Here is Why You Are Not Closing Deals in the US HR Market

Since I started my virtual coffee chats in September, I have spent about ~90 hours on sales calls. At an average of 30 minutes each, that’s about 100+ HR B2B companies/services I have connected over the past five months, some of which are businesses that started outside of the US and are looking to break into the US HR B2B market.

Regardless of whether you are a founder, business development rep, or account executive, here are some observations I’ve made from those calls and suggestions I have from an industry buyer’s lens that might help with your future conversations:

Timing is everything and rushing your customers doesn’t help

Most US organizations run on fiscal year budget cycles. Typically, tech roadmaps/strategies and associated budget requirements are decided in the last quarter of the previous fiscal year for spending in the current year. Depending on when you reached out to your lead, if they have just closed the planning cycle for the next fiscal year, you could be looking at lead times of up to 12 months for the potential purchase commitment.

Pro Tip: be polite about this (because I have had a few instances where this question came off more demanding than it needed to be), and ask your customer how they typically plan their roadmaps and budget and what fiscal year calendar they are on to help you account plan. In addition, you could also try to get a sense of your lead’s urgency and see if this might be an item that can be approved for additional spending outside of their internal budget cycle.

Relationships matter and it starts with the first call

In full transparency, I have a shortlist of providers across various HR functional areas whom I have vetted. I have referred them to others in my network to check out and have called them up when the need arises on projects I am working on. There are providers on my list whom I have never done business with in any capacity, but I know they are there and ready to go if/when my projects need them. I share this because I know I’m not the only buyer who does this, and for some reason, some sales teams still treat their leads as one-and-done. I get that sales is a volume game, but you cannot expect your customers to agree to sign a contract within the first three conversations.

Pro Tip: not every call leads to a sale. Set some expectations with your leads when you get on that first call. The best conversations I’ve had are where we mutually agree that this is an exploratory conversation. There is no harm if we decide we’re not a great fit. That now allows me to focus on the solution and not spend 30 minutes wondering how to gently let the sales team down.

Context matters, so have a conversation (a REAL one)

At some point, I feel like some B2B sales either read the same tactic books or follow the same influencers. I have had times when I would get on the phone and feel like I have just entered an interrogation room. After a very brief round of introductions, we get straight into the:

• Who are you (umm, have you not done your homework?)

• What are you looking for (your BDR reached out to me; I’m just entertaining this conversation, so why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for?)

• When are you looking to buy (I don’t even know what you are selling yet exactly…)

I can guarantee that these conversations never end with a second call. Most of your buyers who have been doing this for a while will know that the “I just want to get out of this what’s in it for me” attitude will translate past the sales cycles and into product delivery. Because inevitably, for a sales team to carry that attitude into their first conversation with a customer, there are deeper provider culture issues at play. As a customer, I prefer to stay as far away from that drama as possible.

Pro Tip: BE HUMAN. I want to get to know you, your company, your product, and what made you decide that this is the solution the market needs and that you would sell it. Trust doesn’t come from rattling off a list of accolades and current customers. It comes from being authentic and doing that consistently. Once the trust is established, your buyers are more likely to share their context and pain points. After that, you are solving a problem together and not negotiating a PEPY number (yes, there is a difference).

People matter, and I can tell when you outsourced your sales function

Ok, this one might put me on a list somewhere, but I feel like I’d be doing the HR community a disservice if I didn’t call it out. This one is more for the founders out there who are looking to scale in an economically friendly way. First, I can appreciate that. Second, I recommend you request a demo call or maybe do a blind-shopper thing with your BDR and sales team on their pitches before you agree for someone else to represent your brand and product on the market. I have seen some horrendous behaviors and representations in these types of arrangements, and I genuinely questioned if the owner/founder of the product would tolerate these things if they were aware.

Pro Tip: if you can’t blind shop your BDR and Sales team calls, find a way to gather customer feedback after the first call. You know how we all say that HR should focus on their candidates as much as their employees from a brand perspective? Well, take that and apply it the other way. I think providers should focus as much on their prospects as their signed customers for that exact reason.

Ok, I’m at 1000+ words on this one already. I’m going to stop here and not turn this into an essay.