Make Lemonade While the World Chomps on Lemons

by Jonathan Gilliam, Executive Interim Manager

Those of us on the front lines of complex sales and business development have undoubtedly noticed the growing abundance of webinars, blogs, and articles from various pundits on how to develop accounts in a slump.

Even industries and individual businesses that are still doing well are shell-shocked by the avalanche of bad economic news and consequently are taking a “wait and see” attitude.

Unfortunately our employers and our families can’t afford to just wait and see. They need us to close business. Now.

The last few downturns have averaged 1.5 years in duration. This one may last even longer, and not everyone agrees on when this one even started. Uniquely, the lack of credit availability is truly frightening to sales and business development folks because of the potential impact on customers’ ability to finance their purchases.

Yes, reality bites… and also presents opportunities. The basic truth is business must get done and your customer still needs you. In fact, as headcount gets slashed within your customers’ organizations, those who survive are taking on the responsibilities of those who are let go and consequently have even more on their to-do list, with even less in time and resources.

This means opportunities for salespeople who can truly help customers face their own challenges and weather the storm.

*Excerpted from the SBDP Newsletter article “Staying Relevant in the Downturn.”

This article was republished with permission from Business Developments.

Jonathan Gilliam is a interim management executive for OneAccord and is based in the Austin area. Jonathan has a deep background in business development, market analysis, opportunity development, relationship management and C-level sales. Mr. Gilliam welcomes questions at 512.775.7566 or Jonathan.Gilliam(at)OneAccordCorp.com. Jonathan also blogs at Business Developments.

Photo by kretyen

Interim Management Staying Relevant in the Downturn

by Jonathan Gilliam, Interim Marketing Executive

We need to remember the current anxiety extends to our clients and their concerns about their company, staff and their own positions. We must help them justify their own roles by helping them stay relevant.

Key to this concept is learning more about solving our clients’ immediate problems. Discerning and analyzing those issues and how our product or service fits is critical. We need to be able to address client pain immediately and work to make him or her more effective.

With budgets drying up, the interim management’s role has now shifted. We are no longer here merely to help companies with cutting edge technology or driving future revenue by investing in multi-year projects with far-off return scenarios. If our customers are concerned about making their own quarterly numbers, they are less likely to be impressed with your product’s ability to automate their perfectly fine manual processes.

We can no longer “drop in, hand off and move on.” Rather we must remain in front of our customer, providing new ideas and unquestioned value.

Jonathan Gilliam is a interim marketing executive for OneAccord and is based in the Austin area. Jonathan has a deep background in business development, market analysis, opportunity development, relationship management and C-level sales. Mr. Gilliam welcomes questions at 512.775.7566 or Jonathan.Gilliam(at)OneAccordCorp.com. Jonathan also blogs at Business Developments.

Photo by artemfinland