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Fee structure
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How do I know who is working on my business? |
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Athlone doesn't sell on a time and materials basis and no engagement will be related to number of calls, number of hours or number of days.
The Athlone team is a mix of experienced industry professionals and at the outset of the project Athlone will establish who has what to contribute to the campaign. An activity plan is then drawn up and the team will execute against that. There will be a combination of direct access to personal networks, indirect engagements developed through the Athlone network and new business development.
In reality, the combination of effort from across the team will produce more productive hours in any week than hiring a sales guy who will spend a disproportionate amount of time in meetings, team building, reporting and cold calling……it's a very expensive way to cold call!
By the time the campaign begins you will have met the owners and everyone who will have a role to play in your engagement
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Can I have a trial period first? |
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Athlone does not run trial activities. The core proposition is based around human capital and domain credibility and, unlike a software trial, there is a cost associated with every sales cycle we burn and every network relationship we call on.
In addition, most business objectives which justify a free agency approach will take a number of months to complete and a canned trial period will demonstrate nothing of value.
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How are the fees structured? |
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Each engagement is tailored to the needs of the client business and so the fee structure is rarely the same on two different projects. Many engagements draw contributions from different parts of the group, such as search, sales acceleration and channel development, and the different aspects of those contributions will combine to achieve the objectives of the engagement.
Most commonly there is a fixed fee element and a variable, success based element with a strong emphasis on a result orientated approach.
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I'm looking for a commission only engagement, can you help? |
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There are many factors to consider and Athlone will discuss all the options which are possible. Typically, clients want the best resource to engage on their project and that will not happen in any commission only engagement, with any company. Athlone's preference is to discuss the client's business objectives and define the best way to address them with the client.
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Engagement
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Are the projects all based on venture capital and investment? |
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Venture Capital is one of a number of core competencies within the Athlone Group. The most common engagements are built around:
- Sales consulting
- Pipeline development
- Sales fulfilment
- Channel development
- Interim sales management
- Search
Most Athlone clients engage across these offerings depending on where they are against their own business objectives and venture capital may be one element of the engagement.
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How many times can you take propositions to the same contact without straining the relationship? |
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The reality is that no matter the strength of the relationship with the network they will only agree to see vendors whose proposition meets their current perceived needs. Where there is no need Athlone will not make a meeting although the relationship can be used to gather feedback to assist with the campaign. Athlone does not set out to make propositions with unqualified decision makers.
The point about the primary network isn't solely the ability to set meetings but, sometimes more importantly, the ability to understand the exact current status in a target account. Sometimes that will result in a meeting and other times it means quickly establishing what the objections are. Both are of great value to clients. Athlone works very hard to develop its' network and will not abuse it for perceived short term gain.
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I can't do anything until I get funding. What do we do now? |
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You should be talking to Athlone. Venture Capital has been at the core of Athlone's activity with a number of clients and this may be a great opportunity for both parties.
Also, we should consider running a workshop to plan for what would constitute a worthwhile engagement once funding is in place. The workshop can be run independently of an engagement to give both parties an opportunity to discuss ideas in a free form environment with a fresh pair of eyes and an open agenda. The client has the advantage of access to many years of experience and Athlone is then best able to assess how it might support the client in the future.
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How big is the Athlone team? |
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There are around 22 core members of the Athlone team with a further 140 associates. There are currently 12 partners who engage with Athlone on a regular basis and a further list of partners who are ready to engage when an engagement requires their skill set.
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Background
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What experience do we have of selling technology? |
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The partners and associates can point to a great depth of success in delivering sales plans and making sales numbers in senior sales and management roles at companies such as TIBCO, Micromuse, Banyan, Baan, HP, T-Mobile, Blue Martini, Microsoft, Oracle and RedM.
In addition, the team has broad experience in developing strategic and tactical plans for businesses and projects in both operational and consulting environments.
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What type of customers do we have? |
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Typically Athlone Business Services works with smaller software houses that are looking to control sales costs, reduce sales risk or accelerate sales opportunity. All the wins to date have come from 6 market sectors where Athlone has identified a strong fit because of domain knowledge and current market conditions. These are:
- CRM
- Security
- Mobile
- Business intelligence
- Infrastructure
- Web services
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How is the Athlone network maintained? |
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There are three distinct elements to the Athlone network; the primary network, the referential network and new business. The primary network has been built over many years working with technology, media, telecoms and consulting organizations and the contacts are former colleagues, associates, partners and customers. Relationships are continually developed with these people so that access and trust are maintained and propositions can be discussed when it makes business sense.
The referential network is fertile but complex territory where Athlone is introduced to an extended network and is therefore carrying its own credibility as well as that of the referee and the client. In such an engagement Athlone uses many years of accrued business acumen to establish and then maintain a working relationship.
New business activity is straight forward but perhaps the least productive of the options available. As part of an overall engagement plan Athlone will deploy new business sales heads to deliver against key milestones and, more often than not, the activity will extend the network for Athlone and the client.
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Alternatives
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Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to hire another sales head? |
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Anyone who is accountable for the entire cost of doing business will know that this is not the case. Viewed purely from a cost point of view you have to account for exit costs of the previous head, search fees, salaries and benefits, expenses, utility costs and commissions. In all probability there will also be an impact on the technical and administrative resource required to support the new hire and that will add to the ongoing cost and risk.
Finally, it is easy to overlook the impact a new head has on management resource as everyone attempts to successfully navigate through the ramp up period. All these costs are mitigated or, at least, significantly reduced in an engagement with Athlone.
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How can you learn a proposition so quickly? |
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The Athlone team has a depth of experience with a range of technologies and the client will decide if he is confident the resource available can deliver on an engagement. The client will also be instrumental in deciding the level of contribution from Athlone and the hand off point during any campaign. The Athlone focus is on accelerating agreed milestones and deliverables and clients typically don't want us to be experts preferring to control the deliverables themselves.
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My sales team is working just fine, how can Athlone help? |
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Athlone has yet to meet a manager who sees an upper limit on what can be achieved! Many Athlone engagements are based on 'point' requirements such as filling a vacancy or making qualified introductions but it is the unpredictable nature of the markets which drives most value from an Athlone engagement. Unplanned or planned personnel change, new product launches, decline in performance or even intensified competitive pressures introduce challenges faster than infrastructure can be changed to address them.
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I know I need help but I don't know what. How can Athlone help? |
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Very few of the challenges faced by Athlone clients are straight forward. Most involve a level of strategic and tactical planning and so every engagement starts with a workshop to address all the key topics which will underpin a successful project with or without Athlone's involvement.
The workshop can be run independently of an engagement to give both parties an opportunity to discuss ideas in a free form environment with a fresh pair of eyes. The client has the advantage of access to many years of experience and Athlone is then best able to assess how it might support the client in the future.
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