What is the hardest industry or vertical to sell into?
YankeeClipper
Hardest to Sell
17
Government contracts. My buddy sold tech used by the FFA and told me horror stories like you wouldn't believe. Multi-year sales cycles, clients were grossly ignorant of technology requirements, most work house by single agency for an entire country, 100% decision maker turn over with administration changes.
Deals could be massive if you landed them, but took at least an entire year of work before you could even smell commission or know if you'd land a single deal.
Deals could be massive if you landed them, but took at least an entire year of work before you could even smell commission or know if you'd land a single deal.
Yup, I've closed 7 figure deals with gov't but holy shit each one takes forever. You're lucky if it closes within a year.
I sell primarily to defence and most departments in the military switch project managers every 3 years, so just when you have gotten in good with the decision-maker he gets promoted out and some new guy is in with "good ideas" on how to do everything differently.
I sell primarily to defence and most departments in the military switch project managers every 3 years, so just when you have gotten in good with the decision-maker he gets promoted out and some new guy is in with "good ideas" on how to do everything differently.
"Uhm, it looks like a nice to have but it just isn't antiquated enough. Oh and you run your data on through a cloud? It's gonna be a no from us"
Gotta love the old server farms!
Gotta love the old server farms!
Personally, I have the hardest time selling into Healthcare. Lots of legacy technology and very strict compliance requirements.
Healthcare is also the toughest industry to recruit for. Also correlating to strict compliance requirements.
Yeah I can see that, especially with the legacy tech, you don't see too many people floating around with that experience running/maintaining it.
Very interesting!! Have you ever sold to HR? That has been challenging for me the past few years!
Preach! Heath care is 20% of GDP and we're all patients. Legacy systems drain payers, providers and patients of cash, created a disjointed "system", and are the basis of virtually every security breach.
Totally agree here. Healthcare accounts can be PTWs (professional time wasters). Budgets are tough to move sometimes and the amount legacy tech/legacy resources is a battle.
The fashion industry. They sell shoes that cost $20 for $1,000 a pair but don't want to spend $40k on something that is crucial to their business.
Daddy Government.
the gubmint
Government - Just a pain to get approvals and budget constraints are a killer
I sold high-tech solutions like cloud storage and other internet, phone, and data solutions to SMB. Without any previous training or education on the product, it was impossible for me to sell. Props to all those selling highly technical products to businesses. It's not easy!
I jumped into this exact industry in 2020... it's like I'm a glutton for punishment. Difficult and nuanced industry to learn, especially if you're not really interested in it to begin with. However... daaaaamn the money is there!
Yes! I do remember the months where I crushed quota and it’s some serious money if you’re good at it.
@Adam did your company at least give you a sales engineer so they could demo? If the product is super technical the company can't expect a new rep to do full demos.
Always worth asking about when interviewing with a company.
Always worth asking about when interviewing with a company.
They did, but were understaffed and hard to get available. I also learned it’s not the industry for me!
Alternate viewpoint: selling into a different international region and navigating localized customs.
A good friend of mine is a sales rep in Europe and he describes the culture as more reserved and slow moving. Not sure if my gung-ho style would best transition.
Or take China, where there are certain elements of "giving face" and executive courtship in certain sectors.
A good friend of mine is a sales rep in Europe and he describes the culture as more reserved and slow moving. Not sure if my gung-ho style would best transition.
Or take China, where there are certain elements of "giving face" and executive courtship in certain sectors.
Done plenty of business in Europe, the Middle East and southwest Asia...they sure have their own pace which includes many project restarts...oh how fun it was...
My hardest industry would be CPAs/Financial institutes. IMO they are penny pinching everything to death.
Hospitals are worse. They have small budgets and giant expectations. Not to mention boards that need to vote 🤦♀️
Hospitals and health systems are definitely the hardest. No repeatable process between sites, every department is disconnected, rev cycle/payment office can sometimes on pay net-90 day terms. They still prefer on prem to SaaS!?
And health care is the industry keeping the fax machine alive. They are stuck in the 1990s!
And health care is the industry keeping the fax machine alive. They are stuck in the 1990s!
❤ your Blue Dog pic
You have to have a great case for ROI in that industry!
If you're dealing with CPAs, You better be able to back your ROI projections with their numbers and rationale. No fluff or they'll just write you off.
They live in the world of redlines and supporting documentation.
They live in the world of redlines and supporting documentation.
Anyone have any luck selling software to Manufacturing? I've been doing it for 9 months now and geez, it's so much harder than selling sales tech.
Gonna be hard to do without being on site. Every manufacturer thinks that the way they do things is fine because it's worked up to this point. You'll often need to do the digging on their actual floors, talk with workers and Dept heads and make a giant flashing billboard that illuminates all the pain and wastes of time and money that happens every day in their "it ain't broke" system. Make sure you have the CFO and owner/CEO cc'd or present when you present so their CIO or resident network monkey has to own it and explain why they are blocking leaner changes.
Thank you for your comment, that makes a ton of sense! It is definitely hard to show them how they should really upgrade when they have such a "ain't broke" mentality, change management and pushing against the status quo is a tough one. Love the idea of going on site and really digging into their pains.
And totally, I feel like we don't involve C-suite enough and a lot of times, they'll go talk to them without us present and then the deal goes into limbo. I'll definitely try to build more of a business case so we do get that approval and excitement from higher up.
And totally, I feel like we don't involve C-suite enough and a lot of times, they'll go talk to them without us present and then the deal goes into limbo. I'll definitely try to build more of a business case so we do get that approval and excitement from higher up.
Yeah - my approach is always that if you think you can really help them out go talk to the guys in the trenches and build a plan or a story so good that the C or the Top level has to pay attention. I often say that in cold openings that what I discuss may not be something you do right away, but will certainly become a topic in your next executive meeting.
Plus most manufacturing decision makers are going to respect that you are getting the suit dirty and doing the legwork and hustle on your own for their benefit. Come off more as a consultant and partner than a salesperson. Obviously all of this is easier said than done but I've had it work on more than one occasion. Best of Luck El Capitan
Plus most manufacturing decision makers are going to respect that you are getting the suit dirty and doing the legwork and hustle on your own for their benefit. Come off more as a consultant and partner than a salesperson. Obviously all of this is easier said than done but I've had it work on more than one occasion. Best of Luck El Capitan
In a previous life i was a healthcare professional and i'd constantly get sales reps from the medical supply companies door knocking our clinic. Each company sold the same stuff, manufactured from the same factories in China. Stuff like braces, moon boots and sports tape. We simply just bought from who ever was cheapest. Its a quick race to the bottom.
Edu and Government.
Everyone will tell you they don't have any budget. They also have some of the most ridiculous procurement processes you have to navigate to get a contract signed.
The people in EDU are much nicer and are open to discussion and doing research. Converting them to buyers is the real challenge. The EDU space has lots of open space to sell into.
Everyone will tell you they don't have any budget. They also have some of the most ridiculous procurement processes you have to navigate to get a contract signed.
The people in EDU are much nicer and are open to discussion and doing research. Converting them to buyers is the real challenge. The EDU space has lots of open space to sell into.
Surety. Ain’t no one who wants to break up with their current agent.
That person was probably at the hospital during the birth of their clients children and is now a godparent or some shit.
That person was probably at the hospital during the birth of their clients children and is now a godparent or some shit.
State and Local Government
Security is always a tough sell. It is often viewed like a cost center, no matter how you spin it.
We're selling some tech solutions to large enterprises. I must say, it's really going slow and it's so frustrating. Going from one department to another, to another. And it could always go to hell.
Higher education, colleges and universities. It’s a crapshoot on whether they’re extremely centralized to the school as a whole, or if each college or even each department makes their own decisions. It often varies wildly within one school. Often, decisions are made by people that don’t know anything about what you sell, so a department head who is a philosophy professor might be making decisions about buying IT services. They’re also extremely cheap, even the Ivy League schools.
For me it’s the Vape/Smoke and Delta8 industry. It’s like selling chocolate to a chocolate factory. I thought it’d be a piece of cake compared to my previous jobs. It’s sooo heavily regulated. And laws, taxes, regulations can change on a monthly basis. Big Tobacco doesn’t want people to quit smoking cigarettes. LOL I lost 20 of my most profitable accounts this month due to new laws and new insanely high taxes that just went into effect. So now I have to start all over again.
gonna need to know more about this...who were you selling to? distributors? direct-to-retailer?
Government, Manufacturing IMO
Too many verticals to navigate through ; forecasting becomes a big problem!
Too many verticals to navigate through ; forecasting becomes a big problem!
Big banks are pain in the ass! Mountains of red tape, security reviews, 100+ page contracts, etc. Every top 10 bank I have worked with has been at least a 12month sales cycle with many creeping toward 24 months...but the payday can easily make it worth it (not hard to get 7-8 figure deals in that space)
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