I've been approached by a US IT startup company to act as a salesman for them on a part-time basis. Most of their previous business has been to the FS sector, small banks & hedge funds etc. I've not much experience in this sector - does anyone know how long the typical sales cycle is from contact to getting an order? 3 months? 3 years?
In other sectors I've worked in, biggish deals can take a year or more to land.
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IT sales to financial services??
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Posted 11 months ago #
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Blimey, how'd you land that?
Posted 11 months ago # -
THis may be the most random question I have ever seen on here.
Posted 11 months ago # -
So you have had a conversation/interview with this company that has lead to a job offer, yet you haven't even discussed the fundamentals of the role.
You should go far in sales
Posted 11 months ago # -
Is the company registered in Nigeria, and have they asked for a "training fee" yet ??
Posted 11 months ago # -
It's not as good as it sounds - they've no VC money so it'll be zilch basic but decent commission; hence the part-time and my concern about lead times.
And I landed it by answering a semi-techy question on another forum and having a LinkedIn profile that fitted.
MSP: I have gone far in sales, thanks! I've not accepted anything, this is part of my due diligence.
But I know that sales cycles in other industries in the UK-EU tend to be longer than in the US, I'm trying to find out if the same applies to financial services.Posted 11 months ago # -
It depends on the product. I helped sell a ITSM montoring product into a german bank which took about 3 months. I sold a reporting system to Barclays in 4 weeks but we had previous history with them. HSBC was a waste of about a year.
It can take a while to build the relationship and they tend to be very conservative in banking so it might be 6 months before you get anywhere and maybe another 6 before they really invets. Other financial services organisations are eager for competative advantage and can be a lot quicker, perhaps 3 months from contact to cash.
Posted 11 months ago # -
And I landed it by answering a semi-techy question on another forum and having a LinkedIn profile that fitted
WARNING! WARNING!
Posted 11 months ago # -
this is part of my due diligence.
what? posting a question on stw?molgrips +1
Posted 11 months ago # -
It depends on the type of software.
Settlement systems have a lead time of around 12-18 months.
But that would also depend on the size of the prospect, larger banks would spend a lot longer on the sales process than small brokers etc.
I wouldn't expect the lead time to be less than 6 months on a settlement system.
Front office systems tend to have a faster lead time I believe but I don't work in that area so can't give you a definitive answer.
Posted 11 months ago # -
this is part of my due diligence.
what? posting a question on stw?
Chucking at that
Posted 11 months ago # -
I'm doing some work for a major ITSM vendor right now and lead times are not too bad 3-6 months is typical I'm told but for the major deals you could go to much more. For Barclays add 2 years! My god though the money these guys earn!!
Posted 11 months ago # -
STW is the fount of all knowledge.
As for WARNING, thanks for your concern.
I recognise the CTO from a previous existence, and I will be sitting in on a couple of webexes to banks and other institutions before making any decisions; a guy whom I respect has interviewed the CEO and has reported favourably. And what have I got to lose except time?Posted 11 months ago # -
A black book in Banking is not an easy thing to create but I'm sure you know that. Do they have an decent US relationships you could leverage and what does their 30 -60- 90 plan look like, sounds like a challenge but if the proposition is good it's worth a punt. I suppose the lack of a brand is always a hurdle for an EMEA entry..
Posted 11 months ago # -
And what have I got to lose except time
If time is available then go for it
Posted 11 months ago # -
What is the product anyway...what function does it perform?
Posted 11 months ago # -
It's an analytics tool. Yes, I know there's lots of them. I'm told that early customers including hedge funds and components of the US Army have found it very useful.
Posted 11 months ago # -
How long is a piece of string?
All I can realistically add is that I've seen sales cycles in this field of around 18 months, and that's with a reasonably warm client. All depends on what you're selling, how keen they are, and how much internal approval they need before they can sign.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Persuade them to buy a BRMS whilst you're there and I'll implement it for them.
Posted 11 months ago #
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