Let’s face it, there comes a time when some applications just aren’t competitive anymore.  In this business, it’s very true that you ‘can’t put lipstick on a pig’.

Recently I worked with an organization that was trying to increase market share with an application that was Windows based in a marketplace where their main competitors were offering the same functionality either with off-site hosted/ software as a service or as a web enabled deployment model.

The CEO of this company solicited feedback as to how they could increase market share and we were able to help them - but not much - due to the changed landscape of their market place.  What was worse, the CEO got rather upset when he was told that the product was no longer competitive due to the reasons above and a few others (like missing functionality that product management was incapable of building because the application because they were too busy fixing issues in the existing feature set). 

We were able to increase revenues with upselling existing customers modules of the Windows application to their existing deployments and increase interest in the brand with some good old fashioned SEO and a new website. This was a short term, sugar coated fix to a bigger problem. 

However, when it came right down to it, that software was not longer saleable in the marketplace in my (and other’s opinion) and the time had come to put the company in maintenance mode or invest in a whole new, web enabled product line.  This was a decision that was clear to most, but not easy for this CEO to make.

Ego, jobs and personal interest in a publicly traded company were larger issues.

To make matters worse, this organization remained convinced that if they could just hire some really good sales people, that they could blow the doors off and grow revenues dramatically. 

We tried that and failed, despite best in class efforts. 

I told them that the business has to be a team effort…that product management and sales need to collaborate in order to bring products to market that people needed and wanted.  This wasn’t happening and it caused a chasm of communication internally.

Don’t get me wrong - I don’t like it when Sales is constantly complaining that “if I only had certain features I could sell more”.

This wasn’t the case here - sales couldn’t sell anything new because it was missing some major elements available from other vendors, for less money.

I think the lesson here is if you are considering a position with any company, you really owe it to yourself to see if you’re being hired to put lipstick on a pig.

Look closely at the competitive landscape, do your research and compare other vendors to your prospective employer and see what’s going on out there.  Make sure their value message matches the viability of the product or service.  You don’t need the stress of being hired only to find out that your product isn’t saleable and have the entire management team tell you that you’re failing, it’s your fault sales aren’t happening and you’re not as good as you think. 

~Brooks.

If you are going to work for a tech company today, it is very important that you CLEARLY understand their value proposition BEFORE signing up.  In fact, I think this should be in the top TWO reasons why you would join forces and help them sell. 

Not long ago, I worked with a company that had a poor value proposition in the marketplace and it was very difficult to build sales and marketing messaging that was compelling.  Here were their problems:

• They could only sell 90% of thier product line in Canada due to regulations and tax laws
• The product had to be 100% installed on customer hardware and offered no viable options for offsite or “hosted” services
• The product took 6-12 months to install and the services to do this in many cases were 2:1 as expensive as the licensing.
• It was very difficult to cost justify replacing many separate systems with this company’s single database system, due to the high capital outlay required to buy this software package. Most customers were willing to live with their disconnected systems rather than spend on a new, unified one.
• Their platform was focussed primarily on the healthcare vertical, which is notorious (at least in Canada) for being very slow to make decisions (read: loooooong sales cycles, before you get paid!), slow to adopt new technologies and fraught with a very high level of subject matter expertise required to sell it (read: your personal training commitment is going to be bigger than other companies you might work for).

Are you excited to work with a company like this? 

I didn’t think so.   If you’re looking for a new company to sell for, I suggest you REALLY do you homework and focus on understanding their value proposition.  Companies that would be ones I suggest you consider are those whose value proposition is going to be easier to manage in your sales conversations that the one I outlined above.  For example, a good value proposition would include:

• Anything with Software as  a Service, where the product or software is hosted by the vendor.  Companies like Salesforce.com, SugarCRM are two such examples in the Customer Relationship Management sector. 
• Anything where displacing people and their jobs is the main driver towards cost savings.  Even though it fundamentally makes sense at the economic level, nobody likes to lose their jobs or bring in solutions where that will happen.
• Anything where it helps people do their jobs and eliminates frustrating, long standing IN-efficiencies in the day to day operations.
• Any company that has broad adoption accross the range of industry.  Unlike my healthcare example above, companies that offer solutions anyone can use for a specific problem to all or most businesses is a good place to be.  The Business Intelligence vendors like Business Objects and Cognos did a great job of this in the last 15 years.
• Anything that can either A)directly help drive more revenue (such as the improved conversion in e-commerce traffic like those offered by companies like HackerSafe or The Online Sales Accelerator) B) make the process of driving revenue easier to manage (Digital River is a classic example of this type of business).

These are some examples of things you ought to be considering.  Ask yourself if you understand what the company does and if you can get behind it.  Does it make sense to you?  Would you buy it if you were in the market for such services?  If not, don’t sign up.  

A solid value proposition is one of the most important things you must have in your current or next employer if you’re going to be successful in technology sales.

~Brooks.

The right company to join is always a conundrum when it comes to choosing the next step in your sales career. When it comes to selling I.T., there’s no question that RIGHT NOW is the best time to be a skilled sales professional. Stop thinking about it. Just do it. If you are thinking about it, get in the game. You can do it. I did!

Where I live in British Columbia, Canada…there have been articles recently in many local publications that there’s something like a 9,000 Information Technology worker shortage.

Having said that, if you are a sales addict, as I’m I, you’d be crazy to sign up for anything less than a leveraged compensation plan.

What I mean by this is as follows: Let’s say that the company you join gives you a two million dollar quota (not uncommon in many tier one and tier two vendors). The sad thing about this kind of comp. plan is that you get the usual (and bloody boring) 1% on the first $500k and 2% the next $500k, etc., ad nauseam).

These compensation plans are for the “typical” organizations with established brand recognition where the sales force is predominantly taking orders. That is NOT SELLING!!!!!!!

Simply put, a leveraged compensation plan will provide you with a MUCH HIGHER COMMISSION RATE on anything that you sell…to the point where every deal you sell is WELL WORTH THE effort. I’m talking about 10% or better on deals. That’s where you want to be when you’re really good at selling software.

True selling…true prospecting is causing people who are NOT thinking about changing to begin thinking about changing…with your company’s solution(s).

Anyway, back to my original point. If you KNOW HOW TO SELL, you are in the very rare position of being able to command a compensation package that is highly leveraged.

In other words, it is a compensation package that exceeds the usual comp. details that I have laid out above and instead provides for much juicier pay rates/ commission rates on your new sales.

If you learn even some of the stuff that I talk about in New Economy Selling you should be able to command a significantly more leveraged (IE higher commissions) on the sales that you eventually DO make.

The reason for this is simple. In this new world of Web 2.0, it is no longer about the technology, because competitors are springing up all over the place, but rather, how well you are able to bring a prospective customer to vision with YOUR S O L U T I O N ! ! ! !

This is the key to deciding which company to join. If they don’t have a highly leveraged compensation plan, consider this a red flag and move on. Most of the big companies in Canada are still stuck in this archaic mind set.

I really believe when it comes to I.T. companies that “small is the new big”.

If you have more questions, please don’t hesitate to email me. I have worked with over 200 I.T. companies globally and been employed with many I.T. organizations in that last decade in sales, sales management, sales training, sales management coaching, executive direction, marketing and compensation plan development.