Account management is about understanding your customers’ challenges and cultivating the right relationships and sales strategies to get them to their desired destination. Going on this journey comes with risks. To mitigate the risk associated with business development, develop the right relationships at the right time.
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When I was eleven or twelve years old, my parents bought me a BMX bicycle as a Christmas gift. The bike was a source of many fun childhood memories growing up in Nigeria. A few weeks ago, while vacationing in South Carolina, I rented a bike and took it for a spin on the beach as part of my morning workout.
As I peddled to the sounds of the waves crashing on the rocks, it dawned on me that my role as an account manager shares two distinct similarities to that moment:
1. Knowing the basics of how to ride a bicycle makes the risk manageable and exciting
2. Spending my time wisely and being decisive on a pathway allows me to arrive safely to my destination
Knowing the basics of how to ride a bicycle makes the risk manageable and exciting
The basics of riding a bicycle are skills that, once mastered, rarely go away. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Lagos or New York, the motions are the same. I can still vividly remember weaving my BMX bike through the dusty streets of Avu in Owerri West (see actual footage of my village in the video below), my hands gripping the handles tightly, as my friends and cousins cheered me on.
Their voices filled the sky with:
“Na you biko!”
“Abeg na me get next oh!”
“Don’t fall, oh!”
The excitement I felt many years ago in my village came rushing in as strangers on the beach in South Carolina cheered me on.
In account management, my customers expect me to have a baseline understanding of the problems they’re trying to solve. Once we set this baseline, they are more willing to collaborate to find a path towards a solution. The route is not always straightforward, which makes the quest for a solution exciting.
One of the frameworks I use to quickly build a foundation for a solution hypothesis is to ask myself: “Is this a People, Process, or Product challenge?” The answer could be one, a combination of two, or all three forces. In my experience, I’ve found that there is often one force pulling ahead of the others.
Following this mental exercise, I consult my internal and external stakeholders to help refine and improve the hypothesis. With each new data point, I’ll reduce the risk and move closer to a solution aligned to my customer’s outcomes.
Interestingly, customers don’t always expect me to have all the answers; instead, they expect me to have an informed point of view which first requires an understanding of the issue at hand.
Spending my time wisely and being decisive on a pathway allows me to arrive safely to my destination
Distractions and distracted people crowd most beaches. There were many moments on the beach in South Carolina when I almost crashed into something or someone. What saved me was the kind stranger who pointed out my blind spot, allowing me to swerve to safety at the very last second.
One of the early mistakes I made as an account manager was feeling like I needed to have a relationship with everyone.
That was exhausting!
The reality is that while someone may have a big title, to you, they may be a big distraction.
I later realized I only needed to develop and nurture the right relationships with the right people. Trying to create a genuine and mutually beneficial relationship with key executives is not easy and takes time. It also requires a great deal of thinking and giving without expecting anything in return.
In a previous post, I talked about how executives are people. And like everyone else, they have dreams and aspirations, good days and bad days, triumphs and failures, healthy and sick family members.
I’ve learned to be patient with them and, more importantly, be patient with myself. I’m constantly striving to find new and exciting ways to be a giver, practice self-care, and improve myself.
In accounts where I invested the time and effort required to nurture key executives into champions, these executives pointed out blind spots and distractions that saved everyone time and unnecessary emotional bruises.
Even better, these executives helped me be decisive on the right opportunities to pursue at the right time.
Engineering management acts as an intricate puzzle attempting different pieces to find a solution. Management can be viewed similarly implementing frameworks to help solve challenges leaders face. B2B Sales Professionals can accelerate time to credibility if they understand the state of the engineering leader’s team.
“Engineering management isn’t inherently a bureaucratic, mystical, or mediocre profession,” said Will Larson, responding to my question asking what he believes is the main takeaway from his book, An Elegant Puzzle. He continued, “it’s a delightful series of puzzles, and there are better and worse answers to each puzzle.”
In reflecting on his response and digesting his book’s content, I asked myself, what if there are better ways to anticipate the challenges engineering leaders are tackling?
Let’s take a step back.
A few months ago, I was scrolling through my LinkedIn feed and came across a post by an engineering executive who I admire recommending engineering leaders to read “An Elegant Puzzle.”
Will Larson draws from his experience at Digg, Uber, and Stripe in writing this book. He is currently the CTO of Calm, the #1 app for meditation and sleep, where he continues to apply and refine the principles discussed in his book.
After reading the book, I reached out to Will and asked him:
“If there is one main takeaway from An Elegant Puzzle that you want to make sure people reflect on after reading it, what would it be?“
Engineering management isn’t inherently a bureaucratic, mystical, or mediocre profession. It’s a delightful series of puzzles, and there are better and worse answers to each puzzle. I challenge folks to spend a bit more time thinking about the critical decisions they make–organizational changes, promotions, assigning key projects, etc.–and look for a better way.
Interestingly, if you remove the word “Engineering” in the first sentence of Will’s response and start with “Management,” the core message stays intact. The reason being management in any profession has one thing in common – people. Just as a puzzle has individual pieces, individuals make a group of people.
Although pieces of a puzzle may have similar dimensions, placing a piece in the wrong spot would lead to the wrong answer. To correctly solve a puzzle, you’d need to set individual parts in the right area.
Whether you’re a people manager or individual contributor, this book has something for you.
As an individual contributor, I read the book through the lens of a Business to Business (B2B) Account Executive, and in doing so, one key concept inspired me to think differently on how I connect with engineering leaders.
Engineering leaders have a repository of frameworks to tackle process and people challenges.
The challenges engineering leaders face are similar to an extent, so frameworks are a common theme in this book. Will offers various frameworks that allow him to shorten the time it takes to arrive at a viable solution.
For example, one of the frameworks that resonated with me as a B2B account executive selling to engineering leaders is how to help these leaders build teams that are continuously innovating.
Will breaks down the four states of engineering teams framework:
A team is falling behind if each week their backlog is longer than it was the week before. Typically, people are working extremely hard but not making much progress, morale is low, and users of the application are vocally dissatisfied.
A team is treading water if they can get their critical work done but cannot pay down technical debt or begin major new projects.
A team is repaying debt when they can start paying down technical debt and are beginning to benefit from the debt repayment snowball.
A team is innovating when their technical debt is sustainably low, morale is high, and most work is satisfying new user needs.
As a B2B account executive looking to advise engineering leaders, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. The advise I offer an engineering leader whose team is falling behind will be different than an engineering leader whose team is repaying debt.
Will offers a framework for engineering leaders responsible for fixing each state of the team described above:
To fix a team falling behind, hire new people and increase capacity.
To fix a team treading water, consolidate team efforts to finish more things, and reduce concurrent work until able to begin repaying debt.
To fix a team repaying debt, add time to pay the debt.
To maintain a team innovating, add slack in your team’s schedule so that the team can build quality into their work.
The four states of a team and how to fix each state framework are an invitation to step into an engineering leader’s mind and anticipate the outcomes he or she is seeking.
Also, the framework elevates our conversation’s content because it guides my curiosity to areas that are most relevant for engineering leaders. This means I can build authentic credibility and be viewed as a true partner rather than someone just trying to make a sale.
Account and territory changes often happen. Business leaders want salespeople that can speak their language and challenge them to be great.
Account and territory changes often happen, especially around this time of the year. While its important to ensure a smooth transition, I’ve also found it useful to be intentional about understanding what made the relationship flourish.
A couple of years ago, while transitioning one of my top accounts to a new account team, I emailed my executive contact informing him of the news. In the note, I thanked him for a great partnership over the years and asked if we could stay in touch.
He could have replied with one or two words like most busy executives do.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he took his time to pen a thoughtful reply. In the note, he was full of gratitude for all the milestones we reached together. He ended his message by saying,“Thanks for being an extension of my team.”
In a follow-up telephone conversation, he made a comment that stood out to me:
“You and your team spoke our language.”
As an immigrant from Nigeria, one of the small joys I experience is meeting a fellow Nigerian that speaks Igbo. Our fake American accents immediately vanish from our lips as we hail each other.
Seeing us from afar, you’d think we grew up in the same household. What makes it easy to open up to each other is the shared dialect weaving an invisible chord between us.
The same feeling is evident among business leaders when they meet sales professionals who understand their business so well that it seems like they both speak the same language. They become more forthcoming with their challenges, aspirations, and objectives because the salesperson can empathize with their view of the world and is equipped with the depth of knowledge to be a true partner.
Learning to speak a customer’s language isn’t a one-time event like cramming the night before a big exam. Instead, it’s a continuous, round-the-clock process.
Some of my go-to resources are the company’s website, press releases, industry publications, earnings transcripts, annual statements, letters to shareholders, interviews (print and digital), social media posts, news articles, user conferences, conference & keynote presentations, competitor’s press releases, analyst reports, LinkedIn profiles, YouTube channel, google alerts, research papers, books, business publications, experts within your company…it’s nonstop.
An additional resource to learn how to speak a customer’s language is by speaking directly to my customer’s customer. I also enjoy reading product and software reviews. If you sell to software companies, a great resource is G2 reviews.
Executives also want humble yet bold salespeople who will tell them when they are heading in the wrong direction. My executive contact shared that whenever his department was having a problem, it felt natural to reach out to my team.
He didn’t expect us always to have the answers, but he valued our ability to ask the right questions and infuse a refreshing outlook that would eventually get them unstuck.
The ability to ask relevant questions comes from years of exposure to various customer challenges and solutions. This constant exposure creates an arsenal of decision-making and problem-solving frameworks.
Forward-thinking business leaders crave this knowledge from salespeople, and smart salespeople proactively share this knowledge with business leaders.
An example of all these coming together was when I wore my customer’s branded T-shirt while traveling from Seattle to San Francisco for a meeting. While at the airport, my customer’s client approached me and struck up a conversation. This individual shared some constructive feedback on my customer’s product and suggested a few feature requests to address his company’s specific requirements.
In my meeting later that day, I kicked it off by saying,
“I had a conversation with one of your clients who offered a few ideas on how to make things easier for him….”
This led to a productive and collaborative meeting.
In 2021, I hope you make it a goal to be an extension of your customer’s team by learning to speak their language and hailing them to success.
#1 — Invest the time required for a smooth account transition and be intentional about finding out the true temperature of each executive relationship. Not only would this help jumpstart the new account team, it’ll also be learning to take to a new account and territory.
#2 — Learn to speak your customer’s language by taking small steps everyday. It can be as easy as setting up Google alerts for specific keywords related to the company, industry, executive team, and competitors. Reviewing these alerts at least twice a week will keep you updated on relevant news about your customer.
#3 — Ask for your customer’s branded T-shirt and wear it with pride.
The consistent practice of active listening, goal setting, and daily routine execution are the business development skills needed to create success for your clients and yourself.
Two years ago, Chuki Obiyo, a graduate of Northwestern Law School, launched Chuki Law. This premier consulting firm creates concepts, strategies, and techniques to help lawyers at all levels sell more effectively. According to Chuki, lawyers help clients create value, protect rights, and promote justice. For lawyers to effectively achieve this, they have to sell advice. Selling advice effectively requires treating business development as a discipline. Drawing from his consultation with his clients, we explore the core business development skills he is advising his clients to develop during this quasi quarantine period and even post this period. The skills he recommends are active listening, goal setting, and daily routine execution. As you read, focus on how the skills and case studies are transferable in your field and industry.
Active listening, where the objective is empathy.
One of the strategies to get to an optimal state of empathy is to ask questions. With each question, additional data is surfaced, leading to a deeper understanding of the other person’s feelings and motivators. The following example illustrates the importance of mastering this skill:
Chuki engaged with a small law firm that received a request for proposal (RFP) from a dream prospect. After some preliminary research, this law firm discovered larger firms and other more experienced practitioners were also competing for the same business. Historically, this small law firm lost similar RFP’s and questioned whether to submit a response. The firm envisaged a mindset of “we never win these, so why bother,” concluding it wasn’t worth the time and effort.
To help reshape the law firm’s frame of reference, Chuki conducted a brainstorming exercise centered around generating questions only the dream prospect could answer. The goal was to come up with questions free of assumptions and seek a deep understanding of the prospect’s motivators. Next, the small law firm prioritized the list of questions and requested a meeting. In the appointment, his client went through the list of questions, not as leading questions, but to listen actively as the prospect breaks down the answer to each question. In reviewing notes after the meeting, what jumped out to them was illuminating. The prospect wasn’t so interested in the law firm’s size that would win this work. It was most interested in seeking a firm with a particular subject matter expertise. This information came to light due to the law firm’s ability to ask the right questions, listen, and seek understanding. As you can imagine, the small law firm emphasized its top-tier subject matter expertise in the RFP submitted.
The small law firm ended up winning the RFP. A few weeks after advancing the relationship, the firm had a feedback loop with the prospect and solicited some commentary on why they won. The happy client shared that the firm was selected because they felt heard. In summary, the small law firm emanated empathy by actively listening which led to winning over a prospect that became one of its top billing clients.
Goal setting, where the objective is authenticity.
One of the strategies to attain authenticity is to put pen to paper and write—the process of writing things down forces a clarity of thought and commitment. The example below illustrates this skill in action:
An attorney at a law firm had spent eight-plus years as an associate and was now eager to become a partner. After about seven years, attorneys are usually put on a path to become a partner in that firm. This attorney had multiple internal meetings and learned he was not on the way to becoming a partner, not even in the next three to four years.
He received the harsh truth that his business development was non-existent. He countered by pointing to all the great work he was doing for the firm’s existing clients but discovered new client origination mattered more to the firm.
Chuki worked with this attorney to write down goals around professional and business development. By asking simple questions such as: Can you expand your LinkedIn connections from X to 2X? After you get those connections, can we set a goal to reach out to two of those connections a week? And if they accept a meeting, how can we shape the conversation to deliver value and begin a sales conversation?
By writing these goals down, this attorney could clarify what he needed to do, how he needed to do it, and when he needed to do it. He has identified potential new business through his efforts and positioned himself as a burgeoning rainmaker. The simple act of writing goals down has changed his narrative and opened the door for more advanced conversations to become a partner at the firm. He has also built a healthy pipeline of opportunities that is giving him visibility amongst the senior partners at the law firm.
Daily routine execution, where the objective is accountability.
Success is in our daily routine, and lawyers are no strangers to a regimen. Lawyers review contracts, draft briefs and analyze memos. The recommended strategy is breaking down goals into daily activities and applying the same appreciation for routine to ensure sustained success. The example below provides additional context:
Chuki engaged with a black female attorney dealing with recent struggles to progress some of her professional and business development goals. This attorney had experienced success early and would consider herself a good business developer. However, lately, she felt she was a hamster on a wheel, moving but going nowhere.
The first activity Chuki suggested was to do a time spend analysis to understand where she was spending her time. They found that in the past, she relied on massive speaking engagements to uncover new business. However, with the pandemic, these opportunities had fizzled out.
They brainstormed activities she could do consistently related to business development. She settled on blocking out 30 minutes every Friday to send a “Have a nice weekend” email to a prospective client and existing client. The response she received from this email campaign was inspiring, so she decided to make it a daily activity at the end of her day. By being selective of the existing and prospective client, she is much more thoughtful and contextual for the email recipient. The results have reinvigorated her, expanded her network, and kickstarted conversations to become a general counsel for a corporation.
Bonus: Promote certainty, where the objective is reliability.
Living in a pandemic environment, people are looking for opportunities to add some level of certainty into their day.
One example is relationship certainty. Several decision-makers are not in a hurry to change their current vendors or partners. However, this shouldn’t mean the incumbent should be complacent. If there are activities you’ve done or completed within a defined timeline, stick to that timeline. If there are reports you’ve provided in the past, keep providing these reports consistently.
Another example is cost certainty since this period may not be a good time to raise prices as numerous industries are still recovering. Executives are looking to cut costs so they can be more efficient and lean. Partnering with clients to find opportunities to reduce costs could be a significant advantage as the client’s business picks back up.
Promoting certainty paves the way to achieve reliability with clients. When clients can count on you, you can count on them giving their business to you.
In summary, the consistent practice of active listening, goal setting, daily routine execution, and promoting certainty are mechanisms anyone could apply in their field or industry. Often, what separates ordinary from extraordinary is the “extra” we put into doing the everyday things.
A few minutes before meeting with executives of a major corporation, my heart raced uncontrollably. At the moment, I couldn’t tell what provoked the feeling, but it did cause me to have subpar performance. In the debrief with my sales leader after the meeting, I concluded I was nervous, so we discussed strategies to calm the nerves. Reflecting on that meeting, I now realize I wasn’t nervous; I was intimidated by the executives’ titles and accomplishments. This aha moment came to me while reading Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success: Connect with Customers and Get Results. I misidentified the emotion I was feeling at that time and spent hours working to improve the wrong thing. This misstep was my moment of emotional unintelligence.
The most successful sales leaders I know exude so much emotional intelligence it almost seems effortless. One of the many reasons these leaders are so good is their ability to identify the right emotions they feel and process it accordingly. Reading Colleen’s book and supporting research, the reality is that emotional intelligence is like any skill; it takes practice and repetition to become proficient. Colleen defines Emotional Intelligence (EI) as “the ability to recognize your emotions and to correctly identify the emotion you’re feeling and know why you’re feeling it. It’s the skill of understanding what trigger or event is causing the emotion and the impact of that emotion on yourself and others; and then adjusting your emotional response to the trigger or event to achieve the best outcomes.”
She goes on to share three action steps for improving emotional intelligence:
Schedule Downtime: The key to downtime is creating space for yourself and becoming more self-aware. According to Colleen, downtime allows you to ask yourself thoughtful questions to gain clarity on your sales behavior and outcomes. One of the ways I’ve put this into practice is scheduling time on my calendar to think. At first, it seemed like a strange concept to schedule time to think. However, having this time has inspired me to generate creative ideas to impact clients and colleagues positively. It has also allowed me to work on my mental health and refine my goals and aspirations. Also, by putting this time on the calendar, I treat it like any other important client meeting by showing up prepared. Being prepared means showing up with thought-provoking questions and adding a few from the book below:
What was the reason for my reaction to the prospect or customer?
What would have been a better response during the sales meeting?
What did I do well, and how do I repeat that behavior?
Create Technology-free Zones – Salespeople are naturally attached to smartphones to quickly respond to emails, slack messages, texts, telegrams, WhatsApp, facetime, and phone calls from clients. While it’s essential to be available to your customers promptly, it is just as crucial to make time to be available for YOU. This action step reminds me of an article I wrote about self-care. In the article, I described how prioritizing self-care helped me be a better customer advocate and a team player.
Name the Specific Emotion – This action hits home for me because it is about naming the specific emotion andunderstanding WHY the emotion is present. By correctly diagnosing the feeling, one can build the right infrastructure to channel and process the emotion. Earlier in the article, I described misidentifying the emotion I felt during my meeting with those executives. The reason why I felt intimidated was simply a lack of experience. My experience over the years nurturing executive relationships has enabled me to become less intimidated. Although the feeling may show up unexpectedly, I’ve learned to correctly identify it and take the necessary steps to control and channel it. When it’s all said and done, executives are people.
I am humbled by the journey I’ve been on so far and look forward to turning my emotional unintelligence into many more learning moments.
I have the privilege of leading a book club for a group of passionate readers and learners at AWS. Last month, we selected BetweenBrains: Taking Back Our AI Future as the book of the month. We invited the co-author, Dr. George Tilesch, to join the conversation. Dr. George is a senior global innovation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert who is a conduit and trusted advisor between the US and EU ecosystems, specializing in AI Ethics, Impact, Policy, and Governance. Most recently, he was Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for Global Affairs, the public interest arm of Ipsos, a global top 3 research firm. In this role, he led the Digital Impact and Governance research and advisory practice. Through his thought leadership, he advises governments, think tanks and corporations on AI strategy.
Dr. George co-authored the book with NASA innovation leader, Dr. Omar Hatamleh.
Below is an excerpt of my virtual interview with Dr. George. I hope you enjoy it.
There are already many books about artificial intelligence; what compelled/inspired you to write this book, and why is now the right time for everyone to read BetweenBrains?
First, when we started writing more than three years ago, the situation was wildly different re: the sheer quantity of AI Books present. As a transversal technology on the path of becoming near-ubiquitous, that also triggers fundamental philosophical/ethical questions; it is actually very welcoming to have many books on the topic, as it exposes myriad perspectives.
We got inspired to research and write at a point in time when there was an explosion in both AI capabilities and AI investment. Those days were characterized by boundless techno-optimism and the ecstasy of exponential returns. This period was the time of big bets on AI, and almost nobody talked about dangers or risks. Even those who did were talking about the dangers of a very distant future. What has changed since is that the media exposed the topic as something that is much more mainstream. Unfortunately, AI automatically became part of various mainstream black-or-white narratives circulating in our low-trust, high-tension world that is primarily digital now. As such, people became equally concerned and curious about AI but without the general, unbiased understanding that would enable taking stances based on the thorough proper analysis in the right mindset.
When we started to write, we were pretty explicit about a few principles and the mission. We wanted to write a balanced book applying critical thinking and thorough analysis, but also with a strong and uncompromising moral anchor. We wanted to write a beautiful mixture that is full of accurate and relevant data on how our world has already changed because of AI but is also timeless in a sense because of fundamental philosophical questions it inevitably raises. We thought it essential to provide a peek into our field experience that we gathered while working with world leaders and top executives to make some aspects very practical and human at the same time. We wanted to cover the now and the near-term. We believed much of the AI narrative was being captured by notions of Superintelligence, Singularity, or Robot Rights. These notions had way less relevance and impact on our lives than the AI technologies that were already out or ready to jump, near invisibly to most.
And most importantly, we wanted to ask the questions both profound and hard that would enable humanity to define the purpose and steer the course of a beneficial AI Future for our civilization. We wanted to expand the horizons of those AI practitioners and stakeholders who mostly see one slice of the enormous AI pie. Also, talk to the broadest possible audience of informed digital citizens increasingly seeking answers to the myriad question marks that even AI’s current power and promise triggers.
What excites you the most about the potential (future) of Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI)? What scares you the most?
On the one hand, we expressly wanted to avoid getting into ASI territory in detail. It is a lure that is very hard to resist since I am convinced that many people, including myself, first got excited about AI as kids when reading sci-fi books. ASI captivates the mind and deserves much dialogue, but in our present setup having too much talk on ASI is happening at the expense of questions much more urgent and impactful. The book serves that sense of urgency that we, as authors, have gathered from the field.
However, I want to answer your question. ASI – only if crafted and bound successfully as a tool and companion to humanity – can lead to Utopia and bring about a currently unimaginable quality of life for our civilization. However, the viability of such an outcome is hard to foresee at this point. So much needs to change in our mindsets, values, and institutions…Therefore caution is very much in order, echoed by many concerned luminaries. I think it is still worth doing but proceed with maximum caution and foolproof models because we are toying with forces unprecedented and highly explosive. A fully autonomous general machine intelligence is trained to maximize its capabilities to exploit weaknesses for overcoming hurdles on its path of fulfilling its objectives – and we can easily become those hurdles. My biggest fear is the mere seconds or minutes a newborn AGI needs to explode in myriad directions and become ASI: I worry that we as humans may not be prepared for such a jump. Foresight is not our core strength.
Flashback and then fast forward to the present, what has surprised you the most about your journey thus far (in writing and publishing this book)?
The most positive surprise was that while I saw many AI stakeholder leaders are hampered – or even trapped – in the organizational logic they serve as employees, they share many concerns and fears as citizens, consumers, parents – human beings. These concerns open up connecting people, seeking consensus, and collaborating on a shared vision on the true civilizational purpose and stewardship of AI. The other side of the coin is the sense of helplessness many of them have – the mainstream AI narrative has been that of “inevitability” for too long, so people don’t think they have a say in its shaping. Many leaders still treat AI as pure hype or “just another Industrial Revolution,” we firmly disagree with that, demonstrating our thesis with a set of AI Power Principles that show why it is wildly different this time. Coming together for reining in the future in a human-centric way is therefore a very much aspirational goal and an uphill battle, but achievable.
What is the best actionable advice that you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?
For our times of distrust, disinformation, mindless partisanship, and social fragmentation, the anchor for me has always been “strong opinions, loosely held.” It means that we have to have firm moral convictions, deeply informed factual perspectives, and courage to speak up. At the same time, it needs to be met with an equal amount of empathy, critical thinking, self-checking, and wisdom. The very core of our social cohesion is being attacked every single day by overwhelming forces. The final battlefield is within our minds; we all need to do a ton of homework, both individually and as a society.
How would you advise executives, government agencies, and political leaders to use AI (for good) while eliminating bias?
We are at a point in time when a new, integrated socioeconomic AI vision and models need to be built, tough questions need to be asked, and both citizens, leaders, and institutions need to be brought up to speed. Regulating AI in a way that is both cautious and consensual is very much desired but does not do the full job. Getting from AI Ethical principles to fluid, agile AI Policy will be a long trek that should be revisited and adjusted every single day. The next few years will see a proliferation of AI predictive and decision support systems that will have a lure of relinquishing our best judgments and our mandate to decide and overrule. You will hear a lot of “AI made me do it” at all levels of society. Especially at this level of maturity, the growing cases of AI mishaps will at least partially be rooted equally in human action or omission as well as data and model biases. This new paradigm of in-betweenness vis-a-vis machine and human intelligence will last for a long time, actually, hopefully, forever, in a balanced way. Our generation must consciously lay down the foundations for this era that brings about less Artificial but Augmented Intelligence for our whole civilization. To achieve that beneficial outcome, we have no time to lose.
What is the biggest mistake you see when executives/companies/governments try to develop and implement an AI strategy? How would you advise them to change/augment their approach?
Well, it’s different in each sector – and even inside organizations, simply because each executive function sees AI in a different light. There is very little trust between sectors and a lack of understanding of each other’s interests. We need to build new frameworks of understanding and shared interests between the researchers, owners, regulators and users of AI.
If I really have to point out one factor is definitely this kind of fragmentation, turfs not talking to each other and lack of cross-organizational strategic thinking and execution about AI. There are lots of smaller but important pieces that are barriers: lack of data sophistication within the org, lack of an experimentation-type mindset that is essential for AI, lack of the right internal talent or being stuck in “eternal pilot mode”. We have to understand that for most organizations, the challenge of mastering AI landed on top of a big luggage they’ve carried for decades now, that is affectionately called Digital Transformation. For many leaders it constitutes an external pressure while they are trying to keep the house together and deal with Data Strategy et al. If the “Let’s get AI” directive lands in the CTO’s office too soon, many others will never accept AI as their own. So my best advice would be to have an uncompromising focus and shared understanding on the board and C-Suite levels on what AI can reasonably deliver to your business strategy and what strategic segments can be driven by it.
Also, my pet peeve: AI Ethics is only an afterthought to many. Less than 20% of AI developers have received any kind of Ethics training. Especially during tough times like this one, it is tempting to perceive AI Ethics as a barrier and a speed bump. The near future will see unprecedented scaling of Narrow AI solutions, and without the right, conscious safeguards implemented, things can get ugly and lead to huge competitive disadvantages for organizations who moved too fast and broke too many things. A lot of my work is focused these days on proving to leaders that being “AI-ethical’ equals competitive advantage and pays off considerably.
A few weeks ago I had a virtual chat with my mentor, a CEO of a software company in Silicon Valley. Our discussion focused on competing in a complex enterprise sales cycle. After describing the challenges I was facing, he reflected and asked a simple question: Are you playing soccer or lacrosse?
Interesting.
My exposure to lacrosse is limited to its appearance on ESPN SportsCenter: Top Ten Plays. It wasn’t a sport I went out of my way to watch. And if I were to, I’d have to learn the history, techniques, and rules of the game.
My mentor could see my thoughts drifting, so he rephrased the question:
Are you trying to get your customer to buy in the way you sell, or are you trying to get your customer to buy in the way your competitors sell? In other words, are you playing soccer, or are you playing lacrosse?
My mentor and I both share a passion for soccer, as we both grew up playing and watching it religiously. He knew the analogy would resonate.
The point he was making was although the customer may be intrigued by lacrosse, it didn’t mean they wanted to play it. It could be that my competitor introduced prospects to lacrosse because they got tired of losing at soccer. By playing along or trying to get the customer to buy in the way my competitors sell, I was expending valuable resources instead of investing in my soccer game. If I continued to go down this path, it’d be a severe case of self-deceit because it’s playing a game where the opponent sets all the rules, so I was bound to lose. I had to make a change.
After some deep self-reflection, I worked with my team to refine my approach and strategy. Here are some of the steps I’m taking:
Dedicating additional time to deeply understand my customer’s business outcomes by scouring through financial statements, interviews, press releases, social media, investor decks, etc.
Developing a point of view from the perspective of achieving each business outcome.
Validating and refining that point of view by speaking with key stakeholders within my customer’s organization, from the executive to the executive assistant.
Crowdsourcing feedback and the best ideas from experts within my organization to further refine the strategy.
Applying critical thinking and asking tough questions to earn trust and mutual respect in every interaction.
Proactively sharing ideas to solve business challenges even if there are no complete solutions to offer…yet.
These steps are netting positive results and rekindling the customer’s passion for soccer. The customer is fortifying their defense in preparation to mount a counter attack and score some business goals.
On a side note, Real Madrid, if you’re reading this, I’m patiently waiting for that invitation to try out or a free ticket 🙂 Thanks!
It is inspiring to see the country come together and reflect on the challenges facing the black community and the pervasiveness of racial injustice.
We all have lives outside of work; however, as we are stuck working from home because of the pandemic, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate life at work and life outside of work.
Now more than ever, it is crucial to speak up against injustices in our communities and our places of work even when our voice is trembling. Our collective voices can and does make a difference.
I’ve had a few colleagues at work reach out to ask how I am doing, which I’ve appreciated. My response continues to be: What are you going to do differently in light of all this?
We all know the extent of what we can do differently; I hope it’s not to remain silent and wish this all goes away so we can get back to business as usual.
I have been working from home since late February, which means I have had to adjust my way of selling while social distancing and observing the shelter in place order in Seattle. Below are three ideas that have worked for me as I adapt to the new normal of working from home and unable to visit clients face to face. If there are other methods or strategies you’re applying to generate positive results, please share them with me.
1/ Sell with empathy. We are in the midst of social distancing, not empathy distancing. Almost every salesperson, including me, likes to think they connect better with potential clients face to face instead of virtual. The reality is that how we show up is usually consistent regardless of the communication channel. Also, it is times like these where there is uncertainty and crisis that reveals our true self. Now more than ever, investing the time to master social and emotional skills will benefit our customers, employers, and most importantly, ourselves. According to a study by McKinsey Global Institute, one of the fastest-growing skills that employers will demand by 2030 is social and emotional skills. They define “social and emotional” skills as “soft skills,” which include: advanced communication and negotiation, empathy, the ability to learn continuously, to manage others, and to be adaptable.
So what does it mean to sell with empathy?
Selling with empathy for me means walking a mile in someone else’s shoes even if the shoes do not fit. Having empathy is not just the ability to understand the feelings of the other person; it also involves sharing the feelings. Selling with empathy is also about having compassion for these executives navigating these complex challenges. These executives are responding to this crisis with improvisations as there are no playbooks, so be patient and compassionate. Your goal should be to make a genuine connection not just a sale.
2/ Find opportunities to help your potential client execute ideas faster. If you’re in enterprise sales, you’re probably familiar with the concept of Time To Market (TTM). It means the length of time it takes from a product being conceived until it’s available for sale. The companies that can bring the best products to market the fastest often gain the lion share of the market segment. As executives and decision-makers meet internally to explore ideas of how to navigate the challenges that this pandemic is having on their businesses, they will seek partners to help them not just go from idea to revenue, but idea to survival in the shortest time possible. Once you have developed a deep understanding of your potential client’s challenges (because you’ve mastered selling with empathy :)), you will be able to provide a valid and refreshing point of view of why you’re the right partner to execute the ideas.
3/ Insert humor. We all know the saying that laughter is the best medicine. As our potential clients deal with the pressures of today and uncertainties of tomorrow, a good laugh could be the highlight of their day. You don’t have to be a stand up comedian with a special on Netflix to make people laugh. You do need some creativity though. For example, I wore a t-shirt with my client’s logo during a video conference meeting. During my introduction, I shared that although my employer pays me, the company I really work for is my client, hence the t-shirt I was wearing. They all had a good laugh. Mission accomplished.
“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.”—Michael Pritchard
Bonus: When it comes to staying connected, meet your customers where they are. One of my customers said their preferred method of staying connected is through Telegram, so I downloaded the app. Another said text📱 messages, so we became texting buddies. Another said Slack, so I joined their channel. Another said phone calls☎ , the other said email📧 , and her colleague said fax machine📠. Just kidding about the last one, no one uses fax machines anymore; but if they did, I’ll get a fax machine.😁 This concept of meeting your customers where they are would hold true even after things get back to normal. My recommendation is to discover your customer or potential client’s preferred method of staying connected and adapt to it.
PSA: During this pandemic, let’s all follow the recommendations of medical professionals and do our part to flatten the curve. Also, keep doctors❤ , nurses❤ , and first responders❤ in your prayers.
Happy selling, and be safe.
Amazon Web Services is hiring sales professionals. If interested, find job postings here and send me a note. Happy to refer and coach you through the process.
According to Dr. Wendy Suzuki, professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University, a game of “table tennis works parts of the brain that are responsible for movement, fine motor skills, and strategy – areas that could be growing stronger with each match.” It is no surprise it is easy to spot a table tennis corner in communal areas of some of the fastest-growing startups and technology companies. My passion for table tennis began many years ago in Nigeria when my parents bought us a table when I was about twelve years old. My game has continued to improve, and I feel fortunate to work in a field where taking a few minutes to play a game isn’t frowned upon but encouraged to build camaraderie and brainpower. There are four lessons the game of table tennis has taught me about selling.
1/ You can influence the outcome by focusing on what you can control– In a standard game of first to 21 points, each player gets to serve at least ten times. A serve is when the ball is tossed up at least 6 inches and struck, so the ball first bounces on the server’s side and then the opponent’s side. The level of creativity of your serve is one of the elements of the game you have full control over. As such, making it difficult for your opponent to return your serve is one of the fastest ways to score points and gain an advantage. However, mastering a difficult serve takes immense discipline and practice. Similar to sales, you can influence the outcome of an opportunity by maniacally focusing on the elements of the process you can control.
Pay attention to the serve which sets up the opportunity for the forehand smash.
2/ Mistakes are inevitable; learn from them. A player who dwells on the mistakes made, which may have caused him to lose a point, is often visibly timid and risk-averse. Since thoughts drive action, it’s essential to have a growth mindset. For instance, instead of thinking “how could I be so careless, dumb, [insert your choice of words] to lose that point?,” try thinking “how can I adjust my game to have an unfair advantage?” A player who learns from her mistakes and makes adjustments in real-time accelerates her potential to win the game and ultimately win in life and business.
3/ Persistence strengthens relationships. I needed to get in front of the CTO and Co-Founder of one of the fastest-growing startups in SoCal. I tried contacting him via email, telephone, and social media but couldn’t get through. After many months, I discovered an article published in the early 2000s of this executive and how he loved table tennis. Instinctively, I challenged him to a game. He accepted. Without going into details about who won (we both did 😃) the game established a foundation for a healthy relationship that continues to blossom. This executive has become a friend and continues to inspire me to improve my game in business and life. He even kindly donated to a table tennis charity tournament I helped organize to raise money for Hack-The-Hood, a non-profit organization in Oakland focused on increasing the representation of minorities in the tech industry.
4/ Do not underestimate your opponent. We all love the stories of underdogs that come from behind to claim victory over big dawgs despite the odds stacked against them. I’ve played many games where I fell behind only to come back to claim victory. I’ve also played many games where I was well ahead only to crumble and lose the game. In both scenarios, one person was underestimating the other person. Chinese philosopher and writer, Lao Tzu, teaches that “there is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.” In Sales, you’re either representing the incumbent (big dawg) or challenger (underdog). It doesn’t matter who you represent, underestimating your opponent leaves you exposed and unprepared to execute a winning strategy.
As a bonus, check out this incredible 41 shot rally featuring Nigerian table tennis superstar – Segun Toriola. It is a masterclass in executing a defensive strategy.
