April 09, 2009

Who is needed on your selling team? - 8 key roles

Sales as we know it has changed forever, gone are the days that 2 people can sell high value deals without help from domain, technology and delivery experts. This fact has implications for the sales and relationship competencies across your organisation.

We all know that buying teams are getting larger and decision making is more complex. But what about your selling team - has it changed accordingly?  Is your company adopting a team-based approach to sales?

What type of sales team is needed to close a €500,000 plus deal?

I was chatting with two successfull entrepreneurs yesterday about selling complex solutions into major organisations and we began to talk about the type of sales team needed to close big ticket deals. 

Based on our collective experience of over 50 years in business we identified a number of key roles critical to moving opportunities from leads to meetings to sales cycles to orders.

1. A sales person - who adopts an expert led and consultative selling approach 

2. A pre-sales support person who knows the domain

3. A product/market expert who can talk knowledgeably about the industry

4. A Product director -  who owns the technology vision and road map 

5.  A Senior developer who can be paired off with senior tech staff from the client/buying team

6. An account manager who can be introduced towards the end of the sales cycle who has delivered similar projects previously

7. An implementation/customer services driver to manage delivery, customer service and steering group reviews

8. The MD & maybe even chairman - to build confidence and add gravitas

The most successful organisations sales is everybody's job.  The organisations who are closing business are holding workshops and team meetings with their key staff to remind them of this. 

 

No comments: