They have their own ideas, they're trying to set their own stamp, make
their own impact, and if they're not on board with what we're doing,
we're going to quickly get set to the side because they only have so much
time, money, and resources. You're listening to the Audible Ready Podcast.
The show that helps you and your teams sell more Faster. Will 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 and welcome to
the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel clapp Miller. Today we are going
to talk about what you do when you're selling into an account and their leadership
changes. Joining me for the conversation today is Force Management facilitator Diana Shelley.
Hi, Diana, Hey, Rachel. Great topic today. So tough when
leadership starts to change it accounts. I know, I've to experienced out myself.
Yeah, it's like you feel like you're in a good spot and then
so and so leads and you think, oh gosh, here we go.
So Diana, let's talk about this reality, how we can prepare for it
likely happening to us at some point in our career. Right, it's just
going to have or we can't avoid it. So what are the basic best
practices we're doing in advance that will lay the foundation to help us better deal
with the leadership change when it happens. Great question, Rachel. I think
for me, first, I just had to get to know all the leaders
at what I call the collective. Yes, anyone that might have influence,
not only as a decision maker, but someone who had heavy I'm going to
say political influence on the decision maker, maybe one foot outside. Because if
I really got to know all of those folks, there was less impact on
me when one of the people left, right, because I automatically had a
relationship with the others I could lean on that. I also think it's important
as onboarding when someone new comes in, right, having a strong point of
view on the current stay and knowing those positive business outcomes for each of those
leaders would help me so that I could easily educate a new leader and bring
more value to the table, because many times the other people might beet too
busy to do that, and so I was the conduit if you would.
The other thing that helped me is to cultivate multiple champions, so I had
multiple champions in the account and could lean on them when said leader would either
got promoted internally and vacated the position or left externally to take another position.
It granted, it's always a change, and none of us like change,
especially if that was our predominant leader. But if we've surrounded ourselves with strong
champions and other leaders that are still at the decision table and still a heavy
influence, I think it just understood the impact. So the more Linders said
that political landscape. The caution I'm going to throw in here too is we've
talked about who people leave, but something else, As I would say,
it is just as important to pay as much attention when someone new joins the
team someone knew and expected, not the replacement for that leader. That's a
good point. I think you know what you're kind of going through is really
just this mindset you should have as a salesperson to really build out the landscape
of the account. All the influencers understand what you need to do to get
the collective. Yes, so if one person goes away, you still have
a foundation in place there, but there's always those key people, whether it
be a champion or are a key person that would be making a purchasing decision
or a key influencer in the account that we're going after. When that person
leaves, and let's just say they bring in new people. So let's talk
in this situation. Let's say, Okay, we've had a leadership change,
there's new leadership coming in, and I'm not really having great success getting in
front of those people. What are my action steps that can help me get
credit for the work I've done so far and set me up for success.
Well, I think the first thing I need to understand is the dynamics that
may be at play because anytime a new leader comes in, they were hired
for a reason, especially at the executive level, and they were usually hired
and may get what I call as a huntingmoon period for about nine to ten
months of carte blanche because they were hired for that specific reason, and we
can underestimate if we can't get them on board quickly with the initiative that we
were working with the previous leader, or that we're working in general with their
company, the risk is they have their own ideas. They're trying to set
their own stamp, make their own impact, and if they're not on board
with what we're doing, we're going to quickly get set to the side because
they only have so much time, money, and resources. So one of
the things that you mentioned is the political landscape. But the more we can
level set the new leadership on what we've heard so far, because what they
don't know is what's happened prior to them coming in, and some of the
other leaders may not be taking the time to do that. So more I
can educate them on what I've heard so far according to the other leadership and
tie them back to the team and again the collective yes, the positive business
outcomes that they're going for to because now I've become more of a subject matter
expert helping get them there instead of that. One of the tools I used
to use was a heat map, and I had a heat map for each
initiative, for each of the outcomes and that each initiative was trying to do.
And I might share that document because some people are more visual than they
are auditory, so that would be important. I would also mention how we
were looking to measure success. I might not mention the previous leader's name as
much depending on what are the dynamics why they led, So it's less about
that but more about the collective. These are some of the outcomes we were
looking to do as a team, So I'm not really pointing anyone out,
and here's how we were going to measure for success. And the main thing
I think is make sure this new leader understands the why. You know,
why is this important? Why is it important for their business, their team,
or their department to take this on, because that's going to help us
with the urgency against not now because it's a fire hose for them coming in
to be new. So how can we help mitigate some of that information that's
coming out them in a clean way. Yeah, you mentioned being a subject
matter expert, and that's really a role you can play because, as you
say, you know, when you come to a new job, you're hit
with so much stuff and you're looking for some clarity, and by focusing that
conversation on the outcomes and the reasons why from a business perspective, that this
initiative has moved up until this point, gets the who out of it right,
Because you're focused on the what and also hopefully to how aligned with your
solution to get the company there. Let's assume you still got a champion,
right, you said having multiple champions, how do I use that champion to
help me navigate this new landscape that might be there with the new leadership.
No. I love that you said that because it's so important because a lot
of times we have a great champion, but we're not using them, either
effectively or as much as we should be. They have a day job,
We're busy doing our thing. We don't want to be running in separate lanes
for the race. Really, it's one race, and we want to be
running in tandem. So the first thing I'm going to say, we've got
to still test them and make sure our champion is a champion and not a
coach, because that still tends to be the biggest mistake we make. We
get a leadership change at the top, we go to that person that we
think is a champion and we find out they're a coach and they may be
uncomfortable having the harder conversation with a new leader for whatever reason. So I
think it's first of all important that preferably to test them all along the way
not wait until we get a leadership change and all of a sudden we're testing
them and finding out there's a coach. Now we're scrambling to find a champion.
But once we have identified that they are a champion, to immediately schedule
something with them and find out why the change, what the dynamics are around
the things that they're willing to share with us, because as a champion,
they will be things that they might share with us. And here's what we're
seeing behind the scenes, here's what's driving this, here's some of the warnings
that may be at play. And so we're just giving them a chance to
give us that three hundred and sixty degree view. And then Lassie, I
would say, I want to always make sure that my champion understand all the
components of the outcomes and can articulate them when I'm not there, because most
of the time the decisions are made behind closed doors. Are they selling the
way I think they are for me? And are they speaking that economic buyer's
language, especially the new leader. Do they understand the political dynamics at play
for this new person? And while they have those hard conversations, roll up
their sleeves and start to solve for the roadblocks that we're seeing because we have
to pay a lot of attention dain not just when someone leaves, but when
someone new comes. The dynamics always shift and there's only so much wallet share.
So someone new has come, we don't think anything about it, but
if we don't get in there and find out who they are, they actually
because they're in that honeymoon period to take the money from our economic buyer for
our project that we weren't aware of. So I almost look at I look
at any kind of change in tandem, right, and because they may not
even know understand the solution that you're offering. And a lot of times the
new leadership might have worked for the competitor before, like a competing solution.
And this is really we mentioned like making sure you're champion or the new coach
or whoever is selling on your behalf in a way that aligns to the business
outcomes. And this is also where you need to make sure that the customer
understands your differentiation, particularly if you think there's some new alliances with a competitor.
Yeah, I think that's important because, like you said, first of
all, the champions should tell you if the leader likes a competing situation or
a solution, because that happens all the time. They come in with their
flavor of the day and they think they know something. So if it's not
us, and we know that and the champion knows it, how can we
have those harder conversations. How can we align and help that new leader know
why we're aligned to the decision criteria that had been established. Do those need
to change a little bit and adjust to incorporate the new leader's perspective, how
we're aligned to the outcomes of the organization, and then reaffirm that decision criteria.
I can't assume that that decision criteria is going to stay the same with
the new leader. So am I reaffirming that and expanding the mindset and the
new leader. If I can't expand the mindset of the new leader, then
I'm at risk for that deal because again, they came in thinking they knew
what they wanted. So I have to quickly, with the help with the
champion running in tandem, expand the mindset of the leader as to why our
perspective matters, why our point of view matters. Best way to do that,
in my opinion, is just a strong proof of strong story. Can
I tell the story in a compelling way? Is it clear, crisp and
impactful? Did I tell it to the champion? Can the champion tell it?
And is it going to make it's going to make a difference to that
new person. That's great, And you know you could also work to find
new people to build relationships with you you talked about that at the beginning.
When you start in an account, it's really building out that three hundred sixty
degree view of the deal, but then also the people around the account,
and if leadership changes, that might present an opportunity to find some new relationship
and ships in the account. What strategies have you seen work well when it
comes to finding new decision makers or new influencers in the organization. I think
first is just a lot of discovery, right, asking a lot of questions
from the beginning to and you mentioned this earlier, Rachel, mapping out the
political landscape, knowing who is in play, where who's impacted by what pain
or who's excited about what outcome, and who's an influencer so that I can
see that collective yes, where I see this really come into play with a
new leader is on existing accounts because with an existing account, we may have
had them for years, and we assume that why they signed is why they're
going to resign. And the problem is, so if you and I formed
a relationship and you're at my customer, I know what you're doing. We
have a great relationship. Every year we work together really effectively. You get
promoted, you leave either within the order to another org, and the problem
is you were the only person I've connected to. I have a huge gap
and risk because I don't know who's coming in and if they favor someone else.
So I think on it's easier for us, I think in a new
deal to pay attention with the leadership change, But in an existing deal we
have to develop and find those people prior to the change. So mapping it
out is going to be important. Asking a lot of questions, how are
decisions made in the organization? Who else is it impacting? So if I'm
working with one team, I might say, is security also dealing with that?
Is such and such department? Also is the risk department also do and
that opens it up. I read a stat recently that ninety three percent of
customers or clients say they give referrals, and only eleven percent of client facing
our salespeople ask for the referral. So the greatest way to build that relationship,
they're saying, ninety three percent of the time they'll give me the referral.
The best way to connect is to have them send the email and connect
me than me just trying to reach out in a cold connection. But only
eleven percent of the time we're asking. So we have to start asking for
those connections asked early before the change, math that I'll develop those relationships before
the change, and then when the change happens, because it's going to happen,
it's going to rock the boat a lot less for us, and we're
still in some sure footing. Yeah, those are some great points. I
love that the reason they sign may not be the reason they re sign.
So things are changing all the time, and good account executives account managers are
ready for them when they do right. They've seen the movie before, they've
sold in a way that gives them a foundation for success no matter what happens.
So as we close, I'd love for you to leave us the listeners
here with a great bottom line on this topic. Diana, I would just
say always be prepared because change is inevitable. I think every organization experiences it.
People are moving in and out of positions faster and faster than ever before,
and if we're prepared, we won't get god off guard when it happens.
And also you can pivot faster in the moment. And then lastly,
I say never single thread, no, multiple people. The accounts know what
they're solving for in their outcomes, and that way you can remind them of
the outcomes they said they needed to achieve and how they were going to get
there because it's more about them and less about us, and remind the new
leader because they may not be taking into account those outcomes. So you become
almost on their side helping them get up to speed instead of it becoming this
who are you and where are we coming in? So that's what I went
in with was just the more prepared we are, the more we've done our
work upfront, the lust of a ripple will have when we're following the wake
behind the boat. All right, great bout online, and when it happens,
you're going to be real happy that you took those steps and did the
work before the leadership changed to make sure that you're successful when it happens.
Thank you so much for your time today, Diana, Sure, thanks Rachel,
thanks for having me all right, and thank you to all of you
for listening to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. At Force Management, we're focused
on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. Are proven methodologies, deliver programs that
build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the ability to
execute the growth strategy at the point of sale. Our strength is our experience.
The proof is in our results. Let's get started. Visit us at
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