{"id":1363,"date":"2012-06-09T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-09T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/bpo-sales_060812\/"},"modified":"2012-06-09T19:30:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-09T19:30:00","slug":"bpo-sales_060812","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/bpo-sales_060812\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a BPO sales team in today\u2019s market – a waste of time?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/p>\n

You know we'll deliver everything in those 80 slides…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

One of the major gripes at the recent HfS 50 Executive Council summit was the issue sourcing executives have with their provider account managers – “they just don’t understand our business” was the common cry.<\/p>\n

So who better to lament the woes of lost sales pursuits than HfS Research Fellow and industry agitator Deborah Kops…<\/p>\n

Building a BPO sales team<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Now that I have your attention, let\u2019s talk about how buyers whether the current parlor game of stealing sales guys from competitors really moves the revenue dial very far in light of the way clients buy business process outsourcing. Seems to me everyone is out there desperately looking for sales superstars. Do they exist? Is it worth the time and effort to find them, only to be disappointed at least half the time? Shouldn\u2019t the industry be more focused on attracting the right solutions team, rather than assembling a sales team that\u2019s hit or miss?<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re like me, you get at least a call a week from a search consultant desperate to find a crackerjack sales guy. This paragon should have a great rolodex, deep domain knowledge (retail and media seem to be awfully popular these days), a W-2 that confirms his track record, happy to travel 90% of the time, a global point of view (read:\u00a0 can sell offshore delivery and be culturally sensitive to legacy ownership) and \u00a0willing to take a low base, say \u00a0$150,000 with \u201ca lot of upside.\u201d Nothing less will suffice. And if the search consultant is told to reach for the stars, the successful candidate should bring a decade or more of industry or white shoe consulting experience, have a book of business ready to sign, and be viewed as an industry thought leader.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get real; the industry has very few salespeople who come even close to this profile. And those who do are either very happy with, or so aligned (read: shackled by commission payouts) with their current employer that only frustration with management, or the enticement of a better brand in conjunction with the promise of megabucks will induce them to move.<\/p>\n

Yet providers continue to play the get the sales guy game, creating a class of what one of my good search consultant friends terms \u2018mercenaries,\u2019 who have neither produced much tangible revenue (but talk a good game), nor have stayed in an organization long enough to make an indelible impact on the company\u2019s fortunes. Failing to attract a superstar, or get their hands on a mercenary, providers seem to settle for candidates who need on-the-job training, or come from other business sectors, say ITO or software sales, hoping against hope that they\u2019ll magically become business process super salesmen overnight.<\/p>\n

Is the effort to build a sales team in light of the dearth available talent misguided? What do the buyers really think about being barraged by sales guys with the wrong skills? Have you ever met with a corporate sourcing leader who pulls out a pile of cards, representing almost every one of the outsourcing majors and minors, then grouses about the fact that he\/she often\u00a0 wastes x hours watching a sales guy wend his way through an 80 page deck that looks very much like all the others? I\u2019ve heard the whinging, and had the pleasure myself; I\u2019ve unfortunately seen some very good providers mentally struck off a buyer\u2019s list because someone with an excess of confidence but no problem solving skills–and carrying a quota— is playing the sales funnel game, making 100 calls to possibly get one deal.<\/p>\n

But does a program based upon canvassing activities really result in sales?\u00a0 Let\u2019s be honest\u2014aren\u2019t most sales based upon a potent platform combining brand, the right level of executive management attention,\u00a0 so-called \u201cchemistry\u201d and the right solution? Even if the sales guy is good, if he doesn\u2019t have this platform behind him, he most likely won\u2019t win the business. Conversely, if the sales guy is inexperienced, won\u2019t he be a deterrent to a sale even backed by the right brand and delivery capability?<\/p>\n

This is not to say that buyers don\u2019t want to spend time with an experienced sales person.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know a buyer who will say he\u2019s wasting his time talking to someone who brings deep understanding of the client\u2019s particular function or domain, and is expert at synthesizing what he knows to come up with a range of solutions. Sales in the BPO industry are not based on PowerPoints, golf, and fancy dinners, but real thought leadership and problem-solving skills.<\/p>\n

I suspect provider executive management knows full well that only a few sales people are able to move the dial; in fact, I know they do. Over a few drinks, I\u2019ve had more than a few senior leaders privately admit that building an effective BPO sales team is very much a hit-or-miss proposition, and that when it comes to closing the deal, it\u2019s not the efforts of a few eager blokes; rather it comes down to factors such as brand, executive commitment, value for money, and track record that tip the opportunity into the closed column.<\/p>\n

Is there an alternative to playing the build the sales team game? Certainly brand is critical to the sale, but like Rome it\u2019s not built in a day, or even in a year, and can\u2019t impact a quarterly reporting cycle or two. \u00a0\u00a0So it begs the question: in an industry where the differentiator is purportedly a superior solution, be it more technology-enabled, insight-rich, client-centric, or cost-effective, why aren\u2019t the phones ringing off the hook searching for superlative solutions guys–folks who can walk, talk, figure out ways to smite cost and promote efficiencies, and create enterprise value at a single bound? Why does the typical BPO org chart segregate sales and solutions when the solution is<\/em><\/strong> the sale? Wouldn\u2019t providers be better served if they lusted after solutions guys that have the same polish, consultative and relationship skills as the sales guys?<\/p>\n

The Bottom-line: Put the solutions expert at the front of the sales pursuit, not the sales guys<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Deborah<\/a><\/p>\n

Deborah Kops, Research Fellow, HfS Research<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Shouldn\u2019t the solutions guys be put front and center, making the first call to the clients?\u00a0 Why are they often \u00a0left toiling in the proverbial back room, doing the heavy lifting, \u00a0only to be put in front of the client when there\u2019s the potential of a deal?\u00a0 Why does the sales guy get the glory\u2014and the commission\u2014when it is the solution that sells?\u00a0 Is there something wrong with this picture?<\/p>\n

So the next time you award\u2026or close\u2026an outsourcing deal, think about who and what really got the deal done? Was it a \u201ccan\u2019t go wrong brand?\u201d Or the right level attention from the senior-most management? Was there a chemistry that radio\u2019d \u201cI can really work effectively with these guys”? Most likely, it was down to a solution that checked all the boxes? Chances are it was not the antics of an inexperienced sales guy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know we'll deliver everything in those 80 slides… One of the major gripes at the recent HfS 50 Executive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,81],"tags":[303],"organization":[],"ppma_author":[19],"class_list":["post-1363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-process-outsourcing-bpo","category-it-outsourcing-it-services","tag-enterprise-irregulars"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding a BPO sales team in today\u2019s market - a waste of time? - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/bpo-sales_060812\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building a BPO sales team in today\u2019s market - a waste of time? 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