Companies today are under intense pressure to deliver ever-increasing shareholder value. As a result, they’re in a continual state of flux. Reorganizations and rightsizing are everyday occurrences as these firms struggle to find the optimal way to grow revenue or cut costs.
Stressed-out decision makers have far too much to do with fewer resources and in less time. Their calendars are booked solid, as they run from meeting to meeting or put out the fires that inevitably pop up. Quite literally, they “haven’t got time for the pain”. Even if the status quo is less that desirable, they’ll stick with it as long as they can.
How does that impact the sales cycle? On the front end, sellers are having an increasingly difficult time setting up meetings. Corporate decision makers rarely answer the phone, roll all calls to voicemail and seldom call anyone back. Additionally, there is a “price of admission” for getting into these accounts. Buyers expect sellers to have a working knowledge of their organization. As a result, Client Directors must invest time up front to understanding a company’s structure, business objectives, challenges, market trends and more. It can sometimes take a while to arrange that first appointment with that large corporate account.
Even when companies commit to implementing a change initiative, the sales cycle may take longer than it used to. Corporate decision makers are risk averse; they’ve seen too many colleagues lose their jobs in the past few years. As a consequence, more people get involved in the process, more competitors are evaluated and stronger business cases are needed to justify decisions. And priorities can switch overnight when third-quarter earnings are less than expected.
So, that’s the reality of dealing with larger corporate businesses. To be effective in cracking into corporate accounts and speeding up sales velocity, a different approach is necessary. The rest of this chapter explains the strategies required for optimum impact.
THINKING ABOUT TRIGGERING EVENTS
Organizational change creates urgent and compelling needs. So do changes in the business environment. These “triggering events” create openings for the Ormita service and its various targeted solutions. They have cascading effects throughout the company, causing existing decisions to be revisited and the emergence of new priorities. Not only that, but there’s an urgency to take action. The status quo needs to change in order for the firm to achieve its objectives
As an example, let’s take a merger scenario. When this occurs, here are just a few ideas of where sales opportunities might be created:
• In Marketing, help may be needed with rebranding, go-to-market strategies, product launch, PR support and collateral development.
• In Information Technology, the company is sure to be struggling with integration and/or capacity issues. New strategies may be planned for leveraging its Web presence. Business units will be clamouring for application development.
• In the Sales area, there’s likely to be channel conflict, compensation issues, territory realignments to understand and the need to train people on new products.
• In Human Resources, help may be needed with staffing, downsizing or outplacement. Disparate benefits may create problems that need resolution.
• In Manufacturing, “lean” initiatives are likely to be under way as well as supply chain consolidation.
During mergers, new leaders often emerge with different perspectives and priorities. Plus many existing contracts will be open for re-evaluation in the near future.
A much less corporate-shaking triggering event is the announcement of office relocation. Whenever that happens, there’s a potential need for new:
• Office equipment: phones, security systems, copiers, computer systems
• Business services: staffing, accounting, legal, consulting
• Special services: moving companies, relocation, catering, interior design
And that’s just a smattering of opportunities that could exist when a company decides to move offices.
When you really start to think about these triggering events, opportunities pop out. You can start focusing your sales efforts on organizations that can really use any of Ormita’s members products and services right now – not sometime in the near future.
Here are additional internal and external triggering events to watch for:
• Poor quarterly earnings – or stellar results
• New product/service announcements
• New management or ownership
• Name changes; new positioning
• Venture capital funding
• Expansion into new market segments
• Opening up new geographies
• Real estate and construction activity
• Layoffs, downsizings and rightsizings
• IPOs (initial public offerings)
• New relationships, affiliations, partnership activity
• Personnel changes in key positions
• New customers; lost customers
• Job openings
• Corporate relocations
• Natural disasters
• Legislative changes: new laws, regulations
• Changes in the competitive landscape
• Trends impacting customer bases
• New technologies
Use this list of triggering events to stimulate your thinking. What’s more important is that you identify the triggering events that will generate additional trade and/or whose goods/services you can easily locate and bring on board as new members.
DISCOVERING TRIGGERING EVENTS
To home in on the triggering events that can slash the sales cycle, it’s imperative that you analyze the needs of the current market. Below are three strategies you can use to identify those triggering events most relevant to the Ormita product/service.
1. Identify common goals, objectives and strategic imperatives.
In reviewing local businesses, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll find that they are pursuing a specific direction that created opportunities for the Ormita offering. Perhaps instead they are focused on areas such as:
• Entering new markets
• Growing sales, revenue or market share
• Improving operational efficiency
• Shrinking time-to-market
• Outsourcing non-essential functions
• Collecting debt
• Recession proofing their business
• Accessing interest free credit
• Etc…
2. Determine common challenges and issues.
Another way to find your triggering events is to look at the issues that businesses are struggling with. Perhaps they are facing issues such as:
• Declining profitability
• Increased competition and pricing pressures
• Changes in customer requirements
• Ensuring compliance
• Finding and keeping top talent
• Inefficient processes
• Poor productivity
• And so on…
3. Review precipitating events on fast-moving customers.
Take a look at your current members who have taken action quickly versus those who are still trying to determine if making a change is a good decision. Again, there are likely commonalities. Ask yourself questions such as:
• “What happened inside their company that created or added to their sense of urgency?”
• “Was there something happening in their external environment that caused them to suddenly take action?”
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About Ormita
The Ormita Commerce Network spans 5 continents, with direct representation in more than 17 countries plus additional partnerships in a further 59 countries. The business allows companies to exchange goods and services on a reciprocal trade arrangement.
Some of our Websites
Ormita Commerce Network Australia – www.ormita.com.au
Ormita Commerce Network Canada – www.ormita.ca
Ormita Commerce Network India – www.ormita.co.in
Ormita Commerce Network Mexico – www.ormita.com.mx
Ormita Commerce Network New Zealand – www.ormita.co.nz
Ormita Commerce Network United Kingdom – www.ormita.co.uk
Ormita Commerce Network United States of America (USA) – www.ormita.com
For Licensee, Franchise and Partnership Enquiries please visit : www.ormitacorporate.com
