Leadership Selling

What Does All This Have to Do with Selling?

Typically, organizations refer to the process of revenue generation as Sales.  However, a more accurate description this process is Selling.  The action verb, selling can result in a sale or series of sales.  Yet, for each competitive engagement most of these costly attempts at revenue generation will result in no sales–zero revenue.   Fail at enough opportunities and the firm’s Cost of Sales can skyrocket.

Moreover, increasingly B2B solutions are a combination of products (seller product line and possibly third parties) as well as services (can include Cloud subscriptions).  By definition, Complex Sales is getting more complex and interrelated with other new/existing systems.

Failure is Not an Option!

“SUBSAFE was born in 1963, just two months after mechanical failures resulted in the loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593).  The program was started with a simple goal in mind: ‘. . . provide the maximum reasonable assurance that the ship will not have flooding but if flooding does occur, assures that the ship will get safely to the surface.’”  The program is deemed as a major life saving success, partially by enabling real responsibility to all including contractors.

Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) are a similar construct.  Most organizations in Critical Infrastructure sectors incorporate SEMS into their Operations Management Systems (OMS).  For our purposes here, we will repurpose and slightly change the nine tenants of the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s BSEE, SEMS.

We posit that the following Tenants comprising our Selling Management System (SMS):

1. Commitment to Values and Actions. Leaders demonstrate a commitment to societal and organizational values in their decisions and behaviors.
2. Issue Identification and Risk Management. Issues potentially impacting the deal and its successful delivery are promptly identified, fully evaluated, and promptly addressed or corrected commensurate with their significance.
3. Personal Accountability. All individuals take personal responsibility for process and personal behavior, as well as the stewardship of those entrusted to them.
4. Work Processes. The process of planning and controlling work activities so that the selling action items are in accordance with organizational mission and policies as well as boding well for success.
5. Continuous Improvement. Opportunities to learn and codify selling and delivery knowledge, ensuing future success and organizational learning.
6. Environment for Raising Concerns. A work environment is maintained where personnel feel free to raise issues and concerns without fear of retaliation, intimidation, harassment, or discrimination.
7. Effective External and Internal Communication. Communications maintain a focus of the selling efforts and processes.
8. Respectful Work Environment. Trust and respect permeate the organization with a focus on teamwork and collaboration.
9. Inquiring Attitude. Individuals avoid complacency and continuously consider and review existing conditions and activities in order to identify discrepancies that might result in error or inappropriate action.

It is not surprising that action items focused on revenue generation should align with business imperatives towards effective and efficient operations.  This is especially true when operations personnel are assigned to the pursuit team as they will play a major role assuring successful delivery, i.e. most capital (CAPEX) goods and services.

Tenant 6, Environment for Raising Concerns is perhaps one of the most important when enabling junior leadership.  For example, if a material issue is identified by a new college graduate in her or his field and unnoticed by more senior individuals schooled in early technologies, failure to be “heard” may have deal failure ramifications, i.e., engineering or software errors.

Leadership is not part of a title, except by self-serving politicians who routine call themselves leaders.  Leaders are not born either, they are individuals (all ages and genders) who when needed, rise to occasions great and small.  The Rickover Mind Model enables leaders to emerge and that includes leadership during selling processes.

Complex Deal Pursuit Team

A deal Pursuit Team is a formal group assigned to drive revenue opportunities for a single deal/long-term strategic relationship or even partnership.  It can be an ad hoc assemblage or more effectively the assembly of experts with this type of experience.  Ideally, for a significant opportunity this team has a sole focus during its lifecycle, but that is not always the case or even practical in some firms or deals.

Team composition can include, Sales Representative(s), Sales Management, Sales Support Team (as required) Executive Sponsor (if appropriate), Subject Matter Expert(s), Project Management, Third Parties (subcontractors and/or technology/professorial services providers), and others as needed.  Not all participants will be required full time.

Typically, there are three phases to this process:

• Relationship and Opportunity Development–The relationship building processes between seller and buyer as well as identification of value that can be added from seller products/services/solutions.
• Formal Proposal Submission–Development and draft (with revisions) of a documented Scope of Work/Products, Deliverables and Pricing.
• Proposal Assessment and Acceptance–Buyer review, changes and agreement to move forward–The Deal!

Leadership is required throughout this process, and it may come from very unlikely sources.  Often top-level technologists and engineers are not the most outgoing folks.  However, their thoughts can be game changing.  It is important that those on the quiet side be actively ‘Included,’ and their ideas sought out and given serious discussion.

Role of AI Agents

“AI sales agents are autonomous applications that analyze and learn from your sales and customer data to perform tasks with little or no human input. These agents can perform a wealth of functions, from top-of-funnel tasks like nurturing leads with email outreach, answering questions, booking meetings with sellers, and quote creation to tasks more deeply integrated inside sales teams, like active buyer roleplays and coaching. What makes them different from simple workflow automation is that agents are capable of learning, using data analysis to work more efficiently, taking action on their own.”

The Pursuit Team is responsible for winning the deal and AI is another tool, not unlike product demonstrations and marketing efforts.  AI inputs should be calibrated and interpreted just like other data sources and analyses.

Final Thoughts

Remember that people buy from people and individuals on both the selling and buying teams have personal agendas, such as getting promoted.  Sellers who identify many/most of these concerns stand a better change of closing the deal.

Closing deals generates jobs.  Both by the vendor and its ecosystem as well as the client who will use the product/service/solution to increase the stakeholder value ecosystem.  Stakeholders are broadly defined including local communities and customer’s customers.

It is safe to say that the complex selling process is dramatically changing.  Time to get on board!

Nothing happens until somebody sells something!  How is your company assuring the selling process is routinely successful?