Magnus Marketing Blog

The anatomy of a bad fit prospect meeting. Last week, I was fortunate to score a meeting with a channel consulting firm called The JS Group. I found them by doing some research because I am looking for a partner that does sales consulting on the channel (resellers and such) to hook my sales intelligence team and research materials into. We had done this with another channel consulting firm over 2 years ago. The JS Group seemed to be in the same field and did the same things as my former employer, like a competitor to them, in fact. They knew who they were. Condensing a long story, I was terminated from my former position as Sales Intelligence Practice Manager for largely two reasons: 1) the owners of the business could not accept my honest and direct communication style which festered with them into a major problem and 2) we really diverged in the evolution and "mission" of Sales Intelligence. Without details, the termination led to discussions with lawyers and the stress and emotional ramifications nearly put me in the hospital. My view of my former employer is not a positive one. I will say this, if I was terminated strictly because our visions converged, I did poor job managing and delivering, or I got bored or something - my attitude would be very different. There were other things that many people question including why I stayed with the company...that was because I passionately believed in what Sales Intelligence can do and had the perfect fit job.

I arrived at The JS Group early and was seated in the conference room. After a delay, three people introduce themselves - The President, The COO, and Marketing Head. There was no agenda nor request for one, the marketing guy was a surprise, and two of them didn't have business cards. Remember, this was my third in person sales meeting, I am so new at this - I do great inside sales/biz/marketing - I really don't consider myself a salesguy. Pleasantries were then exchanged and I said, even if the SI proposal/idea doesn't work - I can help on other projects.

I proceeded to discuss my vision of SI and told them what I did at Hexaware and my former employer. I mentioned that my former employer did not fully develop the research and had real problems on execution - they didn't listen to me or allow me to build the "dream" as I saw it. We had convergent ideas on SI and that was part of the reason why I was not with the company, and for some reason - the rest of team was dismantled and let go also. Now, I was looking for a partner who did the consulting piece that I could latch onto with my team to do a similiar type of thing, but a more value driven and higher level as it was meant to be. We had a very good discourse over what the ROI is for SI and where it would fit. I said that based on research and first-hand experience, salespeople need SI because many are afraid to call at the C/VP/Decision-maker level, many persist in calling the lower level folks selling a single product, they leave 3 voicemails and give up...the team does the homework for them and we can execute (my point). As far as ROI which I also recalled from salespeople who worked with my former employer, many times the salesguy didn't follow up (they stuck the research on a shelf and dropped it) or they didn't know how to engage with the research (which is training opportunity).

The President after a little more discourse wasn't sold. She said (even though we had done this before) that it sounded like an idea with no ground. Went into asking about pricing and value propositions and other things - which I didn't want to discuss then.

She then stated firmly that they had research that the market was shifting and that CIO's clearly were calling vendors for solutions. There was no need for this research because the "consumer" was in the drivers seat. She then proceeded to discuss Social Networks as the only solution to getting business and generating leads. She even had the nerve to ask me if I knew what a social network was. (Had she done her homework on me and my company - she probably would have seen my LinkedIN profile). The Marketing Guy told me that this research approach sounded very "old school" and "salesy" and asked what role he would play. To which I responded that the marcom would be more targeted and customized. I noticed while I had been talking, very few notes were taken around Sales Intelligence - The President seemed to be more interested in my knowledge of things - like Wendy Flanagan - moderator of the AMA SIG. She then said, "salespeople are dead-men walking" because of this "market shift". A statement I am sure was said with advent of e-commerce and the internet - YES, in fact, they did say it and what happened? More salespeople!

I handled some of the objections. In retrospect, these people clearly didn't get it - they were so very out of touch with how companies under $200 million have to get business. Even large firms incorporate ITSMA's account based research and have programs around it. Like any other consultantcy they need to define the next "big thing" which, as I stated many times, with marketing is a cyclically driven fad. She mentioned that the consumers are in the driver's seat - because marketers did a great job of pumping out info to educate them.

They asked me for a proposal and actually said they would consider a possible program. What killed the relationship however was what followed next. The President turned to me, in front of the other two people, and proceeded to say - let me give you some feedback because I am a very direct person and if we worked together, that would be it. You are very negative. You were very negative in discussing your former employer because you talked about the failure to execute and the fact the research wasn't at the level you wanted them to be. And, you should get to know your prospect better - we actually have a relationship with your former employer now. After I asked, she elaborated on the fact that they have an NDA, but they are working on some Social Networking project. She then went on to say I was further negative because I said that salespeople don't follow up or follow thru with the research which is like a cop-out on ROI. I was stunned. I thanked them for their time and we parted.

Two hours later I sent a nice email saying thank you, but no thanks and I would try my luck elsewhere. I don't know what kind of insensitive clod would decide to share feedback about my personal style - you don't like my idea, fine, but to openly criticize my communication ability - much like my former employer did - was not appreciated. Plus, my "negativity" was based on outright fact and observation, this isn't negative - it is honest and straight shooting. I don't want or need to put a "spin" on anything - that is how I am, that is how I work, that is how I communicate - and my clients really appreciate it and view me as a trusted advisor and someone who will always say it straight. The other thing was that they had a "LIVE" relationship with my former employer. Why not just work with them for SI? Who is to say that they (AGAIN) wouldn't take my intellectual property, proposal, or whatever and show it to them for a better deal or as a backstabbing means to gain more favor? I wouldn't put it past my former employer who had reviewed my LinkedIN profile just a week or so before the meeting. The fact that this woman did NOT disclose the relationship the minute I opened my mouth about working for them makes things very fishy - she was trying to get info from me clearly...why?

That ended The JS Group. I learned that I need to do an agenda and ask upfront whether there is a relationship with a former employer/competitor especially where there is "bad blood". I hope they are happy building their social network, which I code named "scumster" - I smile at that.

You know what they say, "birds of a feather, flock together". Let us avoid "consultants" like the JS Group and associates of theirs. Surprisingly the money that their clients are spending with them, they can spend with me and I will guarantee an ROI - at least an account entry - which is more, I am sure, than they are going to get from them.