Posted by: telstarjohn Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009 10:06:42 AM
In reply to: barge who wrote msg# 176245 Post # of 176260
"Barge,
In Wave's case, I have to disagree with your statement below and think this philosophy has been at the heart of Wave's slow adoption pace:
"Paradigm shifts start from the bottom up and NOT top down"
I've learned 1st hand when launching something new that will impact entire company, TOP DOWN selling gets the job done. Wave has been making a critical mistake for years by not pitching the CEO only as STANDARD practice.
Trade shows are good for exposure and leads to department heads, which leads to bottom up selling, which is driven by budget, which is built in delay. And the only person who can change budget adjustments on the fly is leadership.
Let me give you a recent example:
We had the same challenge as Wave when launching new communication technology service into the government school sector early 2000's. The strategy was just like Wave, sell the industry IT people...except many didn't get it or thought necessary (sound familiar) or create cheap work around because they never had money. Needless to say we went know where fast.
Our solution, go to the top exclusively and sell the big picture and benefits. We implemented a "No pitch" to less than leadership rule and hired consultants that would walk our sales team to the top. Once the Boss took ownership of WHY they needed the new tech service we sold, IT was brought in to bless compatibility, not make the decision to deploy. If we waited on them, the company would have failed.
BTW, the results from above propelled the company to Industry leader status within about 18-months of launch (taken from 10+ yr. incumbents) and sales cycle reduced from 12-18 mo. down to 3-6 mo. Plus, the company just sold for 9 figures in 2008 (10x multiple) to big wallstreet firm and is still dominant industry leader and credited with changing the entire public education mass communication service to this new tech.
My Advise to Wave, "hire the consultants needed to walk in the front door of CEO's office and results will blow you away"...if Wave has real closers on staff, which is a whole different topic and not a cut to current team. Have no clue as to talent pool.
Bottom line, what Wave's doing now is not working at an acceptable pace and as Obama made famous.... "CHANGE" is what the stockholders want CHANGE!
To SKS: Time to lead and "IT doesn't get it" is an excuse for poor selling...current implementation sales strategy is broke and time for change is long overdue. |
