I started a new career in Information Security about 6 years ago and am now Chief Information Security Officer for a fast growing SaaS startup in the expense reporting and expense management space. In my role, I need to purchase compliance services, auditing tools, training products, etc.
Here is the scenario that prompted this email:
A few weeks ago, I got a blast email to participate in a Webinar for a new auditing tool which was being offered by a well-known information security vendor. I attended the Webinar but no salesperson followed up. I went to the company website and filled out the ‘request evaluation’ form. No salesperson followed up. I sent an email to [email protected] requesting a conversation.
About 5 days later I got an email and a voicemail: ‘Would you like to set up a conversation?’ I responded to the email, ‘ I am available tomorrow morning from 10 a.m. to noon.’ The voicemail asked ME to call the rep. There has been no successive follow up. I then reached out to some consultants I know in the industry asking for intros. One gave me a name but no introduction. Finally, my auditor set up a call for today.
The call started out promising, (i.e., I didn’t have to sit through 50 NASCAR slides telling me how great the company was and all the other companies they have done business with.) The rep asked me what I hoped to learn. After I told them, he handed the call off to his Sales Engineer for the ‘demo.’ Unfortunately, the SE had no capacity to show me or discuss with me the auditing tool that I was interested in. After 2 minutes the rep broke in and suggested we re-schedule for another time. We’ll see if I hear back.
This is probably the worst example of about a half dozen similar ones where I have a need, I would like to buy something, and I end up doing all of the work.
Very frustrating.
Anyway thanks for allowing me to vent.
You’re probably thinking, well, that’s not what would happen if I was the salesperson or sales manager or sales VP or CEO. Believe it or not, this is fairly common! These are the very same companies that believe they have effective sales processes in place, that their 10% win rates are acceptable, and that they need to get people interested by conducting demos. These are the companies that don’t think they need help, have everything under control and have ineffective sales selection and even more ineffective sales management.
If the sales managers were decent, the very first time they debriefed a salesperson, listened to a call, observed a meeting, or discussed an upcoming call they would have been able to identify ineffective follow up, ineffective qualifying, ineffective listening and questioning, etc.
It’s most likely that the sales managers are former salespeople who, like those they manage, specialized in conducting demos, creating proposals, and finding the 10% that will stick.
Monday, Pete Caputa, VP at Hubspot, posted a great article on qualifying, why so many salespeople suck at qualifying, and how that ultimately leads back to ineffective sales management (read the comments too).
Speaking of sales management, I’ll be hosting my annual Sales Leadership Intensive – the best training anywhere on showing sales leaders how to really coach salespeople for impact. We have a full house every time we offer it and some sales leaders come back multiple times! It will be offered on May 17-18 in the Boston area and you can learn more about the event here. You can register here. And if you use – DKSLIMAY16 – the discount code for my readers, it will save you $100 per ticket. It will be great to finally meet you!
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