confessions of an ex enterprise salesperson by doug mitchell

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Confessions of an Ex- Enterprise Salesperson: What I Really Meant When I Said ________. By Doug Mitchell Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved© West Des Moines, Iowa, USA 515.309.1531 office • www.mitchgroup.com

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Confessions is a light hearted stroll through enterprise software hell. The book takes the reader through key milestones in the enterprise sales process and provides gritty questions that expose the truth that slick salespeople often cloud very well.

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Page 1: Confessions of an Ex Enterprise Salesperson by Doug Mitchell

Confessions of an Ex-

Enterprise Salesperson: What I Really Meant When I Said ________.

By Doug Mitchell

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved©

West Des Moines, Iowa, USA • 515.309.1531 office • www.mitchgroup.com

Page 2: Confessions of an Ex Enterprise Salesperson by Doug Mitchell

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Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Glossary ....................................................................................................................................... 6

Chapter 1: My solution is the one that best meets your needs ..................................................... 7

Key questions to ask your ESS ..................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 2: My solution does not require much of your company's IT resources ........................ 10

Key questions to ask your ESS ................................................................................................... 12

Chapter 3: My solution is supported well .................................................................................... 13

Key questions to ask your ESS ................................................................................................... 14

Chapter 4: My solution will save you time and money ................................................................ 15

Key questions to ask your ESS ................................................................................................... 16

Chapter 5: That will take 2…maybe 3 weeks to develop ............................................................. 17

Key questions to ask your ESS ................................................................................................... 19

Chapter 7: Here are my prices ..................................................................................................... 20

Key questions to ask your ESS ................................................................................................... 24

Chapter 8: Here are my contract terms and conditions .............................................................. 25

Key questions to ask your ESS ................................................................................................... 26

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 27

Author Biography .......................................................................................................................... 28

Reviews and Comments ................................................................................................................ 29

Page 3: Confessions of an Ex Enterprise Salesperson by Doug Mitchell

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Introduction

The title of this book came to me as I sat in my home office planning the

strategic direction of my new business RentalMetrics. Each new idea

quickly summoned the "Make sure this is not an enterprise solution"

mental checklist. That is, I was checking to make sure I'm not building a

bloated, over-featured, and "dead before it starts" solution that would

inevitably be my undoing.

I've been down the enterprise solution rabbit hole a few times now.

Granted, all have been tremendous learning experiences including global

travel, nice hotels, and meetings with very interesting business people. But

I'm confident stating that the

enterprise solution sales sand

box is a place in which I no

longer wish to play. Please

accept that my irreverence and

sardonic commentary about the

enterprise stems from my own

personal experience over the last

14 years, and I wouldn’t trade

that for anything!

I'm not suggesting that I’ve lived a life of lies. There are no perfect

solutions for the enterprise and never will be. It's up to the sales

professional to convince the target that she's got the best possible solution,

despite the facts. Is lying requisite? No. Salespeople are not lying, they are

simply framing the truth in a way that closes the deal and provides a big

payday.

My enterprise experience crescendoed when I was asked to write a

business plan asking for $1 million in venture capital funding. Thirty days

later...we had a cool million in the bank. We planned on getting 6-figure

Salespeople are not lying,

they are simply framing

the truth in a way that

closes the deal and

provides a big payday.

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license fees and hefty maintenance. We'd grow according to the typical

Venture Capital dreamland numbers.

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Rev $ 50,000 1,000,000 5,000,000 20,000,000 IPO

Exp $ out of control

we need

to ramp

amazingly

low

$1500

chairs who cares

Profit

(Loss)

hemorrhaging

cash bleeding breakeven sick cash cash out

It sounded great...but like many ES companies, we overestimated the

market size for clients willing to pay big fees. We had NO CONCEPT of how

much it costs to acquire enterprise deals. When a target in NYC says, "Can

you be here at 3PM tomorrow?" you say yes. That 1 hour in-person

conversation often cost in excess of $5k not including lost life minutes from

doing red eyes.

After 2 years of moderate success we were still hurting. When things finally

turned the corner, it was because we'd figured out how to:

Deliver smaller chunks of relevant content to small and medium

businesses

Deliver the content in a hosted environment

Deliver the content in way that required almost no set up and very

little ongoing maintenance for us or the client (i.e. automated

process)

Deliver the content for a monthly all inclusive fee that was attractive

to a much wider swath of the market

Page 5: Confessions of an Ex Enterprise Salesperson by Doug Mitchell

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It was just a bit too late. We'd spent the million bucks trying to become

the next enterprise sales company versus trying to deliver what the

market wanted. We took a buyout deal a few months later.

I learned more in those 2.5 years and with that $1 million than I could have

living 20 years in a Fortune 500 cubicle. No regrets.

After that experience, I'm sure you're thinking that my next gig would

surely be something outside the enterprise.

Nope. I jumped right back in again.

This time around I felt wiser. I was in a position to grow the next company

in two distinct parallel paths. I counted on revenue dollars from large

enterprise clients to fund development of a non-enterprise model. My role

quickly grew at the company and the high maintenance enterprise world

soon engulfed me...as it always does. Three and a half years later, I exited

the enterprise world yet again with the same issues: high prices, huge cost

of sales, ill defined target market, heavy IT resource demand, and a bloated

product requiring customization for each client.

This book is the summarization of my enterprise selling experience. In it, I

hope to shed some light on the truth behind the suit and tell you:

What I really meant when I said ___________________.

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Let’s get a few things clear before we continue to ensure smoother reading

and understanding of my abbreviations.

Glossary

Enterprise Solution (ES) A software solution that is typically sold as a site

license (e.g. Company X buys a single site license that allows them to run

the core parts of the solution on a single server. It may be helpful to

consider the site license as authorizing one single instance of software to

run on one server somewhere in the company's IT department) aka "The

Mother-Ship", with seat licenses for the users of the solution, aka "The

Satellites" and support sold as a percentage of the total software price, aka

"Payroll". The ES is often quite expensive to buy upfront. This upfront price

loading is where the ES software company recovers the immense cost of

sales associated with the ES including commissions, bonus payments to

company officers, investor dividends, and really nice cars for the President.

Enterprise Sales Person (ESS) Enterprise solutions are typically sold by very

nice looking people, often dressed in suits who are willing to fly anywhere

on a moment’s notice and are always "Going to be in your area anyway".

The ES is often supported by nice looking brochures that are so glossy; they

deflect even the strongest of coffee circle stains. Better ES selling

organizations send two people on the tactical assault mission: One suit.

One techie. The suit acts as translator when the techie (most often in

Dockers with a company logo button down) lays out something intelligent

for your consumption. That back and forth tech translation orgy is meant

to disarm the prospective buyer or baffle him sufficiently into writing a

check for the panacea product that will make his boss happy with him...or

close out the never ending 6-Sigma project from hell.

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Chapter 1: My solution is the one that best meets your

needs

When I said, "My solution is the one that best meets your needs," what I

meant was that I'm going to do my darnedest to shoe horn my product into

your world so that you'll buy my stuff versus the competitors.

Don't get me wrong, I really did have my eye on what’s best for you...but I

wanted to grow my business just like you. Our company didn't grow 60%

a year by sending you to the competition so you'd be wowed by their sales

team.

Enterprise software is SOLD not bought. The key is having enough of what

matters to you in my product to build a case for saying yes. I have told

some that my product is simply not for them. But, for most, I was certain

that if I stayed in the mix long enough I'd convince the target that my ES

was the perfect solution. Only in rare circumstances did I try to convince

you otherwise.

The ESS is not lying or mistreating you. Few organizations actually have

consultative sales people that conduct a real sales qualification process.

Thus, most are happy to talk to any company that expresses even slight

interest in their product (because that could mean a payday).

In my last enterprise role, I was blessed to work with a target market of 60

companies. I immersed myself into the target market and became an

"expert" in their pains...their issues...their change drivers. When you

bought my ES vs. Company X's, you did so because I "got it" immediately. I

spoke your language. I related to you and your teams issues when the

other guys just talked about technology or features.

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So was my ES the best one for you? If your relationship with me and the

product gave you what you wanted...then yes. Remember, you weren't

buying a product. You were buying the way that product would make your

organization run, the way you'd feel when your boss gave you a bonus next

quarter for saving 20% on your bottom line. You don't buy products

because they have this or that. You buy them because of what they'll do

for you and the ecosystem you operate within.

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Key questions to ask your ESS

1. What 3 companies are your fiercest competitors and what would

they say they do better than you? If the answer is, “We have no

competitors,” shuttle the ESS to the door.

2. The last time you lost a deal to your competition, what were the

main reasons given? If the response is snotty or the ESS attempts to

discredit the prospect that ultimately said no, be wary. She will

probably speak of you in these terms if you don’t choose her

solution. If you’re presented with truthful accounts, kind words, and

reverence for the “one that got away”, put a check box in the

credibility column. An ES cannot be perfect and certainly can’t be

perfect for everyone.

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Chapter 2: My solution does not require much of your

company's IT resources

When I said, "My solution does not require much of your company's IT

resources," what I meant was that with a 95% degree of certainty, your IT

department will be the biggest roadblock to success that we'll encounter in

this project.

Unless you're in the 5% of companies with an IT Director/Manager that

"gets it", we're going to run into rough spots as we sort through myriad

personality issues and resource snafus. "Get it" means that the IT Director

and staff realize the company does not revolve around them and the

gravitational field their large brains create. Also, we'll have to deal with the

"you ain’t playin' in my sandbox little person that has no idea how hard I

work or how many cockamamie software rabbit hole projects I get stuck

supporting" radar. The first reaction of the 95% is, "Here we go

again...another slick suit trying to add more work to my schedule". Be

warned. If your company suffers from this syndrome there is no cure

except removal of said IT Czar and that is unlikely.

The 5% are an absolute joy to work with. They understand they’re there to

serve the needs of the business with their IT services. They have quite a bit

of power within the organization and command large budgets. If you

encounter a rare "Five Percenter", treat them like gold. Send wine and

corporate trinkets regularly. Often Fiver Percenters associate with others in

this elite clan. They break down walls, make introductions, and bring you

into the inner sanctum of the IT community that gets things done without

claiming victim-hood. My pulse rate is actually up as I write this section

thinking back to some of my encounters with Enterprise IT leaders.

As I’ve mentioned my new business is distinctly outside of the Enterprise

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realm. It allows business people to say YES without answering to the ogre

in the subterranean lair. I find it much more pleasurable dealing with

executives, mangers, and field level folks trying to make progress

versus…well…you get the idea. I’m not anti-IT, just anti-Me dealing with IT

to get things done. Leave that to the enterprise folks.

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Key questions to ask your ESS

1. When (not if) you run into smoke screens, road blocks, and

obstacles thrown up my IT department, are you prepared to deal

with them and how? ES software firms with inexperienced project

managers and “yes men” are rampant. I’ve seen the same project

with identical variables take 5 times as long to execute because the

project manager on the ES side simply accept what they’re told by IT.

Make sure the ES provider you go with has the kind of take charge

project managers that expose IT grandstanding and “resource

constraints”. In my last enterprise experience, the technology

deployment (integration, testing, etc.) took 3 days of having the right

people made available. Typical deployment time however: 4-6

months.

2. If we cut through all of the crap, how much time does it really take

to deploy this solution, excluding training?

Chisel away at Microsoft Project Gantt charts with hours,

dependencies, etc. Most project timelines are inflated relics used to

boost the complexity, billing hours, and professional appearance of

the ES firm. I’ve not been involved with a project yet that even

moderately resembled the plan. Get to the bottom of what it will

really take to get this solution online. Be tough. Be demanding.

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Chapter 3: My solution is supported well

When I said that, “My solution is supported well and my company hangs its

hat on the best service in the industry,” what I meant was that when you

call, a human will pick up the phone and get on your problem right away,

delaying someone else’s due date for customized solution delivery.

The bottom line with custom software in the enterprise is that it breaks.

How many times have you rebooted today? A key factor in company’s

minds when buying software is how well it’s supported. If the software is

built well and you’re trained properly, you shouldn’t need support right?

Inevitably, something will misfire since enterprise software is very complex.

When you call and the person on the phone knows you have a real issue

(not a “did you turn the computer on?” type deal) he’ll drop what he’s

doing and get on your stuff while the other promised stuff waits.

You’re saying, “You mean you mean ES software companies don’t have

dedicated support staff!” Sure they do, but they get assigned to tasks and

projects just like the other custom development staff. Most enterprise

software companies’ make as much from customization as they do selling

their stuff. The custom development is paying salaries so the company has

the R&D money to plow into their “perfect rocket ship” solution.

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Key questions to ask your ESS

1. Do you have an automated system or a human system when I call

your support line? Human is better because they respond better

than recordings to emotional pleas.

2. What bug tracking or trouble ticket solution to you use? (It’s not as

important to know what the answer means vs. knowing they do have

a system of some kind other than MS Outlook or a white board.)

3. What your average time from call in to resolution? Just ask. Most

probably will have no clue but you’ll sound important. If the ESS

answers you with real data, respect him/her and move on.

4. What is your process for escalation? Translation: How can I bypass

the first few levels of support and get to someone that knows what I

need? Write down these answers and get names, phone numbers,

and email addresses of the escalation chain. When something goes

wrong, just ping the highest person in the chain and consider your

issue…escalated.

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Chapter 4: My solution will save you time and money

When I said, “My solution will save you time and

money,” what I meant was that your company will

probably achieve enough Return On Investment to

pay for the solution…but you’ll end up using 10%

of the what the solution can do and end up

frustrated after the honeymoon period.

Most ES solutions have evolved because complex

businesses have insisted that new features be

built as a condition of sale. “If you add the ability

for the system to calculate blah and integrate with blah…I’ll buy it”. Let’s

say today the solution has 100 great features that could impact your

business positively. You were sold on the few trigger issues that matter in

your ecosystem by the ESS. The other cool stuff used to sell this product to

management will probably never pan out.

After the honeymoon period of deployment, training, and initial ROI

calculation people adapt and stagnate. This process is similar to physical

exercise when gains in performance halt due to the body’s uncanny ability

to adapt. I saw this process unfold before my eyes again and again. Can it

be avoided? Yes.

To stave off stagnation and frustration be realistic about what functions

your organization will use. Then ensure that training is geared toward

those functions. Next, ensure that follow up training in system utilization is

scheduled. Choose real dates…not plans. In my 50+ enterprise deals a very

small percentage invested in ongoing training. Sadly training is where

companies save a few bucks. It’s not only important to debrief after 60-

120-180 days of usage. You must have trainers knowledgeable in your

business processes to know how your firm is using the system. These are

the best dollars you’ve spend.

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Key questions to ask your ESS

1. What percentage of features in this system do your clients typically

use? If the number is higher than 60% I’d revisit the numbers used

to calculate your ROI. Is the ESS being liberal in applying savings

numbers to certain features that will likely not do anything for you? I

hell stress realism here. No matter how badly you hate corporate

green screen system X, the new system won’t make you a hero if it

can’t live up to its promises. (Only this time, it will be your fault if it

blows up).

2. If I want to reduce the training required by half to save money, will

you let me? Hope the answer is no. If the ESS allows this to shave

dollars off the price, think twice. I believe the following formula

holds true:

Increased investment in ES training = chance of success²

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Chapter 5: That will take 2…maybe 3 weeks to develop

When I said, “That will take 2 maybe 3 weeks to develop”, what I meant

was t I really don’t know how long your customization will take so I’m

throwing out a number that will get you to bite…not balk.”

Toward the end of my enterprise career, I had learned that NO deal was

better than ANY deal involving open ended customization, undocumented

promises, and failure to meet expectations. I would not agree to sell a

solution until the potential client agreed to have the tech folks “spec out”

the requested customization (NOTE: Desperation for closed deals often

clouds minds’ ability to say NO). The process of documenting

customization always leads to twists and turns that would have gone

unaccounted for 100% of the time. TRANSLATION: Price too low and

project unprofitable in every single deployment.

The specification process is where

developers and project managers

asses resource requirements to deliver

the desired outcome (new feature,

integration, look and feel). This is an

investment for the ES firm. Just

getting a price requires time (money).

Of course it’s in the ES firm’s best

interest to provide this if they believe you are legitimate and qualified

prospect.

Much of the pain during this phase exists because the ESS has not done

proper prequalification. Nothing is more frustrating for the ES firm than

delivering a five page customization quote to find that the quote for

customization is more than the prospect budgeted for the entire solution!

It makes me wonder if anyone asks, “Hey, do you have a budget for this?”

anymore.

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Smaller ES firms really want your business. If the delivery dates of complex

customizations seems unrealistic…even to you, they probably are.

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Key questions to ask your ESS

1. What is your process for documenting change requests? Let the ESS

speak. Listen closely to see if they’re making up the process on the

fly. There should be some kind of form that requires sign off from

both parties, etc. Quotes thrown out during a sales pitch are usually

designed to speed the sales process, not get your needs satisfied.

2. If your development efforts fall behind schedule, what’s my

compensation? We set dates for a reason. Some are arbitrary.

Some are absolute musts. If the ES firm falls behind (and it will), you

need to know that this matters and that something happens besides

conference calls and placation.

Estimated time provided by ES firm X 2.50 = actual delivery date

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Chapter 7: Here are my prices

When I said, “Here are my prices”, what I meant was “My price is totally

flexible and within reason I’ll probably say yes to lowering them because we

need your upfront money and recurring revenue more than I need my

pride.”

Pricing ES solutions is far more art than

science. Often it’s more about

discovering the target’s pain tolerance.

Too high and you’re shown the door.

Too low and those “big dog” clients will

laugh you out of the building.

(Yes…there is such a thing as too cheap).

Most skilled ESS’s begin high and move lower as they discover more about

the client’s price pain/tolerance. That model is inefficient and wasteful. It’s

also the most prevalent methodology in the market.

Often times the pricing configurator (most likely a spreadsheet with lots of

nifty variables and options) is specifically designed to flummox you into

spending more. This tactic is also critical to the ESS’s ability to charge you

LESS without actually telling the greater industry that her employer will

take what they can get for the solution. In one of my ES tours of duty, I

fought the company owner constantly on the pricing model. I took all of

the “features” and “add-ons” and simply wrapped them up into a single

price. Then, I discounted that price. Done. This left my variable pricing

component as “Number of users requiring support.” This worked because

it didn’t put the client in the position of feeling nickel and dimed. It

comforted them to receive every possible benefit the software had to offer.

Using Software as a Service (SaaS) has become far more attractive to the

enterprise. So have “all inclusive pricing” models. Even if your solution is

not hosted the model can be adapted. During the last couple of years

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before starting RentalMetrics, I found target clients excitement about a

fixed price model escalating. I was encouraged to wrap up XX number of

users into a fixed monthly investment inclusive of support, updates,

upgrades, etc. Not only does the model increase the short term cash flow

of the ES firm…it allows the client to budget accurately for the next XX

months.

The hosted application world has really begun to take hold in the

enterprise. IT departments are working through their security concerns (in

many cases getting over themselves) and deploying hosted apps

successfully. My counter to the security concern with 3rd party hosting

situations usually falls back to the “Lost Laptop Syndrome.” How many

times have we heard that 50,000 clients from Mega Banking Corp., U.S.A.

had their personal information compromised by a lost laptop? Compare

that to how many times your hosting company or software solution

provider has been hacked with the same result. I’m sure it’s

happened…but I’ve not heard of it.

Another pricing model that doesn’t work often is the Percentage of ROI

model. In this model the target client will be asked to pay a Deployment

Package price upfront. Then after agreeing on metrics for success or

failure, an agreement is struck on what percentage of savings will be given

to the ES firm and for what duration.

We’ll pay you $20k up front and 20% of the dollar savings

we receive as a result of deploying and using your ES.

We’ll judge the savings numbers on reduced overtime and

gasoline expense.

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Example Pricing Configuration Tool

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Note that the deployment package price is a cost covering maneuver. The

ES firm won’t take a chance on losing money on a deployment because

they’re overcommitted and behind on custom development. If they go for

the percentage of ROI model after pummeling the ESS into saying YES, be

warned. That probably means that cash is tight and they’re saying yes to at

least get your deposit for cash float. Bad.

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Key questions to ask your ESS

1. “How much does the solution cost?” If you get an answer in the first

meeting before the ESS has asked you a bunch of qualifying

questions …be afraid. Be very afraid. The salesperson that gives you

a price on an enterprise solution without knowing what you’ll

actually buy is dangerous. I have used the “It costs anywhere from

nothing to (insert ludicrous price here) but price is completely

irrelevant at this point compared to my need to discover what my

solution can do for you.” I’m not sure if that’s correct in sales guru

circles…but it deflected the question. Don’t focus on price. You’d be

surprised how inexpensive some software solutions are relative to

their savings for your company.

2. “What’s the typical payback or return on investment you’ve

measured when companies like mine have deployed your solution

and can you provide me case studies? This question is designed to

see how your ESS thinks and what experience he/she has in

quantitatively assessing results. This question will demonstrate how

serious the company is about results. Firms without real case studies

typically don’t conduct business the way you’ll want to. I’ve worked

in places where these did not exist. It should be a first step rather

than a marketing afterthought.

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Chapter 8: Here are my contract terms and conditions

When I said, “Here are my contract terms and conditions”, what I meant

was “This is pretty much a boiler plate agreement that no one reads so if

you challenge some terms…you’ll probably get what you want.”

Most small to medium ES companies don’t have

in house legal representation. In fact, most don’t

leverage outside legal help either. Instead they

opt to purchase agreements online or worse, just

rip a legal doc from some Google search.

Perhaps they even steal a competitor’s

agreement and tweak it to match what they

believe makes sense.

The bottom line is that most ES firms don’t even know what the terms in

their own contract mean. If something appears strange to you or is

unclear, challenge it. Don’t be afraid. You’re the target that the ESS is

attempting to separate from his money.

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Key questions to ask your ESS

1. “Is this agreement flexible and negotiable?” Who knows if you

need to change terms, but inflexibility in contract terms could be a

bad omen.

2. “What’s the one contract term that clients challenge the most?”

This can start a great conversation. The collaborative ESS will be

honest and give you hints as to what you might consider. If he/she

says the agreement usually goes through like a greased pig, dig

harder.

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License

Conclusion

I hope you’ve taken some lessons and tools away from this book. Although

the enterprise is not a place I’d like to be now…it was an excellent proving

ground. The enterprise teaches and holds valuable lessons. If you’re a

college graduate and don’t have a career path in mind, I’d highly

recommend you spend time in enterprise sales and marketing. But take

notes! You’ll soon identify much of what I discussed on your own.

If you’re being courted by an enterprise software firm, don’t show them

your “Guide to causing them emotional trauma” until you’ve signed the

deal. Then pass this book on. Let them in on the secret.

The enterprise model has a purpose and is needed…but its value is

shrinking. Technology has opened the door to myriad software applications

that empower business and require far less developer expertise. I’m able

to do things today in publishing, websites, blogging, form creation, survey

generation, and database management with simple tools that required big

money a few years ago.

Remember that enterprise software is sold…not bought. They key is to be

sold the right solution by the right company and the right salesperson.

Cheers!

Page 28: Confessions of an Ex Enterprise Salesperson by Doug Mitchell

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States

License

Author Biography

Doug Mitchell lives in Des Moines, Iowa with his family. Doug escaped the

coastal rat race in 2005 by executing Geographic Arbitrage. That is, he sold

his California home and began working remotely from the heartland

reaping its economic and social benefits.

Since 1999, Doug has largely been in leadership roles with startup software

firms. In late 2007, Doug hung his shingle on RentalMetrics. RentalMetrics

is a management consulting firm serving the construction equipment rental

ecosystem. The company boasts an innovative subscription based

“Independent Learning Environment.” (ILE) This ILE provides project

management tools, templates, product research, analysis, and interviews

with industry thought leaders…all produced in a rich media environment.

The RentalMetrics ILE exposes even the smaller rental or construction

company to the high power tools often reserved for industry heavy hitters.

With weekly updates and additions by RentalMetrics research engineers,

the ILE is designed to be a lifetime subscription with an ever greater value

proposition over time.

Doug Mitchell maintains a personal blog where he muses on business,

family, and life in the Midwest at Moments of Clarity.

The Mitchell Group, LLC 6750 Westown Pkwy #200 PMB 330 West Des Moines, IA 50266 515.309.1531 office [email protected] www.RentalMetrics.com www.MitchGroup.com

Page 29: Confessions of an Ex Enterprise Salesperson by Doug Mitchell

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States

License

Reviews and Comments

Doug Mitchell’s Confessions exposes the realities of buying and selling

enterprise software in a humorous, straightforward way. He dispels any

remaining notions that the process of selling enterprise solutions is done on

the up-and-up and translates the vocabulary of the enterprise salesperson

into something the buyer (“target” in sales-speak) can understand and,

more importantly, act on. The list of questions he suggests that the buyer

use is the real goldmine here. With them, Doug helps the enterprise

solution buyer unmask the salesperson on the other side of the table and

avoid many potentially expensive pitfalls in the acquisition and the

implementation of large systems.

--Will Herman, Former CEO of way too many companies to list,

Corporate Director, and über blogger.

“Confessions” was very insightful and full of topics to really make one

think! Great job of putting your ideas and thoughts in writing regarding the

Enterprise Solution market!

-- Malcolm Goodwin, CEO, PromiseIT Solutions, Inc.

Mitchell offers up insider insight into the well-guarded minds of Enterprise

Solution salespeople, insight that just might end up saving your enterprise

from a million dollar mistake.

-- Brett Trout, Attorney, Law Offices of Brett Trout, P.C.