Networking and the complex sales process. - by Ron Bates

I'll start this by offering a definition of what I mean by a "complex sales process".

Everything that is sold has a greater or lesser impact on a client's business. A client might need paperclips, but they aren't going out of business if they make the wrong decision in buying a couple of hundred cases. The same amount of money spent on a unified messaging system, or a web server, could potentially be devastating if the wrong buying decision is made. Obviously there are huge implications if a company makes the wrong decision associated with a $10 million dollar ERP system, or a mission critical piece of manufacturing capital equipment. This concept has basically been implicitly communicated over the years in the phrase "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM."

Typically, the more impact your offering potentially has on a client's business - good or bad, the more complex the sales process is going to be. Why? The more potential for impact a purchasing decision has on the client, the more people get involved in the decision process. More people involved in the decision means it takes longer for everyone in the decision process to evaluate the options and reach a decision consensus.

At large (and even in small) companies, the decision process can become quite political during a complex sales process. Though there may even be a "formal" decision process (or procurement process) that needs to be followed, there is -always- an "informal" decision process ultimately driving the outcome. This is where it becomes critical to know "who's who in the zoo." Who are all of the decision makers? Who are the people that have influence over the decision makers? This all becomes a critical picture to map out as you attempt to navigate a complex sales process within your client's organization.

This is where networking skills are critical.

Not just simply networking to build relationships with people that can introduce you to key decision makers and influencers, but networking to identify who these people are and asses their competitive disposition prior to even attempting contact with them. For example: "Nobody buys anything like that around here without Dave blessing it, the CEO and Dave go all the way back to being schoolmates, and the CEO trusts Dave implicitly."

Through networking you might be able to learn that the key decision influencer is simply trying to learn enough about what you are selling to nuke your attempt at doing so. The ugly truth you might learn through networking is that "Dave" was torched by your company two years ago over a service problem and has sworn to never buy from your company again, or Dave's wife works for the competitor's company, or Dave won't get to build the new building he needs if funds are diverted to invest in your offering, etc. What you learn through your networking efforts might change your mind about how much of your company's resources you want to waste pursuing a deal you just learned you potentially don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

Networking is critical in any complex sales process. The better you are at it, the better you'll be at closing more complex sales.

Happy Networking,

Ron Bates
Managing Principal
Executive Advantage Group
rbates@executive-advantage.com

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