Editor's note: Michael Mitrano is a principal at Transition Strategies Corporation, a management consulting and mergers and acquisitions advisory firm serving the research industry.
On some days, managing a group of full-service research account executives can be like herding cats. Once in a while, it can resemble a catfight. If you are a group head or company owner, how can you more effectively manage the people who bring in your business? To manage people, you need to appreciate and work with their motivations - so let's start there.
Why do researchers go into sales in the first place?
Most market researchers are data-oriented people, which is not a personality that we associate with sales. At the same time, because custom market research is a professional service, clients expect that the people selling research to them will be researchers who understand their needs and will remain involved in fulfilling them. To a large extent, the custom research account executive is selling herself or himself. For these reasons, research sales people are different than many other B2B account executives.
Some researchers gravitate toward sales because they do enjoy the challenge of the selling process - they like to convince, win, and build successful business relationships. Many are motivated toward sales because they see it as a path to work advancement and increased personal income. Quite a few, however, are drawn to sales because it means greater independence. By developing their own clients, they get to work on their own projects rather than those handed to them by a group head or partner. As their base of business increases, their oversight comes more from clients than from their bosses. They have greater control over the kind of work they do, how it's done, and when things are due than if they worked under someone else. Selling lets them do research the way they want to do it, within the constraint of client requirements. It also gives them job security.
Given this, it's not surprising that some researchers will build their business up to the point when they (and perhaps a small junior staff) are fully booked, and then stop. These researchers will take on new business development only after their established business falls off. They may do quality work at excellent profit margins, but they will limit their own sales growth because too large a book of business will take them away from the work they love to do. Handing off ad hoc work to others is more difficult than when the research follows a standardized "product" approach. Clients also may insist that they remain closely involved with the research's execution. Notwithstanding these researchers' good qualities, they are not the people who you want developing your future sales talent.
Understanding - and discussing - the motivations of each sales staff member as well as those coming up the ranks will help you develop people and make the right fit between tasks and abilities.
Leading by example
Because many research account execs are involved in carrying out the projects they sell, and because some enjoy the research more than the sales, successful research companies need sales leadership. This usually comes from an owner or top person who champions business development and is out frequently with clients. Often this person is more sales-oriented: believing in growth and enjoying the sales process.
Even if this person does not directly supervise all of the salespeople (who may be his or her partners), he or she moves marketing initiatives forward and keeps people from forgetting about new business due to the press of existing project work. By setting well-defined, individualized goals for each person and continuously monitoring performance against those goals, the sales leader helps everyone to stay focused on business development.
This person can lead by example and serve as a role model to mid-level staff members. Especially in the development of new accounts, someone who leads by example can show people that calling on new prospects is not as scary as it looks, and that persistence and tact are key to getting that first RFP.
Some managers try to lead from the back of the battalion, by exhorting others to attend conferences and make sales calls without doing so themselves. Just as in raising kids, this "do as I say, not as I do" approach is usually not effective.
Matching the people to the task
No one would give a complex multi-country, multivariate study to a project manager whose background is mainly qualitative. At the same time, some companies will ask everyone on their sales staff to sell in the same way. Given the different talents and personalities of the staff involved, that rarely makes sense.
People who enjoy the thrill of the chase will be best in client offices, opening up new relationships or closing important sales. Others will do better writing articles in client industry publications, speaking at conferences where clients are present, or building personal relationships with clients that can increase "share of wallet." Most account execs will benefit from goals for specific activities and regular monthly reporting on actions taken toward those goals, but the each salesperson's goals should be take advantage of his or her strengths and motivations.
Celebrate sales
Particularly among custom research companies that do high-end work, it is often a point of pride that the senior people who sell a project remain closely involved with it through completion. Some companies will say, "we have no sales people" - meaning that the same people sell and deliver. The same thing is true in other professions such as accounting, law, and architecture, and it's something that many clients like to hear. However, this positioning can send an unintended internal message: that selling is an unworthy skill, a necessary evil that lets us carry out our craft. If you want your company to grow and prosper, this is not a message to send.
Successful research companies celebrate sales as the lifeblood of their business. They track sales by account exec, publicly recognize sales achievement, and compensate salespeople for their performance. Regular sales meetings allow account execs to share ideas and reinforce the importance of the sales process. While not diminishing the importance of design, project management, and analysis, successful companies communicate by word and deed that selling is where their business begins.