“I need more leads, more prospects, a bigger pipeline and want deals to start closing SOON!” is what I hear from most people I talk to. This blog post will hopefully provide some ideas about a cost-effective way to jumpstart your prospecting efforts without undue risk. I believe that the age-old question of whether the problem is the operation or the operators regarding lagging investment or financial technology sales can be answered by the use of sales and marketing contractors. Many technology firms - particularly startup firms - have used contracted resources to develop the initial versions of their software (unless it was done by the founders themselves) and/or subsequent early-stage work. So why not use the same type of resource for later stage issues?
The use of contractors has increased in many industries with the rise of the “gig economy”. A bunch of intermediaries have sprung up in recent years like Upwork.com, Fiverr.com and other methods of connecting with freelancers for both short- and long-term projects. I myself have worked on many three-to-six-month engagements on and off for the better part of 20 years and have completed more than 40 projects. Along the way, I have seen many changes in the employment landscape and increasing acceptance of contracting.
The advantages are more evident than the disadvantages. Things can usually spin up fast with contractors; it’s usually cheaper since freelancers are responsible for their own employee benefits; and there is less risk from an HR perspective to committing for only 3 to 6 months. Both sides get to test the other’s capabilities to see if a longer-term relationship is advisable - i.e., the employer can try out the contractor for a predetermined time period during which the contractor can ascertain whether the product and value proposition is viable in the marketplace. Contractors may be more experienced than FTE’s and are usually more amenable to risk-reward propositions in startup or special situations.
This leads me to a brief note about value propositions and product viability. I have yet to meet an entrepreneur who isn’t absolutely sure that their offerings will be, or are presently, a big hit in the marketplace. Certainly, the sales process will be like shooting fish in a barrel! If only the offering can be presented to the right person, partners, prospective organizations, etc., a deal will materialize almost like magic. And sometimes it does! But often the parties involved don’t know what they don’t know. In which case, a contractual relationship can be instrumental in course correction without a huge sales and marketing commitment. A limited engagement is a fantastic opportunity to test everything from macro issues like marketing strategies, target audiences, value propositions, etc. all the way down to relative minutia like the wording of sales pitches, A/B email marketing to test descriptive words and phrases and the like.
One of my longest-standing clients, for whom I have worked on five different occasions, once employed me for a new venture to open doors within a particular financial services vertical. I soon determined that the target market was very interested in what I'll call “that”, which the offering didn't include yet. When I went back to the entrepreneur, he said to keep trying to sell “this” and to tell prospects that we're working on “that”. I was subsequently pulled away to another project and when I came back, he again suggested that I go out and sell “this” despite my suggestion to try selling the early-stage version of “that”. Again, I was pulled away to other endeavors. When I called him back a third time, it turned out that he was about to sell the company primarily based on what he had finally launched for “that”! I file this under not knowing what we didn't know.
The disadvantages of contracted sales and marketing are that employers might not be able to renew relationships if the contractor is pulled away to “greener pastures” or perhaps a full-time opportunity. Although that risk can be mitigated contractually, there will always be a certain “key person risk”. From the contractor’s perspective, the embedded uncertainty and added costs of employee benefits may be a long-term deterrent. Not to mention the corresponding challenges of running one’s own business.
We can never really know what we don’t know about what the future holds, but it’s very likely that cost conscious organizations will continue to look for alternative methods of optimizing and stretching their sales and marketing budgets while minimizing the associated risk. The use of contractors is a great way to accomplish both. To find out more about technology sales and marketing contracting, please go to www.mtmnkamp.com for additional information. I also invite you to schedule a 20 minute (re-)introductory conversation.
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