Speaker 1: Make sure when you're in your sales process, you have
Speaker 1: an eye towards where this is all going in the negotiation.
Speaker 1: And the good news is everything you do in selling
Speaker 1: to improve your competitiveness also improves your negotiating position towards
Speaker 1: the end.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Audible Ready podcast, the show that
Speaker 2: helps you and your teams sell more Faster. Will feature
Speaker 2: sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create
Speaker 2: a sales engine that helps you fuel repeatable revenue growth.
Speaker 2: Presented by the team at Force Management, a leader in
Speaker 2: B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started.
Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm
Speaker 3: Rachel club Miller, and today we are going to be
Speaker 3: talking about what you need to focus on, what you
Speaker 3: need to be thinking about in your deals right now
Speaker 3: to set yourself up for an easier time you get
Speaker 3: closer to closing it, and what you need to do
Speaker 3: to make sure you're having productive negotiation conversations at the
Speaker 3: end of the sales process. And who better to join
Speaker 3: me for this conversation is our own Tim Cato.
Speaker 1: Hi, Tim, Hello, Rachel, Focus, thinking and now three my
Speaker 1: favorite topics.
Speaker 3: Awesome and I know there's many of you listening right
Speaker 3: now who are working deals in your pipeline. They look good.
Speaker 3: You want to make sure that you're doing everything you
Speaker 3: can to qualify the deal move it forward, and Tim's
Speaker 3: going to give you some tips to make sure you're
Speaker 3: setting yourself up for success at the end of the deal.
Speaker 3: So it's getting at kind of this negotiation topic a
Speaker 3: little bit of a different way. And we are able
Speaker 3: to negotiate great outcomes, great deals in our sales process
Speaker 3: when we understand the value we're providing and also the
Speaker 3: scope of the problem that we're trying to solve. So
Speaker 3: let's start there, Tim, what things do I need to
Speaker 3: be thinking thinking about so I have the information I
Speaker 3: need when I'm trying to get that final signature and
Speaker 3: everything's coming up right yep.
Speaker 1: Well, Rachel, not a new message for folks that have
Speaker 1: listened to our conversations before, But I'm a big believer,
Speaker 1: and start with the end in mind. Now you said
Speaker 1: something I want to edit slightly. For most of us,
Speaker 1: the end in mind is not the closed deal, right,
Speaker 1: that's a big milestone, But the end is what happens
Speaker 1: after that. And the reason that's really important mindset is
Speaker 1: start with the end in mind. What if the end
Speaker 1: is the customer achieves the success they were looking for
Speaker 1: when they started talking to us from the beginning, And
Speaker 1: why that's important is we can expand the negotiation to
Speaker 1: create more value for the customer, more value from us
Speaker 1: if we look beyond the close of the commitment, whether
Speaker 1: that's a deal, whether that's a subscription, whether it's a consumption,
Speaker 1: whatever the model is, looking at the endgame, there adds
Speaker 1: additional consideration. So one of the things I want to
Speaker 1: think about now is to shift the conversation potentially from
Speaker 1: what our solution might be, who the competitors are, what
Speaker 1: our differentiators are, price will come up at some point,
Speaker 1: and not forget about them what happens. So that's an
Speaker 1: important part of our conversation, and from a negotiation standpoint,
Speaker 1: that's expanding the potential solution, but also potentially our negotiating position.
Speaker 1: If our organization has a strong track record of successful
Speaker 1: not just implementation, to helping customers achieve their outcomes, that's
Speaker 1: an advantage for us. And I want to make sure
Speaker 1: that if we have all resources local to support them,
Speaker 1: we've got a structure that provides dedicated account management or
Speaker 1: ongoing support, or our training or our customer success team,
Speaker 1: if those are part of our differentiators, I definitely want
Speaker 1: to include that. So that's one aspect of starting with
Speaker 1: the end in mind. So the first one, let's think
Speaker 1: beyond the clothes, think to their success. I think the
Speaker 1: second thing we can focus on now and reverse engineer
Speaker 1: from the reality we want is to broaden our view
Speaker 1: and the customer's view of things. One of the things
Speaker 1: that I've said frequently Rachel is a little tongue in
Speaker 1: cheek thing. You know, fifty three percent of negotiating is selling,
Speaker 1: and then right after that value usually say people that
Speaker 1: quote percentages probably don't have any clue whether that's accurate
Speaker 1: or not. But the idea is pretty much the same,
Speaker 1: which is, there is a lot of negotiation utility in
Speaker 1: early to mid stage selling. And one of the biggest
Speaker 1: ones is our old friend attaching to the biggest problem.
Speaker 1: What is it that we are going to be trying
Speaker 1: to help the customer solve and make sure we're attaching
Speaker 1: it is probably because that brings a lot of benefits.
Speaker 1: Number One, it probably expands the size scope of the
Speaker 1: solution they will need. It very likely impacts more than
Speaker 1: the people we're talking to. So you know, I want
Speaker 1: to make sure I'm attaching the biggest problem. I also
Speaker 1: want to make sure I'm broadening my view not just
Speaker 1: of the people making the decision, but those that will
Speaker 1: be impacted by it. Is there someone let's say we're
Speaker 1: selling a technology solution. Is there someone in the user
Speaker 1: community that will be impacted by this decision? Is there
Speaker 1: some type of integration consideration that would have an impact
Speaker 1: on it that might not be part of the decision process.
Speaker 1: Does it have an impact on our sales team, the
Speaker 1: success team, the marketing team. And when I attach to
Speaker 1: the biggest problem, I not only broaden the customers understanding
Speaker 1: of what it takes to move from where they're at
Speaker 1: to where they want to be, but also it likely
Speaker 1: expands the influence structure. We call that usually the collective. Yes,
Speaker 1: who are the folks that could have an impact on
Speaker 1: the way the decision gets made? Several of whom we're
Speaker 1: focused on in the middle of that. But if you
Speaker 1: think of concentric rings, as we get to the outer
Speaker 1: edges of those rings, there are some very influential people
Speaker 1: that might not even know but decision is about to
Speaker 1: be made. That could impact them. So what could I
Speaker 1: focus on? Now, how do I change my thinking? Now
Speaker 1: I'm broadening that view of the problem. I'm broadening that
Speaker 1: view of the political landscape or the players that are involved,
Speaker 1: but also the players that could be impacted to make
Speaker 1: sure their interests are included in the scope of what
Speaker 1: we're proposing. And guess what, here's let's bring a couple
Speaker 1: dots together. They're the ones that are impacted long after
Speaker 1: the deal is signed and the customer starting to engage
Speaker 1: in implement So those things kind of come together. And
Speaker 1: when I think about those, then the last thing that
Speaker 1: comes into play is getting at those underlying interests of
Speaker 1: those folks to influence their view of their requirements or
Speaker 1: the decision criteria. So, you know, those are three things
Speaker 1: I like to focus on early. Now, last thing, while
Speaker 1: we're doing all that, let's not forget there's a lot
Speaker 1: of tactics flying early on. People that buy for a
Speaker 1: living don't wait till the end to use their tactics.
Speaker 1: They're throwing them at us all along, So recognizing what
Speaker 1: they are making us feel like we're vulnerable to a
Speaker 1: competitor or you know, our pricings outline or where we
Speaker 1: always try and sell to it. Whatever they say, take
Speaker 1: it into account. And what I've always found, Rachel, is
Speaker 1: if I am focused on their biggest problems and I'm
Speaker 1: leveraging the expertise that our organization brings to solving those
Speaker 1: problems and our track record, I've got a pretty good
Speaker 1: defense when I say this is the full scope and
Speaker 1: someone says, well, we don't need that much. Well, in
Speaker 1: our experience, you do, and let me tell you why.
Speaker 1: And I'm talking about other functional areas that I expanded
Speaker 1: the conversation to. If they tell us your too high priced,
Speaker 1: if I've done a good job, influencer requirements or decision
Speaker 1: criteria said yes, because we give you everything you need,
Speaker 1: others have to compromise and give you a discount because
Speaker 1: they can't give you everything we can. So it just
Speaker 1: starts building our negotiation position way early. All saying we
Speaker 1: say all the time, right, Rachel, begin the negotiation process
Speaker 1: before the other side believes we're negotiating. Well. A twist
Speaker 1: of that is make sure when you're in your sales
Speaker 1: process you have an eye towards where this is all
Speaker 1: going in the negotiation. And the good news is everything
Speaker 1: you do in selling to improve your competitiveness also improves
Speaker 1: your negotiating position towards the end.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it just gives you more to work with at
Speaker 3: the later stages of the deal. Now you brought a
Speaker 3: decision criteria required capabilities. I want to get to that
Speaker 3: in a second. We talked a lot about the problem
Speaker 3: you're solving, the pain, the implications, broading out that influence
Speaker 3: structure to see who cares about it and how you
Speaker 3: can align to those underlying interest but also in the discovery,
Speaker 3: i'd love you to and you hit a couple of these,
Speaker 3: but maybe we can just be a little bit more
Speaker 3: deliberate about the things that I'm listening for that's going
Speaker 3: to help me craft that final deal. And I know
Speaker 3: we've talked about anchors before in some other conversations and
Speaker 3: you always say to acknowledge them. And it made me
Speaker 3: thank Tim of a contract we were negotiating just a
Speaker 3: little bit ago where in the first call, the length
Speaker 3: of the contract came up and I was like, that's
Speaker 3: going to be a problem right from the get go,
Speaker 3: because I knew it would be. And guess what, weeks later,
Speaker 3: it was still the same problem. It just sort of
Speaker 3: like blew by it and then it ended up at
Speaker 3: the end being like the main point of negotiation. So
Speaker 3: I'd love to get your perspective on recognizing those other
Speaker 3: things to what you need to listen for to craft
Speaker 3: the final deal, because I think we know about influencers
Speaker 3: problems like that, there's those other things that can really
Speaker 3: help our deal if we're listening for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really good. And my guess is because that
Speaker 1: person didn't hear your comments early on, it ended up
Speaker 1: creating a lot of delay on the backside and a
Speaker 1: lot of work which nobody the thing. So that's a
Speaker 1: reason why. But let's back up. Let's talk in stages
Speaker 1: of our selling. Let's start early stage, Rachel. Let's say
Speaker 1: it's a it's a new customer, or it's someone we're
Speaker 1: expanding with. Early stage, I think a lot of what
Speaker 1: we should focus on to be listening for is all
Speaker 1: about that idea was talking about attaching to the biggest problem.
Speaker 1: What's the big problem. Let's help them define what it
Speaker 1: is to broaden their understanding of not just what the
Speaker 1: problem is. But Rachel, I'm always looking for what's the
Speaker 1: impact that that has, and so early stage discovery, I'm
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time in those really sophisticated follow
Speaker 1: up questions, why is that? Who? Besides will you would
Speaker 1: be impacted by that? When does that come into play?
Speaker 1: Tell me about what happens when you know. So, I'm
Speaker 1: spending a lot of time early stage. So what am
Speaker 1: I listening for? I'm listening for other functional groups that
Speaker 1: might be impacted upstream, downstream. I'm looking for any kind
Speaker 1: of quantification and also emotions. I'm going to ask questions
Speaker 1: early stage discovery to put them in the moment of
Speaker 1: the pain or the challenge. This is slowing down decision making. Okay,
Speaker 1: walk me through that right now. What happens when your
Speaker 1: team gets a request for data and someone wants to report,
Speaker 1: and it takes you seven days to get back to them.
Speaker 1: Seven days, all right, and you're doing all you can
Speaker 1: because you got data all over the place. You got
Speaker 1: to do things manually. What's the call you get at
Speaker 1: day five? What's the call? What's the conversation you have
Speaker 1: to have on day one when they put in the
Speaker 1: request and you're setting expectations for sevent days. What's their
Speaker 1: impression of your department? I like to, you know, really
Speaker 1: dig in there and expand their view of the problem.
Speaker 1: Now you use the word anchors, Rachel, early stage, mid stage,
Speaker 1: late stage. These are just the things that people say
Speaker 1: or do that impact the frame of reference for the
Speaker 1: sale or the negotiation. So early on, there's an offensive side,
Speaker 1: there's a defensive side. What do I mean by that offensive?
Speaker 1: What are the things I'm going to do to try
Speaker 1: and anchor additional considerations into the frame or reference for
Speaker 1: their view the problem? Who else is impacted by it
Speaker 1: when that occurs? What are the measurements? What are the
Speaker 1: metrics that tell you how bad it is when it occurs?
Speaker 1: What's the impact on their aparts, your business, your seven days?
Speaker 1: What does that do to the decision making? What does
Speaker 1: that do to product launch? What does that do to
Speaker 1: responsiveness the customer's on I'm expanding that. That's I'll call
Speaker 1: call that, you know, a way that I add anchors
Speaker 1: to the process. When I sat offensive, I didn't mean
Speaker 1: make them mad. I meant you're doing something there. But
Speaker 1: you got to be mindful for the anchors that are
Speaker 1: coming at you, someone like you, Rachel, that says your
Speaker 1: contract is way too long and it's going to be problematic. Now,
Speaker 1: in some cases those are real We got to pay
Speaker 1: attention to them, right, and other cases is just what
Speaker 1: they do. Your competitors are, they're way ahead of you
Speaker 1: on this. Hmm. I got three competitors. This one's ahead
Speaker 1: on A, this one's ahead on B, this one's ahead
Speaker 1: on C. But none of them do ABC like we do.
Speaker 1: So I could fall victim to that anchor. Defensively, I
Speaker 1: got to recognize what those are. So yeah, early on
Speaker 1: it's focused on the business. I'm trying to expand their
Speaker 1: view of the impact. I'm mindful of the anchors they're
Speaker 1: aiming at me that I either have to take into
Speaker 1: account or I gotta not let them become the kind
Speaker 1: of things that influence the discussion. Now in the middle,
Speaker 1: what am I trying to do there? I'm listening for
Speaker 1: anything that sounds like a requirement or decision criteria, and
Speaker 1: when I hear it, Rachel, this is a big one.
Speaker 1: I have to resist the urge. You know, they say, oh,
Speaker 1: we need pre built integrations right or we need you know,
Speaker 1: pull visibility to shipping up and through the supply. Whatever
Speaker 1: they say. I got to resist there to say, ooh,
Speaker 1: let me show you what we have that does that.
Speaker 1: This is a moment right. What I need to say
Speaker 1: is that's it sounds like it's going to be one
Speaker 1: of your requirements or decision criteria. May I add that
Speaker 1: to the list. What I don't want to do, Rachel,
Speaker 1: is get pulled into a product or feature benefit discussion prematurely.
Speaker 1: When I'm going to do mid stage, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: broaden the view of the requirements of the decision criteria,
Speaker 1: and anytime a new one comes in, I'm just going
Speaker 1: to add it to the list. So what am I
Speaker 1: trying to do mid stage? I am trying to create
Speaker 1: a written, confirmed, and prioritize list of requirements. That's what
Speaker 1: I'm focused. I guess what when I do that, that's anchoring,
Speaker 1: But think about what that does from a negotiation position
Speaker 1: later on, when someone tells me, you know, you're too
Speaker 1: high price compared to your competitor, I'm in a much
Speaker 1: stronger position later on if I've been doing that early
Speaker 1: and making sure that that list of requirements or decision
Speaker 1: criteria reflects the interests of those people I've been broadening
Speaker 1: the conversation with as well. So all this varies depending
Speaker 1: on the complexity of the opportunity and the political and
Speaker 1: competitive landscapes. But I'm not waiting to the end to
Speaker 1: figure out what kind of negotiation position. Man, I'm starting
Speaker 1: it from the very beginning, and I'm very purposeful. Early on,
Speaker 1: I'm anchoring on the business problem, and then i start
Speaker 1: moving towards the requirements to fix it, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to try and influence those. Not a mind trick, right,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to influence because we know from our experience
Speaker 1: there's things you got to have to address that problem customer.
Speaker 1: But I also know from experience some of those things
Speaker 1: align with my differentiators, and the more I embed them
Speaker 1: in the decision criteria, the stronger my sales position, the
Speaker 1: stronger my competitive position, and the stronger my negotiation position.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and on those required capabilities, it's almost the way
Speaker 3: you're talking. We're gathering all this information, right, so we
Speaker 3: have a pull of value of which the position our
Speaker 3: solution around, and those required capabilities also come into play
Speaker 3: as you craft your strategy, like from multiple options.
Speaker 1: Perhaps absolutely you know. Again, imagine now I'm mid to
Speaker 1: late stage, and now I'm starting to formulate, you know,
Speaker 1: what's our recommendation going to be to the customer. And
Speaker 1: I'm certainly ninety percent focus on what will take for
Speaker 1: them to move from where they're at to where they
Speaker 1: want to be on that problem. But there's a part
Speaker 1: of me that says, if I do that, you know
Speaker 1: I can also be influencing those decision criteria require capabilities
Speaker 1: in a way that creates advantage for us over the competition.
Speaker 1: So yes, where I said written, confirmed, and prioritize, the
Speaker 1: prioritize one comes into play too. Let's say the customer's
Speaker 1: got seven decision criteria. Rachel and I helped influence their
Speaker 1: view of three of them why it'll help them, But
Speaker 1: they also happen to represent three decision criteria require capabilities
Speaker 1: that I know I got a differentiator that satisfies. So
Speaker 1: guess what the higher on their prioritized list of requirements?
Speaker 1: The three are that match my differentiator, The stronger my
Speaker 1: competitive position, the stronger my negotiating position. Because ultimately, now
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about the end known as finalizing
Speaker 1: the contract the deal. Okay, we all know that part
Speaker 1: that that part's important. I didn't mean to downplay that,
Speaker 1: But imagine when we're getting ready to shape our recommendation,
Speaker 1: Rachel'll say, I round multiple options. We could use the
Speaker 1: three magic words. And I don't know why these are
Speaker 1: so mysterious to selling organizations. They are because we don't
Speaker 1: think about our offer, our negotiating position at the end.
Speaker 1: But think of these three magic words. Customer, you you
Speaker 1: told me, you told me to move from where you
Speaker 1: at to want to be on this problem. You told
Speaker 1: me there are seven requirements. No matter who you go with,
Speaker 1: there are seven. And you told me this is the
Speaker 1: rank order of those. And by the way, we've confirmed
Speaker 1: that across multiple folks inside your organization. And now let
Speaker 1: me tell you how we do each one of those
Speaker 1: and how we do it better. And when I'm trying
Speaker 1: to do at that point, Rachel, I'm trying to demonstrate
Speaker 1: I'm the best fit for what's going on. But it's
Speaker 1: not my pitch. It's not the deck someone gave me
Speaker 1: to send, and it's not the demo. I'm going back
Speaker 1: to the customer. I was listening to you, right, and
Speaker 1: we spent our time up front, and you told me
Speaker 1: so that when the customer says, well, I don't think
Speaker 1: we need this one thing interesting because the people over
Speaker 1: here in product side they said that was critical. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess maybe it is. But you know this is
Speaker 1: too high price. Can't we get rid of some of
Speaker 1: the services? Well? Interesting, but the end user community, they
Speaker 1: said they need an ongoing support and training and they
Speaker 1: needed some thought leadership from time to time out in
Speaker 1: the future. Yeah, yeah, I guess we need that too.
Speaker 1: See the different position I'm in. I'm not going back
Speaker 1: to hey customer, this is what we think it's Hey customer,
Speaker 1: you told me that is maybe the most powerful position
Speaker 1: from a negotiation standpoint. I'm just aligning with what you
Speaker 1: asked for. And if they're going to ask for some
Speaker 1: things I can't meet in an ideal world, Rachel, I've
Speaker 1: covered all that stuff up front, you know. Now sometimes
Speaker 1: they throw a new one at us. Yeah, all this
Speaker 1: is good, tim but your price is still too high. Okay,
Speaker 1: Now we can have the conversation at this point be
Speaker 1: about my price, Rachel, or we can make it about
Speaker 1: their list of requirements. And I was shifted back to requirements.
Speaker 1: Now this is where multiple options come in. Maybe I'm
Speaker 1: anticipating this, so maybe one of my options is full scope,
Speaker 1: long term roadmap, get everything done, and it's probably got
Speaker 1: a pricing or cost consideration that plays out over two
Speaker 1: or three years. There's some benefit to them in that.
Speaker 1: But that's what one option is. Maybe the other option
Speaker 1: is focused on first step of the roadmap, first step
Speaker 1: of the journey, and that's a little bit tighter condensed.
Speaker 1: It still will put us on the roadmap to the future,
Speaker 1: but there's no commitment to the future. Maybe it's just
Speaker 1: about this first thing, and that's got a different price point.
Speaker 1: So when I get pressure on pricing or competitive position
Speaker 1: and someone says I want that one but it's too
Speaker 1: high priced, Well you told me those were the interest
Speaker 1: you have, right, yes, yes, yes, Well to get to
Speaker 1: a different price, what part of that do you want
Speaker 1: to let go of? What do you want to compromise?
Speaker 1: Can you put something in that will make it worthwhile
Speaker 1: for us to change our price go from a two
Speaker 1: year roadmap to a five year roadmap. We might be
Speaker 1: willing to change somewhere pricing. No, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1: In fact, I'm not even sure that full scope is right. Well,
Speaker 1: that's why I showed you this other one, this is
Speaker 1: to get started version, And how does that work? You
Speaker 1: told me these were your meetia needs, and that's what
Speaker 1: this one does. In addition, it puts you on the
Speaker 1: path to the roadmap. It just doesn't guarantee that you're
Speaker 1: going to take the next step. We understood that, and
Speaker 1: that's why we put it this way. So I guess
Speaker 1: long winded way of saying, Rachel, I want to from
Speaker 1: the beginning to the end, let them know I was
Speaker 1: listening to them, let them know I'm being consultative, and
Speaker 1: help them better understand their big problem, the impact back
Speaker 1: to their organization, not just outcomes, but also other parts
Speaker 1: of the organization. I'm guiding their thinking in determining their
Speaker 1: requirements to move from where they're at to where they
Speaker 1: want to be. I have been anchoring things that put
Speaker 1: us in a better position that also help them get
Speaker 1: a better outcome. And then at the end, what it's
Speaker 1: time to make a recommendation. I still have all that
Speaker 1: in my mind, and I say, hey, based on what
Speaker 1: you told me, I see two approaches. This one which
Speaker 1: is long term, this one is immediate first steps you
Speaker 1: told me, and you know that's the sort I'll always
Speaker 1: fall back on. I don't know if we're allowed to
Speaker 1: say that anymore. That's a little ikky, but I mean
Speaker 1: it's the point is, if there's a stance I'm going
Speaker 1: to take. I'm going to take it on what they
Speaker 1: told me. Now, I've been influencing that from the very beginning.
Speaker 1: In an ideal world, Rachel, I have found that that
Speaker 1: puts us in the strongest position to win. It puts
Speaker 1: us in the strongest competitive position. It puts us in
Speaker 1: a very strong negotiation position. But more than anything else,
Speaker 1: this in a great position to help this customer address
Speaker 1: the media need and earn the right for that ongoing
Speaker 1: business because we've taught them a different way. And man,
Speaker 1: it's one thing to go through that sequence. I just
Speaker 1: walked through the first time, but Rachel, imagine the second,
Speaker 1: the third, the fourth. The customers learned from that, and
Speaker 1: they might start off by saying, hey, Tim, you know
Speaker 1: Rachel says, hey, vendor, here's the thing. Here are five
Speaker 1: different interests I have. One of them is the length
Speaker 1: of the contract. We got to find a better way
Speaker 1: to do that. But here are a few other things
Speaker 1: that I need to have the conversation on all of
Speaker 1: a sudden step one is much broader than it's ever
Speaker 1: been before. So I have a mind towards I'm not
Speaker 1: in this to close one deal. I want to form
Speaker 1: a relationship and the best way to do that is
Speaker 1: not only based on the solution we create, but the
Speaker 1: way we sell and engage with them at every step
Speaker 1: of the way, including after they make their commitment. Is
Speaker 1: there anything else.
Speaker 3: When you were talking One of the things that I
Speaker 3: know we have mentioned before that is helpful and we
Speaker 3: call it kind of the what we heard slide, but
Speaker 3: having some sort of a tool that you are using
Speaker 3: to remind the customer of what they've said earlier in
Speaker 3: the process of what they have told you right. So
Speaker 3: we have this like one source of the truth that
Speaker 3: reminds them of the required capabilities the problems are solving
Speaker 3: before scenario after scenario, So you can use it when
Speaker 3: you want to say, you told me right, and they're
Speaker 3: familiar with seeing it. And that's so you're not always
Speaker 3: just pulling this stuff out of whatever pre call plan
Speaker 3: or you.
Speaker 1: Have or yeah, and there's two reasons for that, you
Speaker 1: said it, Rachel. Sometimes some of the folks that are
Speaker 1: listening to this, sometimes your sales process is three months,
Speaker 1: six months, you know, there's some we do with it
Speaker 1: are over a year, and it's not uncommon for people
Speaker 1: to lose sight of what they mentioned early on. Here's
Speaker 1: the bigger reason, Rachel, the more complex the buyer's environment. Right,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people involved, and odds are really
Speaker 1: really strong that they don't talk to each other that much, right,
Speaker 1: and so they live in their own silos. And I've
Speaker 1: always considered that an opportunity for a seller. What if
Speaker 1: you were the one that brought together the thread that
Speaker 1: stitched all those different interests together, and you, as the seller,
Speaker 1: are the only one that has the holistic view. Talk
Speaker 1: about becoming the best friend of the procurement person. You've
Speaker 1: done their work for them. But it's not uncommon at
Speaker 1: the end for just a handful of people to be
Speaker 1: involved in that. And so when we do that summer,
Speaker 1: like you talked about, Hey, here's what we heard was
Speaker 1: going on early on, Here's what you said you wanted
Speaker 1: to achieve from an outcome standpoint. We discussed these requirements
Speaker 1: that you told me, you meaning your organization, and I
Speaker 1: got to be ready to defend well, who said that one?
Speaker 1: Who said that one? Well, that was marketing, that was it,
Speaker 1: that was product, that was customer success. I've got to
Speaker 1: help them see there's more to this than just the
Speaker 1: technical issue you were thinking about, Right, And when I
Speaker 1: do that, That just like sets up the rest of
Speaker 1: the relationship in addition to this moment. So you're right,
Speaker 1: they don't always remember what they said early stage. They
Speaker 1: don't always acknowledge what others might want to have as
Speaker 1: an outcome. But what a strong position. You didn't tell
Speaker 1: me what your colleague told me same and maybe better result.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're probably gathering all that information in Salesforce
Speaker 3: or whatever CRM you're using, and it's out there, but
Speaker 3: really think about how you are positioning it for the customer, Like,
Speaker 3: what is the external version of all that information that
Speaker 3: you can use to help your customer?
Speaker 1: Well, on another bit of utility on that. If I
Speaker 1: do that for myself, guess who else I could put
Speaker 1: that in the hands of my champion. Yeah, my champion
Speaker 1: can run around when I'm not there. So yeah. People
Speaker 1: always say, Rachel, you know one of the things about
Speaker 1: a champion they sell on our behalf. Yes, yes, What
Speaker 1: I always want to know is what have we done
Speaker 1: to prepare our champion to sell on our behalf? We
Speaker 1: always talk about testing our champion. We forget they test
Speaker 1: us too. They don't give their internal credibility away lightly.
Speaker 1: And when we organize things that way, and we've predisposed
Speaker 1: all the different parts of the organization, and we've helped
Speaker 1: arm them with a confirmed, prioritize written list of the
Speaker 1: requirements that reflect cross functional insight, a lot of which
Speaker 1: they probably helped give us. Man, they're feeling confident that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to go forward to talk about
Speaker 1: this problem on behalf of so and so because they've
Speaker 1: done their work. I'm not going to present something that
Speaker 1: somebody down the line is gonna say that's total garbage. Man,
Speaker 1: it doesn't do anything about our problem. What they know
Speaker 1: from us is we've got their back and this is
Speaker 1: a good, solid recommendation, and we've probably vetted it with
Speaker 1: them all along. So these are gifts that just keep
Speaker 1: on giving. And the more complex the situation is, the
Speaker 1: better it is. And I'm going to count on the
Speaker 1: fact of a few things cross functionally. My customers organization
Speaker 1: isn't totally aligned. I can help with that. What I'm
Speaker 1: going to also count on my competitors. Champions probably are
Speaker 1: not going to be prepared the way my champion is,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to enable my champion to look like
Speaker 1: they got the smartest, best plan in the world. They
Speaker 1: help create it. They are feel good about the insights
Speaker 1: we're creating, and they'll go push it forward. And ultimately
Speaker 1: all that adds up to we look like the best
Speaker 1: fit possible to the economic buyer.
Speaker 3: That's it, Tim Cato got that mic. Thank you, Tim.
Speaker 1: Hey, it's always fun. Uh. You know, if only I
Speaker 1: cared about this stuff, Rachel. But I think there's so
Speaker 1: many opportunities for folks to be aware of what they're
Speaker 1: thinking about. What's their focus right now?
Speaker 3: Right now? All right, Well he told you everybody listening.
Speaker 3: Remember you told me today in your customer conversations, and
Speaker 3: thank you for listening to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast.
Speaker 4: At Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into
Speaker 4: elite teams. Our proven methodologies deliver programs that build company
Speaker 4: alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the
Speaker 4: ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale.
Speaker 4: Our strength is our experience. The proof is in our results.
Speaker 4: Let's get started. Visit us at forcemanagement dot com.
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Speaker 2: podcast player. Until next time.
Speaker 1: M