisions scoped and sized to match the buyer’s position in the journey – the buyer’s investment grows as the understanding, credibility, and value achieved or achievable increases.

We’ll explore each of these projects or phases in more detail in a future post, but for now, here is a summary:

Journey Step Investment Value Derived
Idea Meeting 30 minutes to an hour of the buying executive’s time Introduction to a concept that could provide value on an important topic
Stakeholder Meeting A few hours of time from the core group of the executive’s peers or team members that would be impacted by the idea Validation that the idea is worth exploring further within the organization, buy-in from key participants, and clarity on initial steps of the journey
Entry Project Fees that are below the executive’s budgetary authority, but sufficient to attach importance to the effort for the executive and the organization; participation from key stakeholders Certainty that the idea applies and warrants further investment to attain the benefits
Proof Project More substantial fees and greater organization participation, but with limited organizational disruption of existing operations Proof of concept and/or clarity of the path forward – ideally both
Implement Phase Fees and organizational time/ disruption commensurate with the value to be achieved through the idea Realization of the benefits and/or ability of the organization to do so
Manage Phase Fees commensurate with on-going benefits Continued realization of benefits, evolution of the organization’s application of the idea to be more efficient or effective, and identification of new opportunities

 

A single well-executed Service Chain instills the seller with the freedom to continue bringing new ideas because of the credibility and executive access built along the journey.  This is true even if the buyer exits the journey before it is complete because at no point along the path will the buyer be asked to make an uninformed decision – “to jump off a cliff” leaving them with buyer’s remorse and distrust of the sales and account team that brought them on the journey.

Let’s close with some of the pitfalls, obstacles, and challenges:

  • Not charging for the Entry Project
  • Selling an Entry Project during the “Creating Opportunities” phase, rather than building consensus for the Idea
  • Failing to match the size, scope, or cost of any project in the Service Chain to the trust, credibility, and value achieved to date, and thus, to the buyer’s mindset
  • Dividing the Service Chain into projects that do not have implicit, logical connections or linkages to the next project in the Service Chain
  • Skipping a step in the Service Chain without fully addressing the objectives and outcomes tied to that step in some other fashion, thereby misaligning to the buyer’s decision process
  • Not effectively selling the entire vision and future state, both at the beginning of the relationship and throughout the early parts of the engagement.

To read the next blog in this series, click here.

Written by: Doug Long

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About the Author: Doug Long is a Partner with McMann & Ransford and has more than 26 years of experience in consulting across various industries, topics, and client challenges. Prior firms include Deloitte and GE. He currently leads our Healthcare Practice.

 

 

Leading with Ideas – Catalytic Ideas

This blog is part of a series on Leading with Ideas.  To read the first blog in the series, click here .

We’ve looked at how Ideas work in the buying decision process; now let’s explore the qualities of an Idea that will motivate action by buyers.

Some Ideas are bigger than others – some require a bigger budget, some require more authority to move forward, but all good Ideas should draw the client into a discussion about the possibilities.  Ideas that will catalyze purchase decisions sit at the intersection of three of the characteristics shown below.

 

Let’s look at some specifics of each characteristic

Too Important to an Executive Not to Act – The Idea must make this importance immediately evident, and while largely self-explanatory, this concept has two distinct subcomponents:

  1. The impact and value that the Idea brings to the organization across many potential measures, such as:
  • Financial
  • Competitive
  • Prestige (e.g., preferred provider/partner/pupplier, preferred pmployer)
  • Buyer’s personal/professional agenda
  • Regulatory or compliance
  • Quality
  • Mission-driven or cultural imperatives
  • Corporate objectives or directives
  • Remaining independent (i.e., staving off acquisition)
  • Protecting customers, markets, products, etc.
  1. Presenting the Idea to the correct executive in the organization; i.e., engaging an executive with budget and authority to act on the Idea (“above the Line of Safety”)

Your Expertise Makes It Achievable – The Idea unveils your point of view and demonstrates your expertise to achieve the goals of the Idea.  The Idea may emphasize specific qualities that you bring to the solution, such as clarity, insight, independence, originality, empathy, and experience.

Too Difficult to Achieve on Their Own – The Idea must also implicitly or explicitly make clear that the client lacks the “ability” to attain the outcomes on their own because of various factors, including:

  • Capabilities, skills, or expertise
  • Culture
  • Organization inertia
  • Funding
  • Stakeholder alignment
  • Resources or bandwidth
  • Experience
  • Data, benchmarks, or best practices
  • Understanding the barriers
    • Knowing “how to”

As you develop advisory relationships with clients, you are likely to discuss or advise them on topics or ideas that do not meet all three characteristics, which helps build intimacy, and therefore, is vital.  These are not the “Catalytic Ideas” that will drive buying from you.  Thus, your organizational focus should be on building out a portfolio of these Catalytic Ideas to drive business and move you forward to the demand generation point of the buying cycle (as discussed in a prior post).

Leading with Ideas – Generating Demand with Ideas

This blog is part of a series on Leading with Ideas.  To read the first blog in the series, click here .

In the last post, we mentioned that Ideas align with the way real decisions are made – instead of working against the process.  Any purchase decision has these three sequential components:

1) Whether to Act – This stage is all about deciding if something should be done. Is it worth investigating this opportunity or issue(s)?  Only when this is decided does How to Act come clearly into view,
2) How to Act – How can this be done – What are the alternatives? Where are the risks? What’s the game plan?  The stage is fruitful with analysis of how to get things done. Then and only then will does the last decision come in,
3) With Whom to Act – Can I do this alone, do I need help, who can I trust, etc.  This is about selecting partners for the implementation.  If you have assisted, even advised, in Whether to Act and How to Act, then you are the obvious partner for With Whom to Act.

How often have you been involved in a sales situation where all the discussion is about With Whom to Act – our product is better, cheaper, etc.? For most companies, the answer is “all too often” coupled with:

  • “They seemed to have another competitor in mind the whole time and we lost the deal” – likely that competitor was in the demand generation conversation with the buyer
  • “We had to give major discounts to win the deal/keep from losing the customer” – likely the buyer simply went out to the market to gain price leverage over an incumbent provider

Also, long sales cycles are often caused by selling to the With Whom to Act Question when the client is still deciding Whether to Act.  By shifting the focus on the conversation to Whether to Act, it is much easier to guide the client through the entire executive buyers’ decision process, and you will likely gain valuable intelligence about the competitive situation.

The importance of moving earlier in the buying cycle is paramount – the true value (the opportunity to provide insight and advice) of the relationship is created in the Whether to Act and the How to Act stages of a decision.

Recently, Nicholas Toman, Brent Adamson, and Cristina Gomez from CEB published an excellent exploration in Harvard Business Review (https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-new-sales-imperative) of the buyer’s decision process and how a “proactive, prescriptive approach” to selling simplifies the purchase for buyers and reduces purchase regret.  Ideas (coupled with Service ChainsSM) should form the basis for such a prescriptive approach.

To read the next blog in the series, click here.

Written by: Anthony Paluska

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About the Author: Anthony Paluska is a Partner at McMann & Ransford with experience helping organizations overcome commoditization by developing stronger, more intimate, relationships with their customers. He has leveraged his management consulting, problem solving, and change management skills to support 15+ Fortune 1000 organizations, across a multitude of industries.