Professional Selling in a Downturn

1. Professional Selling in a Downturn Brian Hurley Director, Enterprise Services 5th April 2011 Hewlett-Packard (Ireland) Limited, 63-74 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2. Reg No: 34508

2. Agenda Introduction Context Setting Getting Strategic To Meet The Challenge Working The Process Increasing Your Conversion Rate Parting Thoughts Q&A

3. Belfast • HP Storageworks • Sales and Services • Dublin • Call Centre • Galway • European Software Centre • Liffey Park • Inkjet Supplies Manufacturing • Financial Services • Sales & Services • Global Service Desk

4. HP Businesses in Ireland HP Global Service Desk Activity: strategic multi-lingual customer service desk for EMEA Mulit-lingual Centre of Excellence for ‘high value’ support activity HP Financial Services Activity: international finance and leasing solutions Centralised headquarters for HP Financial Services EMEA HP Inkjet Supplies Manufacturing Operation (DIMO) Part of WW Imaging and Printing Group Activity: R&D, engineering and inkjet cartridge manufacture Continue to evolve as a leading manufacturing and research facility Initiatives: R&D Centre, Technology Transfer and collaboration with universities HP Sales & Services Activity: Ireland’s largest IT and Services provider. Offices in Belfast & Leixlip HP Galway Activity: Research and Development and WW software services HP Storage Works 3PAR - Global Centre of Software Engineering Excellence

5. Context Setting Practical Implications for Sales Market Challenges • Competition is increasingly a ‘race to the bottom’ on price • Constrained Selling Resources • Customers can confuse ‘lower price’ with ‘better value’ solution • Increasing commoditisation of core product components • Need to understand what value your ‘solution’ can deliver for your customer • Retention key to minimising customer acquisition costs • Consider discounts to encourage upfront payments • Economic Phenomenon is a permanent correction, not a ‘glitch’ • Increase in number of companies ceasing to trade • Customers need to more with less… • The more is getting more, and the less is getting less • Cash is King, Budgets Constrained • Environmental forces and M&A activity are causing industry structures to change

6. All Changed, Yet All Remains The Same Business as usual… ..Focus on retaining existing base to avoid acquisition costs ..Replenish lost customers, through proactive new business activity ..Refocus not only your customers problems, but on their customers problems in turn But with a different perspective…..More than ever organisations need to focus on sales strategy to align expensive, scarce resources toward the most attractive opportunities in terms of profitability and win-ability

7. Getting Strategic to meet the Challenge Have an articulated strategy & understand:- The markets you are (or want to be) in?- Your preferred customer profile- Your core differentiators- Competitive clusters by product/customer type Understand your numbers and ratios Execute against the defined, articulated strategy Remember, the strategy doesn’t need to be perfect An imperfect strategy executed effectively will yield superior returns over an perfect strategy with flawed execution “Strategy determines those ‘things’ that you have chosen not to do, as much as it determines those ‘things’ that you have consciously chosen to do”

8. Working The Process(es) Create a shared understanding of your sales process and work all deals to the process If you don’t have a process, create one that reflects best practice, or take advice to build one Understand your customers buying cycles and decision making criteria Synchronise your process to their cycles to understand when, if at all, a deal is ‘capable of happening’ The process should include a Win/Loss review to form a learning loop for future opportunities

9. Increasing Conversion Rates: Qualification Have QUALIFICATION at the core of your sales process A formal and robust qualification process will help you to avoid wasting time on low-probability, less attractive opportunities Have the confidence to qualify out: there is no obligation to bid for every piece of business or RFx New economic reality is that vendors need to place sales investments where there is a likely ROI In negotiations, have an established walk away position and avoid getting caught in the emotion of the moment which can result in negative outcomes

10. Creating Alignment Face-To-Face client time is the single most effective sales tool, but also the most expensive The internal sales process should align to the overall strategy for your organisation Once a deal enters qualification all of the tools, processes and systems should support the sales-customer interface This alignment ensures that the most expensive resources are being invested against the most valuable activities from an organisational perspective

11. Parting Thoughts New economic reality presents opportunity, but also challenges Need to move beyond ‘demand fulfilment’ to ‘demand generation’ Establish a ‘hunter’ new business mentality to backfill Qualify, Qualify, Qualify to increase your win probability ‘Sharpen the Saw’ – even in times of economic constraint, sales people and organisations must invest in talent development Focus on cash flow – consider use special discounting or other terms to incentivise payments upfront Maintain pipeline balance, between new business and existing clients, large deals and small deals – to avoid over-reliance on any one group/segment

12. Thank You.