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Chronicles of a Sales Leader: Decisions Move Up the Ladder as Forecasts Move Down
August 12, 2008
What to do when the fish in your client pool are behaving—and "biting"—differently
By Bill Golder
About 90 minutes north of where we live, there’s a resort community on Lake Michigan where we like to spend our weekends. Beside the plentiful waters of the large lake, numerous inland lakes and rivers come together to create one of the best playgrounds for those that spend their free time with rod and reel. While there is often debate amongst any community of anglers about the best lures and fishing holes, there seems to be agreement these days in this community that the fish are not biting nearly as much as they have in past summers.
The chief culprit is a once in a century rain storm that brought nearly 15 inches of rain in June, all of which came within a two-day period. During a visit there recently, one of the locals explained to me the various effects of what a rain like that does to the complex ecosystem below the surface of the many waters. In short, it drastically changes the habits and behaviors of anything that calls the lakes and rivers home. More specifically, they are now feeding in different ways, in different places and at different times. This is where the ecology lesson ends (especially since I am the last person who should be sharing knowledge in this area), and the business lesson picks up.
That visit made me think about how sales and marketing leaders are struggling right now with the same challenge—a difficult economic environment that has changed the behaviors and strategies of their customers and prospects. Like fish who are adjusting to changes to their environment, our customers are changing their buying behaviors and protocols in ways that can either mean risk or opportunity. While I can’t provide much guidance on how to improve your daily catch, I do have some thoughts on how to keep up with the buying process of your customers:
1. Prepare for decisions to move upward as the economic outlook goes down.
It's always important to understand the executive level buying influences within your customer and prospect environments. In an uncertain economy, a higher premium will be placed on your team to interact effectively at that level. As a sales or marketing leader, you're advised to get your teams ahead of this curve if you haven’t done so already. Uncover buying influences at executive levels, especially those without an appreciation for the value you provide.
2. What worked before, may not work now and probably won't.
This may apply even more so to marketing. When times are good, the formula for producing leads to the sales team seems tried and true and everyone knows how hard it is to figure that out to begin with. As the economic outlook gets darker, value propositions and those driving new initiatives change. These changes may mean that your message and approach may miss the mark (this applies to sales and marketing). In addition, sales organizations that rely on more art than science will find themselves in trouble as they find former top performers struggling to do well with the same approaches that worked in the past.
3. Change may equal opportunity.
It's not all grim when the economy takes a downturn. Organizations who try to adapt to a changing environment may see new opportunities to gain appointments with historically evasive buying influences. Dust off the prospect files—it may be a good time to go into business development mode. Also, even executive level contacts within existing accounts that haven't been interested in the past may find a renewed interest in getting closer to your company's solutions.
4. Stay ahead by staying close.
If you haven't instituted opportunity and key client reviews, now is the time. It is this process that will provide the insights to adjust strategy if needed. There’s no better way to make decisions on how you market and sell to your clients than by talking to real customers. Sounds simple, but it’s amazing how often that doesn't happen.
5. A sales and marketing disconnect can be costly.
Lastly, it's no secret that most organizations struggle with the void between sales and marketing. In good times, that void feels less important. As the client environment changes and new approaches in both messaging and approach need to be discussed, it becomes far more critical that sales and marketing is aligned in how to make that shift. If you have ownership of these two functions, now is a good time to be less tolerant of the silos.
Whether it's a down economy or a major trend driving change, these are just a few thoughts on how to stay connected with your clients and ahead of your competition.
Bill Golder is a monthly online columnist for Sales & Marketing Management. As EVP of sales at Miller Heiman, Golder has a reputation for taking on tough assignments and successfully turning around difficult situations. He has extensive sales and operations experience, especially in leading business-to-business sales of professional services and multi-unit operations management. Available for keynote speaking opportunities, Bill can be reached at bgolder@millerheiman.com. In addition, Bill contributed to Miller Heiman’s recently published Sales Management Guide, which provides career transition advice to new and seasoned sales managers. To request your free copy call 877-678-0397 or order online.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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