Manage the challenges of a subscription sales business by splitting sales roles.
Across the technology industry, subscription sales models are growing in popularity. The trend is having a big impact on sales forces. For example, an enterprise software company recently transitioned from selling custom software as a one-time product to selling monthly SaaS (software as a service) subscriptions. The company’s sales people were used to seeking out new customers, closing big deals, and then moving on to the next prospect. Now, they also had to cultivate ongoing customer relationships to ensure contracts got renewed, in addition to seeking out opportunities to expand business. As ongoing account management activities consumed more and more sales time, new customer acquisition slowed down – and the company’s revenue growth began slowing too.
The subscription sales trend in cloud computing (and many other industries) means more companies are facing a classic sales management dilemma: Should the same sales person be responsible for both account acquisition and account management? Or is it better to have one ‘hunting’ role for finding and closing deals with new accounts, and another ‘farming’ role for retaining and growing business with current accounts?
THE PROS & CONS OF A SINGLE SALES ROLE
There are several advantages to having the same salesperson who acquires an account also manage the ongoing relationship with that account.
• It encourages customer focus and accountability.
There is no question of who is responsible for each customer.
• Customers like it.
They are not disappointed when they can no longer work with the person who sold them initially.
• Most sales people like it. They are motivated by the entrepreneurial culture that comes with “owning” the customers they bring in.
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