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Slow Selling v. Shiny Object Syndrome

Posted by Matt Bertuzzi on Thu, Aug 13, 2009 @ 07:00 AM
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(I have been sitting on this post for a few weeks trying to figure out if it is just a rant. Well I just read the umpteenth "XYZ notion is dead" post and it set me off. So here you go...)

A couple weeks ago I was in the car and caught part of an NPR interview with Irish writer Nick Laird.

The following is a snippet that caught my attention because it was so illustrative of our society:

"... in the age of Twitter and Facebook, and all the rest of it, language is just witty and snappy, and quick, and meant to amuse rather than be profound in any way, and certainly the brevity of it sort of precludes that..."

He went on to give examples (I've added a few) that illustrate the modern clash between fast & slow:

FAST SLOW
Fast Food The Slow Food Movement
Tweets/Status Updates Sharing stories and anecdotes
Email Voicemail
Movie Adaptations Novels

He really got me thinking. While not a perfect analogy, I feel we are witnessing a battle between the fast & slow camps in the world of B2B selling.

On the fast side, we are focused on those portions of the sales process than can be quantified by hard metrics. Today we are increasingly concerned with:

  • more intelligence about Buyers
  • more scoring of prospect interest
  • more metrics on campaigns, conversion, Rep activity, ROI, etc.

There are countless points of measurement in every step in the marketing/sales process.

On the slow side, many soft benefits have fallen by the wayside. We are devoting far less time to:

  • formalized (as opposed to tribal) knowledge
  • sales interactions based on information & engagement as opposed to data & activity
  • having conversations as opposed to emailing/texting
  • face to face meetings that still make sense in many situations
  • customer service that is actually a service and delivers value

Can we calculate a hard ROI in:

  • demonstrating why our solutions are the low risk option
  • voicemail that probes into the issues surrounding a white paper download v. just noting the download itself
  • ferociously pursuing customer service to support our reputations
  • conversations that move the sales process forward v. emails that "touch base/check in/see what's new"

If we cannot, does that mean they are unimportant?

On a related note, I ran into Scott Santucci's article A Story of Empathy - The Lost Art of Selling? . In it Scott discusses a Forrester study that presented 150+ Executives with the following question:

"When you meet with a vendor sales person, in general how often are they prepared for the meeting in the following ways:" (% are for respondents who answered 'usually')

Knowledgeable about their company and products - 88%

Knowledgeable about my industry - 55%

Can relate to my role and responsibility in the organization - 34%

Knowledgeable about my specific business - 29%

Scott highlights what separates the knowledgeable 29% from the other 71%:

"This ability - to connect the dots - between an organizational issue, the points of view of all the impacted stakeholders, and the capabilities you bring to the table is what your top sales people are doing."

Call it what you will, but my point is this: connecting the dots is slow selling.

Slow selling cannot be automated, scored, ROI modeled or put neatly into a vertical stack chart.

Please note, I am not arguing against metrics and ROI. They are crucial. But I am arguing against any religiosity that argues "everything you know about sales is wrong" or that "Sales and Marketing is 100% science (or alternatively 100% art)".

Much energy and effort is being spent today proclaiming

  • The elevator pitch is dead! Long live the mini-pitch/buyer-pitch/twitter-pitch.
  • Cold calling is dead! Long live inbound marketing/warm-calling.
  • Social Networking is where business happens. Sales and marketing guys are obsolete.

Here's my take: just because you're a bad driver, doesn't mean your car is broken.

Elevator pitches don't need a character limit, sales people need to improve their game, communicate more effectively and think in terms of their buyers and not themselves. Times are tough, but chasing shiny objects is a distraction.

People, tools & process: improve and overcome! Probably as true in 2009 as it was in 1909.

Thanks for listening. I am really eager to hear what you think. Please share!

(Photo credit: selva & miss bliss 55)

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COMMENTS

Another great article. I find that we are losing our ability to go slow and develop relationships that have a positive outcome and ROI on business relationships. Of course ROI and metrics are important in measuring productivity and at the same time if I am measured on how many phone calls I make per day, hour, minute are not balanced out with subjective evaluations - networking skills, product knowledge, industry knowledge productivity it takes the art/intuition/gut feeling out of the sales equation. My good friend is a top sales producer. He makes the least amount of phone calls but his skill is in articulating a value proposition related to the prospects business objectives. What metric do you measure (obviously revenue) and how do you break down his skill set from there. Most of it will be subjective and that is where the art comes in to managing the sales process. And how can managers understand his skill set and pass it on to the other members of the sales team. In addition, I call slow selling old school. Seems like we are losing some of the old school values.

posted @ Thursday, August 13, 2009 8:44 AM by Doug Schmidt

Nice post. Your points are solid, and beg important questions.  
 
 
 
IMO, in B2B sales, conversations will always be the key to cash. Part of the process, therefore, of necessity, will always be 'slow' in the context of points you've made.  
 
 
 
The trick, it seems to me, is finding new ways to understand the impacts (if any) a Rep's efforts are having in helping a prospect progress themselves closer to sale. Until such impacts are seen and understood, the debate about slow vs. fast, science vs. art, will rage on. Proof of impacts will give Reps the feedback they need with which to find the right balance between competing approaches to improving their sales productivity.

posted @ Thursday, August 13, 2009 10:29 AM by John Cousineau

Unfortunately, some of the 66% and 71% will never get it because they're too busy talking about their agenda, thinking about their agenda, and trying to think of ways to trap the prospect into focusing on their agenda to ever shut up, listen and care about what's really important to their prospect. After all, it's a prospect, not a person!

posted @ Thursday, August 13, 2009 10:52 AM by Rick Roberge

@Doug Good point about sharing those soft skill sets. Old school indeed. 
 
@John I like your notion of “impacts”. Probably an equally (if not more) accurate measure of forward progress that some of the popular metrics. You’ve given me something to think about. 
 
@Rick Hear, hear sir. 
 
Thanks all for sharing your thoughts.

posted @ Friday, August 14, 2009 6:59 AM by Matt

Engaging with people in a sales or any other situation is much like stepping up for a waltz. Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow is the nature of the engagement. I agree wholeheartedly with you Matt. 
 
 
 
Hard metrics are very important – probably critical in our competitive environment BUT we ignore the slow stuff at our peril – especially in complex sales with long cycles.  
 
 
 
I can’t begin to tell you how many people involved in such sales tell me that the investment in ‘Slow stuff’ is totally undervalued by their employers. It’s almost like many corporation executives would love to be able to adopt a Fast Moving Consumer Goods sales approach to their long complex sales cycles – or at least put some additional metrics on the slow stuff into the mix! 
 
 
 
Great article – thanks 
 
Richard 
 

posted @ Friday, August 14, 2009 12:39 PM by Richard Maybury

"Slow sales" may find a wider audience today because other "slow" movements have gained not only attention, but adherents. "Slow sales" has benefits for what it doesn't do--attempt shortcuts, manipulate prospects, and inject pressure into the selling and buying process. 
 
An article I wrote on the topic in May '09, "Will a Slow Sales Movement Save Us from Ourselves?" explains more: http://www.customerthink.com/blog/will_a_slow_sales_movement_save_us_from_ourselves 
 
Also, great article by Scott Santucci about empathy. "To an Octopus, '50' Means Nothing: Why Empathy Matters" profiles a top performing salesperson who was empathetic in every customer interaction. Her results speak for themselves: http://www.customerthink.com/article/octopus_50_means_nothing_empathy_matters

posted @ Saturday, August 15, 2009 10:34 AM by Andrew Rudin

Hi Matt, 
 
Nice post....I agree with your sentiments. 
 
Hype, like you noted, often leaves many of us aggravated, rather than informed. 
 
At the same time, sales and marketing are the last departments in the organization to be automated. 
 
With Sales 2.0, we have an opportunity to automate some facets of sales and marketing, leaving us more of an opportunity to spend time on what counts: a lot of the 'slow' approaches that you discuss. 
 
@RobertLesser

posted @ Tuesday, August 18, 2009 3:38 PM by Robert Lesser

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