WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.319 I asked the question salespeople all the time, and the answer I get is, 2 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:05.480 well, you should always be able to wing a champion, and that's 3 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:12.560 correct. Developing of champions never ends. You're listening to the Audible Ready Podcast, 4 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:17.160 the show that helps you and your teams sell more faster. We'll feature 5 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:20.839 sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create a sales engine that helps 6 00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:25.359 you fuel repeatable revenue growth. Presented by the team at Force Management, a 7 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:31.280 leader in B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started. Hello and welcome 8 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:36.119 to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel clap Miller, joined today by 9 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:40.240 our own Patrick McLaughlin Patty Mac. How are you doing pretty good? Rachel? 10 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:43.960 How are you good? I'm excited for you to join me today for 11 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:48.439 this conversation. For those of you listening and you haven't heard, we have 12 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:53.439 an online subscription platform called a Sender. A Sender by Force Management. It 13 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:58.840 is available for anybody to subscribe to and we provide daily content. There's a 14 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:02.759 community there where you can and ask questions and people like Patty Mac jump on 15 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:07.359 and answer your deal questions or your sales execution questions. And we also have 16 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.560 a curriculum On there, you can get medic certified. We also have a 17 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:17.640 Pipeline Generation certification and we also host live events for our subscribers. One of 18 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:22.439 our recent events was focused on champions. It's such a big topic and I 19 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:25.799 know one that a lot of people have questions on. Patty Mac was gracious 20 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:30.519 enough to host and take everybody's questions and kind of go through best practices as 21 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.000 it relates to champions and medic qualification. As you can imagine, a lot 22 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:42.319 of questions came up about champions, So I pulled out the top questions and 23 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.159 Patty Max is going to go through how to deal with them the answers to 24 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:49.680 them in this podcast today. So we're gonna get ready to go. You 25 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.159 ready, Patty Mat, I'll ready, Rachel. All right, First, 26 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:57.000 Patty, define what a champion is just so we can level set for everybody 27 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:00.760 listening right now. Okay, three things, Power and influence. Number one, 28 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:04.519 they have to have power on and influence in the organization. So a 29 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.400 great question to ask yourself is can they connect to how to and the why 30 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:12.240 do in a sales cycle. Second thing is they need to be able to 31 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:16.120 sell on your behalf right because they'll be communicating with other people and they need 32 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.759 to know the value of your solution in their language and they can communicate that 33 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:23.080 internally. And then the last thing, they have a vested interest in your 34 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:28.879 success. What that also means is there's something in it for them promotion, 35 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:32.840 recognition, more responsibility inside of the organization. But they truly have to have 36 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:38.039 a best interest in your own personal success as a salesperson. So those three 37 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:40.800 things. Anything short of those three things, Joe a coach. There we 38 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:45.439 go, all right, So everybody's level set on the definition, and you 39 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:52.599 can understand why having a champion is such a critical component to your being able 40 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:55.520 to move a successful deal forward. So let's start with one of the most 41 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:00.800 common questions that we got in our live session. When is the best time 42 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:07.159 to build a champion? And are you able to build a champion outside a 43 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:10.759 sales cycle? Great question, So I asked the question of salespeople all the 44 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:14.159 time, and the answer I get is, well, you should always be 45 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:17.639 building a champion, and that's correct. Developing of champions never ends. But 46 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:21.919 to me, the critical time to build a champions when you're not in an 47 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:25.120 active sales cycle. Okay, that's a big one for me, I'm not 48 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:30.039 in an active sales cycle. What is my communication process? What is my 49 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:34.800 interval of communication? Am I dropping by and understanding what he or she is 50 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:38.159 doing in their field? What's important to them? Am I educating them? 51 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:43.840 Am I introducing them to people of similar roles and other companies? And then 52 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:46.560 the big one for me is do I know how they're paid? Like? 53 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:50.759 How are they valued? How are they measured? Right as a salesperson, 54 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:54.520 I was measured by my ability to meet my plan right, achieve my quota 55 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:59.639 for the year. How are your champions measured? What defines a good year 56 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:03.680 performance for them? And do I provide them the knowledge and the insight to 57 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:08.319 achieve those results? That's a big thing for me. So when you talk 58 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:12.159 about building a champion outside of a sales cycle, just to clarify, you're 59 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:16.360 really talking about nurturing that relationship. And I'm guessing you're saying outside a sales 60 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:20.759 cycle because you don't have an ulterior motive. Correct. For me, a 61 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:25.600 sales cycle is when you're sitting now and with a customer and understanding of the 62 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:29.839 business pain or a business outcome they're trying to achieve, and educating them on 63 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:32.639 what's required to get there. So you're an active sales cycle, there's discovery 64 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:38.560 and communication and questioning. It's going on when you're not an an active sales 65 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:40.839 cycle. It's when you pick up the phone and say to the customer, 66 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:44.199 Hey, Rachel, how's your day gone. What are some big things that 67 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:47.839 you're being impacted by today? Rachel? Let me send you some documents that 68 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:51.360 I saw were interesting in your industry. They might not have anything to do 69 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:56.199 with my solution, right, but I see things that you may be interested 70 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:02.160 in. I'm introducing you to other people in other companies that have similar responsibilities, 71 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:06.079 so you understand their point of view. I see myself as an extension 72 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:11.319 of the champions organization chart. How do I enable them to do their job 73 00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:15.160 really well? I may even send them stuff that doesn't even pertain to my 74 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:21.560 solution, only because I know it's important to them in their job exactly building 75 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:29.120 champions outside the sales cycle. Where can I look for champions? Good question, 76 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:31.879 So I think about a power of influence. Power and influence is really 77 00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:35.480 important. So there was a couple of things that I've heard is if there's 78 00:05:35.639 --> 00:05:40.800 change, there's a champion. If there's change in an organization, there's a 79 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:45.000 champion. So if a new C level has been put into a position, 80 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:47.600 if a new executive team has come up. You know. One of the 81 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:50.759 things another one of my teammates says all the time is there's three types of 82 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:55.800 people in the accounts. People who want change and will lead it, people 83 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:59.040 who want change and don't want to do the work, and the people ask 84 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:05.959 themselves. Just happened. So I'm looking for people who can evangelize an opportunity, 85 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:13.240 can take a challenge on someone that's willing to put theirselves out there. 86 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:17.920 So I'm looking a lot of times for people who are geople can gain information, 87 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:23.399 right, gain information to understand how they convetit their organization. Like for 88 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:27.560 me, champions know three things. They know the impact of the company, 89 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:30.560 they know the impact of the department, and they know the impact of their 90 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.120 own personal goals. So those are the types of people I'm looking for. 91 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:40.079 They usually speak in the plural. They speak about organizational impact versus talk about 92 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:44.160 me myself and I yeah, that's what we want. Okay, So that's 93 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:48.680 good. Some good tips there. You mentioned at the top coaches versus champions, 94 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:54.519 And I've written a lot of content around coaches versus champions, but in 95 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:59.319 reality, a coach can eventually become a champion. So what are your best 96 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:03.639 tips? If I have a coach, how can I nurture that relationship to 97 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:09.319 move that person to a champion? Okay, so here's what I tried to 98 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:13.879 do. I tried to create an emotional connection with my customer to take credit 99 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:16.759 for the value of my solution, and I worked really hard to teach them 100 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:24.360 the language the economic buyer understands. Right, So I taught my customers and 101 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:27.000 I won't say if they're coach as a championship, will just use the word 102 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:30.199 customer. I created an emotional connection for them to take credit for the solution 103 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:36.720 so they could be celebrated and thanked inside of the organization. And then I 104 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:42.879 worked really hard to teach them how that solution delivered results in language the economic 105 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:46.079 buyer understood. So then if I was trying to move or understand could potential 106 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:50.519 coach become a champion? Would they then take that message and get a meeting 107 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:54.720 with the economic buyer? Right, So, if they had the power and 108 00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:58.639 influence to get to the economic buyer, that was good. The second thing 109 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:03.800 is they could understand the why do behind the solution. Most technical buyers or 110 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:09.879 power users right sometimes we hear this word power user in today's business sales. 111 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:13.480 Right, those people they know the how to the technical solution, but can 112 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:18.120 they communicate in the why do and the why do? Or the business outcomes 113 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:22.639 usually focused around revenue, cost and risks. And then the third thing is 114 00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:24.720 they know that I'm there to help them, right, so they have a 115 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:31.040 vested interest in my success. So that's the key thing for me is moving 116 00:08:31.079 --> 00:08:35.000 a coach to a champion And then if they falter and they can't get access 117 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.679 to the v well, they don't have the power in the influence. If 118 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:41.639 they can't communicate the why do, right, that's also a big issue for 119 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:46.000 me. And then I need to know what's in do they realize that they 120 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:50.440 can get a promotion or recognition and what value that has for their careers? 121 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:52.480 So that's like a big thing to me because then I'm trying to look at 122 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:54.960 that type of person. Like one of the things that came up on that 123 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:01.639 podcast we did on Champions in medic was the idea of power users in skeptics, 124 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:05.039 right, Like power users scared me sometimes scares me as a manager. 125 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:07.440 These are people who want to talk to you, but you know what they're 126 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:11.320 doing. They're trying to drain you of all your information so they can power 127 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:16.720 themselves inside the organization and they don't have the power and influence and sometimes their 128 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:20.799 peers look at them like, WHOA, this person's moving a little bit too 129 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.320 fast. So one of the things that came up during that podcast was the 130 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.480 idea of a skeptic, and skeptics to me were really good. You know 131 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:30.639 why, they weren't going to make a mistake in front of the economic buyer. 132 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:33.679 They knew they only had one shot in front of the EB to get 133 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.279 their message across. So they challenged me on sales calls, they challenged me 134 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:41.639 on my ability to deliver the business outcomes, and they benchmark me off the 135 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:45.919 competition because they weren't going to make a mistake in front of the EB. 136 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:50.000 So that was also that was something like we came up on that last podcast 137 00:09:50.039 --> 00:09:56.399 that we did. You mentioned emotionally connecting the person to the outcomes, talked 138 00:09:56.399 --> 00:10:01.519 about they have something to gain in their career year by going with your solution. 139 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:05.559 I'm sure those are two, but what tips you have to create those 140 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:11.519 meaningful connections with the champion for me. It was treat selling not as an 141 00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:16.919 act but as a verb. I need to service my customer, Okay, 142 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:22.320 And when I say service my customer, I needed to become an extension of 143 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.879 their organization chart. I needed to know what their individual priorities were, departmental 144 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:33.279 priorities, and how those tied to the company priorities. And I tried to 145 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:39.919 help my customer get those achieve those results, even if it did not involve 146 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:45.519 me potentially selling my solution to them, because I knew and when it came 147 00:10:45.559 --> 00:10:48.679 time to buy my solution that they would champion the results for me. So 148 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:52.600 that was a big thing. So I just felt like I was an extension 149 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:58.159 of their organization chart and I was their employee, and even if I did 150 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.720 or did not sell something to them, I was going to do whatever I 151 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:07.919 possibly could to help them achieve their goals. So what did that look like? 152 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:11.279 A variety of different things. I'll give you an example. One Friday 153 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:13.919 night, I had a customer calling me up and saying we're going to miss 154 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.200 a delivery of a product and the new store was opening on Saturday night, 155 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.759 and what could we do? Well, it was nothing I could do. 156 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:24.120 We were closed. My company was closed. It was after five o'clock and 157 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:26.559 I said, oh, but you know what, I had a desktop printer 158 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:30.320 in my house and I'm like, I'll drive it. And she's like you'll 159 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:33.519 drive it five hours And I'm like yeah, and she's like, you're gonna 160 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:35.840 get a hotel. I'm like probably. So I drove five hours through the 161 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:39.679 night. The person was still at the store. I delivered the machine so 162 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:43.879 they had something the next day. Like that enabled her business. Right there 163 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:48.480 was a big store opening for a telecommunications company. They were selling wireless devices 164 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:52.080 and I needed to be there. So, like, I knew that was 165 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:54.080 critical to her, and so I was going to do everything in my power 166 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:58.240 to achieve it if it meant me driving five hours on Friday night. Yeah, 167 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:05.399 it's just having that mindset that creates that meaningful connection. Getting back to 168 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:09.679 this question is a little bit more tactical, but we talk a lot about 169 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:13.559 the importance of not being single threaded in your deals, being multi threaded, 170 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:18.240 doing the work to build the collective yes throughout your sales process, and your 171 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:24.919 champions can be a critical part to your being able to do that. So 172 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:30.120 how do I use my champion as I have other meetings within the account. 173 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:35.200 How do I best use that relationship to benefit the my sales process? Great 174 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:41.840 question, So a couple of things. One no large deal or megadeal, 175 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:45.240 and the megadeal could be for anyone that's going to listen to this podcast. 176 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.679 Whatever a megadeal is for your industry, your solution. But pleased to know 177 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:54.919 this, no megadeal is ever one without you having a person on the customer 178 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:58.039 side of the equation that wants you to win as much as you do. 179 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:03.600 That's critical and those are chaps. So if you want to close big deals, 180 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:07.320 it's getting to as many people as possible. So I think to close 181 00:13:07.399 --> 00:13:11.399 large deals you have to do two things really well. Breath and depth. 182 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:16.799 The breadth of the conversation needs to expand to more stakeholders. The more people 183 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:22.639 that you can get at the table, deal sizes can usually increase. And 184 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:28.879 then once you've expanded to multiple stakeholders. Depth, right, how much does 185 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:31.440 it impact this person, how much does it impact this department? How much 186 00:13:31.480 --> 00:13:37.720 does it impact these different groups of people? To going back to the definition 187 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:41.000 of a champion. They have power and influence, right, so they can 188 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:48.000 give you access, they can introduce you to those departments. They can attach 189 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:52.639 the why do to the how too, and they can understand the impact of 190 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:58.200 both themselves, their department or organization, and the company itself. So that's 191 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:01.960 what I was always looking to. You know, most people. I always 192 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:05.200 set to salespeople all the time, like if you're if you're single threaded and 193 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:09.159 that person leaves, are you starting over? Yes? Right, So you 194 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:11.639 want to be multi threaded so you can just in case someone does leave, 195 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.480 you have other contexts, But the main reason why you want to be multi 196 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:20.879 threaded is you want to close large deals. And the only quite to close 197 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.279 large deals is to increase the breadth of the conversations you're having and the depth 198 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.799 of those conversations, and that's when you get big business. This is such 199 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:31.919 a meaty topic. I feel like we could do a ten part series, 200 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.720 but We've covered several questions and topics today, so I'm going to start to 201 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:41.440 wrap it up. So as we close, Patty Mac give us like the 202 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:45.840 one takeaway you want salespeople to remember from our conversation today as it relates to 203 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:50.919 champions. Champions can attach how to to the why do, and it's best 204 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:58.200 that you provide them with knowledge and insights of proof because ninety nine percent of 205 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:03.399 the time they're community the value of your solution when you are not with them 206 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:07.840 as a salesperson. So what I would say today is constantly be developing them, 207 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:13.600 constantly be building them right, don't let them fight the fight on their 208 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:18.639 own, and then always be giving them the most up to date knowledge, 209 00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:20.600 the most insights, and the most proof. And you can do that by 210 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:26.440 introducing them to other customers of yours, because that then validates your solution from 211 00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:30.519 a third party proofpoint. And there we go. Thank you very much, 212 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.000 Patty Mac. That was fun. Yes, thank you, and thank you 213 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:37.840 to all of you for continuing to listen to the Audible Ready Sales podcast. 214 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:41.440 I've linked up a bunch of resources on champions, go ahead and check them 215 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:45.320 out in the show notes. Thank you. At Force Management, we're focused 216 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:50.440 on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. Are proven methodologies, deliver programs that 217 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:56.000 build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the ability to 218 00:15:56.039 --> 00:16:00.960 execute the growth strategy at the point of sale. Our strength is our experience, 219 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:06.120 the proof is in our results. Let's get started. Visit us at 220 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:11.039 force management dot com. You've been listening to the Audible Ready podcast. To 221 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:14.960 not miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. 222 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:15.000 Until next time.