A partnership of equals

In my conversations with smaller product companies the issue of finding partners or building a channel often comes up. There are several excellent reasons to tie up for eg.:

1. Increase your reach - more sales "feet on the street" & on-site customer support

2. Access to the partner's existing customer base

3. Ease of payments & certain financial transactions

4. More predictablity in sales

5. Helping give a fillip to Q end or Y end nos.

It should come as no surprise, however, that signing a partnership with great fan fare is not a guarantee to success. Partnerships often kick-off with a few opportunities that crop up because of the initial combined market outreach efforts but in a depressingly large number of cases the partner then seems to lose interest over time & ends up becoming just another name & contract gathering dust in the partner file. Sound familiar ?

My thoery is that we often approach a prospective partner based on our assessment of what the partnership can do for us but we sometimes neglect the flip side of that story - what's in it for them ? The single biggest reason a partner signs up for is to make money. Leaving aside "exclusive" arrangements in most cases when you consider the amount of sales that can be expected from a single specific partner from a single specific region the problem becomes apparent. The partner very quickly cottons on to the fact that with the smaller companies while the per deal margin percentages could look attractive the top line may not always be too flash. How can you compete for mindspace with the other products in the portfolio of the partner that may be giving them more sales on a more regular basis ?

The good news is that even if you are not the product that will drive the top line of the partner there are still several other good reasons for them to value a relationship with you. The key is to clearly identify the reason the partner needs you for & then ensure that you serve the partner fully in that regard. Let me focus on what some of these reasons could be :

1. Your product fills a hole in their portfolio - the product in itself may not sell that much but the fact that they have a more complete portfolio may help them make more sales overall. Conversely they may be losing deals now due to an incomplete set of offerings & they need insurance against that.

2. They believe that they can sell your product for very little incremental effort or if they can be convinced that they may be leaving money on the table. For example someone who sells computer hardware would be favorably disposed to carry desktop software as the bundle could be sold relatively easily.

3. There may be some PR value in being associated with your product - this is most often the case when the company itself is viewed as a pioneer even if this may be in some other field or if the product represents some kind of a technological advance.

4. Opportunity exists for "cross pollination" between your customer list & the partner's list. Just as you get access to the partner's customer base the partner could also benefit from your customer base & the opportunity for growth through synergy is a powerful motivator.

5. Personal relationships are sometimes undervalued - partners tend to work well with people they get along with. My advice is always to be the company (or group or person) that it's easy to work with. More often than not that removes the extra bit of friction holding things back.

I will come back to how to motivate, manage & run a profitable partnership channel in posts to follow but in closing this one let me make the obvious point that the cornerstone to business partnerships is a judicious mix of enlightened self interest & due consideration to the partner's needs - a partnership of equals is likely to progress further than a lopsided one. 

The dreaded "Let's Keep in Touch" - How to ?

A Pod of Podcasts !

One of the biggest challenges I have personally encountered in the B2B sales space is how to "keep in touch" with people we have presented ourselves to in the past but the compelling event (funding for the purchase, organisational preparedness for adoption, external factors etc.) that heralds a "live opportunity" is still some way off. It would be ideal if there was a steady stream of "non salesy" but relevant information that could be shared with such prospects with the view to staying on their radar, taking on a thought leadership position, forming a relationship & so on ! Let me introduce you to the podcast interview - done right this could do all that & also offer you the opportunity to form a warm & real relationship with the leaders in the industry.

The suggested method is :

1. First identify some well known or respected voices in the industry relevant to your product / service & approach them with the view to interview them to create a podcast. People usually want to help so in most cases where the intent of the interview is clearly to present something of real value to the community without commercializing it they will try to do so within their own constraints of time & schedule. It's important to make it as easy as possible for the interviewee to participate - so no downloading of software, no calling into international nos. & so on.

2. The topic of the interview should be mutually agreed upon - clearly this cannot be directly about your product / service. Remember the intention is to present something of real value to the audience so stick to talking about genuine problems, solutions, advances in technology etc. 

3.  The actual interview should be recorded, edited & published in as professional a manner as possible – on your own web properties as well as any third party sites & groups that allow this (for eg. Linked Groups).   

4. The podcast should also be promoted over the various social media channels - this gives you something to talk about over the lifecycle of the event. You should also request the interviewee to promote the podcast to their own followers, friends etc. This should help drive up traffic to your web properties.

5. This is also a communication that should then be sent out to the customers, partners and "warm" & "cold" prospects in your database. This is a golden opportunity to communicate with them in a “non-threatening, obligation-free manner” with the added benefit of allowing you to take a thought leadership position - almost by reflection ! 

6. The process of approaching, confirming & setting up of the interview also offers ample opportunity to build a strong & warm relationship with the leader being interviewed & to leave them with a positive feeling about your organisation. 

Even a couple of podcasts a month can feed a reasonably steady effort to reach out to your customers & prospects. What's more "Ye olde podcasts" can always be recycled when they relate to events that come up in the news cycle or when there is a need to re-establish contact with someone with a specific interest area. As an example I can point you to http://www.techpostmedia.com/podcasts - the host is perhaps not the greatest (blush, blush) but the guests are usually top notch !

Are LinkedIn groups the missing link for B2B marketing ?

While talking about the impact of social media on growing sales sometimes I get the feeling that LinkedIn gets the short shrift. Despite that I have always found that LinkedIn groups are a great resource for targeted marketing of your products / services. By definition group members are highly motivated individuals with a confirmed interest in the area – for instance if someone joins a group of Trainers it stands to reason that they have an interest in training & by making the effort to find & join the group they have also provided evidence of their drive.

It is possible to perform several activities within the confines of the group:

1. Promote your services / products – no one likes being "sold to" so take care to not do this in a direct manner but subtly, for eg. seeking people’s opinion on a feature or asking them for their wish list of requirements from a product / service of this nature. You have to genuinely care - I can't emphasise this enough !
2. Promote a webinar / conference & invite the members to join - remember the topic / content has to have the potential of delivering real value.
3. Actively participate in on-going discussions & take the opportunity to project thought leadership through your responses.
4. Monitoring discussions for people posting specific live requirements or seeking to solve some specific real life problem that can be addressed with your product / service. These people often expect to be contacted with potential solutions so go ahead & reach out to them ! 
5. Seed discussions – start threads soliciting views in an area of relevance to the product / service. 
6. Promote your other web properties – website, whitepapers, blog etc. - again these have to show potential to deliver real value to those taking the pain to visit.
7. Several groups allow the posting of PRs & Job opportunities as well in specified areas - remember to scrupulously follow the rules of the group.
8. This is in addition to other back-end activities like identifying target customers, contact discovery, industry data & information, competition watch etc.

It is also possible to create one’s own group for the express purpose of being able to carry out a set of targeted activities within its confines. There are a structured set of steps that can be done to start the group & to grow its membership. The advantage here is that the group will be completely within one’s own control & the attendant disadvantage is that it takes time to build up the membership to a reasonable level – if one is willing to invest this time & effort then the returns are definitely worthwhile. The key here is that the activities of the group must at all times put the needs of the members first. 

There are several success stories out there & working business models built entirely on the capability of the product / service to leverage Linkedin - there's no reason why your own story cannot join that list !

PS : I would welcome the opportunity to connect on Linkedin. I am at sanjeevnambudiri@gmail.com !

There's a reason it's called a Sales "Process" & here it is.

A Series of Steps !

A process can be defined as a series of actions or steps taken to achieve an end. We've all heard of the sales process (or "The Sales Process" if you are a Consultant !) so I thought of setting out the various actions / steps that lead up on the end sale in the B2B world. Admittedly this is tilted towards the high tech market & obviously there would be cases when specific steps hold less or no relevance but I believe that as a handy cheat sheet this will offer some value. I also tried to put my mind to identifying the skills that the organisation (or the individual) should posses to be able to move successfully from one stage to the next.

Sales Stage	Description	Desired Result / Output at the end of Stage	Skills / Knowledge (Individual & Organisational)
Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning	Analysis of the available market, defining segments of buyers with homogeneous buying habits or common needs along with the relevant information about the segments like size, decision making criteria, important features etc., then based on the criteria match the segments to be targeted based on an indexation of factors like match of their needs with the capabilities of the product, market opportunity, attractiveness & growth potential of the market segment, followed by orienting the product, it's messaging, pricing & market entry methods to the chosen segments.	A list of desired target segments with a defined approach for addressing each.	Information about the universe the product / service offering operates in, ability to research for this information to fill in gaps in knowledge, capability to design the product, messaging & approach to suit each segment.
Research	Database Creation of "Suspect Universe" - identified based on clear & appropriate parameters	"Suspect List' with key contacts & contact details.	Web research - searching & key word mapping, appropriate knowledge of targeted domains (cos., products, landscape).
Initial Contact	First contact for communicating "Value Proposition" to the suspect list thru' most appropriate channel - for eg. email campaigns, web based social media, cold calls etc.	"Expression of Interest" by "Suspect" in services / products, Set up of Introductory Meeting.	"Message design", Effective & Efficient email campaigns - design & mechanisms, Appropriate leverage of web based social media, Cold Calling skills - Operations Management of Calling Team based on size of the calling operation.
Introductory Meeting	Personal Meeting or Conference Call to communicate detailed Co. / Product Value, References, establish Credibility. Exploration of possible areas of "Need" with suspect, Handling of Initial Objections	Move to "Unqualified Prospect List" if need for products / services exists in near future, Move to "Future Prospects" if future needs exists or drop from "Suspects List" if no possible match for products / services exists.	"Message design" based on criteria like projected needs of suspect, Presentation skills, Thorough understanding of own products / services offering, Reasonable level of Understanding of the "Suspect's" business & landscape, Objection Handling Skills, Questioning skills to probe for unstated needs that "suspect" may have, Relationship Building.
Follow up to Establish Needs of "Prospect"	Appropriately timed follow up meetings, communication, conference calls to define the needs more clearly, to work towards establishing the likely time frame for the fulfillment of the requirement & the possibility of a budget being allocated for the same, may need to draw upon other resources from own organisation & prospect organisation (technical, operational, commercial) at this stage.	A clearly defined need with reasonably clearly allocated resources for the fulfillment of the same & a formal or informal "Request for Proposal". Move to "Qualified Prospect" list if this occurs.	Persistence in Follow up, Relationship maintenance, Co-ordination between various parties
Bid	Understanding the requirement outlined in the RFP & responding to that with a proposal for the Products / Services best suited for addressing the requirement & the required resources (Cost, Time, Effort) for this, Establish own credibility to provide the solution, position solution appropriately against likely competition.	A "Proposal" acceptable to the "Qualified Prospect", invitation for further discussions if clarifications (technical, commercial, operational) are needed.	Proposal writing - techno-commercial communication, understanding of the likely competitive landscape & own strengths & weaknesses within same, Co-ordination with various other groups with inputs required for the proposed solution (technical, commercial, operational).
Bid Revision	Revising the "Proposal" based on objections, clarified requirements, modified needs of "Qualified Prospect" or knowledge of "Competitor" bids.	A "Revised Proposal" that addresses all the needs of the "Qualified Prospect" followed by an opening of Commercial / Contractual negotiations	Follow up skills, Objection Handling skills, Leveraging Relationships for collecting actionable information, Co-ordination with various groups
Negotiations	Identification of areas & scale of disagreement in commercial or contractual terms, finding ways to bridge these gaps - identifying "deal breakers" & possible compromise areas.	Mutually agreeable Commercial & Contractual terms.	Negotiating Skills, Understanding of contracts, Follow up skills, Objection Handling skills, Leveraging Relationships for collecting actionable information, Ability to communicate value for price offered.
Contract Sign-up & "Project Kick-Off"	Acceptance of Proposal, Initial meetings to establish project implementation mechanisms, agreement on the logistics - reporting, performance metrics, escalation matrices etc., Hand over from Sales to "Delivery / Implementation" - incl. all relevant commitments made during Bid & Negotiation stage.	"Contract" & "Project / Purchase Order" & First draft of Project Plan .	Coordinating between various groups (Technical, Commercial & operational) in own organisation & "Customer" organisation, Documentation.
On-going Relationship Maintenance / Account Management	Keeping track of the Projects under delivery, Keeping communication channels open with the "Customer", leveraging the relationship for actionable information on other opportunities within the "customer' organisation, references within & outside the "Customer" organisations, early identification of potential problem areas in existing relationships - eg. changes in "Customer" set ups or market. Possible "Collection' related interventions. Keeping the customer informed of "New Initiatives" within own Organisation that may be of interest to them.	On-going mutually profitable relationship	"Message Design" - identification & presentation of appropriate info. & a delivery mechanism geared towards regular contact maintenance, relationship maintenance skills, awareness of customer business landscape, ability to see the "big picture", Ability to probe for "unstated" needs.

I will try to focus on each distinct phase in future posts & also try to identify instances calling for departures from these steps. Till then feel free to comment or to reach out to me for clarifications at sanjeevnambudiri@gmail.com - thanks for joining !

The God Product (or Service).

While I am not a theoretical physicist I understand the so-called God Particle to be something that merits the name because it fits most theories or models. As I talk to owners & managers of small software product & services companies I get the sense from some of them that they see their product or service in the same light.   Something along the lines of :

-"Our product does everything that the leading products in the market do & is a fraction of the cost"

- "I believe the service we are offering would be of tremendous value to early stage start-ups, mid size companies & the large enterprises".   

People are often so passionate about what they have created or are so close to what they are doing that it's difficult for them to accept that this just cannot be the case - unless you have unlimited resources that is ! This creates a special problem when one tries to come up with a Sales Strategy or a Marketing / Demand Generation plan - by definition one cannot target everyone out there.  

To drive home the point that likely target segments probably exist even though they may not have been tagged as such I recommend taking a look where you have succeeded / failed to sell in the past - if there is a reasonable aggregation of data available about past sales then just looking at the people who have bought your product or service & their reasons for doing so should start throwing up patterns (like the price / feature bundle, ease of use, your references are great etc.). This is even more useful when one looks at people who have considered but not converted - their reasons for not buying are often similar (not got the specific feature set we were looking for, not sure about support, don't think your skills in this area match up to our expectations etc.). One can draw reasonable inferences about target segments based on this - for instance if "ease of use" keep cropping up as a solid reason to buy your product chances are this points towards a type of organisation at a very specific level of skill in the area & there is great value in identifying other organisations in similar shape to target, if your references are winning you business then it makes sense to target companies that are similar to or value the same things as your references & so on.

It's probably worth pointing out that an example does not constitute a trend - if there is one customer of a particular type who has bought the product that may not necessarily represent the segment. 

The obvious obstacle to this course is if a reasonable quantum of sales data is not available - either because the product / service is new or because this data has never been consciously gathered. In such a scenario my suggestion would be to:

- Draw up a few notional target segments based on a considered perspective of the overall market

- List a few potential customers in each segment with some bias towards names that one may have easier access to through a network, because of physical proximity etc.

- Run a time-bound, tightly monitored, structured sales effort focusing on these cos. with the primary objective of test driving the message, the issues of relevance to each segment - including reasons to buy & to not consider etc. 

- Over the course of this exercise look to gather information that validates or debunks the initial assumptions about likely target segments. This could form the base for more informed decisions about the target segments & the best way to address them. 

It is of-course possible that there are products out there that genuinely do everything & are of real value to everybody - to the makers of those products & the founders of those companies I offer my heart-felt congratulations &, if I may, my resume for a job on your sales team !