Why Design Thinking doesn’t work in software sales.

Shock and horror may have crossed your mind when reading the article title. Forgive me for the click bait title as anyone who knows me knows I am a firm believer in Design Thinking and it’s practical application in the Presales cycle (and life generally!) Having been lucky enough to start my Design Thinking journey at SAP 8 years ago I have taken that knowledge with me and helped run & develop programmes in other roles since specifically as a Solution Consultant. Along with being a practitioner and being out in the field, I’ve not just experienced the safe and guided training environment or fluffy corporate headlines of success. I’ve seen the good, the bad and the very ugly and thought it would be useful for other practitioners to sum up where it can go wrong. 

Despite seemingly being widely recognised as a best practice for software sales, I’ve seen many occasions when it just…doesn’t work. Information about process, core principles, best practice etc. are readily available. I’ve even been lucky enough to work at companies where it is pushed by senior stakeholders and have personally gone through rigorous training programmes. However sometime the dots still don’t connect. Here are some thoughts on why;

• Resources - An obvious roadblock for many projects. Nothing comes for free and resources whether in the form of budget for external consultants or time burned by employees to develop such programmes needs to be justified. However, to go a little deeper another issue I have seen before is that instead of fully committing, companies try to cobble together what they THINK is a Design Thinking initiative using limited knowledge or resources. Many of us will have seen or even led a badly run workshop masquerading as Design Thinking because someone stuck some post it notes on a wall. Whilst these concepts may still provide some limited value, this approach will not enable you or your teams to reap the vast benefits available from a well developed programme routed in theory, knowledge and training.
• Internal Mindset - This is possibly the biggest and hardest to navigate. The struggle to change mindset isn’t unique to any one role in the sales cycle although sales people who have quarterly, sometimes monthly cadence to worry about tend to shy away from what they consider more of a time investment. Some just don’t want to do it. Some don’t get it. Some actively resist it. For champions of Design Thinking this can be incredibly frustrating however we know that we are privy to a (not so) secret club who ‘gets’ it and there’s at least something reassuring in that. Once you understand Design Thinking particularly for software sales you realise it is applicable to everything and is not so much a ‘methodology’ as a lifestyle. Not to make it sound cult-like but the point is it works. Even if you aren’t interested in the art of discovering problems in a different way (which is where the SC’s can geek out a bit) there is clear evidence that it increases deal size, rapport, customer satisfaction etc. so surely must be valuable in the sales cycle. We know Design Thinking works for example, in it’s formative use of designing products and I believe it should be no different for sales just applied differently. Proper training and explanation of core concepts can really help change internal mindset as well as a well curated programme involving internal champions, shadowing opportunities and screaming about success stories. 
• Customers Mindset - Guess what? You’re customers don’t have all day to sit around and watch Ted talks about how amazing Design Thinking is. The mindset points don’t just apply internally. Customers may have no experience of this approach and it’s your job to guide them through it. This is why it’s so important to get it right internally and present an aligned front to customers. I once ran a Design Thinking discovery workshop where the sales person spent the whole time making notes on their computer barely making eye contact with the customer. With a lack of collaboration, energy, empathy or ideation from our side (apart from my attempts to keep the session afloat), the customer mirrored this and we were unable to truly define their problems and ideate potential solutions let alone build rapport. You have to explain what you’re doing and get customers invested and everyone working as a team. In fact the most successful workshops I’ve been a part of spend a long time up front explaining the approach even if it feels like overkill. Be the champion and embody the approach during sessions with customers otherwise how can you expect them to get on board?

Hopefully this article will act as reassurance if you have had similar experiences or provoke some thoughts around how these initiatives are working for you currently. I didn’t want this article to be a replica of other resources that are already out there on how to do Design Thinking successfully so I’ve avoided giving too much in terms of ‘what you should do’ but hopefully there are some useful tips routed in practical, field experience that can help you on your journey!

If you've spent the whole article thinking "What is she even talking about?" here is a great article about the 101 of Design Thinking for sales - Click Here!

I’m going to leave my summary at that but feel free to comment or private message me. I’m sure there are many other blockers people have experienced so feel free to comment below :) Or feel free to add any more tips you’ve used to make Design Thinking a success in your organisation. I'm sure someone will find them useful!