In order to be an extraordinary seller. Number one, you have to have
confidence in yourself, but number two, you have to be willing to take
those risks knowing that the payoff is going to be bigger. You're listening to
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Hello and welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel Klappmiller. Today
we are going to talk about expanding your opportunity, using your conversations to expand
the opportunity. We know that going wide and deep in an organization increases the
size of your deals because you're able to expand the problem and then the value
of your solutions. There's a lot of ways that you can do that.
One is looking at implementation. One is just getting higher in the organization.
So that's what we're going to talk about today with Antonella. Oh Day,
Hi Antonella, Hi, Rachel, great to see you, Yes, thank
you for joining me for this conversation. So let's level set at the start
with talking about our mindset, the challenges around our mindset that may hinder us
really when we're trying to build that larger deal. Such a great starting point,
Rachel, because your mindset can really dictate where a lot of this goes.
So when I think about mindset and relation to getting those bigger deals,
I believe there's four big blockers that really can stand in the way of getting
those bigger deals. The challenge is not that we're not getting those deals done,
because we are, but what we're not realizing is that these big four
prevent us from maximizing the size of those opportunities. And when I think about
those big four and boil them down to get patients, lack of adoptability for
planning, and lack of content, let me break those downs so our audience
can determine if any of these are standing in their way, So that very
first one in patience. It seems like it's almost instinctual for US sellers to
want to close deals asap dep signature, but when it's all about speed to
signature, this creates some limitations. What do I mean bigger deals often require
what more Stakeholders who have more pay more in different metrics, more in different
requirements, And in order to connect these individuals and gather this information it takes
time. So in the process of speeding through the buying cycle, we find
that we're missing these key opportunities to involve people who can help us make a
stronger case for a bigger opportunity. My greatest advice is to slow down in
order to speed up at the back end and have some urgency and land those
bigger deals. The second blocker I find is lack of adaptability. Sometimes we're
so focused on our own agenda that we lose sight of the importance of adaptability
in every single customer interaction. What do I mean by that? We're so
focused on what we're trying to accomplish that we make assumptions, we don't ask
the right questions, we don't understand the long term goals and outcomes the customer
striving for. We don't tire ourselves to how to achieve those long term goals
and outcomes because we're focused on the strategy we want to execute it on,
and in the process of doing that, we fail to understand the customer's agenda.
We don't listen, we don't help the customer articulate what they're thinking and
feeling. And to land those bigger deals, it needs to be the customer's
agenda, not ours. And it's our inability to pivot that really prevents us
from getting the customer to articulate what it is they're looking for. The third
one the pre planning for this well, like, if you're planning is not
really well thought out, if you're not thinking through the potential stakeholders that can
be impacted by your product or service. If you're not thinking through how you
could potentially get an edge over the competition by expanding your requirements, to think
about the things beyond the norm. If you're not thinking through how you're going
to execute on your plan, chances are you're going to cop short. So
big deals require big plans. And the last one, and I think it's
a pretty important one, is lack of confidence, specifically in thinking beyond getting
to the signature. It can be really scary as a seller to stay in
an opportunity longer in order to land the bigger deal, and sometimes our tendency
is to lean into the path of least resistance, and this may present itself
as let me just lay on the deal and I'll worry about expanding later.
And in order to be an extraordinary seller, number one, you have to
have confidence in yourself. But number two, you have to be willing to
take those risks knowing that the payoff is going to be bigger. So if
you need to pursue a deal for a longer period of time because you know
what, you can get to the C level, or if you can involve
the implementation team and the decision making process, you can create a compelling business
case rad requirements that will provide your organization with an edge and expand the opportunity.
You have to be confident that the additional time is worth it, and
you have to be willing to take the risk of wes. I love that
idea of being confident to be patient too, right like I'll want to merge
the two. You have to be confident to be patient that the value will
come on the other end. You mentioned in your planning Antonella, the stakeholders
and all the stakeholders that are going to be impacted the larger year deal gets.
And so one of the ways to think through the conversation is through that
planning that you're talking about, and to really assess all the people who are
going to be impacted. And I know sometimes with our first management clients we
use a concept called decision points to help us think through that. Can you
walk through that? Yeah? Sure? So the first decision point is something
that I talked about a little bit, which is getting to the sign deal,
talking to the people that we get access to, understanding what their problems
are, understanding what the outcomes are trying to achieve, and getting them to
ultimately sign with us versus another vendor. And that's all good and well,
but something to think about here is how we really explore all the important key
stakeholders that could and should be weighing in on the decision making process and have
I captured all of their pains and outcomes, Because very often what I'll see,
because the goal is to get the signature, maybe we only have conversations
with those at the project level. They have a budget, they're given us
access to them, and maybe we don't think about how this could potentially impact
the organization as a whole, and getting access to those that are more focused
on the business versus the project or understanding will be involved once the deal is
signed, and what do they need in order to achieve those successful outcomes?
Both of these scenarios can create huge opportunities, so inever a deal, think
about that only how your product or service can impact those that own the project,
but how can are also pack the business and those who will be responsible
in the implementation? Who are those people? How can I get in front
of them? The second decision point, and I think it very often goes
unaddressed altogether, are the people that make sure that the outcomes are achieved?
And very often this falls on an implementation type of team, but it could
include other teams as well. Do we know who those people are who will
be responsible have ownership of that implementation? Do we know what's important to them?
Do we understand requirements they may need in order to execute successfully? If
your answered to any of those questions is no, you're leaving muddy on the
table. So those are some really great points to think through the decisions that
a customer is making, as are relates to our broadening our deal. And
we always say that there is as much differentiation and how you sell as there
is in what you sell, and this is where that how what we're talking
about today can really be a differentiator for you as a salesperson. Yeah,
I'm a big believer in that phrase to differentiating yourself and how you sell an
addition to what they sell. But how do we differentiate yourself on how you
sell in the context of what we're talking about? And I want to go
back to one of those big blockers I mentioned at the beginning is specifically the
poor planning piece. Sometimes we get caught up in our opportunities and we go
where the customer takes us versus guiding the customer to take us where we should
be going. For example, if I know my goal is to go beyond
that common approach which is just getting the deal sign and I want to be
super focused on getting my customer to their successful outcomes, I should have a
plan as it relates to who should I be engaging with within the organization.
I did have a plan if that entails talking to those on the implementation team
or talking to those on the C level, because at both of those ends
of the spectrum, they care about achieving successful outcomes, so I need to
understand it from both their points of view. If that's part of every strategy,
I include that as part of my expectations with my customers, and now
I have a higher likelihood of those introductions. Now I understand an even broader
scope of what the customers trying to achieve. I'm building more relationships, I'm
getting more people around like plots and services. I'm opening their aperture to think
even beyond the norm. And suddenly suddenly I'm differentiating myself on how myself just
by the way I engage deeper and wider within the organization. And the beauty
of this type of differentiation for the seller is that very often it's the way
that you can beat your competition because you're adding value and your competitor probably isn't,
and you're focused on the long term outcome, which is very much so
by or focused. The more people you talk to, right, the more
discovery you can do, which helps you craft a better deal, which is
helping you set you up for greater success. Absolutely, So you know there's
some other you know, I think big takeaways in terms of how it also
sets us up for success, Like you know you just mentioned, it expands
that circle of connection within the opportunity it me and you're not only hopefully connecting
with economic buyers, technical buyers, influencers, implementation teams. But if you
can gather those people and align them, you're one step closer to that kalentthed
Yes. In the process of expanding that circle, it's going to allow you
to identifying more champions and coaches throughout the organization. And this is one of
those areas I consistently here as a struggle. So if you struggle in terms
of developing additional champions and coaches, expand that circle and finding those champions and
coaches will happen organically. We all know the value of having a champion,
think about the long term value of having multiple champions. Understanding the outcomes from
a different perspective also creates urgency, and you mentioned that right. Getting more
people agreeing that you can help them not only to solve their problems but also
achieve long term outcomes is very often the quickest way to get from getting people
from I'm not that sure to that signature and getting that bigger deal side and
then finally, more conversations with more stakeholders very often leads to more requirements,
and those requirements that are specific that maybe not be the norm like those technical
requirements more specific to the business or maybe specific to the partner. Those kinds
of things can really help increase your chances in solidifying the deal in your favor.
So you want to expand that when it favors you as much as possible.
That's good. Okay. So as we kind of move towards the end
of our conversation, let's provide a little bit of the how. As a
rat, what are the some of the things that I need to consider when
I tackle expanding the value in differentiation? What are my key takeaways here?
I'd say number one, consider the who. Identify who you want to connect
with and why do you want to connect with them. Make a list of
those impacted by purchasing your product or service from the sea level all the way
to implementation, and revisit the lists often add names, subtract them as you
have conversations that ballogate who you should be talking to who you shouldn't be talking
to, so that you're targeting those that may have the greatest impact on things
moving forward. Explore those positive business outcomes for all stakeholders. If the goal
is to help your stakeholders achieve their positive business outcomes, you need to start
with what they are and then determine how to get them there. And then
the last one is those required capabilities. We'll probably look at this through the
technical lens of the features and functions that are required, but if we're broadening
the decision maker pool implementation may care about some of the same technical requirements you
may have uncovered, but maybe you're looking for something like documentation or support related
to troubleshooting, and the technical team may not consider that. On the other
end, the economic buyer might be looking for efficiencies in their requirements. So
think about these and relations your differentiators lay traps to have greater influence on the
wirements at all levels, so you're always in a strong position when evaluation comes
into play. That's great you mentioned patients. Right as we are eager to
get a deal and to get it closed, the hustle to seal the deal,
we also want to hold ourselves accountable into really providing great value for our
customer, but then a great outcomes for us too to increase that deal size
and that text that takes that confidence and really considering all these things that you've
talked about today and Tonella, thanks so much for ch'all, and I'll just
leave it with one final thought around this whole entire topic. Like prioritizing customer
outcomes over closing deals, it really creates a customer first buying cycle. It
builds trusts, it fosters great relationships, It leads to additional allies, It
leads to additional champions and coaches. And then it results in you differentiating yourself
and how you sell as well as what you sell. You add these all
up together and the result are those larger, more successful deals because clients see
value and partnering with someone that puts them first. I love that. Thank
you, Antonella, Thanks so much, Rachel, and thank you to all
of you for listening to the Audible Ready Sales podcast. At Force Management,
we're focused on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. Are proven methodologies, deliver
programs that build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the
ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale. Our strength is
our experience. The proof is in our results. Let's get started. Visit
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