Speaker 1: Why would we allow ourselves to get stuck talking to one, two,
Speaker 1: or maybe three people and not making it our mission
Speaker 1: or goal to expand and connect with as many people
Speaker 1: as possible.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the audible Ready Podcast, the show that
Speaker 2: helps you and your teams sell more faster. We'll 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 of 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 Klett Miller and joining me today is our own
Speaker 3: Antonella Oday. Hi Antonella.
Speaker 1: Hi Rachel, so glad to be back.
Speaker 3: I know we're happy to have you back. And this
Speaker 3: is a really timely and important topic. We're going to
Speaker 3: talk about trying to create that consensus in a customer account.
Speaker 3: And I know that you know to be true, Antonello,
Speaker 3: when budgets are tight and there's more scrutiny, the more
Speaker 3: people you have on your side, the more likely you're
Speaker 3: going to be able to close that deal. And we
Speaker 3: often we use a couple terms when it's collective, Yes,
Speaker 3: and the other one is getting multi threaded in the account.
Speaker 3: So I want to just level set and start with
Speaker 3: what we mean by that. What does it mean to
Speaker 3: truly be multi threaded? So how about we start there?
Speaker 1: Sounds great. When I think about multi threading, I define
Speaker 1: it as the level of breath and depth that we
Speaker 1: have within an account. And when I say breath, I'm
Speaker 1: referring to the number of people involved in an opportunity
Speaker 1: that have a say or way into what the solution
Speaker 1: is going to be. And depending on what you're selling,
Speaker 1: whether you're selling commercial or an enterprise sphase or the
Speaker 1: public sector, when we really think about it, there could
Speaker 1: be five, ten, fifteen, twenty people that need to be aligned,
Speaker 1: or at least they need to be aligned to move forward.
Speaker 1: And if we know that there are that many people involved,
Speaker 1: why would we allow ourselves to get stuck talking to one, two,
Speaker 1: or maybe three people and not making it our mission
Speaker 1: or goal to expand and connect with as many people
Speaker 1: as possible. But it happens more times than it should.
Speaker 1: So whether it's the fear of asking, or you're concerned
Speaker 1: of disrupting the Apple card, or we get comfortable with
Speaker 1: a couple of stakeholders. We in essence, are putting ourselves
Speaker 1: in a huge disadvantage right from the start because we
Speaker 1: know that there are stakeholders that are part of the
Speaker 1: process that have a point of view, and we have
Speaker 1: no line of sight into that. When I say depth,
Speaker 1: it really means understanding the problems and the goals from
Speaker 1: each individual stakeholder perspective, and then connecting the dots to
Speaker 1: a bigger, overall initiative. Because getting in front of them
Speaker 1: is just part of the battle. They need to believe
Speaker 1: that you understand them, that you can actually help them.
Speaker 1: So it's about getting that data from each and every stakeholder,
Speaker 1: analyzing whether you can or can't help them solve their problems,
Speaker 1: and then helping them all connect to a bigger initiative
Speaker 1: they can all agree on. And when I think about this,
Speaker 1: I think about it in terms of like an analogy
Speaker 1: I'll kind of use to explain this. I live in
Speaker 1: North Carolina, so NASCAR is really popular here. It's like
Speaker 1: running a NASCAR pit crew trying to win a race.
Speaker 1: You could have the best possible driver, and I relate
Speaker 1: the correlate the driver to a champion. In the deal,
Speaker 1: you can have a strong champion. But if everybody else
Speaker 1: is not in sync, the pit crew, the tire changers,
Speaker 1: the fuel guy, the jackman, the crew chiet, there's zero
Speaker 1: chants are going to finish first. Every stakeholder in the
Speaker 1: deal is like a member of the pit crew. They
Speaker 1: all have roles, they all have a point of view.
Speaker 1: If one of those key players is misaligned, the deal
Speaker 1: slows down, or maybe it never like maybe falls off
Speaker 1: track and it never gets back on track, and therefore
Speaker 1: and you can't win the race. Right, knowing this is
Speaker 1: the case, why would we want to try to win
Speaker 1: a race relying on only a couple of people and
Speaker 1: what's important to them. Winning closing deals, it takes coordination,
Speaker 1: It takes timing, it takes strategy, it takes trust, and
Speaker 1: it takes getting alignment across the whole entire crew. No
Speaker 1: multi threading means no real alignment and means no deal.
Speaker 3: No deal, no check or flag. There you go. We
Speaker 3: Actually I want to give a quick shout out to
Speaker 3: a podcast I just did with John that is about
Speaker 3: getting people to introduce you to other people on account
Speaker 3: like just that nuance of like how do you get
Speaker 3: the ind how do you get those conversations going, and
Speaker 3: you mentioned the hesitancy to ask for them. Be sure
Speaker 3: to check out that podcast. I've linked it in the
Speaker 3: show notes, so breadth and depth, and we talk a
Speaker 3: lot about what you just kind of went through antonella
Speaker 3: of really like understanding the points of view of the
Speaker 3: variety of stakeholders in the deal once you get that connection,
Speaker 3: like really seeing what their point of view is. But
Speaker 3: we don't talk as much about getting them to agree
Speaker 3: on your solution. Right, that's a lot of people. You
Speaker 3: got to get on the bus and align with what
Speaker 3: you need. And in our conversations we can often uncover
Speaker 3: some internal conflict that you need to come in and
Speaker 3: almost correct. So how do you what tips do you
Speaker 3: have for helping to drive that collective agreement?
Speaker 1: Your question is kind of timely because I'm actually in
Speaker 1: the process of trying to figure out with my extended family,
Speaker 1: like planning a big family vacation. And you can imagine,
Speaker 1: like everybody's got an agenda, everybody's got like I'd rather
Speaker 1: do this than that, and you put something good on
Speaker 1: the table, somebody's gonna have an issue with the details.
Speaker 1: And so I think about like those types of scenarios
Speaker 1: it's not always Alignment doesn't always mean getting everyone to
Speaker 1: agree something. People in that process need to just concede
Speaker 1: and be willing to come along for the ride. So
Speaker 1: when I think about in our world, how do we
Speaker 1: make this happen? Few things that really stand out, like
Speaker 1: Number one, As somebody in a customer facing role, I
Speaker 1: would charge the political landscape like a roadmap, like who
Speaker 1: are the players? Who has influenced, who doesn't, who's got
Speaker 1: who's ear who likes who? Who is you know, focused
Speaker 1: on costs, who's focused on? More of the technical aspects
Speaker 1: like understanding, like the dynamics of the people involved. I
Speaker 1: think has to be the starting point. If you don't
Speaker 1: understand who you are working with and what's important to them,
Speaker 1: you're just going to be spinning your wheels like pitching
Speaker 1: stuff the whole entire time. Like you really need to
Speaker 1: understand how those dynamics play out. Once you do understand
Speaker 1: those dynamics, be a facilitator. You're not the boss in
Speaker 1: those scenarios, right, We're not, But we can facilitate, And
Speaker 1: so we know that we need to be multi lingual
Speaker 1: in every single opportunity. So if I'm talking to certain stakeholders.
Speaker 1: I need to know that when I talk to them
Speaker 1: it's about cost savings. I might talk to somebody else
Speaker 1: it could be about like making their everyday job easier. Right,
Speaker 1: So I have to hear what each stakeholder is saying
Speaker 1: and understand what matters to them and talk in their language,
Speaker 1: and then I can set up either one on one
Speaker 1: conversations or smaller groups where maybe I'm bridging gap and
Speaker 1: making sure that I'm getting certain people aligned. Like if
Speaker 1: I have a tech team that's really hung up on
Speaker 1: certain speeds and feeds, like I need to get them
Speaker 1: and maybe a separate conversation and connect them to the
Speaker 1: bigger overall initiative. But like I need to understand what
Speaker 1: matters to who and just be a facilitator to try
Speaker 1: to gather those people to a yes. I'll also say,
Speaker 1: you need to have a really effective influencer. And I
Speaker 1: know very often we refer to this person as a champion,
Speaker 1: and a lot of the times they are hopefully in
Speaker 1: our case, but sometimes we can find people who just
Speaker 1: know like the dynamics really well, who really is kind
Speaker 1: of seen as the go to persons. They have tremendous credibility,
Speaker 1: They care about the outcome and they're willing to help you.
Speaker 1: Get them on board. If you find this person, develop
Speaker 1: them into a champion whenever possible, and give them what
Speaker 1: they need to really make the impact, whether it's a
Speaker 1: one pager or like a script of sorts, give them
Speaker 1: what they need to pitch your case internally. I remember
Speaker 1: seeing like a REP who was coaching like a mid
Speaker 1: level manager to like really stand out in an upcoming meeting.
Speaker 1: And it was that individual who got that VP as
Speaker 1: well as the IT team to stop like fighting over
Speaker 1: certain things by just getting them like focus on like
Speaker 1: one big issue that they're trying to solve as a whole.
Speaker 1: And so those people could be critical because so much
Speaker 1: is happening behind the scenes that were not privy to.
Speaker 1: So you need that influencer internally to help you out.
Speaker 1: And then I'll say last thing, like try to keep
Speaker 1: the trade on the tracks as best as possible, Like
Speaker 1: it's very easy for a deal to stall over the
Speaker 1: most ridiculous things like what a solution can or cannot do,
Speaker 1: like keep people focus on the overall initiative versus like
Speaker 1: little things that could be very easily like end up
Speaker 1: being blockers or can detract from what the overall goal is.
Speaker 1: Just keep taking people back to the overall problem that
Speaker 1: you're solving versus like all the mini problems that you're
Speaker 1: trying to solve for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, those are some great tips there, and there's really
Speaker 3: understanding what the needs of the person, but then also
Speaker 3: making sure your message is tailored to that. I'll just
Speaker 3: this was happening this morning for those of you listening.
Speaker 3: We typically force management when we're marketing or selling, we
Speaker 3: sell to that chief revenue officer persona like the sales leader,
Speaker 3: maybe the COEO, but just really that sales persona. And
Speaker 3: we just launched this campaign and we had some great
Speaker 3: companies and some great sea level executives, but who came
Speaker 3: back with was CMOS Chief Marketing Officers. CIOs was like,
Speaker 3: who are these personas? We're still trying to figure out
Speaker 3: what resonated with them with a campaign and you know,
Speaker 3: we had our sequence and our teed up to follow
Speaker 3: up with them and it was all ready to go,
Speaker 3: and we had to turn it off because I was like,
Speaker 3: these messages do not hit what these people care about
Speaker 3: at all, like that, it's just not the same interest.
Speaker 3: So we have to rework the whole thing, and it's
Speaker 3: the same thing what you're talking about here in those conversations.
Speaker 3: And I love the tip you talked about of equipping
Speaker 3: them to do an internal cell right, give them the
Speaker 3: one sheet, give them the walk around deck aligned to
Speaker 3: what they need. The slides that the CIO might need
Speaker 3: are different than the CFO, and you've got to make
Speaker 3: sure you're tailoring your message appropriately you and your assets
Speaker 3: as well. I think you kind of hit on this
Speaker 3: a little bit, but I wanted to bring it up again,
Speaker 3: maybe hit it at a different angle, because you're saying
Speaker 3: like deals can stall for like the simplest of reasons,
Speaker 3: and when you're trying to get people to agree, you
Speaker 3: might uncover some internal conflict.
Speaker 4: That you don't want to be in, right. You don't
Speaker 4: want to get in the weeds of why people don't agree.
Speaker 4: So it's really important to focus on the business issues
Speaker 4: in case there's some other stuff going on. How do
Speaker 4: you manage that? As an outside person?
Speaker 1: I think you know we have the ability to get
Speaker 1: the team focus on the big outcome, as I mentioned before,
Speaker 1: and one of the ways we can do that is
Speaker 1: to kick off every customer interaction and reset everyone on
Speaker 1: what that big issue is that you're attempting to solve,
Speaker 1: So not getting into what everyone's little weeds are, but really,
Speaker 1: like that big tree like that's planted in the ground,
Speaker 1: this is the purpose of this meeting. This is what
Speaker 1: we're trying to resolve. Because if you can get everybody
Speaker 1: to agree with that, it's much easier to get the
Speaker 1: smaller things taken care of. One of the things that
Speaker 1: I notice is sometimes we assume that because we've heard
Speaker 1: it before, that they'll remember it. Or I don't want
Speaker 1: to be redundant in my meetings, and so I don't
Speaker 1: want to start off with the same like here's the purpose,
Speaker 1: Like here's what we're trying to resolve, because at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, it is something everybody can rally around,
Speaker 1: and so you're trying to get everybody aligne. You need
Speaker 1: something that you can rally everyone around. So if you
Speaker 1: want to talk about things like, oh, reducing costs by
Speaker 1: twenty percent or increasing arr right, I remember a rep
Speaker 1: that worked with me stop like a tech debate by asking, Okay,
Speaker 1: well how much are you losing when you actually get
Speaker 1: those orders stuck? Like taking it back to what's most
Speaker 1: important in terms of the overall initiative, like we're losing
Speaker 1: money here. That's not something that we're trying to accomplish.
Speaker 1: So it focused the conversation back on revenue and revenue generation,
Speaker 1: and it squashed the whole conversation around technology. So when
Speaker 1: you're in these conversations, reset right around the big topic
Speaker 1: and then use examples to steal that opportunity. Share quick wins,
Speaker 1: how other companies use your solution to drive that revenue
Speaker 1: or reduce the cost. People tend to really latch onto stories,
Speaker 1: they don't match onto speeds, and so if those technical
Speaker 1: questions are those weeds start to creep in, tie it
Speaker 1: back to impact. Always point to the prize right, increasing revenue,
Speaker 1: reducing costs, mitigating risk. Last, let the business leader drive
Speaker 1: the conversation. If the economic buyer or the champion right,
Speaker 1: people who are all about results can start the conversation.
Speaker 1: They tend to set the tone when they're upfront and
Speaker 1: speaking aligned with you. Tech folks have a tendency of
Speaker 1: toning it down in those types of meetings, and so
Speaker 1: it's much easier to focus on the goals of the
Speaker 1: business versus some of the weeds that might present themselves
Speaker 1: normally during the sales cycle.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think the other things you remember too.
Speaker 3: If there is a conflict, right, if you're in the
Speaker 3: weeds or and you know about it, right, you're doing
Speaker 3: a good job of penetrating the account as opposed to
Speaker 3: not even knowing it's going on. And I know that
Speaker 3: champion is always an asset. How do you use your
Speaker 3: champion in this specific inst I.
Speaker 1: Would say they probably help in three really big ways.
Speaker 1: They obviously can let you know what's happening behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: so you can strategize. Maybe you have a CFO who's
Speaker 1: worried about costs while you have you know, people on
Speaker 1: the ops team who are more concerned about change. They
Speaker 1: can give you the explanation of maybe why certain parties
Speaker 1: are in conflict, what's happening, what's driving it. I remember
Speaker 1: one time I had a seller who's champion let them
Speaker 1: know that the CFO was blocking the opportunity, not over
Speaker 1: the numbers, but over a personal grudge, so that intel
Speaker 1: allowed them to strategize and pivot to address, you know,
Speaker 1: the real issue, and help getting those people on the
Speaker 1: same page. The second thing I would say is leverage
Speaker 1: your champion to rally the team. They've got skin in
Speaker 1: the game, they've got credibility that's on the line. They
Speaker 1: can obviously took up your solution inside, so you leverage
Speaker 1: them as much as possible, give them the tools to
Speaker 1: crush it internally when you're not there, they'll make your case.
Speaker 1: I've seen many champions like take reps ROI or their
Speaker 1: pitch deck and really leverage those types of things to
Speaker 1: gain alignment from teams that they don't typically play with
Speaker 1: often like finance or IT and just using them to
Speaker 1: be the voice of reason and also connection and alignment internally.
Speaker 1: And then I'll say the last thing is use them
Speaker 1: to bridge the gaps. Conflict is inevitable sometimes and very
Speaker 1: often it comes from people not really listening to each
Speaker 1: other internally, so they very often can be the glue
Speaker 1: that you need to pull people together. So if they
Speaker 1: have the ability to put potentially huddle certain groups up
Speaker 1: or giving you inside of what else other teams might need,
Speaker 1: you can resolve some of those conflicts internally. And once
Speaker 1: you have somebody internally to run interference when you're not there,
Speaker 1: it really can help become a win not only for
Speaker 1: you but also for them internally, and really to demonstrate
Speaker 1: how they can shine and be a value to the
Speaker 1: organization all and all, Like you want to treat your
Speaker 1: champion like a partner, keep them in the loop, ask
Speaker 1: their advice, make them look good. If they are shining internally,
Speaker 1: they'll work harder to help you settle any conflict and
Speaker 1: make sure that your deal gets through.
Speaker 3: Great tips about the champion their internel Are there any
Speaker 3: key things you want people to walk away with from
Speaker 3: this podcast that you want to share before we wrap up?
Speaker 1: I would say, like the best starting point here is
Speaker 1: just trying to challenge yourself to continuously go deeper and wider.
Speaker 1: I'll share one quick best practice and I'll leave that
Speaker 1: out like my tip. I was talking to a seller
Speaker 1: once who said, like her goal is in every meeting
Speaker 1: there is one new stakeholder that's involved, Like that's her goal,
Speaker 1: and so each and every meeting she asks for an
Speaker 1: introduction or that somebody else gets drafted in, and it
Speaker 1: says she was saying, like it helps keep her grounded
Speaker 1: in the importance of trying to interact, engage and understand
Speaker 1: what each stakeholders investment is and what in it for them,
Speaker 1: And it just has helped her close more deals, bigger
Speaker 1: deals because she's able to better align the greater group
Speaker 1: around her solutions.
Speaker 3: That's awesome. Thank you so much, Antonella. Thanks for having me, Rachel,
Speaker 3: great goals to have for your sales conversations this week.
Speaker 3: Thank you to all of you for listening to the
Speaker 3: Audible Ready Sales podcast.
Speaker 5: At Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into
Speaker 5: elite teams. Our proven methodologies deliver programs that build company
Speaker 5: alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the
Speaker 5: ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale.
Speaker 5: Our strength is our experience. The proof is in our results.
Speaker 5: Let's get started. Visit us at forcemanagement dot com.
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