An Intro to Large and Complex Sales

I always have a hard time explaining my job to people. When I mention something to do with sales or proposals, it probably evokes the image of the traditional salesperson, calling leads and trying to convince them to buy some home appliance or a magazine subscription, struggling to make the quota by the end of the month. But that's very different from my job. (and when someone asks what sales has to do with my major, Engineering Physics, I don't even try to explain!)

Everyday, we all depend on huge and complex systems to live our lives: public transportation, electric power, telecommunications, data centers to store cat videos, and so on... and they operate unnoticed (until something fails, at least). Besides all the work involved in designing, implementing, and maintaining those complex systems, they also need to be marketed, offered, and negotiated by the companies that create them, before a contract execution can even start - and, instead of a couple phone calls, that's a process that can easily take a couples of years.

In this article, I will try to summarize the main aspects of this kind of technical sales of large and complex solutions, based on what I've come across in my career doing sales and bids (proposals) for mass transportation systems, such as trains, rail electrification, communications, and signaling & train control, first at Siemens, then Bombardier, and currently Alstom.

The essence of large and complex sales

So, what makes complex sales so special? By the way, my focus will be on technical businesses (even though many of these characteristics might be shared by other large/complex but non-technical industries). Whereas the so-called "transactional sales" are low-complexity, low price / high volume sales, and the decision is a one-time step normally taken by one person, complex sales tend to have the following characteristics:

• The relationship is usually B2B (business-to-business) or B2G (to government); doing business with governments brings its own set of challenges, like special laws and regulations, inflexible contractual terms, and public scrutiny
• The prices of these contracts are high; of course, that's a matter of perspective, but they tend to be high for the buyer ($ 100k might be high for a small business, while 9 figures is high enough for most governmental entities)
• The purchase decision and subsequent execution of the contract involve high risk. Real or perceived risk can come from various sources: technical, legal, operational, financial, etc.
• The decision involves multiple stakeholders from the customer, which is easily explained by the two points above (price and risk)! Besides all key departments being represented in the process (engineering, operations, legal, etc., and Procurement coordinating the process), it's not uncommon to have one or more external consultants, specialized in the system being purchased, to serve as a "technical advisor" to the customer
• The procurement usually is done via a formal tendering process, with release of a RFP (Request For Proposal) or ITT (Invitation To Tender), which in most B2G scenarios is mandatory. This means that a transparent, very well-documented (and bureaucratic!) process is adopted to give all potential bidders equal chances to get all information available, work on their proposals, submit their bids, and be judged on the same predefined criteria
• This process can also be very long. In my industry, the minimum timeframe from RFP release to contract signature is several months (usually counting with a few extensions) to multiple years! Therefore, an essential part of the work is to develop a long-term relationship with the clients, looking for mutually beneficial outcomes (also because there are usually few big customers in this kind of industry - and they all talk!)
• In many cases, for the sorrow of product managers, the customer expects some kind of development or customization of existing solutions, so they can provide additional features or meet specific requirements

Working with complex sales

One of the main consequences of the distinct nature of large and complex sales is the need of an approach that is very different from that of transactional sales. We have to engage in what is commonly called consultative sales, because the sales person spends more time understanding the client's context, problems, and goals, before getting to stage of defining a solution, and then finally making an offer focused on value creation. Ideally, the early investigation and solution selection are done in close collaboration with the customer representatives. Among the several frameworks that are available, one of my favorites is called SPIN Selling (acronym for Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-Payoff), from Neil Rackham's 1988 classic book of same name.

(image from HubSpot, where you can find a good SPIN Selling guide)

A few other popular methodologies, in case you're interested, are: Solution Selling, New Strategic Selling, Value Selling.

Another important particularity of complex sales is the dependence on large and interdisciplinary teams. Instead of offering a standard product or service out of a catalog, complex sales will probably involve customized solutions that mix different products or subsystems / services, the implementation requires several functional activities that must be estimated, and the high price and long-term nature of the contract raises the complexity of financial and legal matters.

From my experience in the transportation systems industry, and this is likely similar in other large project-based B2B and B2G industries, I would divide the roles involved in selling these projects in two groups: outside-focused and inside-focused.

The first group is mostly looking at the market and/or dealing directly with customers. The second group, inside-focused, has more responsibility on what happens inside their organization, in order to get the offer out the door and, hopefully, the contract signed.

In my next article, I'll explore the different jobs in each category and their qualifications.

If you relate to any of this, had a different experience, or just completely disagree with the whole thing, I'd love to hear about it in the comments!