WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.240 --> 00:00:05.000 The fact of the matters you've got to attach at a time like this to 2 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:14.439 business, either pain or outcomes. You're listening to the audible Ready Podcast, 3 00:00:14.679 --> 00:00:19.320 the show that helps you and your teams sell more faster. We'll feature sales 4 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:22.800 leaders sharing their best insights on how to create a sales engine that helps you 5 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:27.679 fuel repeatable revenue growth. Presented by the team at Force Management, a leader 6 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:33.479 in B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started. Hello, Welcome to 7 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:38.560 the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel klatt Miller. Today we are going 8 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:44.479 to be talking about selling in a new category. Our own Brian Wallace joins 9 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.560 me for the conversation. Hi Brian, Hi Rachel, how are you. 10 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:52.560 I'm good. I'm good. I'm excited about this topic today because it is 11 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:56.880 one that is coming up a lot, particularly with our Assender subscribers. As 12 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:02.359 senders are online subscription platform with content, curriculum and community. If you haven't 13 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:06.560 checked it out, you should. But they're coming from people who are selling 14 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:11.439 new technologies in a new category, a lot of this AI tech, right, 15 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:14.719 Yeah, everyone's like, wow, this is really cool, but they're 16 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:19.799 having trouble aligning to paying. If you're listening. You might be selling AI, 17 00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:23.640 you might be selling in a different type of new category, and doing 18 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:26.959 that you meet kind of a new set of challenges that you might not have 19 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.719 if you're selling kind of a more established solution. So, Brian, i'd 20 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.040 love to get your opening thoughts about this topic, and then I'd love for 21 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:38.920 you to kind of walk through what those challenges are that salespeople that sell into 22 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:46.599 a new category aren't faced with Yeah, big topic and it's I'm glad we're 23 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:49.799 trying to at least get some light on it, right, can't tackle something 24 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.560 like this all in one podcast, but ten minutes ten minute limit, Brian, 25 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:56.480 Yeah, let's kick the can on this a little bit. So first 26 00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:59.920 and foremost, I think the challenges are probably pretty obvious, Right, it's 27 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.560 the well what is this? What does it do? Why would I need 28 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:06.400 it? Challenge? I think that's the first thing. So there's the whole 29 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:09.599 it's not just name or brand recognition for who your company is, but it's 30 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:15.439 name or brand recognition for the thing that you have and or the problem you're 31 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:17.759 trying to solve, or the outcomes that it can create. So there's this 32 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:23.120 whole educational challenge that goes with something like this, Right, it's not like, 33 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:29.560 well, cybersecurity ten years ago versus cybersecurity today, Like you say cybersecurity 34 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:32.479 day, everybody knows exactly what you mean you say ten years ago. What 35 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:37.800 So I think that's the first big challenge. And I think of that because 36 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:39.919 one of the best sales managers I ever worked with, he was one of 37 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:45.240 my counterparts. Whenever he put someone new into a sales territory, the first 38 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:47.280 thing he would say to them is, now, remember the best salespeople are 39 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:52.680 great marketers first, because as a seller, one of the things you have 40 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:55.479 to do is you have to create awareness before you're ever going to get consideration. 41 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:59.400 Classic marketing one oh one, Right, Why would anybody ever consider you 42 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:00.400 if they don't know who you are, what you do, or why you're 43 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:06.599 relevant. So Brandon did a great job of helping his salespeople think about creating 44 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:09.120 awareness in their marketplace. And I think that's where you have to start here. 45 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:14.080 And look, here's the other thing, Rachel. Nobody's creating something like 46 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:19.960 AI unless it does something better, solves a problem, creates an outcome. 47 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:24.240 So I get that you might be struggling attaching to the pain. But my 48 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:29.120 bet is there's pain out there that your thing, your product, your service 49 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:32.319 is going to solve for, and there's certainly an outcome. Otherwise, why 50 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:38.159 would anybody ever back it financially with venture capital money or anything else like that. 51 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.159 Right, So there's something that you can definitely hold on to, and 52 00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:45.479 I think to give people some something to hold on to themselves, that's the 53 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:49.319 good news here. There's no reason you'd have something to sell if it wasn't 54 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:53.919 of value. Yeah, it really good points, Brian, and I think 55 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:57.680 some of us are a custom maybe selling for a company that's not known, 56 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:00.479 but a solution that the customer understands, right. Yeah, this is a 57 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:06.759 different animal, and as with all great selling, you have to think about 58 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:13.560 and prep for and think through how you're going to manage those conversations with your 59 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:20.560 customers because your old tricks techniques might not be the best fit for this situation. 60 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:24.079 I got to jump in on this because you make me think of something, 61 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:28.079 which is there's a perspective that you're going to have to look at your 62 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:30.560 territory, your accounts, whatever you want to call them through. Someone who's 63 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:34.120 working in an established marketplace doesn't have to, and that is the concept of 64 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:39.959 early adopters versus followers and languards. And I think one of the things you 65 00:04:39.959 --> 00:04:43.519 have to think about is how can we target How can I as a seller, 66 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:47.720 how can my company as an organization target early adopters, whether by vertical 67 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:50.879 or by all the way down to the account level or the persona level. 68 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:55.480 Because ten years ago, I just go to cybersecurity again, there are a 69 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:58.399 lot of people out there who could just kind of put up all kinds of 70 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:01.439 walls and barriers. I'm good. I'm good because they were more of a 71 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:05.839 follower or a laggard. There ain't any of those left. Followers and laggers 72 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:11.000 in the cybersecurity space are no longer buying. They're like they're unemployed. Right, 73 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:15.160 everybody has to buy cybersecurity now. So one of the key things for 74 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:17.000 you and your company to think about, which is how do we figure out 75 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:20.680 who the potential early adopters are and go spend as much time there because that's 76 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:24.959 where you're going to make bank early on. Yeah, that's a great way 77 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.079 to approach it. And you know, it's really thinking about your ideal customer 78 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:31.720 profile as it relates to that early adopter, right, because it's like one 79 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:36.600 thing to say Oh, our ideal customer profile is healthcare or finance or whatever. 80 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:41.240 But then inside of there there's going to be a subset who were and 81 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:43.680 it ain't a third, a third and a third. Right, your early 82 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:46.759 adopters are, if you're lucky, you're ten to fifteen percent of the target 83 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.480 account market. So just the thought, great first step as you look at 84 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:55.879 as you look at your accounts and assess where you might be struggling, and 85 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:00.240 why let's jump a little bit, Brian into like the actual convoys that I'm 86 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:05.240 maneuvering in these accounts. Yeah, we talked about pain. If the customer 87 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:11.680 doesn't understand how this new solution would solve pain, or they don't really feel 88 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:15.399 the pain because they have a solution now, right, the successful path, 89 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.319 as you mentioned, might be to sell on the outcomes that you can drive. 90 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:23.240 Yeah, walk us through kind of that mindset and how that would work. 91 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:27.639 Yeah. So look, I'm a big believer that you give me pain 92 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:30.439 that I can attach to or outcomes that I can help drive that are valuable 93 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.519 for a customer. I'm good. I mean I'd love to have both. 94 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:38.879 As long as I got one, I'm good. I can go attached to 95 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:43.879 that and I can help pain a vision around what does it mean to solve 96 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:46.879 for this pain? What does it mean to not effectively solve for this pain 97 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:49.519 not just for you personally, but for the rest of your organization, for 98 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:54.519 your customers, for the business, etc. I can do the same thing 99 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:59.079 if I understand the types of business outcomes that we can drive. But look, 100 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:02.920 we talk about technical versus business pain and technical versus business outcomes all the 101 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:10.199 time. This may be when it's even more important because nobody's going to buy 102 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:14.560 your new thing just because it's cool yep, unless they see it as a 103 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.720 potential science experiment. And if that's the case, it's not going to be 104 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.800 a big deal. You might end up with something further down the road. 105 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:26.160 But the fact of the matter is you've got to attach at a time like 106 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:30.480 this to business, either pain or outcomes. It's okay if you don't, 107 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:34.120 if you don't know the pain. If I can paint a vision of the 108 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:43.079 future that is better than today, where this AI solution is helping organizations onboard 109 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:47.360 x number of percentage higher customers over six months than they were before, it's 110 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:54.199 driving x percentage of increase in revenue, or it's lowering card abandon rate on 111 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:58.120 websites. You know, those are outcomes. Now, here's the interesting thing 112 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:01.199 about outcomes. If I can and show you a potential outcome, I can 113 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:05.199 then back to train up and show you the pain associate without getting there. 114 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:07.680 Yeah, So that's the funny thing about it. In the end, if 115 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.680 there's a business outcome to be had, you can then attach it back to 116 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:16.920 potential business pain if not dealt with effectively. Right, that's great. So 117 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.839 maybe in your prep or as you're considering how your conversations have gone to this 118 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:28.519 part to this time, one way to shift might be to shift the conversation 119 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.039 towards the outcome first. Yeah, then work it back into the pain. 120 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:35.840 And you mentioned at the top, Brian, You're like, there is pain. 121 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.080 There's pain associated with your solution. Here's the thing when we say outcomes, 122 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.559 I think we should just state for the record, Rachel, we're not 123 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:46.039 talking some cool thing. You know. I see all this stuff about AI. 124 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:50.279 You know, you can create your own illustrations and blah blah blah. 125 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.039 That's all cool stuff, But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking 126 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:00.759 about because you can do something, what does it drive for the businessess Right, 127 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:05.960 Because especially as a new technology, people are going to be skeptical, 128 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.240 if not cynical, of why should wait, why would we do this? 129 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.879 Like why isn't the way we do it today? Fine? Or like we 130 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.480 don't even do anything like that today? Why do we even need to do 131 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:20.159 it? So you have to have business outcomes, because remember you're competing against 132 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:24.200 all kinds of other things that are already budgeted. Your thing is probably not 133 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:28.559 budgeted if it's brand new. So you have to have a business case, 134 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:31.720 and it's got to be hard dollars. It can't just be soft dollars. 135 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:35.200 I mean, we talked about this recently, and I still remember the first 136 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:37.720 time it happened. I still can I can name the account, I can 137 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:43.559 name the people, and we were having a conversation with them about cost savings 138 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:46.679 from a productivity standpoint, and it was the CFO who kind of got a 139 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:50.720 wry smile on his face and he looked at me and the sales rep and 140 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.360 he says, you know that's good. I get it, and I'll believe 141 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:56.039 it when you give me the employee numbers of the people I'm going to fire. 142 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:01.279 And if we went out of a really good relationship with Rick and that 143 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:05.240 was his name, and I remember we talked about it a few times after 144 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:07.960 that in the future and he would just say, look, soft dollar savings 145 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:11.600 are great, but the reality is unless it hits the P and L, 146 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:15.360 it's not meaningful, right. I mean, it's nice, but it's not 147 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:20.159 meaningful, and it won't get especially an unbudgeted line item done. It just 148 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:24.799 won't get it done. Yeah, So there's the cost savings, thinking through 149 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:30.600 the business outcomes, digging deeper to find the pain, right and the hard 150 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:33.440 costs the help that it's going to go through. There is there any other 151 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:37.759 insight you would you mentioned kind of walking back for the pain. How do 152 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:41.600 I do that? Well, there's another thing I want to add to the 153 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.159 list too, and it kind of goes back to the early adopt thing. 154 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:50.720 It's understanding the cultural aspects of this too, because maybe this attaches to your 155 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:52.240 question now that I think about it even more so. So, there were 156 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:58.159 a couple of times in my career where when something new specifically would happen, 157 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.679 and I worked for a big company that had but they created a few new 158 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:05.440 markets, which they really did create, all of a sudden, the people 159 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:09.919 we had to talk to changed, ye, So the pain didn't live with 160 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:13.960 the people that we had traditionally sold to. However, they were going to 161 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:18.200 feel some pain. They were going to feel the pain of change, whether 162 00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:20.799 they liked it or not. Something in the market was changing that was going 163 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:26.559 to impact them and their traditional role or how they did things, either personally 164 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:28.440 or for their entire company. And all of a sudden, for example, 165 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:31.279 there was a time where we had to get in front of the CFO. 166 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:35.960 Had to Now, in a lot of our previous deals, we might get 167 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:39.679 to the CFO because of the size of the deal, but now we had 168 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:45.759 to get to the CFO because of the pain and the outcomes associated with the 169 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:48.600 deal. So before it was like, CFO is an approver, Well, 170 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:50.840 you know, if we're lucky, we get to meet him or her or 171 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:56.240 somebody's presenting our proposal to them. But now in this moment in time, 172 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:00.039 it was no, No, it's the CFO. Who's going to own this 173 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:05.000 thing? And to your point about understanding the pain, it's understanding who is 174 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.080 it really going to get to? Who really owns it. So we were 175 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:11.639 all of a sudden finding ourselves trying to navigate. Hey, there's four or 176 00:12:11.639 --> 00:12:13.799 five six people we used to talk to who were one, two, three, 177 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:18.080 four levels removed from the CFO. How are we going to navigate this 178 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:22.320 whole thing. So we were doing like, we were having conversations with people 179 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:26.120 about, look, this is where this is going, positive business outcomes, 180 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:31.960 you know, future stay outcome driven conversations, and here's the pain associated with 181 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.720 that for you today and in the future if you don't solve for it. 182 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:39.759 And we were having it at the more traditional levels we had called upon because 183 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:41.799 we didn't have in some access to the CFO. So what we were doing 184 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:48.360 was we were having those conversations with our more traditional contacts, doing so purposefully 185 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:52.279 to look for the person who could see the bigger picture. Because if we 186 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:56.559 could get either individual or collective conversations with those four or five six people, 187 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:00.679 we can start to pick out, Oh, it's that personal over there that 188 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:03.639 sees this and realizes that somebody's going to take us to the CFO, so 189 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:07.159 might as well be me, right. So I think that's the big part 190 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:11.480 of it. It's having the bravery right, having the bravery to go do 191 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:15.320 the discovery that might be a little uncomfortable. Now, if I'm going to 192 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:18.320 replace somebody's job, I'm not suggesting that I'm going to go to them for 193 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:20.279 the discovery, right. I mean I got to like there's some thought that 194 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:24.720 has to go behind this. I had a client call the other day and 195 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:26.960 say, hey, we got a bunch of sales reps now calling people saying, 196 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:31.919 hey, our leadership wants me to get a meeting with your economic buyer. 197 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:35.879 I'm like, no, that's not how that's worked. It's like it's 198 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:37.039 like, no, no, no, no, it's you and I, 199 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:41.919 Rachel should go meet with insert title, not economic buyer. Right, You 200 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:46.679 and I should go meet with your CFO. And here's why they should see 201 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:50.759 me, and here's why you should take me to them. Yeah. Right, 202 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:52.320 So it's the same kind of thing. Does that makes sense? Yes? 203 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:56.279 And right. So if you're selling in a new category, you have 204 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.759 to make sure that you're talking to the right people and considering all those factors 205 00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:03.120 that you mentioned, Brian. It's the people who understand the pain and own 206 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:07.720 it, own it, right, Yeah, who care about the outcomes you 207 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:09.879 have identified. And I'll bring us back to the point you made it at 208 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:16.080 the top. When you think about that ideal customer profile and the early adopters 209 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:22.159 you could lay it onto that map onto an account because your early adopter maybe 210 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:26.879 somebody a specific role, right, the person who's going to feel the benefit 211 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:31.840 or understand the benefit of taking you to the CFO. I guess what I'm 212 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:37.320 saying is you want to look at that from a political level, a list 213 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:41.759 of accounts, but you also can layer that into a specific organization and think 214 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:48.279 about who are the ideal people right the landscape in this account we are going 215 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:50.240 to get those early adopters. And by the way, I'm not suggesting you 216 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:54.519 turned down science experiments, right if you've got somebody to lower in the organization 217 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:58.000 who's willing to say yes, I'm okay with that. But there's some things 218 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.679 that go around that, whether it's a small deal or somebody who's wanting to 219 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:03.279 take it out as a big deal, which is rare. Like most of 220 00:15:03.320 --> 00:15:05.639 the time, you're going to have to land in a situation like this, 221 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:09.440 you're gonna have to land and then expand. So let's talk about that, 222 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:15.240 Brian. There is opportunity here to do some test cases and really prove out 223 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:18.440 that you can new technology can do what you say it can do. Some 224 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:24.000 sort of trial period as you call science experiments. How do you set those 225 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:28.200 up for success. Yeah, So first and foremost, if possible, go 226 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:31.879 get a couple of elephants and do it for free. Now that's easy for 227 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:33.759 me to sit here and say from the comfort of my own desk because I'm 228 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:39.080 not holding the P and L and responsible to investors, et cetera. But 229 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:43.240 the reality is you're going to have to do some things to get some proof 230 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:46.919 points and get some street credit in the marketplace. So, whether those are 231 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:52.679 paid trials or free trials or whatever you want to call them, they still, 232 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:56.279 to your question, have got to have some parameters around them, right. 233 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:00.480 They have to have parameters around the people who are involved. It can't 234 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:04.200 just be low level people in the organization who don't have any cred inside of 235 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:07.360 the rest of the organization. You've got to have an executive sponsor who's got 236 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:11.080 street cred inside of their company, who doesn't have just the ability to formally 237 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:17.480 say yes, but also has the ability to informally influence others and get them 238 00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:22.759 in the boat. Right. You have to have some really solid logistics around 239 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.200 how are we going to run this engagement for X period of time with the 240 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:30.320 following not just to achieve the following outcomes, over ninety days or whatever it 241 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:34.519 is, or six months or six days, whatever the timeframe is. But 242 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:38.080 what are the milestones to ensure that we're on track and what are we going 243 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:44.039 to do when we hit those milestones if we're out of sync? Right? 244 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:48.360 Who's involved? Step by step from both organizations? What are you going to 245 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:52.159 do for us on the other side, Like, what's the agreement I'm doing 246 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:56.000 X for you at reduced rate Y, whether it's lower rate, free, 247 00:16:56.120 --> 00:17:00.559 whatever. What do I get in return on the other side when we show 248 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:07.319 you an X improvement in top line revenue or manufacturing cost or whatever it is. 249 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:11.920 All of those things have got to be really well thought out. Oh, 250 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:14.880 by the way, you're not only going to buy for the company or 251 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:18.759 this part of the enterprise, but you're going to speak, You're going to 252 00:17:18.759 --> 00:17:21.920 be a branded proof point, you know, those kinds of things. All 253 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:23.359 of that's the kind of stuff that you have to have on the front end, 254 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.839 and it goes all the way back to That's why you have to have 255 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:32.599 multiple layers of sponsorship inside of the customers organization, because somebody at the lower 256 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:37.119 level who might have fifty thousand dollars to spend on a trial doesn't have the 257 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:41.559 authority to do any of the other things I'm talking about. Yeah, align 258 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:45.359 on those things as you're setting it up, right, not just by yourself 259 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.319 by the way, right five six, eight, people involved in the account 260 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:52.640 making this decision. Shouldn't there be people supporting you? Like A lot of 261 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.079 this that I'm talking about falls back on your company right to support you in 262 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:00.759 in terms of the messaging and the content and how we on these types of 263 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:03.079 these earlier stage engagements, et cetera. So I'm not suggesting any of this 264 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:07.759 is a one man band kind of conversation, right, These are the tyes 265 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:12.079 of things. Thinking through these things as it relates to your solution is the 266 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:17.640 prep or the step that will make these conversations easier. And we can't underestimate 267 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:21.799 the power of having a great proof point, particularly when you're selling something that 268 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:25.640 customer can't get their head around. Right it's new Yeah, yeah, Yeah. 269 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:26.680 All goes back to wait, what does this thing? What does it 270 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.680 do? Why do I need it? Right? Right? Well, I 271 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.240 know that we barely scratch the surface, and all of this selling isn't easy, 272 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:38.559 but often we come back to some of these constant truths. Preps for 273 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:44.960 your conversation finding pain, digging deep because there is pain, aligning to outcomes 274 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:48.680 and then getting the lay of the land right in these accounts. And I 275 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:52.000 always use the word maneuver, and I sometimes don't mean that because I feel 276 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:55.000 like it sounds manipulative, but like, no, it's not in your way, 277 00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:57.480 Yeah, navigating whatever you want to call it. Yeah, So you're 278 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:03.160 setting yourself up for the great success. As we wrap here, Brian, 279 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:06.440 I know that you have sold in a new category plenty of times in your 280 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:11.359 career. Leave us with some parting words of motivation and some final thoughts. 281 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:15.559 All right, So first and foremost, I think I kind of already mentioned 282 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:18.359 it, don't try to do this alone. This needs to be a company 283 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:22.240 effort, to the point that if your company isn't behind it, you may 284 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:25.960 not want to hear this on the podcast, but you might not want to 285 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:27.480 work with that company, right, I mean yeah, because this is a 286 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:32.640 totally different go to market conversation than if you're in an established industry, et 287 00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:34.440 cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So I think that you've got to 288 00:19:34.519 --> 00:19:37.920 understand this is a company effort and the company should want you to push back 289 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:44.680 on the messaging that you're being given, and the messaging has got to speak 290 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.960 to what problems are we solving, if at all possible, what outcomes are 291 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:53.640 we able to drive here? And why are we able to drive different outcomes 292 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.880 that other people can't right or can't get to without us? And those out 293 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.559 comes in even the problems they have got to live at the business level. 294 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.640 They've got to be revenue cost risk to the business or your customers, because 295 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:11.720 that's the thing that's going to get people's attention. And then last one, 296 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:15.880 at least, as I said it, be really quick. I think maybe 297 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:18.559 that's not the quite the right word, but be willing to be quick on 298 00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:23.960 judging whether or not is this organization up for this conversation. Are they an 299 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:29.799 early adopter type of organization or at least person because if they're not, they 300 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:33.240 probably got to go into your B and C category. Yeah, qualify in 301 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:37.000 and qualify out. Yeah that's right. All right, Thank you for jumping 302 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:41.039 on and talking through this with me today, Brian, My pleasure longer than 303 00:20:41.079 --> 00:20:44.000 ten minutes. Sorry about that, No, that's okay, that's okay. 304 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:47.119 Hey, if you have questions, if you're finding yourself in this situation and 305 00:20:47.160 --> 00:20:51.839 you have questions about this topic what Brian brought up today, go ahead and 306 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.680 visit our center community. You can ask them there. You can reach out 307 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.519 to either of us on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you. Thank 308 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:00.960 you so much for listening to the Audible Ready Sales pot. At Force Management, 309 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:07.960 we're focused on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. Our proven methodologies deliver 310 00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:12.720 programs that build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the 311 00:21:12.759 --> 00:21:18.359 ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale. Our strength is 312 00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:22.079 our experience. The proof is in our results. Let's get started. Visit 313 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:27.000 us at forcemanagement dot com. You've been listening to the Audible Ready podcast. 314 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:32.279 To not miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player 315 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:33.319 until next time.