I passed my Master Thesis this summer which was related to the Go-to-Market for the SAP SuccessFactors, the Thesis included data collected from current SAP SuccessFactors Partners and their approach to selling the SAP SuccessFactors product in a fierce competition environment.
Promised to deliver an executive summary to the participants – This will be included in this blog. Sorry for the delay to the participants, I owe you a beer or two, contact me if you are in Copenhagen, Denmark. Will not disturb you with the whole Thesis which was more than 200 pages.
The blog will be parted up in two:
The second blog related to »The SAP SuccessFactors Value2Win« will go through the tools that SAP provides to the SAP SuccessFactors Partner Network. You will have to wait for a week for the last episode.
The competition for customers in the SAP SuccessFactors market is fierce, and the majority of the successful vendors in this market are former SAP HCM specialist vendors who have transitioned successfully to the cloud market. Substitute products for SAP SuccessFactors are few and the only real global competitors are WorkDay and Oracle. Apart from these companies the market are dominated by regional vendors that cover only parts of the needed HR functionality.
The Thesis collected data from current SAP SuccessFactors Partners, partners that sell and implement the SuccessFactors solutions. The gathered data show that the sales model has changed, and that some but definitely not all Partners in the community has adapted to the new sales model going from a push sales approach to a pull marketing generated sale. This supported by a high usage of repeatable marketing material and social media. As stated some Partners are using the new approach to sell, but sadly some are still using the “old” Request for Proposal (Rfp) process. Utilizing the old Rfp process means that you come in late in the sales cycle, which sadly increases the possibility of losing, the risk of high discounts and a smaller scope than possible. Everything which is really bad, so you need to adapt to the new way of selling, adapt or you will lose revenue and future deals.
But how can you as a partner adapt so the leads increase and go to a pull sales approach –follow my recommendations, you are free to disagree:
I know that the above is highly difficult for a great deal of current and future SAP SuccessFactors Partners; it demands a high degree of change management in your organization. And expect that not all will find the above fantastic.
»Next blog SAP SuccessFactors Value2Win use the playbook as an integrated part of the sales process«
Best regards
Anders Bang Christoffersen, SAP SuccessFactors Consultant, Center of Excellence SAP SuccessFactors Zalaris HR Services
Anders Bang Christoffersen, I did it my way. Started as soldier and later HR clerk in the Danish Army, so I know what the HR admin tasks are.Ended my education with a Master in IT, is working with SAP SuccessFactors at Zalaris HR Services. If you have questions – please reach out.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andersanden / LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersbangchristoffersen/
Promised to deliver an executive summary to the participants – This will be included in this blog. Sorry for the delay to the participants, I owe you a beer or two, contact me if you are in Copenhagen, Denmark. Will not disturb you with the whole Thesis which was more than 200 pages.
The blog will be parted up in two:
Go-to-Market – Executive Summary 1/2
The SAP SuccessFactors Value2Win 2/2
The second blog related to »The SAP SuccessFactors Value2Win« will go through the tools that SAP provides to the SAP SuccessFactors Partner Network. You will have to wait for a week for the last episode.
The competition for customers in the SAP SuccessFactors market is fierce, and the majority of the successful vendors in this market are former SAP HCM specialist vendors who have transitioned successfully to the cloud market. Substitute products for SAP SuccessFactors are few and the only real global competitors are WorkDay and Oracle. Apart from these companies the market are dominated by regional vendors that cover only parts of the needed HR functionality.
The Thesis collected data from current SAP SuccessFactors Partners, partners that sell and implement the SuccessFactors solutions. The gathered data show that the sales model has changed, and that some but definitely not all Partners in the community has adapted to the new sales model going from a push sales approach to a pull marketing generated sale. This supported by a high usage of repeatable marketing material and social media. As stated some Partners are using the new approach to sell, but sadly some are still using the “old” Request for Proposal (Rfp) process. Utilizing the old Rfp process means that you come in late in the sales cycle, which sadly increases the possibility of losing, the risk of high discounts and a smaller scope than possible. Everything which is really bad, so you need to adapt to the new way of selling, adapt or you will lose revenue and future deals.
But how can you as a partner adapt so the leads increase and go to a pull sales approach –follow my recommendations, you are free to disagree:
New sales resources – at least 70 % or 100 % if possible of the resources should be new:
»Present resources will not accept new approach«
New way to compensate:
»New Key Performance indicators for sales«
New processes:
»New product development process – develop add-on products to the SF product«
»New agile sales process – close the deal fast«
»New follow up on sales and renewal«
»New fast and agile implementations processes with fixed price or included in license fee (Saas model)«
New way to organize your organization:
»Organize the initiative in a new self-sustaining organization unitIncluding marketing, sales, pre-sales and Subject Matter Expert«
»Prepare the organization to absorb new Cloud Products - Fieldglass etc.«
Marketing:
»Plan your marketing in a timely manner«
»Blogs – written by implementation consultants«
»Mail«
»Online event«
»Events«
»Quarterly events«
»Landing page with Partner relevant approach«
»Repeatable marketing material«
I know that the above is highly difficult for a great deal of current and future SAP SuccessFactors Partners; it demands a high degree of change management in your organization. And expect that not all will find the above fantastic.
»Next blog SAP SuccessFactors Value2Win use the playbook as an integrated part of the sales process«
Best regards
Anders Bang Christoffersen, SAP SuccessFactors Consultant, Center of Excellence SAP SuccessFactors Zalaris HR Services
Anders Bang Christoffersen, I did it my way. Started as soldier and later HR clerk in the Danish Army, so I know what the HR admin tasks are.Ended my education with a Master in IT, is working with SAP SuccessFactors at Zalaris HR Services. If you have questions – please reach out.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andersanden / LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersbangchristoffersen/
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