SEs Keep Deals Moving in a Down Economy
Yes, SEs can play an important role in the sales cycle in a down economy.
How? Note that in a complex sales cycle there are actually two decision cycles at work in parallel — The business decision and the technical decision. These decision cycles are independent of each other except that the technical decision needs to happen well before the business decision.
So, just because the business decision is stalled because money is not flowing, does not prevent the technical decision from moving forward as usual. The SE can work the technical decision right up to actually acquiring the decision. The SE can then maintain watch over those technical closures until the economy starts moving again, and it will. At that time, there will be a queue of technically closed deals awaiting business closure.
Sales VPs, I wouldn’t be so quick to lay off SEs during a down time. There’s plenty for them to do.
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If hiring and firing decisons were based on a sound business plan, most companies would not be in the mess they are; most of these decisions are based on paying yourself first, your cronies second and then may be thinking about what is actually good for the business. Our economy is still based on the good old boy network of cronyism which is why we have so many incompetent C-levels, Sales VPs and so called account executives floatig around in the business and why so much shareholder value has been lost from the house of cards they all built. They all went to the same sort of MBA schools where they never really learnt anything but just built a network of good old boys who are as inocmpetent as themselves. We need a few good leaders!
Comment by Infinite Wisdom — December 9, 2008 @ 11:06 am