FinTech: The salesman is Dead! Long live the Business Developer.

When I used to think of a salesman (and still do), this is image I get in my head:

Someone who puts up a facade and attempts to convince a buyer to part with their money, purely on the basis of their perceived mastery of the art of the sale! I guess it is a result of years of watching hollywood movies! But even though it is an exaggeration, many sales floors are full of these loud and boisterous characters who are obsessed with "one upmanship"

In contrast, when I think of a businessman; I imagine something like this:

Hard working, smooth and understated (apart from the champagne). They are thinking of the bigger picture and always planning ahead for strategic goals, not just quick wins. Confidence (not arrogance) comes natural because they have experience which allows you to trust them, at least more than a salesman. I believe many people have similar views of a salesman and businessman in varying degrees.

Enter The Business Developer

Business development has a number of definitions and changes depending on who you talk to. On the whole most believe it is a function separate from Sales and concentrates on developing long term commercial relationship and identifying new markets or segments for sales to exploit.

Whilst I agree with this, I feel this is only part of the story and development of the customer is the crucial missing part. With finance being such a vast and varied landscape, it is now important more than ever to not only understand the technology solutions you represent, but also the customer and the environment in which you hope to see them used.

You must not only be personable to build rapport and relationships with customers, but need to be able look at solutions as a whole. To be able to design, validate and innovate like a member of their team would do for a given project. Granted, you may not have the details and nuances of their unique setup but you can bring to the table industry best practices and considerations which you will have gained; often from their competitors! This, makes you an incredibly valuable and trusted relationship.

When you get this mix right, the revenue stream from that customer can be a continual one. But here is the number one rule, DO NOT BULLSHIT THEM! If your solution cannot deliver what they need, tell them so. They will appreciate the honesty and will often come back when they have a need which your product can address.

"I know the CTO there, he is a good friend of mine!"

So why do so many FinTech companies still have the majority of their revenue generating teams made up of the "traditional" salesperson? It could the illusion that a salesperson comes with a "Rolodex" (if you are old enough to know what that is) of willing buyers they can exploit or they have in fact mastered the art of the sale! More likely management have been used to working with a traditional sales structure and are constantly after the quick win rather than concentrating on building a strategic relationship with the customer.

In reality I feel a combination of Sales and Business Development is needed, but the ratio needs to change to having more Business Development. Use the sales people to open doors and get the meeting which they love doing and are good at, but let the business developers convert the prospect and maintain the relationship.

Would love to know your thoughts, leave a comment and give it a like :-)