Strategic IT Sales: Creating A Vision And Getting Buy-In
By Dennis O’Connell, Business Development Manager, HTG Peer Groups
Strategic sales is the process of taking your top few accounts and looking at them differently than you do your other clients. With these accounts, you want to jointly create a vision and a roadmap for the next three to five years. This includes not only what you can provide for them but also some of their other partners including their telecom and physical plant providers. Broaden your vision.
When I worked for a previous employer, one of our larger customers was a local government entity. For years, we had provided quotes to them to upgrade different pieces of their infrastructure. They were always grumbling that we were nickel and diming them to death. They were not IT savvy and couldn’t see where we were going.
After one of our meetings, we decided to listen to what the customer was telling us (a very good thing to do every now and then). We sat around the table and decided to create a three-year vision for them that we could present. The vision included all the upgrades we could foresee, the consolidation of their two data centers along with the needed upgrades to their physical plant even though the physical plant was outside of our scope.
Once we had the vision outlined internally, we began the process of identifying all the needed computer upgrades, understanding their costs and slotting them into the appropriate time frame. We reached out to our physical plant partner to talk about how the computer upgrades were driving a need to upgrade the UPS and helped them design their offering based on our needs.
With all the requirements understood, it was time for the big meeting. We rehearsed our roles, knew who was leading when, and gave it our best shot. Not unsurprisingly, the customer was thrilled that we had taken into consideration all their outstanding requirements, laid it out on paper for them to easily understand and used clear English rather than IT-speak. Both sides walked away with smiles and a plan.
And now the rest of the story: Our three year plan got condensed to one year with the government entity finding the needed money to accelerate the project into a single year. The moral is that once they understood where we were trying to take them, they were willing to make the journey with us and even accelerate that journey because we had proven ourselves as a trusted partner who was vested in their long-term success.
Key takeaways
- Your whole team needs to be involved in creating the vision. This includes management, sales, service management, project management, and the technicians who understand the client’s environment the best.
- Your key customers, even those who have been with you for a long time, are probably not IT savvy. Take the time to explain things in English using non-computer terms.
- Creating a vision with multiple years of spending will allow them to “see” the future. Once they see the future and buy into the future, getting them to spend discretionary dollars becomes a lot easier.
- Create multiple payment options. Some organizations prefer to spend capital dollars, paying cash for their IT equipment. Other organizations prefer to use operating dollars. Present both options and don’t be surprised if they want to do a little of both.
- Include the customers’ valued partners as well as your valued partners in your vision.
In summary, you will have more success both from a revenue perspective and a retention perspective, if you engage your clients in meaningful conversations about their current and future needs.
Dennis O’Connell is part of a team of coaches and consultants serving the IT industry. Prior to joining the HTG Peer Groups staff, he spent almost 35 years in various roles on both the technical and sales side of IT companies including a large original equipment manufacturer (OEM) along with both large and small managed services provider. As a business owner, he created his own peer group to provide guidance and feedback for his company. He loves helping sales executives maximize their potential and their impact on their company’s bottom line. You can reach him at doconnell@htgpeergroups.com or on LinkedIn.