Part 1: Defining 'enterprise' sales
What do we mean by 'enterprise sales'? It's important because it requires a totally different strategy, both at a sales level, but also across the business. Timelines suddenly move from 6 month to 18 month sales cycles.
I'll explain why here.
Complex NOT Enterprise
The term 'enterprise sales' is too vague. What does it mean? Does it refer to the size of company, or the type of technology? And who decides where the line is drawn?
Let's use the term 'Complex' Sale because we can define more precisely HOW something is complex. I believe, rather than swallowing-whole sales training that tells you to adopt certain ways of working, it's to explain HOW things work. You can then determine how much of what I talk about is relevant to you.
It's all about RISK
Once a decision passes a certain level of importance within a business, the optics suddenly shift from being about benefit, to being about risk. Let me give you an example....
If your company was about to purchase a CRM system like Salesforce, what started the engagement might have been around all the additional capabilities that technology could bring, the advantages, and cost savings - in short, the benefits.
BUT, making an investment in such a small piece of technology is neither cheap nor simple. The licence costs will be significant, but beyond that the internal effort, cost, and risk if it fails are massive. Any company purchasing something that is equally or more important simply cannot afford to 'chance it'. Strategies are needed to protect the business from making a bad decision. Once you are in an RFP process the optics switch from benefits to mitigating the risk of overall failure.
This strategy takes the form of a clearly defined buying governance. A system that is designed to be resilient to individual bias, ensuring that requirements are thoughtfully and thoroughly gathered - essentially an RFP. However, it's far more from the buyers perspective. It is a multi-stakeholder approach to defining the interests of a business and making sure they are served.
The Impact on TIME
Let's get an uncomfortable truth out there. Any 'Complex' buying cycle will 99 times in 100 take more that a year. More importantly, it will traverse the close of a fiscal year as measured by your customer.
Why?
Because, Complex Sales in technology are often if not always:
a) More expensive to acquire than the organisation has ready in discretionary departmental budgets, and the money will need to be requested and planned for in the next financial year.
b) will require integration into the enterprise architecture requiring developer resource, projects, planning etc - i.e a lot of people doing a lot of different things.
This is something that both leaders and salespeople should have tattooed onto them, because it means that from first prospect meeting to close of contract, WILL with near absolute certainty take more than 12 months.
If leaders are getting stressed because the pipeline isn't there, then there is simply no-way to make that up in-year from a complex sales process.
The business needs to shift it's mindset to living in 18-24 month horizons.
Are there exceptions?
Yes. The timelines I'm describing are 'buying timelines' NOT 'sales processes'.
Why are they different?
A buying process is constant - it's the time it takes a business to move from initial contact with a potential technology, to contract. However, the length of a sales process is somewhat arbitrary - it only starts once a prospect engaged you. There is nothing to suggest that the prospect hasn't made most of the decision before they choose to meet with you or one of your reps. Except, it makes you a passenger...
If you are entering a sales process late, there are two possible explanations:
Your companies branding is so powerful, and online material so comprehensive, that the prospect was able to do 90% of the buying without a salesperson. This is so insanely rare that I would strong discourage any company assuming this. This might happen to firms like Salesforce, or Adobe, but few others.
You are are spreadsheet fodder. Everyone knows that if you get invited to an RFP that you didn't know was coming months in advance, you probably don't have a good chance of winning it.
3 phases of a 'Complex Buying Process'
Phase 1: Scanning the market - The prospect is starting to meet vendors, are probably building a business case BUT won't yet have exec buy-in and budget assigned. They are learning and exploring.
I've lost count of the number of vendors that have really good initial meeting and completely forget the length of the buying process, deluding themselves into thinking this will be a quick deal. Positive feedback is great to receive, but don't fool yourself that this deal will break the laws of physics.
Phase 2: Internal Planning - The business will have, in-principle, decided they want to go ahead with a type of technology, but will need to bring the rest of the business with them and begin the formal buying governance like RFP's. However, before that happens they need to do A LOT of internal work. Project teams need to be formed, a sponsor for the project, high-level budget requests submitted for the next financial year and requirements need to be gathered in exhaustive detail.
They are getting ready to begin the buying process in earnest.
The prospect will often withdraw from engaging the vendor in this period, and that part can take months. It does not mean they have ghosted you; it's simply that they have taken it as far as they can in this phase and have nothing more to ask from, or offer, you.
Phase 3: Formal Selection - The RFP, PoC or whatever other forms it can take. Expect this to be led by procurement and a project lead. Contrary to popular belief, the price is only a tiny component of the exercise. Yes, they need to get value and benchmarking against competitors is a component, but FAR more important is matching captured requirements against vendor capability.
If 'complex sales' are relevant to your business then both salespeople and leadership need to understand this is a game of chess. You need to think 7 moves ahead and always pre-prepared. Falling across issues and trying to. fix them in-flight won't work anymore.
I help execs by designing sales processes that reflect the complex buyers needs, and also coach the enterprise salespeople that handle these engagements day-to-day.
If either of these are relevant to your business, contact us.
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