How great project management leads to a great sales cycle

The project management and sales lifecycles have much in common.

Consider the main attributes of great program and project managers. Problem
solving and time management skills, abilities to hit deadlines and motivate teams
— these are all vital in the sales cycle.

The ability to respond to an RFP/RFI/EOI in a timely fashion, with all work streams contributing and working to the submission deadline — this is project management 101.

One of the most valuable contributions a project manager can make to a sales pursuit is to introduce rigour and objectivity into the qualification process.

This is where project managers provide tremendous value. Their professional instinct is to challenge assumptions, expose risks and seek evidence. Sales teams are understandably optimistic and enthusiastic about opportunities. Project managers, by contrast, are trained to ask uncomfortable questions and identify potential failure points. Both perspectives are necessary.

A disciplined qualification process can prevent organisations from pursuing unwinnable opportunities, overcommitting capabilities or becoming little more than “column fodder” in a customer’s procurement exercise. Sometimes the most valuable decision a project manager can make is not how to pursue an opportunity, but whether the organisation should pursue it at all.

An interesting case study comes from Google in 2002. Sergey Brin and Larry Page experimented with a radically flat organisational structure, significantly reducing management layers and asking engineers to self-organise. A ‘blank whiteboard’, if you will.

Google soon realised that prioritisation, collaboration, communication and organisational alignment did not happen automatically. They required people with the skills to coordinate teams, remove obstacles and provide direction. Many of these are precisely the capabilities that experienced project managers bring to complex sales pursuits.

Google’s experiment demonstrated that highly intelligent professionals working towards a common objective still require coordination, prioritisation and alignment. Sales pursuits are no different. Bringing together architects, commercial teams, legal advisers, delivery managers and executives around a single bid requires someone to create order from complexity. This is precisely where project managers excel.

Sales pursuits are, in effect, projects. They are temporary, unique and cross-functional endeavours, making them ideally suited to the disciplines and skills of an experienced project manager.

Commonly project managers are already recognized for adding value within the
sales cycle (as opposed to managing the sales cycle). Their provision of detailed
activity schedules, communication plans, governance models and organizational
structures gives confidence to the purchasing organization that the supplier can
deliver.

CALL TO ACTION

The lesson is simple: apply the discipline of project management to the energy and optimism of the sales process.:

1. Ask a PM to streamline the sales process. Project managers hate duplication
   and wasted effort. A streamlined sales process is a more successful
   sales process.
2. Ensure strategy is not confused with tactics. A good PM will delegate the
   tactical activities whilst managing stakeholders with regard to sales
   strategy.
3. Constantly engage in stakeholder management. The sales process can be
   long, drawn out and tortuous. A good PM can build “consensus for action”,
   set expectations and ensure all key stakeholders have buy-in to the sale.

Summary

Sales pursuits are, in many respects, projects before the project. They are temporary, unique, cross-functional endeavours conducted under tight deadlines and high commercial pressure. They require planning, coordination, stakeholder management and rigorous decision-making. Perhaps it should not surprise us that many of the skills that make great project managers also make great sales pursuits successful.