Now if you have followed our previous blogs, you will know what our reaction to this is likely to be - Before you blame the sales team (resources), have a look at the message and environment.
The best way of illustrating this is to provide you with two examples we have recently encountered.
We will not sell your offering it does not pass the "Ronseal Test"
We have been working with a client who has a new solution targeted at the SME marketplace and their largest channel partner has been failing to sell it. The initial reaction was that the sales team were just not up to it, but further discussion uncovered the real issue - Perception was the solution did not meet the customer need.
Sales people will not discuss a solution they have no confidence in, and this clearly manifests itself in a channel partner. The sales people have a range of offerings to sell, from a number of suppliers. Why should they take a chance on solution they have no confidence in? Human nature will always drive us to focus on the easiest things. The things we are comfortable with.
Further examination of the situation identified the real problem. The solution was targeted at a particular customer type and if the sales team properly qualified their targets they would have discovered that when positioned to the right customers the proposed solution not only addressed their issues but importantly delivered significant value when compared to the competition.
Interestingly, when we spoke with our client's sales team about the solution they had a similar perception about its relevance, and they too were reticent to introduce it to customers.
What exactly are you asking me to sell?
Here is a second example of an organisation with what they believe is a class leading product that none of their partners is selling in any quantity. In order to understand why, we facilitated a workshop which included product marketing, senior channel managers and technical specialists. The objective was to agree the key propositions that would encourage the partners to sell more of the product.
The workshop ultimately stalled on a key discussion, could anyone define what the product really was and what business issues it actually addressed. Consensus was the product could do anything you wanted it to, but this was of course not helpful to the channel partners. Beyond this, every channel was different in how they wanted to engage and what they were looking for from the product.
There was universal agreement that in the words of Einstein “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough”. The key action from the workshop was to find a way of explaining what problems the product solves and how this would be of benefit to the partner. There was recognition that this would probably result in a number of messages reflecting the differences in the partners. Linked with this there was also recognition of the need to move away from thinking "sell to" or "sell through" and to start thinking "sell with".
So what is our message to you?
Your channel is just an extension of your sales team, with the same issues of Message, Environment, Resources.
- If your sales team cannot articulate the message, why should you expect your channel partners to do any better?
- If your channel partner's environment is not aligned to selling your product/solution, why would you expect the sales team to sell it?
- Are you making it easy for your partners to work with you? Remember they are not dedicated to just selling your products/solution, you are competing for mind-share constantly
- Think "sell with", be part of the solution to selling more.
Do you want to know more?
Either read our Helping business drive sales document or contact either Mark Savinson or Fred Nelson and let Accredit help you create and manage your solution assessments enabling you to ensure your sales organisation is maximising the opportunities your portfolio creates.
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