Monday 26 December 2022

Don't make the TVF Pitcher's Naveen Pitch

You'd be kicked out instantly if you try giving the pitch that Naveen did to KC Desai in TVF Pitchers S2E1.


Because that's not how Enterprise Sales works. Saying it from my 5.5 years of selling to giants like SBI, Kotak, ICICI, etc.

Here is how it actually works. A large Institution doesn't work basis a decision of an individual even if that person is the MD/CEO. There are multiple stakeholders and so, for any purchase, there is a process in place. Here are the 7 stakeholders you need to convince: Business: They're the ones who understand your product proposition. They get the benefit from your product - increased revenues, more leads, reduced costs, happier customers, etc. IT: If you're selling a Software product, you need to pitch to an IT team from the perspective of deployment, integration, architecture, data flow, etc. They don't care about the business benefit of your product. They only talk tech. InfoSec: For a software product like Pragati AI, the Information Security team has to be convinced that the Product is safe. A large enterprise like KC Enterprises might be generating a ton of data. The last thing they want is a data breach because of you. Legal: A legal team gets involved for an NDA and an SLA. They protect the downside of the enterprise in case your software goofs up because the Business loss could be quite high. You mean nothing to the enterprise till you have an agreement signed. Compliance: In case the enterprise is a regulated entity, the compliance team needs to be convinced that your software complies with the regulatory guidelines. For instance, if you're selling a SaaS to a bank, customer data shouldn't go outside India as per RBI guidelines. Procurement: They'll negotiate the lowest price from you. Business + IT + InfoSec will shortlist ~3 capable providers for the project and pass it on to procurement. Procurement will negotiate the lowest quote from all 3. Finance: They'll issue the purchase order and will make the payments when you raise an invoice. They don't care about your product's benefit or security. They care about your company's financial stability. Tomorrow you shouldn't go bust. So, Naveen making an 'emotional' pitch to KC Desai and getting a contract (eventually not!) is absolutely not how an Enterprise Sales works. And I'd highly recommend not trying such a method either. Even if Desai agrees, there are 6 others who can block the sale. Rather, follow the structured process that I mentioned above. Align all the 7 stakeholders, and explain to them specifically about the piece that they evaluate. Don't talk about product benefits with the InfoSec person. Don't talk about your AI to the Business person. They just don't care! Anyway, let's take a TV Series with a pinch of salt. TV Series is for fun and entertainment. Overall, I absolutely love the concept of TVF Pitchers given that it's inspiring many entrepreneurs to start! PS: I stay in Hiranandani Powai where Pitchers has been shot 😉

I have shared a lot of my learnings about Business and Entrepreneurship on my YouTube Channel. Please check it here: https://youtube.com/@aman.goeliitb

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