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lt ed
Major information technology consulting firms eat their clients
for dinner. They learned long ago how to prepare the table, fire
the stove and devour the beast. You may not like this analogy, but
if you plan to run with coyotes you’d better learn how to bag their
prey.
Writers continue to speak about Linux as an upstart operating
system. I find this description confusing. While I’m setting up a
support center, it looks nothing like an upstart to me or to the
systems engineers on my team.
Today, I sat in the back of the training room watching some
serious UNIX veterans configuring Samba and Apache, working on
integrating a Linux server into a token ring network with an OS/2
server and setting up multi-homed devices while remotely
administering Linux boxes from Windows 95 PCs. I feel right at home
in this environment as do the people I’m mentoring.
Looking at a very affordable UNIX-looking system seemed odd to
me. In the past, when we deployed UNIX systems, their price points
put them out of the reach of everyday users. My systems engineers
keep reminding each other that they’re working on Linux and that
they’ve got it running on machines at home. I keep hearing the
comment rise out of the bustling workspace about how “cool” it is
that the best operating system in the world sits right in front of
them.
Waking up
In case you haven’t really gotten it yet, we have Linux
solutions for less money than those clunky DOS, Windows, Mac and
OS/2 things we had to put up with for so long. We have robust and
powerful UNIX with Sybase, Informix, Oracle, Netscape, X-windows,
office suites, graphics tools, DNS, Web servers, FTP, NFS, DHCP,
development environments and so on.
Here’s the rub: we’ve been complaining for years about how these
incredible tools were so far out of our reach. The cost of UNIX
servers, workstations and applications made them the domain of the
elite. We had to settle for less. But we do not have to settle for
less computing power any more.
What we coveted three years ago works on Intel boxes, safely,
reliably and affordably. I’m walking around this room answering
questions about how to write an address record in a DNS file and I
have to pinch myself. I tell myself how familiar this feels when
one of the guys huddled together around a screen turns and says to
me, “Did you ever think we’d be sitting in a room getting ready to
roll out a UNIX network on PCs?”
Time to share a little
Maybe, I’m still in shock. So much enthusiasm exists amongst
Linux users, I just expected everyone would be running around
getting ready to learn how to use it. After all, why drive a Chevy
when you can get the Porsche for less?
After considerable digging, I have concluded that Linux remains
a secret. This product still resides in the domain of the
technically savvy. The average computer user hasn’t got a clue
about Linux or UNIX. The typical Linux guy doesn’t go down to the
neighborhood tavern and start a fight with some Microsoft bully.
So, we don’t read about it in the Metropolitan section of the
newspaper.
Serious professional consultants can now get out of the house
and start selling Linux solutions. We have an opportunity to reach
those companies that heretofore couldn’t deploy world class
solutions. Anyone who thinks that NT and Novell are more than niche
players in the computer universe certainly is uninformed.
The police, FBI and Interpol shows little interest in arresting
uninformed information technology workers. I can not find any legal
statutes describing computer ignorance as a criminal offense. But I
do consider it unfortunate that the professional consulting
community isn’t doing its job of informing decision-makers about
Linux.
Consultative Selling
Earlier, I stated that major consulting firms in information
technology eat their clients for dinner. I also stated that if you
plan to run with coyotes you’d better learn how to bag their prey.
Those may seem like strong images to the herbal tea crowd, but if
you plan to win business you might want to learn to sell like the
multi-nationals.
The following information pertains to how consulting firms
approach the selling process. We can learn much from this process
and use it to ethically deliver Linux to business.
If you observe the process of consultative selling from a
distance, you’ll notice seven distinction stages. These stages
involve the interactivity between the provider of services and the
consumer of those services. The buyer has a desired outcome in mind
and the selling party represents that his or her firm can help
produce the outcome.
The buyer can not know if the seller can deliver what he or she
promised. Part of the seller’s job in this model involves
establishing trust. The buyer’s decision evolves from confidence
that the selling party understands the requirements and that they
can produce the desired outcome. The buyer makes his or her
decision on how he or she feels — either good or bad about the
seller.
The seven stages of the sales cycle include:
1. Establishing Rapport
2. Determining Outcomes
3. Conditional Closing
4. Demonstration of Value
5. Close
6. Documentation
7. Reclose
Before looking at each of these stages in detail, a short
overview seems appropriate.
Most people referred to as sales people don’t fit the
definition. We have a tendency to lump order takers in with sales
people. We also consider “spin doctors” in the same class as sales
people. Here again, they do not fit the definition. Let’s just use
a phrase called consultative selling to differentiate a sales
professional from the others.
A consultative sales person facilitates the decision making
process regarding the promise to deliver goods and services under
specified conditions. A consultative sale includes decisions on
both sides of the transaction as to whether or not this transaction
should take place. Often, the sales professional owns the best
vantagepoint to make that determination. If he or she understands
the requirements of the buyer, then they must know if they can
deliver on time and within the customer’s expectations.
Investment bankers from my era (whatever that means) used to say
that good deals get better and bad deals get worse. A deal meant
the agreement to work together to reach a specified outcome. If the
saying doesn’t appear clear enough, it means that a sale properly
made creates affinity or good will among the parties. A sloppy sale
creates disharmony and upsets because the customer or the
delivering parties have expectations which are not met.
Failed expectations lie at the root of bad blood between buyers
and sellers. A selling party who misrepresents his company’s
ability to deliver creates chaos in the lives of everyone. As a
Linux consultant, ask yourself if you want to create chaos or order
in an environment . If you want to create order, you belong in the
lineage of the GNU-Linux community. Don’t make promises you can’t
fulfill!
The Seven Stages:
1. Gaining rapport means that you join another person’s model of
the world. Without going too far into the science of perception,
realize that we all relate to the physical world through filters.
Some of us think in terms of pictures, some in terms of sounds and
all of us in terms of our feelings.
You may often notice two people meeting and asking each other
where they went to high school and what companies for whom they
worked. People tend to do this until they establish common ground
on which to relate. I remember two executives from different
companies meeting with me. We discovered that we all once worked
for IBM.
From that point on, we had rapport. We had enough internal
references in our collective memories to know and trust each other.
We came from the same era in computing history to remember glory
days and ethics and codes of behavior. We simply trusted each
other.
When you find yourself in a situation where you face another
person with a need, begin probing to find commonality. For example,
I met a consultant who moved to Dallas from Buffalo. I could have
said, “Oh, you’re from Buffalo. We have a lot in common. Our
professional sports teams always beat yours.” Imagine the rapport I
could have gained by reminding him of sad times in his life.
Instead, I mentioned the fact that my wife’s family still lived in
Buffalo, discussed places I’d been in the area. As we began to feel
affinity with each other, we discovered we sat in the same
marketing class at the University of Texas at Austin some years
back. From then on, we had that common ground.
2. Gaining rapport provides the social element which will allow
you to find out what the potential buyer wants to accomplish.
Before you start a sales process, get a feel for the company, their
stated initiatives and the latest news about their business. You
still need to know what the current initiative is that lives in the
buyer’s mind and his or her wish list. Simply ask the question,
“what do you want to accomplish?” Or, “what outcomes do you wish to
have occur?” Or, “What expectations do you have?”
Usually, in meeting with a potential client, I start the meeting
by asking the person or people in the room what expectations they
have just for that meeting. I list those on a whiteboard if they
have one or on a legal pad. I also reveal mine. Then I ask everyone
if they have time commitments and I set a time to end the meeting.
I further make it a point to remind everyone when the end point is
near. Keep your time contracts.
3. When you have a list of the client’s desired outcomes you
must perform a conditional close. At this point in the process, you
must determine if you can fulfill the customer’s needs. If not,
just tell them, you can’t do business at this time. If you feel you
can provide the services, then you must gain permission to
demonstrate your solution. A might ask the question, “If I can show
you a way to solve this problem, would you give me an opportunity
to do so?”
This might happen right then, or it may require a second meeting
where you involve technical specialists. Regardless, be certain you
can do an adequate job of showing the customer how you would solve
the problem and make sure you have permission.
Our tendency when in a sales situation is to jump into a
discussion about how to fix things before we even know what the
customer wants, needs or knows. Most sales technique analysts
believe jumping into a demonstration of value before analyzing the
situation initiates a sales disaster. Resist the tendency to taut
your product before you know what the client has in mind in the
first place.
Sometimes, we can not help ourselves. What if a potential
customer walks up to us at a show and asks, “What do you people
know about Linux firewalls?” Suddenly, you’re telling him or her
‘everything’ you know about firewalls and how you saved the
American Heart Association from total disaster by using a
nitroglycerin firewall, build by Saber Technologies and offered
free on the Internet.
If you can remember in the middle of your core dump on firewalls
to stop the barrage of information, then stop. Gain your composure
and ask the customer, “What do you want to know about Linux
firewalls?” This can possibly keep them in the process and you have
a higher probability of gaining a customer.
4. Once you know what the client wants and determine that Linux
can provide the best solution, you need to make your formal
presentation. We feel that Linux provides five strong solutions.
These include Web and ISP services; Print, File and Application
services; E-commerce solutions; Firewalls and network security; and
exceptional Desktop solutions.
If you can solve a potential customer’s needs with these
solutions, be prepared to prove it. You can chalk talk a
presentation with nothing more than a black marker and a white
board. You can also use slides or overheads.
For significant business consulting firms put together pursuit
teams. These teams can respond to Requests for Proposals or Request
for Tenders (Europe). They can also build prototypes and
demonstrate a solution for the client. One pursuit in which I
participated involved building a working product on three laptops.
One laptop served as a firewall, we used one as an extranet
application server and the third one we put in front of the client
and let them navigate. That presentation took place at the
Pentagon.
Remember to make the presentation fit what the client has in
mind. At one point though, have something with which to “wow” them.
We call this the “wow” factor. “Wow” knocks their socks off.
5. Closing is the natural result of making an offer and getting
an acceptance. You made your presentation of value; both you and
the client must face those terrifying moments of silence. It’s
either: Yes, no or I don’t know. If he or she says yes, you need to
make arrangements to start delivering your solution. If they say
no, ask them what they are saying no to: The product, the price or
you. This gives you an opportunity to reboot.
If you hear no, the customer may be saying ,”I don’t know”. Some
people say no because they just don’t feel just right about the
decision. You have to ask yourself if you missed something. In this
case, find out what they need to make a decision. Get them what
they need to make that decision. Is it an article, a reference or a
working demonstration? Whatever it is, get it!
6. The documentation process can be a deal killer. Remember that
sharks because of professional courtesy never eat the kind of
people who get involved at this point. Even though this is the
sixth step, ask for a company’s standard legal agreements early in
the sales process. You should also have standard agreements ready
to hand a client. Finally, ask for a company’s standard mutual
non-disclosure agreement up-front. You don’t want to get into a
hassle with the legal department. The best practice dictates early
preparation.
7. Before the project kickoff meeting, and after all the
paperwork has been signed, do a reclose. Girish Krishnamerthy has a
wonderful saying about projects. He says, ” During a project, there
will always be some technical issues to work out that arise through
no one’s fault. But, in most projects you encounter obstacles
because the company did not do a good job of planning. I don’t mind
paying for the unexpected things that can’t be avoided, but I never
pay for problems that arise due to a lack of planning.”
Once everything has settled down and people have gotten over the
rush to finalize the contract, hold a small meeting with key
personnel from both sides. Then, reclose the agreement. The small
team from the client side and from the consulting side needs to
review the project by going methodically through the events that
brought the deal together. During the reclose, everyone should
intend to make the project work while being prepared to walk away
friends.
The reclose allows both sides of the transaction to anticipate
problems, prepare for them and make sure delivery will be on time
while meeting customer expectations. Once you finish the reclose,
it’s time to start delivering.
Final notes
Professional Linux consulting groups can pick up the momentum of
the Open Source Software movement. The opportunities for delivering
successful Linux solutions are broad and deep. Good companies want
the solutions Linux offers. Take time to analyze your market area
and use consultative selling to lead you and your public to
successful ventures.
Tom
Adelstein, CPA, is the CIO/CFO of Bynari, Inc. He’s the author of several
books and articles on business and technology and has management,
consulting and hands-on experience in the Information Technology
field.