WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:06.200 How to connect departmental initiatives to corporate or company initiatives 2 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:10.000 is a great way in the conversation in your discovery 3 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:13.439 to naturally move to other people that are probably going 4 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:14.960 to have to be involved in the conversation. 5 00:00:19.559 --> 00:00:22.440 You're listening to the audible Ready podcast. The show that 6 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:26.280 helps you and your teams sell more Faster. Will feature 7 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.800 sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create 8 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:31.920 a sales engine that helps you fuel repeatable revenue growth. 9 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:35.000 Presented by the team at Force Management, a leader in 10 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:37.679 B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started. 11 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:42.719 Hello and welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm 12 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:45.399 Rachel Klett Miller. Today we are going to talk about 13 00:00:45.479 --> 00:00:50.560 best practices for engaging other departments so critical. John Kaplan 14 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:51.280 joins me today. 15 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:55.280 Hi John, Hey, Rachel. You know this is such a 16 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:58.280 great topic. I think it's probably one of the biggest 17 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:02.479 obstacles to sell our success today. Single threaded deals where 18 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:05.159 you only have one way into an account or a 19 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:08.480 single relationship, that really should be a red flag. 20 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:12.200 Yeah, getting multi threaded it is always a goal because 21 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:14.719 we know it helps us sell larger deals. It also 22 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:19.000 helps us move deals forward faster. But we want to 23 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.920 do it in a calculated way. So let's talk about 24 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.040 some steps to take first. John, Well, the first thing 25 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.680 is getting an intro to the other departments, right, But 26 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:32.159 you want to do it in a way that's meaningful. 27 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:35.680 How do I approach getting the intro with my contact 28 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:36.959 to other departments? 29 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:39.640 I think that's a I think it's a great question, 30 00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:42.439 and I think the one of the best fundamental ways 31 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:45.159 to do it is to get them to think about 32 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.920 the larger scale of a problem that you both are addressing, 33 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.959 and like think about like who else is impacted by 34 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:56.560 the problem. And of course, when you are always trying 35 00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:00.680 to connect yourself to the business impact of a technical problem, 36 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:03.560 many of us are talking to people that are in 37 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:08.319 technical roles and there are technical problems and capabilities and features. 38 00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:12.120 When you expand the conversation to think about a business 39 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:16.439 outcome or business impact, you're going to naturally move out 40 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:19.319 of those technical departments, or a natural need to move 41 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:22.280 out of those technical departments. And then when you're thinking 42 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:27.439 about it, you're connecting departmental initiatives to corporate ones and 43 00:02:27.479 --> 00:02:29.639 the people who are responsible for them. So when you 44 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:32.439 think about it, two big things there how to connect 45 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:37.080 technical problems to business outcomes. How to connect departmental initiatives 46 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:41.919 to corporate or company initiatives is a great way in 47 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:46.360 the conversation, in your discovery to naturally move to other 48 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:48.240 people that are probably going to have to be involved 49 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:48.919 in the conversation. 50 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:52.439 Yeah, so what are your best practices? So you have 51 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:55.199 the contact, maybe you get an intro, and you need 52 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:58.479 to do some discovery. I imagine there's going to be 53 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:00.280 a lot of times when you're going to get some 54 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:03.199 objections like, hey, that's not really my area. You need 55 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:05.240 to work with this person on that. How do you 56 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:05.759 deal with that? 57 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.240 I think it's really valid. I think you know, you 58 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:12.000 have to encourage all of the people that you call 59 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:15.120 on to think bigger about the problem and about the 60 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.840 potential solution. Just think bigger. You should like write it 61 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:20.800 on a piece of paper, think bigger. How big is 62 00:03:20.840 --> 00:03:23.439 the problem? And then one of the things I tell 63 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:25.840 sellers all the time is that you first have to 64 00:03:25.879 --> 00:03:30.520 get yourself yourself emotionally connected to what you do matters. 65 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:34.080 So it's like your own why why do you do 66 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.439 what you do? What problems does it solve? What are 67 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:40.080 the proof points that you're kind of emotionally connected to 68 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:44.039 and then you have to get the customer emotionally connected 69 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:47.560 to what they do matters. And many times what I 70 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.199 find is many customers that I call on, especially in 71 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.319 technical environments, sometimes they've lost their own emotional connection to 72 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.400 what they do for their company and why it matters. 73 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:01.879 So discovery is all about out helping the customer stand 74 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:04.719 in the moment of their own reality and their own 75 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:08.039 pain and their own possibilities. And I think the more 76 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:11.039 that you do that when you ask questions, you know, 77 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:14.479 you get people to give you real examples. Always look 78 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:17.800 to connect technical pain to business outcomes. As we talked about, 79 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:21.240 always find out who cares about the impact and why 80 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:24.720 they care about it, and then what you will naturally 81 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:28.560 uncover is what's in it for them. And then when 82 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:32.199 you start talking to people about why something matters and 83 00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:34.600 what's in it for them to solve it, you are 84 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:38.319 now on your way to really really good qualification and 85 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:39.600 qualified conversation. 86 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:43.040 Yeah, that's a great point. I know that sometimes if 87 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:45.240 I've ever had to do this, one of the tactics 88 00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:48.040 that has worked, it's like because sometimes when you approach 89 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:50.720 people in other departments, they're like, oh God, you're going 90 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.000 to give me some initiative. I have no time for this. 91 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.800 I've got all this other stuff, and approaching it with like, hey, 92 00:04:56.839 --> 00:04:59.319 we're working on this over here. I want to make 93 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:02.600 sure we're not stepping on your toes or not going 94 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:06.000 against something you are doing, like almost making it say 95 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:08.480 like hey, we know you're busy, we're doing this over here, 96 00:05:08.759 --> 00:05:10.319 Let's just make sure we're not messing you up in 97 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.399 it any way can be a great way to enter 98 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:17.519 the conversation with some empathy and also potentially open the 99 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:18.959 door to learn more about their need. 100 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:23.399 It's also common courtesy that what you're working on, you're 101 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:27.319 assuming that is going to impact, potentially impact. Do you 102 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.839 want to make sure whatever impact that it's going to have, 103 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:34.439 it's going to be positive. So whenever anybody approaches me like, hey, 104 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:36.399 I'm working on something and I just want to make 105 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:39.040 sure that we have your best interest in mind, or 106 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:41.480 I want to make sure that you know if you're 107 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:44.040 going to be a benefactor of this, or I just 108 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:45.480 want to make sure that this is going to be 109 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:48.879 good for you. Whenever anybody has approached me any time 110 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:51.879 in life with something like that, it's always a courtesy 111 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.600 and it's always appreciated. So I think you're in really 112 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:55.399 warm water there. 113 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:58.040 Yeah, exactly. And the other person I want to talk 114 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:02.160 about when we talk about getting multi threat is finance. Right, 115 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:05.800 that finance persona is a big one, and I know 116 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:09.319 it creates some anks for our salespeople out there. How 117 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.040 do you approach getting the meeting with finance? I know 118 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.480 that there's some nuances there you and how do you 119 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:16.000 prep for John, let's hear your tip. 120 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:18.399 I love that you've brought this up. I think there's 121 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.519 several ways to think about this. I think you first 122 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:24.920 always have to ask yourself questions on how things are 123 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.759 going to be measured, because finance is always all about 124 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:35.519 measurement and performance. Always. There's always metrics in the financial world, 125 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:39.639 in good financial worlds, And so what I mean by 126 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.639 that is when you start asking questions about how things 127 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:44.439 are going to be measured and how things are going 128 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:47.759 to be measured financially, many times the people that you're 129 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:51.959 calling on might not have those answers. And so when 130 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:55.000 you ask somebody a good question that they don't already 131 00:06:55.079 --> 00:06:58.360 have the answer to, a lot of times you're going 132 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:02.000 to get the opportunity. You're an open door to go 133 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:05.399 get other people involved, and specifically, I find this happens 134 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:09.199 in finance all the time. So naturally, when you are 135 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:13.319 asking questions about the decision process or the paper process 136 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:17.600 and metrics and measurements that you're going to uncover, those 137 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:22.519 financially oriented individuals who are involved are going to pop up. 138 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:26.199 So when you're talking about the paper process, you're talking 139 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:31.079 about metrics, you're talking about how this will be viewed financially, 140 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:36.839 most people are going to identify individuals inside of their 141 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:41.879 environments that are really responsible for evaluating that. And it's 142 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:44.160 just kind of it's kind of an art and a science. 143 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.040 The way that you prepare is you prepare to ask 144 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.879 about how things are going to be measured, how things 145 00:07:50.920 --> 00:07:54.439 are going to be evaluated, and then you look for 146 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.680 opportunities in that conversation where that's going to come up 147 00:07:57.720 --> 00:07:59.680 and those names are going to come up, and then 148 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:02.680 you always try to get Like, for me, I know 149 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:05.240 that financial people are going to be involved in all 150 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:08.279 of my sale situations, and I can't think of many 151 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:13.879 sale situations where a financial impact will not be uncovered 152 00:08:13.959 --> 00:08:16.560 or discovered. If it isn't, then you're probably not selling 153 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:19.360 things that are you could probably be selling things that 154 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:22.879 are more impactful. So I always like to just assume 155 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:25.199 that this is always going to happen. And I try 156 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.519 to get to financial people. I try to get them 157 00:08:27.560 --> 00:08:31.399 involved early in the process, prior to putting them on 158 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:34.639 the spot to react to a proposal. And I always 159 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:37.120 like to say this, you go early and you get advice, 160 00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:40.559 you go late and you get critiqued. So many times 161 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:44.000 when I'm building a champion, what I like to do 162 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.159 is I like to encourage that champion to take me 163 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:52.679 to the financial if it's an economic buyer, if it's 164 00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:56.200 somebody that's going to help in the economic feasibility or 165 00:08:56.279 --> 00:08:59.159 viability of my solution, I like to go to them 166 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:02.240 early and ask advice, and I say things like or 167 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:05.279 I have the champion say things like, hey, we're not 168 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:08.039 sure if we have a solution to this problem yet 169 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:10.440 or not, but what we wanted to do when we 170 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:13.720 start to put this solution together early, we want to 171 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:16.840 do it under the confines and the constructs of what 172 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:21.080 would be easier for you to evaluate. I've never had 173 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:24.720 that fail, Rachel. When I go early, now, the champions 174 00:09:24.759 --> 00:09:27.039 don't always like it. They don't like going to financial 175 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:30.320 people without the solution. How much is going to cost? 176 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:32.759 But it's I you know, stick to your guns. You're 177 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.639 in really really warm water. I have tons of examples 178 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:40.360 of this in my life where financial people thanked the champion. 179 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:43.159 They're like, thank you for asking. So you know you 180 00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:45.440 have a budget and you know this is the way 181 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:48.080 we're going to evaluate it. And if you have anything 182 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:50.120 that goes outside of your budget, it's going to have 183 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:52.159 to have these type of sign offs and it's going 184 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:54.679 to have to and when you give them the courtesy 185 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:57.240 to make sure that you're not creating a problem for 186 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:02.320 them later, it's amazing. It's really absolutely amazing. Now thousands 187 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.080 of people will hear that from this podcast, but a 188 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:08.240 very small number of people will actually go try it 189 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:11.519 and welcome to the world of being uncommon. Go try it. 190 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:16.240 Send me an email John dot Kaplan at forcemanagement dot com, 191 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:18.080 let me know how it worked. Reach out to me 192 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:20.480 on LinkedIn, because I'm just waiting for somebody to come 193 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:22.159 back to me and tell me it didn't work. It's 194 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:25.759 been twenty years since starting Force Management. I've never had 195 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:27.399 anybody come back and tell me didn't work. 196 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:30.000 It's so true, and I think you know, as we 197 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:32.320 kind of wrap up here, John, I think if you're 198 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:35.000 asking these questions about your deals, like who else do 199 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:37.320 I need to talk to? Let me get to finance early. 200 00:10:37.960 --> 00:10:40.519 You mentioned being uncommon, that shows you're thinking about your 201 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:42.080 deals in the right way. 202 00:10:42.919 --> 00:10:46.039 Totally. Yeah, give us a boatline, John, Yeah, you're not 203 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.399 only thinking about where you are right now, but where 204 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:50.919 you have to wind up. And that's all about preparation. 205 00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:55.000 So basically, in the bottom line, it's very rare today 206 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:58.440 that anybody is selling single threaded. If you just look 207 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:02.639 at the components of deal qualification, like in medpick, it's 208 00:11:02.679 --> 00:11:05.600 going to be hard to find one scenario where all 209 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:09.080 your interaction for an opportunity would be and all your 210 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:13.799 qualification would be with and through one person. And it's 211 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:18.399 always been this way back thirty years ago when medicant 212 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:22.440 pick were first developed, it always highlighted that there's always 213 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:24.840 more than one person. Now when you just look at 214 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:28.240 like champions and economic buyers. In the last thirty years 215 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:31.240 of selling, for me, it's always been a red flag 216 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.879 when someone tells me that the champion is the same 217 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.519 person as the economic buyer. And I'm not saying it 218 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:39.919 can't happen, but it is definitely an outlier. And so 219 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.559 anytime somebody tells me that the champion and the economic 220 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.879 buyer are the same person, I just considered a red 221 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:48.039 flag and I dig deeper. In ninety percent of the 222 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:51.679 time they are not the same person. So you need 223 00:11:51.720 --> 00:11:55.039 to get multi threaded. That's what the most elite sellers do. 224 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:00.519 They don't ever rely on one track deal, one entrance 225 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:05.279 into an opportunity. So just assume, when you're preparing right 226 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.480 now to go into an opportunity, what are the other 227 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:12.399 threads that I'm going to discover around that are there? 228 00:12:12.440 --> 00:12:15.480 And I won't get sucked into somebody telling me, yeah, 229 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:19.200 I'm the only one, I'm the only way inside the account. 230 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:21.720 I'm the only one and all the information will go 231 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:24.960 through me and I'll make the decision and blah blah blah. 232 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:27.480 That's a red flag. So just be on the lookout. 233 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:28.440 There we go. 234 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:31.639 Thank you, John, You're welcome, and thank you to all 235 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:35.399 of you for listening to the audib Already podcast. At 236 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:40.120 Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. 237 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:44.679 Our proven methodologies deliver programs that build company alignment and 238 00:12:44.759 --> 00:12:48.559 fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the ability to 239 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:51.799 execute the growth strategy at the point of sale. Our 240 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:55.559 strength is our experience. The proof is in our results. 241 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.639 Let's get started. Visit us at forcemanagement dot com. 242 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.840 You've been listening to the Audible Ready podcast. To not 243 00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:05.720 miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite 244 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:07.559 podcast player until next time.