If you don't have a structured process to hold yourself accountable to, you're going
to miss things that can end up costing you the opportunity and cost you your
quarter. It can cost you your year. You're listening to the Audible Ready
Podcast, the show that helps you and your teams sell more faster. We'll
feature sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create a sales engine that
helps you fuel repeatable revenue growth. Presented by the team at Force Management,
a leader in B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started. Hello,
I'm Rachel klet Miller. Welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. Today we
are taking on commonly made mistakes reps make with medic and how to avoid them.
I'm joined today by Antonella Oday. Hi Antonalala, Hi Rachel. Hello.
So, Antonela just ran a working session on a Sender on this same
topic. Now. A Cender is our subscription platform. Check it out my
center dot co the links in the show notes. You should be there.
Everybody is, So I wanted to bring Antonella on to sort of continue the
conversation because it was a good one in our live session. So Antonella,
let's start first, with just an overarching opener here on medic I'm on LinkedIn
as a lot of us are, and people will often criticize medic. What
do you think when you see that criticism of medic I have to ask why,
Like, why would anyone think that it really makes no sense? And
here's my data to back that up. Think about the most common reasons why
deal slipstall or fail. You have no real allies in the account, no
business paying or compelling events, or their decision criteria favors the competition, there's
no line of sight on how the decision is going to be made. There's
a handful of others. Those are the most common reasons why. We just
consistently backed up the opportunity coaching sessions I'm involved in with clients, so I
can make that connection and it exists today saying issues consistently come up. Each
of those issues that commonly come up tied to one of those components in medic.
So if we know that by strengthening those components, we can reduce the
chances of an opportunity slipping, solving or failing. Explain to me how it's
not relevant. I'll also add this, many customer facing people out there are
working in a really complex sales environment where each interaction needs to be strategic and
well thought out. If you don't have a structured process to hold yourself accountable
to, you're going to miss things that can end up costing you the opportunity
and cost you your quarter, it can cost you your year. So not
leveraging MEDIC can be detrimental to sales outcomes as So we are from the point
of view that MEDIC is relevant and if you don't think it is, you're
probably not using it right. So let's talk about some common traps with MEDIC.
We're going to run through just some common and challenges that Antonelys's reps have
around metic. We're going to talk about what you can do about them.
So the first one is going to be around metrics, and it's not really
getting specific enough with our metrics. Talk about what you mean by that and
what can sellers do. So gathering metrics from our buyers is not always easy.
So we sometimes get data that resembles a metric and we sell the great
a bit too soon. Its like, for example, you could be talking
to a stakeholder who says, well, we want this initiative to drive revenue
for the organization. Okay, that's a start, but if you're really looking
to strengthen the opportunity, it's not enough. We need to ask what those
revenue goals look like, because remember, we want to show proof of where
we've been able to meet those metrics before, and ultimately we need to deliver
on those metrics. So let's say your buyer expects a twenty five percent lift
in revenue. Maybe your best example for your organization is twelve percent. Now
we have an issue. You can drive revenue, you've done it for others,
but the expectation of the buyer is out of the realm of what you
actually can deliver. Now you have twols, you can attempt to establish a
realistic baseline for them to use based on your track record, or you can
make the decision that you can't deliver on those expectations and you step away from
the opportunity. Both outcomes are win. I know we may not look at
it that way when we step away from an opportunity, but you either move
forward or you don't waste time and resources. But if you don't get specifics
early, you can end up waiting a lot of time, only to lose
the opportunity later on. Yeah, I think we've said before lose fast,
right, loose fast. You can ring in other places. So let's move
to economic buyer. We have so much content on an academic buyer, and
I know, I mean, I could do a whole podcast series on economic
buyers. And so there's a lot of challenges you may have with this particular
letter in medic But one I want to talk about is a common trap around
the economic buyer, and it has to do with the budget holder. They're
not always the same person talk through that. That's when I see probably most
often. I'll go as far as saying that the budget folder or project donor
is very rarely the economic buyer. When you think about the economic buyer,
it's true definition. There are people that have power and influence. They can
say no one others say yes, and vice versa. But there are also
people that have access to discretionary funds. So when I hear the word budget,
that's a red flag. Don't convince yourself as a seller, Otherwise you
should see it as a red flag in question. If we as sellers are
not skeptical, this creates a lot of problems for us. First, we
end up not identifying the real economic buyer. We don't know who that person
actually is that has the final say, and that person can come in at
the last minute and say no when you've worked so hard to get everybody else
to say yes, and they can still in and take the money from your
project and move it somewhere else. The second problem it presents is that we
get no line of sight on what's most important to the economic buyer. What
are their metrics, what's their identified pain And if we don't understand what those
are, what you bring to the table may not be compelling enough to move
forward. And then the last challenge it creates is you potentially open the door
to lose the deal to competitor because they are able to identify the economic fire
and if they get face to face with them and they get alignment with them,
they're more likely to win the deal. So in every interaction, ask
who is involved in the decision process, who is the final sign of set
expectations that you will need to meet with the economic buyer. I will tell
stakeholders, this is our process, this is how we work with clients.
I want to meet with the stakeholders. I need to meet with the economic
buyer early and at the end we get what we ask for. If you
don't ask the who and set expectations around meeting with them, you don't get
the information and you don't get the access, and there you go. Great
points in economic buyer are some good things to remember. Next, let's hit
the decision criteria. Talk about this one a lot. We know we need
to influence it right. That's the correution of your deal. How you have
influenced the decision criteria. But reps commonly try to do this too late.
So how do we do this early? My best piece of advice here is
have a strategy and a plan from the very first meeting. You should know
from the very first interaction what are our strongest differentiators, Know which ones give
you the biggest advantage, and once you've identified them, playing questions around those
differentiators to help better understand your buyer's pains, what their goals are, and
relate it to those and what they may need to solve them. Influencing the
decision criteria is nothing more than asking questions associated to that differentiator so that a
buyer can come to their own conclusion and articulate they want or need it.
Right. So my advice to you is not to try to sell your buyer
on the decision criteria. No one wants to be sold. Guide them through
a well thought out series of open ended questions and have them come to their
own conclusion. The last thing I will say is don't stop influencing, keep
asking questions. Try to get as many things that favor you on that formal
list of decision criteria. Make sure you flushing out and validated with multiple stakeholders.
This then creates a really challenging scenario for any competitor. They may be
considering, Yeah, that's great. Okay, So the second D decision process
always becomes important, particularly as we hit end of the year. I've heard
you say that sellers really need to stay close to the decision process. What
do you mean by that and how do they do it? The decision process
is what I consider a moving target, right, and you think about the
current economic climate, it's probably amplifying it even more. Let me provide some
context to what I mean. For some of us, our deals may take
a couple of months to close. Typically for others that can take two years,
and weather it's a couple of months or it's two years. What we
know for certain is that things are going to change the political landscape. People
be companies, people take out their roles, and if that happens, the
dynamics are likely to change in the buying cycle. You have to assume that
what you thought you knew is no longer valt People come in with different points
of view, people come in with different outcomes they want to achieve. You
need to get a handle on that asap. And today's climate also lends itself
to more scrutiny related to the paper process right, which we often talk under
the decision process. So maybe Legal and Finance needs more time to review contracts,
so the process is longer. So when I say stay close to it,
I mean regularly checking in with the stakeholders you're in contact with and validate
what they know. I'm a bit of a stickler for like an ORG chart,
because I need that visual to see what's happening, who's reporting to who,
who's moving on. It's a great tool to come back to to stay
on top of the people that we need to get a yes front. But
on the paper process side, continue to validate the timeline around that you know,
has anything changed, adjust dates, adust time frames, maybe added steps
that come in. You don't want to be in a situation where there could
be a surprise for your customers and being able to meet their target dates.
And you definitely don't want any surprises to your pipeline or your forecast. So
staying close to the people and the process reduces that risk. Oh I love
that. Okay, identified pain, it's a big one. We need big
pain. We know we needed business pain. What is the most common trap
with this letter? It's one of the tough one because there's a lot of
potential traps here, and so I'm going to give you three. I'm going
to keep it brief and concise. The first one is focusing on the wrong
pain. Not all pain is created equal, And what I often see here
is we hang our hat on a technical pain. And that's not to say
that the pain of a technical stakeholder doesn't matter. It matters on its own.
It just doesn't often carry enough weight to move things through the pipeline quickly
or to land those bigger deals. Those technical pains typically are not on the
radar of the economic buyer, so it becomes easy for them to prioritize those
projects or move that money somewhere else. The big business problems can become in
essence, like a security blanket on raw opportunities. The second one is not
understanding that we would cause or the compelling events. If there is not something
that is driving buyers to connect with you, I get concerned that they're just
window shoppers. They're looking, but they're not potentially buying. Today's climate,
very few businesses are spending money on something without a driving orce or a compelling
event. So really understanding what's driving them to engage with you is really important.
And the last one I'll say is not quantifying the pain. Yes,
you connect the pain and a quantifiable way to revenue costs the risk. It
becomes really challenging for the buyer to have real urgency to move forward. Quantifying
the pain really helps the buyer real life like the depth and breadth of the
pain and helps create that urgency. Very awkwardly need from them to find that
solution. Correct great reminders there. So the next one is champions. We
have a ton of content on Champions. I would it's one of the most
popular topics on a center, and I know the common trap is confusing a
champion with a coach. I hear you all talk about that so often.
But another one I wanted to bring that you talked about in the live session
was single threading the champion concept. I thought that was an important one.
Talk about what you mean by that. That whole concept of balls around the
idea of relying on just having one champion within the account. And it's an
interesting one because we know the work it takes to develop just one true champion.
There's a lot that goes behind that. Right, But as I mentioned
earlier when we talked about decision process, that people in the decision process are
moving targets, so having just one champion could really put you at risk.
They could leave the company, they can move into a different position, and
then they're left without any ally in the account. Right. So, another
area we don't often consider, I think is especially true in some of the
more complex deals is the fact that you know, champion may be limited in
their knowledge if the organization's needs are dynamics, so additional champions can help fill
in those gaps as well. The last thing I want to share around champion
is something we may not be thinking about. We can feel really good about
our champion. They may be doing all the right things for us on our
behalf, But what if the competition has multiple champions within the account, They're
going to be in a stronger position to have more allies that are working to
get consensus on their behalf. Now they're in a position to win the deal.
So it's not just for us and our ability to maneuver throughout the account.
We have to take into consideration what's happening on the outside with the competition
and what they're doing, and how they are networking politically within the account as
well. Perfect and so on that topic of competition, that's our second se
let's close with competition. We know we need to understand our competitors, but
sometimes sellers don't really go wide enough with the competition concept. Yeah, part
of us says the strength of a deal is acknowledging and exploring all possibilities,
and if you don't really know what you're up against, your game plan and
strategy is probably going to be very flawed. When I was selling and leading
sales teams, my biggest fear related to the competition was that do nothing or
do it internally scenario. It's the toughest one to overcome because think about how
easy it is to do nothing specifically, but also do something in house.
People lean towards comfort what they know, lack of disruption, no additional costs,
that's health decline. And if you don't understand that this is a potential
obstacle, no matter how good your product or services, you're going to face
some significant resistance. Ignoring it may cause you to ineffectively position your offering.
You may waste time and effort and resources thinking you're moving things forward, only
to find out they're keeping tires so to speak, and plan to do things
themselves. And one of the things I like to ask from understanding their challenges
are how likely are you to do nothing to resolve this problem or how well
equipped are you to tackle this challenge internally and not seeking outside vendor at all?
Because I need to know what I'm up against the determine if I can
win or if I need to step away. Great things to remember, Antonella,
thank you for this conversation today. I mean all this stuff. These
are good things to remember because every deal is different, and you may find
yourself succeeding in one deal and struggling in another and these reminders can be really
important, especially when we're going to try to get those deals across the finish
line at the end of the year. So wrap us up, let's give
us some final takeaways around medic. Medic provides really valuable structured approach to qualify
your opportunities. The biggest piece of advice I'd like to give sellers is skepticism
is your best friend. It's a safeguard against potential traps. You should be
skeptical of not only what you are hearing, but also what you think you
know. Taking that type of approach is going to provide you with a more
objective view of the deal, but also the ability to pivot more effectively when
you have to, and maintain a skeptical view throughout the process is going to
minimize surprises but also equate to confidence in your pipeline and your forecast. That's
it. I love that skepticism is your friend. Thank you so much Atonella.
Thanks Rachel, all right, 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. Our 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 us at forcemanagement dot com.
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