Selling during challenging times !

Challenge

I am a member of a leading MNC IT services organization’s regional sales leadership team & my regional  team`s  challenge is to understand which solution to cross sell into our named farming account by a new  structured and result oriented client engagement exercise in the new COVID business scenario .The  project scope includes the four account managers, 12 named clients and their key stake holders (which  is usually 3 per account). The project is limited to cross selling 2 service lines – namely cloud based e- commerce application solution and cyber threat monitoring solution which is designed specifically to  help clients in the COVID- 19 challenges. The project is targeted to be completed in one quarter (90  days) within which each account manager should be able to close 4 deals. Our main drive & attention  will be to get into details of technical feasibility of the solution and each of sales cycle stage with  individual account manager and identify & improve his / her skills on technical sales side.

Selection

Our team has carefully evaluated the available options of design thinking activities/tools for this  challenge & have concluded to attempt with the learning launch tool so as to quicken the go to market  sales cycle time & sales closure timeline.

Application

To begin with we identified and picked one target account per account manager for the pilot sales  closure. We chose the banking account / client which was most vulnerable to cyber threats & the retail  account / client for the e commerce application solution as they would be in dire need to initiate the e- commerce platform due to restricted opening of shops due to the COVID pandemic. We started the  engagement with engaging the chosen target clients on scheduled video meetings & highlighting the  benefits of the solution and the clear risks they might encounter in their current business if they would  not adapt to the new changing business trends. In the second engagement phase we decided to run  proof of concept ( POC ) for the client (s). For the first two clients we showcased them the proof of  concept solution ran into technical issues which identified we were not well prepared with running  successful proof of concept . We decided to run mock proof of concepts internally within the team to  master the art of successful proof of concept which would compel the client to decide quickly. These  mock POC sessions proved quite helpful to the account manager. In the next following POC sessions  each of the account manager successfully completed the POC which helped to quicken the sales decision  cycle pace by a week overall. Post the first four sales closure - one each per the four account manager  engaged in the project , we invited the client stakeholder for a 15 minutes objective survey on what  induced them to choose our tailored made COVID centric solution vis a vis the general solutions  available in the market. We ran this survey exercise through a third party independent entity to ensure  we get unbiased feedback on what we did right and also to clearly highlight the areas of improvements  in the solution & also the client engagement cycle.

Insight

With opting the learning launch tool, we clearly identified our assumptions both in the solution and the  engagement approach and pilot test it from all both the technical feasibility and the evolving account  engagement model of seeing in the COVID scenario. The team realized which solution worked and why  & associated with that the account engagement with the target key clients needed a more robust and  seamless remote technical presentation . The identification of  the changed client engagement norms  which relied mastering the art of structured remote interactive engagement with the client to mitigate  the loss of personal engagement with the client stakeholder was given in account selling. With the first  four deals being closed in with the learnings well documented post discussions with the account sales  managers & taking into account the independent client survey undertaken, the regional team is now  quite clear in the mind on both the solution to be sold & the new engagement model in the COVID era.  The ongoing incorporation of insight is particularly important at this stage, as we now plan a full rollout  of the chosen solutions & the changed  engagement model within the design thinking timeline.

Approach

As the regional sales  team is now experienced several design thinking activities/tools and are at this  stage in the timeline, the learning launch is the selected  tool. The team is now completely aware which  solution worked and the improvements required based on the independent client survey & the changed  engagement model our account managers should inoculate in the new COVID era and its associated  challenges.  We plan to further improvise on the solutions offered to the clients & evolving client  engagement model which will be based on learning launch tool / alternate design tool depending upon  the case scenario best suited for the given challenge / time

