This document provides guidance to sales professionals on navigating a economic downturn. It begins by setting the context of market challenges, including constrained budgets and increasing competition. It then recommends getting strategic by defining target markets and differentiators. It emphasizes working the sales process, with a focus on qualification to avoid low-probability deals. Increasing conversion rates requires understanding customers' buying cycles and decision criteria. Throughout, the document stresses the importance of execution and reviews to continuously improve performance in difficult economic conditions.

1. Professional Selling in a
Downturn
B r ia n H u r l e y
D ir e c t o r , E n t e r p r is e S e r v ic e s
5 t h Ap r il 2 0 1 1
Hewlett-Packard (Ireland) Limited, 63-74 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2. Reg No: 34508
© 0 1 1 H P C o n f id e n t ia l
2

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

6. Al l C h a n g e d , Y e t Al l R e m a in s
Th e Sa m e
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. G e t t in g S t r at e g ic t o m e e t t h e
Ch al l e n g e
• 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. Wo r k in g T h e P r o c e s s (e s )
• 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. In c r e a s in g C o n v e r s io n R at e s :
Q u a l if ic at io n
• 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. C r e at in g Al ig n m e n t
• 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. Pa r t in g T h o u g h t s
• 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.