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Hewlett
Packard: Selling Outsourcing
With
the increasing commoditisation of computer products, IT vendors are
looking to other areas to maintain their revenue streams. The
concept of selling services and outsourcing certainly has its
attractions, because of the closer relationship developed with the
customer. Leading IT company Hewlett-Packard decided to make a big
push in the outsourcing market, and commissioned Atticus to help its
sales force fully understand the demanding requirements of selling
outsourcing to top industry executives. In particular, HP wanted
Atticus to assist in the company’s transition from a product- and
technology-based organisation to a relationship/service-based
business.
Hewlett-Packard:
leaders in IT
Hewlett-Packard
(HP) is already one of the largest and most successful IT companies
in the world, but also fully appreciates the importance of
continually investigating alternative avenues in order to steal a
march on its competitors. The company planned a significant move
into selling outsourcing services, but understood that it was not
seen as a major player in the market – despite its undoubted
technical excellence.
HP set
its training division the task of devising an appropriate training
course for sales executives and account managers who were to sell
outsourcing services. European sales training manager Nancy Jensen
commissioned Atticus to assist HP in providing these customer-facing
staff with a much better understanding of the competencies required
to tackle the outsourcing business. Atticus had already been working
with the company’s services marketing department, which was very
happy to recommend it to the training division.
Atticus
Makes its Mark
As a
first step, Atticus conducted in-depth interviews to gain a full
understanding of HP’s needs. Out of this came an outline design,
which was refined through ongoing discussion. This extensive
groundwork culminated in a three-day event entitled "Winning
the Outsourcing Business", a training course targeted at senior
sales and account management staff. But this wasn’t a standard,
lecture-based training course – the Atticus approach is different.
Atticus decided to simulate a real-life bid situation using ‘real
customers’. Instead of simply preaching to the attendees, Atticus
devised a highly interactive and participative event designed to
achieve several aims:
- Engage
participants in the exact nature of the outsourcing market
- Provide
feedback from qualitative research as to what CEOs thought of
the concept of outsourcing, and where they perceived its value
to be
- Understand
why customers outsource in the first place
- Investigate
the risks customers perceive in outsourcing
- Assess
how potential customers evaluate suppliers.
However,
Atticus achieved the greatest impact by retaining senior executives
to role-play the various stages involved in selling outsourcing –
from the initial meeting, to putting together the final proposal.
These executives included an ex-managing director of a Global
Electrical Company, an ex-IT executive from a world-class
Pharmaceuticals company and a sales and marketing executive from the
Service industry.
The
participants were divided into sales teams that competed against
each other to ‘win’ the outsourcing business with the guest
executives in ‘live’ situations. Plenary sessions also covered
subjects such as how to engage senior executives, and what to talk
about when you have secured a few minutes of their valuable time.
Most of the participants hadn’t even spoken to staff at CEO level
before, as they normally deal with IT managers or directors.
Part
of the Atticus package included a post-course consultancy service;
when HP sales people were presented with their first outsourcing
selling opportunity, Atticus consultants were on hand to guide them
– but not actually to do the selling for them. This is a key plank
of the Atticus approach: encouraging people to think for themselves,
and providing the tools and knowledge to solve their own problems.
The
Salesperson’s Stamp of Approval
Sales
people in general are a very demanding breed – and they’re also
often veterans of many an internal training course in which theory
abounds. So perhaps the best indication of the true quality of
Atticus’ input to "Winning the Outsourcing Business" is
the reaction of one of the course participants: "It was a
really excellent course," she says. "Perhaps the title
could have been different though the actual emphasis was on
relationship-building with senior people, with the ultimate aim of
winning more outsourcing business. But the main Atticus consultant
spoke with real authority – we trusted him and identified with
him," she adds. "It was one of the best courses I have
been on."
Delighting
the Customer
HP’s
training manager, Nancy Jensen, confirms this upbeat assessment:
"The overall experience of working with Atticus was
excellent," she says. "They put together an excellent
course and achieved the objectives we set out, even though Atticus
were not necessarily prior experts in outsourcing. They were very
easy to work with, it was easy to develop a close relationship with
them, and they put a lot of time in with me trying to get it right.
The main Atticus presenter was exceptionally credible in front of a
critical salesforce – something that’s difficult to achieve. The
subsequent feedback from the participants was very positive.
Nancy
Jensen believes that a great strength of the course was the fact
that it was role-play and case-study based, and that external
executives were able to give invaluable feedback: "Even
salespeople who had joined us from IBM said it was the best course
they had ever been on. It was much closer to reality than any of
them had experienced before. We raised people’s awareness of the
sort of selling they needed to be doing, and it made them more
confident."
She
explains that it was crucial not to make the course participants
believe that Atticus had all the answers: "We should be looking
inside HP for answers, not expecting the answers on a plate,"
she says. "Atticus encouraged the course participants to view
the course in this light."
Atticus
Limited
Century House
74 Bounty Road
Basingstoke, Hants, RG21 3BZ
Telephone +44 (0) 1256 474074
Fax +44 (0) 1256 471477
E-mail: atticus@atticus.net
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