Issufy recently graduated from the Accenture Fintech Lab in London (https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/regtechs-join-accentures-fintech-innovation-lab-london-to-develop-solutions-for-wave-of-regulatory-challenges-in-2018.htm), the world’s biggest B2B fintech accelerator with more than 30 partner banks and insurance firms.
Going through the programme with an esteemed cohort of firms was a fantastic journey. After hundreds of hours of senior level bank meetings, mentoring sessions with people like Cris Conde, the ex President and CEO of Sungard and one of the few people to have gone from start up founder to Fortune 500 CEO, to presenting our proposition across Europe, here are our main takeaways:
- Dealing with banks as a software partner is a marathon, not a sprint. Ensuring that all the relevant aspects of the sales cycle, from business development, to ops/tech due diligence to procurement through to structuring proofs of concept and trials takes time.
- It is critical to have a thoroughly defined strategic sales plan that can enable you to map out who will be your champions / influencers / blockers and decision makers within a firm.
- Try and quantify, as much as possible, the benefits that accrue to the client at each point your software product is to be used. Move from being a simple vendor to being a strategic partner.
- Listen and don’t oversell.
- Try and find all of the critical pain points that matter to your prospect.
- If people don’t like you, they won’t deal with you! Be liked and respected.
- Be perceived as a thought leader in your space.
