The following is a true story. A few names have been changed to protect the identity of some of the people involved. 

In the first instalment of this story, Scorched Earth, I described the situation leading to my being hired at MicroStrategy into an OEM sales role and the problems in overcoming relationships that my predecessor had soured. This episode is about the events leading up to my being given 30-day's notice of termination and reflects on the changing role of salespeople in B2B selling. 

The Disintermediation of B2B Sales Professionals

This blog was written in 2014. Over the past decade, B2B buying behaviour has continually evolved, reshaping the landscape for marketing and sales leaders and their teams. A notable shift is buyers' expectations for an experience that mirrors the ease and convenience of platforms like Amazon. B2B buyers increasingly demand streamlined purchasing processes, personalized recommendations, efficient transactions and seamless onboarding and that the product delivers the promised value.

B2B buyers have become more self-reliant in their decision-making processes, often avoiding direct interaction with salespeople until they are well into the buying process. Instead, they rely heavily on peer reviews, independent research, analyst reviews, and word of mouth to inform their choices. This shift was foreseen by Neil Rackham in his book, "Rethinking the Sales Force," where he discussed the evolving role of salespeople in complex B2B sales. 

In many cases, salespeople are not needed to sell B2B products, notable exceptions include OEM, business development and channel development roles. Neil Rackham rightly forecasted the end of transactional selling 25 years ago, and his prescient direction to sales managers to focus their direct sales teams on creating and capturing value for the customer. 

When you are truly ready, the Channel will show up

Until the release of MicroStrategy Version 7, the product was probably the largest Visual Basic executable in the BI industry. From a reseller or OEM's perspective, it had very low appeal: no API, no SDK, poor documentation, and it broke your software with every new release. I felt sorry for our early partners, who told our executives they were unhappy. The MicroStrategy product was not channel-ready before release 7, and the channel sales model was push, not pull. When you are truly ready, the channel will show up and pull you into the tornado, the early majority market.

That did not stop the channels team at MicroStrategy from selling it, however, and Scott Hughes hired a strong team of experienced salespeople to sell it....and they did. Like many well-meaning channel sales efforts, the software got sold, salespeople got well compensated, and the software sat on the shelf and in many cases, was never implemented.

You are being given a 30 day performance improvement plan (PiP) - (you're fired)

After 3 years, hundreds of meetings and nothing to show other than a bunch of joint marketing agreements with IBM, Sequent, Tandem and NCR, and a nascent reseller agreement with NCR, I was not surprised that my time was up. My boss, Scott Hughes, whom I respected and liked, was straight up with me, and I recall responding that I understood why and would be very adult about it, but I just needed a bit more time as the NCR Teradata  ship turned.

I was determined not to get fired. The ink was barely dry on the reseller agreement with NCR, and I wouldn't let some Johnny-come-lately walk in and reap the rewards of three years of diligent effort.
A couple of months earlier, I trained the NCR Teradata retail sales team on how and where to sell MicroStrategy7, and they were generating a lot of interest due to their prospecting activity. They were teeing up a couple of 6 figure MSTR sales with their primary retail customers.

I recall walking into VP Sales, Ray Tacoma's office and pleading for another 30 days, knowing things were about to change. Within two weeks of being put on notice, NCR Teradata came in with a big sale, close to a million dollars of Microstrategy revenue and another one shortly after that.

I was saved by the bell and lived to create one of the most important partnerships in the company's history.

Continued....in part 3. The Art of Finding a Deal