{"id":7923,"date":"2014-09-09T16:05:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T14:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/?p=7923"},"modified":"2019-07-08T06:18:59","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T05:18:59","slug":"internal-sales-job-get-buy-selecting-new-esp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/internal-sales-job-get-buy-selecting-new-esp\/","title":{"rendered":"The Internal Sales Job: Get the Buy-In When Selecting a New ESP"},"content":{"rendered":"

It might be time for a new email service provider (ESP), either because you\u2019ve outgrown one or you\u2019re tired of one. If so, that means it\u2019s also time for a coming together at your company, to ensure everyone is on the same page before you ever talk to a vendor<\/strong>.
\nI can\u2019t stress enough the importance of this buy-in, both for the sake of your sanity as you go through the selection process, and for your success when you implement that new ESP. <\/p>\n

The importance of buy-in can\u2019t be overstated. If you\u2019ve ever been married<\/a>, think about the kinds of discussions you have to have for big-ticket purchases, and how having buy-in can save your marriage. If you bought a new car without your spouse\u2019s buy-in, you\u2019d have some serious fallout to contend with. Trust me, I know\u2026<\/p>\n

You need that same kind of buy-in when preparing to do an email service provider comparison<\/a> too. You need to know everyone is on the same page, all needs are being met, and the budget is agreed to. You need to make sure the C suite is on your side. And you need all of that before you even let a vendor into your inbox let alone through your office door. <\/p>\n

<\/span>Get buy-in before the sales teams show up<\/span><\/h2>\n

Having everyone in agreement before you even start on your RFP<\/a> or make your short list is imperative. Not only will this keep you focused on the actual needs (vs. wants) of your organization\u2019s different teams, it will affect the buying\/sales process itself. <\/p>\n

Imagine a meeting with a potential vendor during which that ESP\u2019s sales team is hearing conflicting information from the various people sitting around the table (i.e. your people). How can they promise to meet your needs if you\u2019re not even sure what your email software needs are? How can they be confident they\u2019re the best email service provider for you? Alternatively, you\u2019ll help the ESP\u2019s sales team to do their job. When your team is in agreement and you\u2019re clear on your needs, they can be clear in addressing them. <\/p>\n

<\/span>Avoid an irrelevant RFP<\/span><\/h2>\n

In addition, lacking buy-in means you could set yourself up to have an irrelevant RFP (and with all the time it takes to create one, it\u2019s better to get it right the first time). If the requirements<\/a> you\u2019ve listed aren\u2019t the requirements agreed to by department XYZ, it won\u2019t matter how long or short that RFP is because it won\u2019t get you the information you need to make an informed decision. <\/p>\n

On the other hand, if you have the discussions and get the buy-in, you might just shorten the RFP process because you\u2019ll know exactly what is needed, giving a potential ESP a clear picture of the capabilities you require\u2026for everyone. <\/p>\n

Even if you forego the RFP<\/a> and go straight to a short list of vendors, you\u2019ll need to have these discussions and get this buy-in, for all of the reasons mentioned above.<\/p>\n

And during those discussions, you might learn you don\u2019t need a new ESP after all. But that\u2019s a different topic altogether. <\/p>\n

<\/span>Keep your team in the loop as you progress<\/span><\/h2>\n

As you\u2019re moving through the RFP, shortlist or sales process, keep people in the loop so they remember the how and why of your choices\u2014and that they agreed to them. It can take a while to find the best email service provider<\/a> for your needs. And people have short memories. <\/p>\n

Between the time when you started the discussions about a new ESP and signed the contract with one, they might have forgotten just what everyone agreed to, and that memory lapse can be the same as having no buy-in at all. If you keep reminding them along the way\u2014like with a status update that says \u201c\u2026and XYZ ESP offers that segmenting capability we all agreed was critical to our strategy\u201d\u2014they won\u2019t be able to come back later and claim they hadn\u2019t agreed to something they actually had. <\/p>\n

<\/span>No buy-in before the selection? Don\u2019t look for it after! <\/span><\/h2>\n

You might get through the selection process okay, but then there\u2019s the dark side you\u2019ll suffer through after investing in a new email service provider if you lack buy-in. <\/p>\n

If someone muscles through an ESP choice without taking into account the needs of other departments, or without getting the buy-in of their own team (or even management), how quickly and effectively do you think that new ESP will be implemented? After implementation and the migration from the old ESP to the new, how well do you think that new platform will work? I suspect there\u2019d be some resistance and some friction, to say the least.<\/p>\n

In addition to a slow ramp-up time, the effect of not having the buy-in ahead of time can be costly in other ways too. There are potential support costs if people at your company are leaning on the ESP to try and make things work the way they need. <\/p>\n

There are potential ESP customization<\/a> costs if other departments are asking for customized capabilities because those features weren\u2019t part of the original RFP. There are potential revenue costs\u2014i.e. lost revenue\u2014when the platform is simply not used because it doesn\u2019t fit everyone\u2019s needs. And there\u2019s the really big cost of going through another RFP process, as well as another costly implementation when your organization outgrows that new ESP too fast, or tires of it too soon. <\/p>\n

Communication is by far the best way to achieve everyone\u2019s buy-in when looking for a new email service provider. Talk openly, talk often, and talk all through the process. And listen. You might not like everything you hear, but you\u2019ll need to take all of it into consideration, no matter how unreasonable a request might be. Do this before, during and after, and make sure your buy-in is a shoo-in when choosing an ESP. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It might be time for a new email service provider (ESP), either because you\u2019ve outgrown one or you\u2019re tired of one. If so, that means it\u2019s also time for a coming together at your company, to ensure everyone is on the same page before you ever talk to a vendor. I can\u2019t stress enough the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":7934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26],"dealstore":[],"coauthors":[538],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7923"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dealstore?post=7923"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.emailvendorselection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}