In a previous article, we talked about the risks that the lack of a commercial team causes in software companies. In this opportunity, the focus will be aimed at defining the role of the commercial director in these companies and what benefits he brings.
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There are 3 stages in the industry of software companies that we can define to understand the role of the commercial director and how it can vary in each case. In the first place, we find the large software companies, where we are headed by commercial directors and a very professional and very large sales team.
In the second instance, located at the opposite end of the first one, are the companies of founders whose commercial directors also assume the role of sellers, since there is no one above in the hierarchy but also no one below them to whom tasks can be delegated. Therefore, they become the only people with a commercial profile to sell.
Then, in the middle are those companies where the commercial director is responsible for one or two people who carry out a sales process with customers.
Although the sales representatives that make up the commercial team perform the function of establishing commercial relationships with customers throughout the entire commercial process, the truth is that they are not alone in the task of making these links last and favor a better customer shopping experience.
For certain issues in which sales agents may find themselves limited or insecure, it is the commercial directors who are in charge of dealing directly with the customer. In general, these are specific situations in which the customer may require very specific and immediate information or a solution that is not in the power of the representatives to transmit.
In this sense, the role of the commercial director in software companies is aimed at carrying out negotiations and conversations that are more complex or that grant greater strategic value to the company and start looking for the relevant profiles that allow building the sales team.
In emerging digital companies, sales managers can start by managing leads and customers until they manage to recruit the sales team that begins to carry out all the tasks of a sales process. Normally, this turning point comes when the executive's commercial management already exceeds the temporary availability and understands that it is necessary to delegate.
The decision to start outsourcing is the first step toward formalizing a software start-up that recently hired a chief commercial officer to avoid the risks of developers continuing to sell. When most software companies start, they do not have commercial directors, but rather the owners themselves who sell the implementations.
When the work gets too much for them, they hire sales leaders or specialists who know how to successfully sell to the customer. Since their function is that of sellers, they have no hierarchy, but over time they will gain experience and their commercial profile will be enhanced until they become experts in the field. Then, you will be ready to lead and delegate a group of people with the same business profile that they initially found in you.
After that, the second step will be to train that team, those people so that they can sell software successfully. The training must respond to the fulfillment of the commercial objectives based on the general objectives of the software company.
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The presence of a commercial director in a software company is the starting point for the business to shed its image of individual entrepreneurship to transform itself into a digital company divided into functional areas. In turn, sales representatives will find various benefits with the guidance of a sales director.
The experience acquired by commercial directors in their negotiations with customers before becoming strategic leaders will help the representatives of their team to strengthen their commercial skills in interactions with potential customers and those who manage to retain them.
The sales team will never be alone as long as they can exchange experiences and pose challenges with their area managers. A good commercial director will know how to advise, help, teach, correct and motivate their employees to get a better version of themselves as commercial agents. If successful, the sales representatives will be for the customer, rather than a salesperson, guide, or guru of business opportunities.
The commercial director provides sales training to interact with different customer profiles and situations. New profiles and new situations will arise that will add to the learning during the sales process and will make your relationships with customers more agile.
The better the sales representatives are trained by the commercial director, the better the intangible commercial proposals of the software companies, so the greater the chances of closing profitable deals.
Likewise, the sales representatives will learn from the commercial directors to provide the necessary basic software information so that potential customers analyze their purchase possibilities without having to require the assistance of a programmer. If the intervention of one is unavoidable, the salesperson will be able to refer you to a specialist without difficulty to receive more detailed and precise information.
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In short, the role of commercial directors in software companies is to make sure that they form an efficient, creative sales team that is, above all, focused on customer needs. In this way, the commercial profile of a company in this industry is obtained by hiring a sales leader who trains, encourages, and inspires representatives to generate value in their business processes.