Prosecuting the Legacy Approach

Discover why clinging to outdated B2B sales strategies can hinder your business growth.

In the past, the legacy approach to B2B sales would help you win clients. Like anything else, it eventually lost its value and was replaced. There are sales organizations that still stick with a structure that no longer makes sense. Here, we will prosecute the legacy approach with evidence of its failures to create value for clients.

Outdated B2B Sales Strategies on Trial

Prosecutor: The prosecution calls the Legacy Approach.

The Legacy Approach takes the stand.

Prosecutor: Why did you come into being?

Legacy Approach: At the time, there was no internet. Salespeople needed a way to provide information to their prospective clients.

Prosecutor: Are we supposed to believe that there were no other ways to share information outside of the sales conversations?

Legacy Approach: Yes, there were brochures and other collateral. But I was created to handle the sales conversation, even if the collateral included my approach.

Prosecutor: So, you agree that there were other ways to provide the information. The prosecution requests the court include the collateral as Exhibit 1.

Judge: The exhibit is entered as Exhibit 1.

Prosecutor: Mr. Legacy, will you tell us exactly what you provided?

Legacy Approach: I’m a little nervous. Can I have a glass of water?

Judge: Bailiff, please give Mr. Legacy a glass of water.

Legacy Approach: Thank you!

Prosecutor: Will you tell us exactly what your approach did in great detail?

Legacy Approach: The first thing that I did to help salespeople was to help them talk about their company, positioning them as a good company with good people, the kind that the client could trust with their business.

Prosecutor: Do you expect this court to believe that this somehow created value for the contacts and stakeholders, who were trying to acquire what they needed from the salesperson’s company?

Legacy Approach: Yes, at the time, this was helpful for the clients who were trying to buy what they needed for their business.

Prosecutor: Mr. Legacy, you didn’t stop with a conversation about the salesperson’s company, did you? You didn’t stop there, did you?!

Legacy Approach: No! No! I did more than just provide information on the company. I also helped salespeople position themselves and their companies as successful. I helped them provide evidence in the form of the large, well-known clients by sharing the names and logos.

Prosecutor: Do you expect this court to believe that the best you could do was to share a bunch of logos?

Legacy Approach: Yes. I was able to help salespeople prove their company was helping other companies successfully. This created greater trust with the client.

Prosecutor: Did this work?

Legacy Approach: Not always. Sometimes the client would want three references, and in big enterprise-level deals, the client may want to visit one of the sales organization’s clients.

Prosecutor: Wasn’t that awkward? Who would do such a thing?

Legacy Approach: Yes, it could be difficult, but if the salesperson wanted to make their quota, they would find a way to get a visit with a current client.

Prosecutor: Yet, you still had other tricks up your sleeve, didn’t you?

Legacy Approach: I wouldn’t call this a trick.

Prosecutor: What would you call it?

Legacy Approach: The solution. Salespeople loved to talk about their products and their services. They were in a hurry to share their solution, believing it would solve the client’s problems.

Prosecutor: So you confess that you caused salespeople to talk about their company, their clients, and their solutions in a first meeting?

Judge: Prosecutor, your witness may need a few minutes to collect himself. Bailiff, will you bring the witness a cold glass of water.

Prosecutor: Judge, while we give Mr. Legacy some time, may I call my second witness?

Judge: Call your witness, please.

Prosecutor: I call Jimmy Johnson.

Bailiff: Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?

Jimmy Johnson: I swear.

Prosecutor: Mr. Johnson, what do you do for a living?

Jimmy Johnson: I am a B2B salesperson.

Prosecutor: Do you know Mr. Legacy?

Jimmy Johnson: Yes, I do.

Prosecutor: Why are you here, Mr. Johnson?

Jimmy Johnson: Because he ruined my life! What he did worked, and now it no longer works. I have lost my commissions due to Mr. Legacy’s strategy.

Prosecutor: Mr. Johnson, can you share the decrease in your commissions?

Jimmy Johnson: My commissions have dropped by 80 percent.

Prosecutor: May I enter Exhibit 2, Mr. Johnson’s commission reports? Note that they have decreased over time, as Mr. Johnson stated.

Judge: Counsel for the Defendant, call your first witness.

Counsel for the Defendant: I call the Legacy Approach.

Counsel for the Defendant: Can you tell me what you do now?

Legacy Approach: I am retired. I’m tired. I was never designed to last forever and I was replaced by other sales strategies and modern methodologies that create value for today’s B2B environment.

Judge: Let us waste no more time. Please release the Legacy Approach. Mr. Johnson pays for the defendant’s lawyer fees.