Post COVID - CIOS Need to Maintain Cost and Revenue Variables

 

Thinking Hat - #1

• No such thing as difficult people 
• Who wants to reboot the internet 
• Collaboration key to success in sales 
• Impact of AI
• Effective Sales need both vertical and horizontal alignment
• Enabling Customer Journeys
• Five growth strategies

The customer of tomorrow

The customer of tomorrow, in a fast-changing scenario, wants everything at the swipe of a screen and a click of a button. The customer of tomorrow is even unwilling to step out and check the physical market and wants to buy most stuff online. Along with millenials, as a large number of Gen Z-ers come of age as consumers, they are no longer comparable with the consumers from the generations that preceded them, when it comes to the manner in which purchase decisions are made…Customers are fast-changing, as are their perceptions and points of access. Brand loyalties may soon become a thing of the past and disruption will be key to attracting the new-age customer. Emergence of many new-age brands, outlets and products are unimpeachable testimony of this changing consumer-leaning.” More here.

Attribution for Articles and Presentations

 All the Articles, Presentations and other material on this blog are Attributed under License - No Derivative 4.0 International.

 

Selling After the Pandemic - Moving from Products to Services

Sourced from HBR April 2021

 

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Rethink Customer Segmentation Among large B2B companies, the most common way to organize a sales force is by the size and potential of the customers. Enterprise accounts are typically the customers with the highest headcount (and the largest number of seat licenses); as such, they are the highest priority and are handled by the best salespeople. 

Restructure the Sales Organization Rethinking customer segmentation focuses on the question: Who are the company’s target customers? Once they are identified, the sales organization must focus on how to sell to them. The traditional sales process typically involves generating leads, qualifying prospects, demonstrating products, and closing sales. Many salespeople have spent decades learning and implementing- ing that routine. A consumption-based model requires a different process. 

Use SalesForce Management Instruments to Drive the Right Behavior Setting a strategy, segmenting the customer base, and creating the right organizational structure are big-picture requisites to a successful transformation of the sales function. To influence how salespeople interact with customers and targets on a day-to-day basis, sales managers must use the set of tools I call sales force management instruments: Hiring the right people, training and managing their performance effectively, and compensating them in a way that aligns their incentives with company strategy. 

As more organizations shift their sales strategy toward consumption-based pricing and SaaS models, they must recognize the complexity of the transformation they are attempting. They are changing all the variables in the formula “how to sell what to whom.” To increase their odds of success, firms must be ready to rethink their sales management and strategy the same way they reengineer their products. 

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Happy New Year

Happy new year to everyone. 

Thank you for your wishes and concern. Had a covid scare, but turned out to be viral only.

Thanks again for everyone's support. 

B2B Sales - NPS Fallacy for Growth

 B2B Sales - NPS Fallacy for Growth

Source: Gartner.com

Thank you for supporting and buying the book

Thank you for supporting and buying the book - Sellers from Mars and Buyers from Venus. Yesterday completed the sale of the 100th book. Gratitude to everyone who bought and sent feedback. 

I will update the sections in the next 2 months. Updated downloads are free of cost.

Part 2 is a work in progress.

Tribute to my Mother on her 1st Death Anniversary

It’s my absolute honour and privilege to tell you about the exceptional and courageous woman I was lucky enough to call my mother (Renu Sharma). Born in a countryside village near Pilkhua, in UP, India, she was the only daughter among 3 siblings. She was a graduate in arts, and political science and later on learned Astrology and Vastu as practised by her grandfather. 

Married at the young age of 19 years, she moved from a small town in UP to Ambala in Haryana. From there on she lived in various places such as Punjab, Haryana and Himachal, due to my father being a serviceman in defence. 

As she travelled and lived in a vast range of different cultures, she picked up many new skills in the arts, cooking, and painting and taught them to other aspirants. Besides, my mother was a fine stage actor and even wrote a few skits. Whenever she stepped into a room she brought a calming and joyful presence, she was literally and metaphorically speaking a bundle of joy and light. She had a knack for making friends, helping others and was never shy of taking initiative. She was bold and courageous. 

Fast forward to 2006 after the birth of my daughter, my mother lost vision in both her eyes at the age of 50. We were in complete disbelief and shock. However, despite the challenges with only 30% partial vision, she regrouped herself and continued living her life. She further engaged in doing social service for poor and deprived people by helping them financially or by other means. 

In the year 2011, while walking on the road my mother met with an accident where a ball and socket joint was inserted in her right leg. This made her mobility difficult, but she continued in her life with great courage and resilience. 

Late in 2012, she had another setback where her kidneys started deteriorating which impacted her emotionally and mentally. At the time doctors mentioned that she won’t live for more than 7-8 years and her kidneys will deteriorate further. In 2019, she was diagnosed with a stone in her kidneys and after that, she reached a stage where dialysis became a necessity. 

In late 2020, her dialysis started, and within 8 weeks she got infected with COVID and was hospitalised in the ICU. On Dec 22, 2020, she lost her will to live and passed away after a cardiac arrest. She was in the ICU bed for 30 days and suffered enormously during those 30 days due to the complexity and mismanagement of her treatment. 

Today she is not with us, Dec 11, 2021, was her 1st death anniversary (using the lunar calendar, according to Hindu rituals). As she completed her final journey in the universe, where her soul will be allocated a new place/body/planet after Dec 11, I remember she always use to say to us, to do the right thing in life, never lie, be righteous and help others with whatever means you have. 

The last 12 months have been a very challenging, painful and emotionally dragging journey for everyone in the family. It is hard to describe, but it’s been the most difficult time of my life. Her teachings remain entrenched in my memory and give me the strength to live and carry on.

PS: gratitude to the following people - Mr Sanjeev Tripathi, Mr Anil Sharma, Mr Soni, Mr Suri, Priest in Haridwar, Ms Patricia Karvelas. 

Post COVID - Shoots in Indan Economy

 

Multisided Business Model - Key to Driving Revenue Growth

Multisided Business Model - Key to Driving Revenue Growth

 

What is Multisided Business Model

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Future of NBN Co - if Labor Wins 2022

 

5G Rollout Challenges in Scaling Up

 

source: Gartner, 5G

Weekend Reading

 

• Technology Crossing the Chasm
• How to Identify Growth Opportunities
• How to Price SAAS Product
• Strategy for Startups
• The Shift in the Future of B2B Pricing

Weekend Reading

Weekend Reading

• Facebook has changed its name (context: Metaverse) 
• Leaders need to cultivate complementary strengths
• Increase Business Referrals
• New rules of marketing
• Buyers Journey is becoming more like a quest

Weekend Reading

 Weekend Reading 

• Atomic Rewards: The Solution to Attention Recession (Part 3)
• Entrepreneurs need me time
• Common biases in boardroom culture
• Four ways Jobs will respond to automation
• Four signs of founder market fit
• Successful selling - intelligent choices over data

Sellers From Mars and Buyers From Venus - Highlights

Highlights and Excerpts from my book, "Sellers From Mars and Buyers From Venus, Elements of Nature Meet B2B Sales" are published. 

This gives a view of what is inside the book.

 

5G Evolution and Positioning to Sell

 5G Evolution and Positioning to Sell   

Books to Read

• Atomic Habits (James Clear)
• Can't Hurt Me (Goggins)
• The Daily Stoic (Holiday)
• Driven (Douglas Brackmann)
• GRIT (Angela Duckworth)
• Mistakes Were Made (Carol) - Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts 

We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield. ~ George Orwell

A great nation is like a great man: 

When he makes a mistake, he realizes it. 

Having realized it, he admits it. Having admired it, he corrects it. 

He considers those who point out his faults as his most benevolent teachers. ~ Lao Tzu

Weekend Reading

• The future of platforms
• How to overcome 3 common sales challenges
• Every week - you need an untouchable day
• Stoicism for a better life
• Productivity tips for remote salespeople
• Sales trend to follow for better selling 
• Why sales deals are refused

Why B2B sales deals are refused

Winning and losing are part of any sales process. Every deal and opportunity enriches a sales professional's journey with insights and experience. Learning is a lifelong journey and we learn more from losing deals than winning. It’s important to reflect upon key reasons for refusal leveraging 2nd loop learning, even if we made a reasonable offer and catered for various factors in play. Frustration kicks in easily when negotiations in good faith backed up by a genuine offer fail, hence it requires a new approach to tackle and win. The key to winning is getting a handle on why stakeholders refuse a good or generous proposal. 

Following are the key reasons why deals are refused: 

No Closure was Proposed or Reached - The back and forth nature of negotiations often lead to numerous proposals to sweeten the deal. It is important to put a line in the sand and tell them what is the final proposal to close it, without drawing a closure line, you run on a risky slope and in the process setting up wrong expectations. 

Failure in providing a Good Purchase Experience No alt text provided for this image 

Didn’t give a Face Saver – it is important to give a face sever to the client because we don’t know who in their hierarchy has said what to their stakeholders for clinching a deal. 

Didn’t Respect their Restrictions – Need to respect clients' constraints and restrictions and show more flexibility in navigating around their environment. 

Couldn’t Justify or Articulate the Value - Sharing and telling a story around the value is important, even if the proposal is sound and covers all aspects.

What do you think, would like to learn from your experience and journey. Please do share your thoughts. #Sales #Advisory #Deal making #Negotiation

1st published on linkedin

How Buyers are Disrupting the Sales Process

In my previous posts on the Impact of 2 Speed IT on  Innovation  Culture and Sourcing IT Delivery I have discussed how each aspect requires a different approach to be managed for better success and outcome. In the continuing series, today I would like to reflect upon how the sales process has been disrupted.

Technology has evolved over the years and with each evolution, it becomes a disruptive force in the marketplace. In the current environment, it is not just the technology that is rapidly disrupting the business model across the industries. What is intriguing is that it is the Customer who is disrupting the industry at a rapid pace.

In my view, customers are far more disruptive today than technology-driven disruption, because they are far more sophisticated and demanding, and understand what is happening in the technology space. In the past, they used to rely on advisory firms, vendors, and salespeople to educate them and share necessary information to make a decision. Today, buyers have confidence in their own research, information, and trusted networks. They are not averse to risk or lowering switching costs. Cloud-driven consumption model has made buyers more dynamic, fluid and customer-driven

Traditionally technology or IT sales have been relationship, business and provider-driven, with face-to-face interaction and primarily inside out. From a sales organisation perspective, when interaction with the buyer is initiated from an internal marketing team or sales team, it becomes inside out.

As technology has evolved, the sales engagement process has evolved with it, from face to face, phone-driven, e-commerce chat, to the social platform. Today, sales have become outside in, which demands a different engagement model. Hence, the existing sales model and process are struggling in facilitating the desired outcome. From a sales organisation perspective, when interaction with the sales organisation is initiated by a buyer and dictates the sales process, then it becomes outside in.

Buyers are adopting an outside-in approach for engaging with the sales organisation because the consumption model for technology has enormously changed. Cloud is one of the prime drivers for this change in the consumption model.

Buyers are not engaging linearly with sales anymore. They are simultaneously moving and jumping across exploration, evaluation, engagement, and experience. For example, they go from the exploration to evaluation stage, and if they are not sure after evaluation, they go back to exploration and then jump to engage and experience and finally make a purchase. Because of this dynamic engagement, sales pipeline predictability has been reduced.

Customer-driven sales model with a reduction in pipeline visibility and predictability has put enormous strain on vendors and service providers. It is affecting their quarterly targets and win-loss conversion ratio. The productivity of the salesforce has suffered, in some cases driving a higher attrition rate of the sales force.

So what does it mean for vendor and service providers sales force under this new disruption and consumption model:

• Management of sales funnel cannot be linear anymore; it needs to be flexible with what customer wants. Different buyers, depending upon their need and urgency, will close the deal in a different order of the sales funnel in their buyers’ journey.
• Following a linear sales funnel model religiously during the buyer's journey can be a hindrance to their decision-making process. Hence, align and adjust your sales funnel with their dynamic buying process. This is more prevalent in the Digital IT domain.
• Customer experience is the new battleground in a buyer-driven sales process. Every touchpoint with a buyer needs to be consistent and must be tailored to their needs. The sales process needs to be frictionless and must progress at every touchpoint.
• When buyers are shopping on price, functionality/feature, service, or consumption model, vendors need to ensure that buyers’ entry point in the sales journey must be matched with an adequate or a tailored sales model, else customers will move away and in some cases, they will be moving backward.
• Today, customers are well informed and confident in their own research. When meeting with a buyer or a customer with an existing relationship, keep interaction minimal and specific to their needs. Do not try to dictate them with your mandate, let them drive you through their own process.
• Nurturing of both human and digital connectivity is required to mitigate the risk of no buy. For example, Response to Inbound (outside-in) sales is high when a request comes from a known contact, while the response to Outbound (inside-out) sales will be high if a refresh of technology is required. When these two scenarios are reversed, the risk of no buy is high.
• To improve pipeline visibility and predictability under the new consumption model, insight-driven and smart selling must be practiced especially in a Digital IT landscape.

Every technology and every buyer is different. The salesforce needs to come out of its comfort zone, take some risks, and dream big to succeed. Albert Einstein said:

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them

first published on linkedin. 

Telecoms Cost Out Opportunity

Telecoms Cost Out Opportunity - Reference View

• Telcos cost out opportunity reference model suggests mapping the challenges on the supply and demand side to identify the areas of impact in the value chain 
•  Once areas of the value chain are identified then technology levers need to be applied and executed for relief in the cost envelope 
• Revenue Generation Levers like pricing, increasing market share, monetising assets like spectrum

Australias Budget Deficit and Debt - Pressure on IR

 

Weekend Reading

 

• Sales is broken?
• How to get feedback from your team
• Why Buyers are disrupting the sales process
• Who is your customer
• CMO and CIO partnership in Digital Transformation
• Tips for scaling product
• Apples decade of Success

“No CEO in history has created as much total shareholder value as Mr Cook. When he took over the company had a market value of $349bn. Today it is worth $2.5trn, more than any other listed firm ever. Under his aegis annual sales surged from $108bn in 2011 to $274bn last year. Net profit more than doubled to $57bn, overtaking Saudi Aramco’s oil-fuelled earnings and turning Apple into the world’s most profitable company. Less widely noticed, during his tenure the “Apple economy”—its annual revenue plus everything other companies make on one of its platforms—has grown sevenfold to more than $1trn.

Economic impact - COVID, GFC, PIIGS Comparison

 

NBN Co and its Path to Privatisation