As you prep the steaks and marinate the chicken for the grill this weekend, we offer you a breezy look at some of the challenges sales reps experience in peddling workflow solutions, as part of our July state of the industry focus.
Let’s be honest, an account executive (by nature) is attracted to the easy sale that can be wrapped up in short order. John Sutton, the national director of sales for Novatech, notes that when a complex solution is involved, it can stretch out the sales cycle quite a bit. Still, the payoff is greater in the end, from both the client and rep perspective.
“We found that when we introduce a solution, the sales’ side will lengthen a little bit, but the deal size gets larger and the profitability increases,” he said. “By virtue of going that route, you don’t have as much competition. There’s a tradeoff. It’s a little bit of time on the rep’s part to be involved, but much larger upside on the back end of that.”
Educating Clients
Brad Yocum, market director for Function4, points out that educating customers on the capabilities of solutions is a more urgent need for the small- to medium-sized business than it is the large/enterprise customer. That’s where a well-versed account manager can score points in a pitch.
“These SMB customers know they have information in different silos and would like to have one central place to be able to pull from,” Yocum said. “But for this market, there’s not a lot of information that appears to be readily available to those customers. So I think the challenge for reps is educating them on what the capabilities are and then getting them to realize they can accomplish those things.”
As the initial pitch begins to generate momentum, some reps will then hand the ball off to a source matter expert who can perform a deeper dive in explaining the capabilities of a particular software or program. But the discovery phase is the rep’s time to shine, notes Steve Behm, the vice president of professional services for Flex Technology Group.
“Becoming educated on what the capabilities are and some of the logical questions to ask both customers and prospects is the first step toward bringing in that workflow automation process,” Behm added. “Many of our reps are very adept at the sales process, but it’s taking those first couple of steps that requires thought and effort in having that conversation.”
Home Schooled
It’s not to say that an account executive needs to be a technical virtuoso. Mark Lasinis, director of technology for Imagine Technology Group (ITG), points out that some of the best lead generators are reps who don’t have any idea about what’s “under the hood” of a particular solution. However, they are quick to identify a manual workflow and can understand what an automated process might look like for the client.
An easy way to help reps understand the basic functionality is to use the products within your own dealership, which ITG does. Lasinis can walk a client through how the dealer does its accounts payable, for example, and they learn how a solution can improve efficiencies.
“They see how this works and a light bulb goes off,” Lasinis said. “They don’t have to know sequel databases or image files – they don’t have to understand any of that technology. What they understand is they just watched how someone can process x-amount of invoices and checks in an hour and a half, when it usually takes them eight hours. That person, who is stretched to the limit on what she’s doing, can now continue the rest of her job and even take on more responsibility. Now, the company doesn’t have to hire more people.
“The idea isn’t to lower head count, it’s to give them more time to do their job and do more with what they have. That gets them excited.”
Project Liaison
Depending on the number of vendors who are participating in a given project installation, a sales rep can be called upon to act as a go-between with the different parties. It’s important that the voice your client hears on the phone is that of the sales rep and not a software company rep, notes Stephanie Keating Phillips, director of solutions for Advanced Imaging Solutions.
“To be honest, we’ve had challenges with software companies because you have different reps that aren’t speaking the same language you speak, so you have to be that liaison between them and the client,” she said. “You don’t want them to go directly to the client, let them go through you. Between us, the manufacturer and the software company, it took about a year and a half to get on the same page of how we were going to take care of our clients. Now, we’re all marching at the same pace. “If that communication style doesn’t continue, the sales rep will have a tough time making sure he’s maintaining control over keeping that client happy.”
