WEBVTT

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Always ask how you can assist so
you can make this as easy as possible

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for them to execute. Our you're
listening to the audible Ready Podcast, the

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show that helps you and your teams
sell more faster. We'll feature sales leaders

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sharing their best insights on how to
create a sales engine that helps you fuel

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repeatable revenue growth, presented by the
team Enforce Management, a leader in B

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to B sales effectiveness. Let's get
started. Hello and welcome to the Audible

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Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel Clapp
Miller. Today joining me is Antonella O

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Day, Hi Antonella, Hi Rachel. So today we're going to talk about

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gaining commitments. Gaining commitments throughout the
sales process is an important component to moving

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a deal forward, and we call
them micro commitments, these little agreements you

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need from your buyer in order to
advance the sales process. So today we're

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going to talk about some best practices
for you to get buy in get these

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micro commitments on critical parts of the
deal. So we often talk about them

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when you're trying to book that first
discovery call, right you need somebody to

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say yes and the phone. But
they're also good things to remember good commitments

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to gain as you move through a
company, talk to new decision makers,

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etc. Things you need to get
if you want to move the conversation forward

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with anybody. So let's talk about
the first commitment. That's the one we

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call time. You can't get commitment
on time if you don't earn the right

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to engage the conversation. So Antonella, let's bring you in. How do

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I get the time commitment from the
person I'm talking to? Thanks for having

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me again, Rachel. So this
is a good question, and I think

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it's one that comes up pretty often
when I'm talking to sellers. And there's

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a number of things that can be
done here, but I'm going to focus

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on three that I feel have the
greatest impact. Compelling opening statements, providing

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a genuine purpose us to the caller
the email, and establishing credibility. And

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let me provide some additional context around
those three. Let's start without compelling opening

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statements. I know it's super cliche, but I still find it to be

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very valid. You get one shot
at making a first impression, and if

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that's the case, then what you
have to say better stand out. So

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where I find some people sometimes fall
into a trap here is delivering a boring,

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vanilla cookie cutter statement that your buyer
knows you're using on every quality email.

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And I get it from a seller
perspective, sometimes we feel quantity is

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more important than quality, But I'm
here to say that I don't agree with

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that. I don't think it is
at all. If you want to get

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that time commitment, give your buyers
what they don't expect, a statement that

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shows you did some research on them, on their company, on their role,

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and tie it to something like a
challenge if they may be facing.

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That will be relevant to the person
that you're connecting with, even if you

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don't get it one hundred percent right. In terms of making a statement that

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fully resonates, a buyer will appreciate
the effort, and that means you increase

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your chances of getting time on their
schedule. I was just going to say

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that a lot of the people you're
calling are also selling, so they can

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appreciate the effort that you put in
by personalizing or finding something about them.

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That's such a great point, and
you know a lot of them are trying

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to accomplish the same things, either
within their own companies or externally. So

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think about it from their perspective as
well, what they're seeing, and those

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that are successful, what they're probably
doing as well. The second point I

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wanted to make was around providing a
genuine purpose to the call or the email.

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I don't know about you, Rachel, but have you ever gotten a

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call or an email where you weren't
sure who was calling, why they were

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calling, exactly what they were trying
to get out of the phone call or

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the email they were sending to you? Yes, every day, and I

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roll my eyes every time. Yeah, And for those of us who have

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and still do, like, the
word that comes to mind in those moments

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is annoyed. Annoying that you're speaking
to someone who's not clear about why they're

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calling you and what the intent of
the call is. And as sellers,

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we are trying to create genuine relationships
with our buyers and our clients, right,

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So if you want someone to be
genuine with you, you need to

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be genuine with them from the start. It helps create a really good relationship

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there, and that means being open
and transparent about your purpose, whether it's

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hi, I'm calling, I'm calling
specifically the schedule a meeting, or you

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know, I want a schedule some
time to learn more about you to see

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if there's a match. Be clear
about it. It shows you value your

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time and that you respect their time
as well. The last item I want

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to talk about in terms of being
able to get that time on the calendar

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is establishing credibility. And I know
it's a broad term and you know it's

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used often to capture a lot of
things. But how do we as sellers

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do this? And I've seen a
couple of ways that work really well.

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The first one is really demonstrating your
knowledge of the industry and their company.

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It's really tough to compel someone to
give you time if you don't demonstrate that

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you've put some time in on the
front end to show that you're worth doing

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business way. So do your due
diligence. Understand you know what's going on

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with that company. Tie it to
what you know is going on in the

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industry. It's so helpful in terms
of moving things forward. The second thing

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is sharing success stories of similar companies
that you work with. Buyers don't buy

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into what we very often say we
can deliver just based on words, but

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they will buy into the outcomes others
have achieved. So give them what they're

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looking for there. And the last
piece you may consider sharing is relevant experience

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that you personally have, or specific
experience that your company has, whether it's

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companies you personally work with, thought
leadership within your organization, maybe awards your

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company has won. All that helps
create a compelling reason to spend some time

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with you. Yeah, those are
great. They catch somebody's attention and earn

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you the right right to get some
of their time. Just to get somebody

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to talk to you is a great
commitment to have, And the next commitment

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is for them to also engage and
collaborate in a conversation with you. You

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want to make sure you have their
buy into engage. And you know,

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I've been on the phone where somebody's
like, oh, can we continue this

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conversation? I'm like, well,
okay, I guess, but I'm sure

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there's a more nuanced way to do
that. What tips do you have to

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try and test for this commitment and
how do you earn the right to get

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them to engage further? I would
think the first thing to do is to

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ask good questions, good discovery questions, and pay attention to how they're answering

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the questions. Are they open.
Are they elaborating on their answers or are

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they being very like short with you, not giving you a lot of information.

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Have they given you insight into something
that's challenging and maybe some goals they

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want to achieve or do they not
want to show their true situation? Are

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they asking questions of you throughout the
discovery session. Those types of clues they

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definitely give you a sense of whether
or not they want to engage any further.

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The other thing I use as a
good gauge is asking for feedback.

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So as we talk about them,
as I share some of my success stories,

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as we maybe possibly explore new topics, one of my favorite things to

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ask is what do you think about
that? Or what are your thoughts around

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that? If they're willing to share
their point of view or if they have

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suggestions, that's a really good sign. So I use that as a gauge

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to say, hey, yeah,
I think they want to continue to move

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forward with me here. If those
two are you not giving you clear signals

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for whatever reason, you can ask
for a follow up step, or you

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might say something like typically the next
step is to get you and maybe a

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technical buyer and a business stakeholder to
have a follow up meeting. Do you

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know who would be involved in that
session? If they give you some names

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or titles, that's a good sign. If they say I'm not sure if

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we're there yet, obviously that's not
as good as a sign. And then

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just to address that last question you
had, like how do you earn the

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rights to get them to engage?
I would say one word, really,

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I think encapsulates it best. Listen. It's so underrated yet so powerful.

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I always say. The annal you
need to continuously move the deal forward really

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comes from what your buyers articulate.
Listen to their challenges, Listen to their

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pains, Listen to their initiatives,
listen to their objectives, highlight them as

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you hear things in the conversation,
and explore them further. If you listen

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and help them in better understanding some
of the things that maybe they haven't thought

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about as deeply, you get credit
for that, and that are you the

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right to move forward. Regardless of
how the situation might play out and the

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types of commitments you get to engage
or collaborate. The good news is you'll

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be able to determine if it's something
to move forward with now or not.

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And sometimes the best thing about these
conversations and trying to get people to commit,

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it's coming to the realization that you're
not going to and then spending your

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time to somewhere else. Right.
That is almost as as valuable as getting

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the yes right. If you get
a no quick right, lose early.

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They always say, so, we've
got commitment, a time, commitment to

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engage, collaborate. The other commitment
that we like to talk about is the

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commitment for access. And this is
important in a lot of ways, but

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also for your coach or your champion. Are they willing to help you with

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access to other critical people in the
deal? I would love for you to

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talk a little bit about that.
And then also, how do you test

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for this? Is it just as
simple as saying, hey, can you

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get me a meeting with the technical
buyer or the CFO or what's a more

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nuanced way to manage this and get
that commitment for access? I like this

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question, Rachel, because commitment for
access is one of the most critical parts

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of the sales process because it provides
a line of sight of who will way

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in, but it also gives you
confidence or lack thereof if you have a

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champion, So how do I make
that request for access. I may start

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out not asking for the introduction right
off the bat, but asking for maybe

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a review of an organizational chart and
time to discuss who the stakeholders involved maybe

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and their level of influence. Think
about the value of that. Now you

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have names, you have roles,
and their level of influence. If you

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have a lot to go off of, and it gives you some confidence in

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terms of, you know, maybe
the coach champion that you may be having

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that conversation with in terms of how
strongly they're advocating on your behalf. If

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I can get past that level,
then I might ask for a meeting that

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includes the coach or the champion with
some of the other key stakeholders. And

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the reason why I include them is
I want them to feel how much I

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value them in the process. So
if I'm going to leverage them to continue

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to get me front and center,
it's got to be mutually beneficial. So

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I want to do something that will
help them their exposure and what they're trying

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to get out of assisting me in
the process. I could also ask for

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introductions via email sometimes and that could
help with initiating some conversations. If it's

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not as simple as making a face
to face introduction, I'm great with at

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least starting with a email introduction and
seeing where I can take it from there

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on my own, and then asking
for additional help as we move along.

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And all of those are viable options
whatever route you take. I think it's

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important not to lose sight that coaches
champions. They're essential to most deals.

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So make sure your asks are mutually
beneficial and always ask how you can assist

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so you can make this as easy
as possible for them to execute them.

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Love them. You want to make
it easy for them so they can help

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you, help them help you.
That's a great tip. I think you

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know we often talk about medic I
read a lot of content on medic Antonella.

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I know you talk a lot about
medic and we talk about it helping

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to provide you that X ray,
right, It kind of shows you where

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the gaps in your deal. Those
letters of medic represents components of your deal

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that you need to have in order
to say, hey, I have a

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good deal. But I think this
concept of commitments maybe takes it a step

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back. Maybe earlier in the deal
I think we've given the listeners some additional

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points to think through in those initial
meetings of the commitments that you need in

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order to feel like you've got a
good opening to advance the deal. I

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would love for you to leave us
with some final thoughts. Yeah, when

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you talk about it, I think
it's these early conversations Rachel, and whether

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or not we're able to gain commitments
that allows you to determine if there's even

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a deal to be had a lot
of the time think about it. Have

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you identified pain? Is it big
enough that they want to continue when moving

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forward with you and as your solutions
off for it. Have you gotten commitment

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to providing you access to those in
the decision making process and the people involve

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like an economic buyer who can influence
the final outcome. Have you gained commitment

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to have a discussion around a formal
lize decision pride to you so you can

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tailor your value pack to the things
that are most relevant to your buyers.

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Have you gained commitments from your champion
to advocate on your behalf. If your

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answers to many of these questions is
no, your time has probably better spend

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somewhere else. But if Your answers
to most of these questions is yes,

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you've increased your chances of closing a
deal successfully. That's great. And I

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think sometimes for those of you out
there who are selling deals that are large,

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maybe you're new into a role where
you're selling enterprise deals, you can

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look at that sales process think gosh, this is going to take forever to

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get something close. But wrapping your
head around these smaller commitments can give you

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motivation and some small successes along the
way to move your deal forward. I

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appreciate you joining me today, Antonella, Thanks so for having Rachel all right.

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Thank you to all of you for
listening to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast.

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At Force Management, we're focused on
transforming sales organizations into elite teams.

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Are proven methodologies, deliver programs that
build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth.

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Give your teams the ability to execute
the growth strategy at the point of

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sale. Our strength is our experience. The proof is in our results.

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Let's get started. Visit us at
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