Background Literature

We set out to explore the project management, marketing, and organizational literature to provide a framework for understanding the issues around selling project management to executives. We tackled this vast body of literature by focusing on a number of questions we found most pertinent to this study, namely:

• How are selling, marketing, and project management related?

• What are senior executives looking for?

• How do sellers and buyers interact?

• Why do you need to align values in the sales process?

• How do you use strategy to trigger sales?

The following section summarizes the results of this literature review and shows how it frames this piece of research. The section concludes by introducing the specific research questions Phase I was designed to answer.

How Are Selling, Marketing, and Project Management Related?

According to the Webster's dictionary selling means to "promote the sale, acceptance or adoption of (1984, 628). Generally, companies sell project management methodologies to increase their market share and customers buy it as an aid to improve their bottom line and competitive position. Project management is typically sold as a service to customers or as a component of business solutions.

In contrast, marketing involves organizations determining "the needs, wants, and interests" of target audiences and delivering to that level of satisfaction "more effectively and efficiently than competitors" (Kotler 1994). This definition connotes expectations management. The essence of marketing is to apply strategies including market intelligence work to increase/maintain market share by securing new/repeat business with a customer (Daft 1987).

The terms selling and project management seem disconnected in the eyes and minds of most project managers. Typically, project managers view themselves as practitioners and do not consider the "marketing and sales" work as either their role or responsibility. A review of the project management practitioner literature shows that project managers do promote and advocate elements of project management in the course of their work. They generally promote it by describing the features of tools and techniques and inherent project benefits related to the priority triangle of time, cost, and scope. Project managers infrequently tie project management outcomes to corporate business outcomes as part of their sales strategies. Frost (1999) takes the abstract concept of values and frames it as continuum that builds on the Gardner, Bistritz, and Klompmaker (1996) model in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Value Continuum (Frost 1999)

This value continuum portrays foundation values of efficiency (e.g., return on investment, cost reductions, revenue generation, increased market share) and effectiveness (e.g., organizational effectiveness, customer satisfaction) at the far left of the continuum. At the other end, innovation values (market expansion, advantage creation) dominate. Frost's model portrays the promise-centric values (rather than product-centric) as critical to managers and defines value as key to understanding the relationship between buying and selling project management in tactical, strategic, and competitive selling. Tactical selling involves both the vendor and customer being focused on the features of project management in short-term, quick-fix relationships. Strategic selling involves a longer-term relationship between the vendor and buyer, whereas strategic solutions are sold to address business problems. Lastly, competitive selling involves a business-to-business partnership that is more encompassing in terms of its focus on both organizations. Sellers generally craft their messages based on their experiences; but successful messages reflect the buyer's needs, as the buyer understands them.

What Are Senior Executives Looking For?

Senior executives represent the highest level of management in organizations. Traditionally, senior executives look for information to help them make sound business decisions as well as position themselves favorably in terms of their personal and professional growth. The type of information they seek fits within their own construct of truth, and any new knowledge flows through their self-defined filters. During business crises or in time-pressured situations, senior executives will turn to known consultants with whom they have had past experiences rather than seek out new, unknown ones. Most executives are focused on foundation values as noted by their search for ways to measure and increase the return on their organization's investments and reduce expenditures (Dinsmore 1996; McElroy 1996). As well, outcomes seem more tied to corporate strategy not individual project outcomes. At times, they look for ways to measure and increase the return on investment and reduce costs without recognizing the cumulative effects and co-dependencies of the actions taken on failed and successful projects alike (Dinsmore 1996; McElroy 1996).

Heidrick & Stuggles, a leading executive search firm reports that over half of chief executive officer (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) respondents held their positions for five years or less. With this type of turnaround at the decision-maker level, those selling project management services must strive to make more immediate and responsive connections with these individuals in terms of their existing and future business challenges. In marketing terms, this is often referred to as relationship marketing.

The connection between the selling intention and the business direction may be a prerequisite for using project management to substantially maximize shareholder value and move the buyer-seller relationship along the continuum toward the innovation values side. The initial step in raising awareness about project management requires the identification of best practices that in turn can help senior executives understand how to use this knowledge. Part of the difficulty in raising awareness is that conventional definitions and treatment of value have a less direct connection to business strategy than what we assume to be the case.

How Do Sellers and Buyers Interact?

Marketing literature tells us that sellers and buyers act either tactically or strategically. Over the past thirty years there has been a noticeable shift in the sales proficiency toward strategic and competitive selling. A key issue appears to be that project management is rarely sold in isolation; it is generally sold as part of a solution or as a service to manage projects. Too often, tactical selling focuses on promoting the features of project management that will "save" time and money to increase efficiency. The challenge of selling project management services then becomes one of identifying, articulating, and achieving deliverables that are directly linked to business objectives.

Another issue making project management a tough sell relates to trust between the seller and buyer. Gardner, Bistritz, and Klompmaker (1996) researched factors that help salespeople develop trust and credibility with senior executives. They found understanding the customer's goals/objectives and being responsive to requests to be the most effective ways of establishing trust/credibility with executives. "The worst impression a salesperson can leave is wasted time" (Gardner, Bistritz, and Klompmaker 1996, 7). The relationship between the buyer and seller appears critical in selling services. Selling services involves the use of soft skills. Since selling services does not end once the sale has been made, the external project management team must demonstrate effective project management and strong interpersonal/communication skills with management to ensure the success of the project sold. Senior executives seem less interested in tactical approaches or "flavor of the month quick fixes", and more interested in seeking meaningful business relationships that help them personally and professionally (Gardner, Bistritz, and Klompmaker 1996). Gardner, Bistritz, and Klompmaker (1998) found that executives are willing to value salespeople whom they truly believed would help them solve the business problems they were facing.

Why Do You Need to Align Values in the Sales Process?

Part of developing a relationship with customers involves understanding and conveying the merits (benefits) of project management and bridging the connection to the buyer's values. Although the practical benefits of project management seem like common sense, Thomas (2000) found that even experienced project managers do not fully understand project management concepts. Organizations selling project management services fail to recognize the need to prepare the client for the sale by jointly working together to frame the problem instead of jumping directly into problem-solving mode. They continue to convey project management's business value as "efficiency", often promoting industrial-age tools and traditional financial metrics including tactical selling approaches, whereas senior executives may be open to considering very different value dimensions that are further along the value continuum. It seems important to ensure that those trying to market project management communicate values and benefits that remain consistent with and aligned to the indicators senior managers use to evaluate such offerings.

How Do You Use Strategy to Trigger Sales?

Successful selling strategies include an approach to trigger a need in the buyer, a prepared response that situates the product or service as the best solution coupled with evidence supporting the argument (Don 2000). Sometimes the need is triggered by events or circumstances external to the sales effort (e.g., a crisis) but these type of triggers are not as conductive to strategic selling, as the seller has little or no control over their timing or occurrence. Successful salespeople attempt to develop selling strategies that speak to internal triggers (e.g., what keeps senior management up at night) as a way of selling their products. This type of selling uses the needs of the buyer to intuitively frame the problem, and works closely with the buyer to address it with a solution.

Thus, part of the difficulty in selling project management stems from a misalignment of perception between buyers and sellers (executives, project managers, and consultants) around project management values. In turn, this impacts the intentions around selling and buying behaviors. Senior executives often receive mixed messages with respect to the benefits of project management, leading them to disconnect their understanding (cognitive) and feeling (affect) about the values used to sell and those used to buy project management. Based on this review, we set out to confirm the magnitude of this hypothesis and gain some practical insights into the nature of the problem by exploring the following two questions.

• How do sellers and buyers understand project management's functions and value?

• How is project management sold in organizations?