Speaker 1: Buyers are going to change, needs are going to change,
Speaker 1: and that's all part of selling. Your ability to be
Speaker 1: audible ready or prepared for when those changes come will
Speaker 1: help you control the deal.
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 at Force Management, a leader in
Speaker 2: B to B sales effectiveness.
Speaker 1: Let's get started.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel Klep
Speaker 3: Miller here with John Kaplan. Hi John, him Rachel. So
Speaker 3: today we are going to talk about controlling your deal,
Speaker 3: a topic that is often difficult to master. We all
Speaker 3: know what it feels like when we are in control
Speaker 3: of an opportunity. But John, when we talk about controlling
Speaker 3: your deal, what does that mean? What comes to mind
Speaker 3: when I say that?
Speaker 1: The first thing that comes to my mind is it's
Speaker 1: really all about qualification in control. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about I'm doing everything that I can at
Speaker 1: each moment to ensure that this opportunity is qualified and
Speaker 1: moving forward with urgency. So I know there's a lot
Speaker 1: of words in there, but that's the definition I'd like
Speaker 1: to use as we go through the rest of this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and when we say control, we aren't talking about
Speaker 3: just pushing the deal through. We're still talking about aligning
Speaker 3: to your buyer's needs and how they buy. We just
Speaker 3: want you to be in a situation where you're being proactive,
Speaker 3: not reactive, doing those great things that John just mentioned.
Speaker 3: So let's talk through some things that may happen to
Speaker 3: take you out of control, to show you are in control,
Speaker 3: and how you might counteract them. John, what do you
Speaker 3: do when a buyer already assumes they know what you do,
Speaker 3: and perhaps it isn't right, they feel like they know
Speaker 3: everything about you. That is an example of when you
Speaker 3: might not be in control the conversation of the opportunity.
Speaker 3: How do you handle that well?
Speaker 1: I think this is such a great point because all
Speaker 1: the data says that buyers believe that they have access
Speaker 1: to the right information and all the information that they
Speaker 1: need to educate themselves on our solutions, and therefore then
Speaker 1: just focus on interacting with us transactionally. And that's a
Speaker 1: real real issue, a real real concern, and that's just
Speaker 1: because of the access to information out there. So if
Speaker 1: you do run into this scenario, I talk about meeting
Speaker 1: the buyer wherever they are. So if you sense the buyers,
Speaker 1: assuming that they know more about your products and services
Speaker 1: and your industry, allow them to start there and let
Speaker 1: them share with you what they know. It's important for
Speaker 1: you to understand where they're coming from. So, for example,
Speaker 1: if a customer says, I've done a lot of research
Speaker 1: on your product and here's what I found, start there.
Speaker 1: What do you like most about what you've uncovered about
Speaker 1: our products a service or our company, and what caused
Speaker 1: you pause? I always ask those questions because on the upfront,
Speaker 1: typically they're going to say they're going to be very,
Speaker 1: very cautious. They're going to talk about potentually being expensive,
Speaker 1: not having all the features that they need. But let
Speaker 1: them share the information and then go right into your discovery.
Speaker 1: So it's an outside and approach. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day, your ultimate goal is to attach your solution
Speaker 1: to the biggest business issues facing your customer and influence
Speaker 1: the decision criteria with your differentiation. So that's ultimately your
Speaker 1: solidifying medpick and medic which we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: here in a little bit, But wherever you are there
Speaker 1: you go just take whatever information they have and begin
Speaker 1: your discovery from there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great tactic, great thing to remember. The
Speaker 3: other area where you put yourself in a reactive state
Speaker 3: is when a buyer throws a wrench into your process,
Speaker 3: like something you weren't expecting. And it may happen often
Speaker 3: maybe it's kind of a late stage approval that you
Speaker 3: weren't expecting. Like so and so needs to buy into this.
Speaker 3: We didn't think they had, but they need. You've got
Speaker 3: a new stakeholder in the deal. I know that happens
Speaker 3: a lot. How would you handle that?
Speaker 1: Well, I think you're just going to have to assume
Speaker 1: that it's going to come. Yeah. The first thing is
Speaker 1: to qualify the decision process early and often. Again, I
Speaker 1: would normally say, so, this doesn't happen, but it's going
Speaker 1: to happen. The better you do your job. When I
Speaker 1: say attached to the biggest business issue, the good news
Speaker 1: is is that it's going to be more valuable. The
Speaker 1: more valuable things tend to be more costly. The more
Speaker 1: costly it's all relative in terms of a return on investment.
Speaker 1: The more funding we're talking about tends to be people
Speaker 1: with higher power and influence. So just assume if you're
Speaker 1: selling anything worth its while, things are going to get added.
Speaker 1: And if you've done this qualified early and now there's
Speaker 1: a new stakeholder, ask questions like how did this develop?
Speaker 1: What got this person interested? Assess the situation. I would
Speaker 1: just assume that it's going to happen. If you qualify early,
Speaker 1: you're finding out the process. If you're qualifying continuously, you're
Speaker 1: going to find that there's new stakeholders. Very few solutions
Speaker 1: are single threaded today. But if you did not qualify,
Speaker 1: So if you qualified the decision process and it's developing
Speaker 1: before your eyes, play where your feet are and ask
Speaker 1: how was that person involved, what's important to them? How
Speaker 1: do we both get to them to make sure we
Speaker 1: have their requirements. Nobody likes to. I always tell sometimes
Speaker 1: I have like a over zealous champion, and that's a
Speaker 1: whole other conversation. When we could do a podcast on
Speaker 1: but let's say have an overzeales champion. They're like, Hey,
Speaker 1: don't worry about it, we just need to This new
Speaker 1: person got involved and we just need to They have
Speaker 1: a few questions and I always ask that buyer slash
Speaker 1: champion to sit in the seat of that individual. If
Speaker 1: we don't go out and address them properly, and we
Speaker 1: don't do that in a way that helps them feel included,
Speaker 1: then can you imagine the feeling of something being done
Speaker 1: to you versus for you. Nobody likes to have things
Speaker 1: done to them. So even with overzealis champions to tell me, oh,
Speaker 1: don't worry about it. You know there's a few questions.
Speaker 1: Just just get the answers and I'll get the information
Speaker 1: back to them. I'm always leary on that because it's
Speaker 1: not courteous. It's you know, it should always be a
Speaker 1: courtesy to include those people in the process and make
Speaker 1: them feel like they're included. So always stand in that
Speaker 1: moment of that other buyer, that additional buyer, that additional
Speaker 1: person in the process, and just ask yourself and the
Speaker 1: champion do they feel like do you think they're going
Speaker 1: to feel like something's being done to them or for them? Yeah?
Speaker 3: That's great, good tips there. I think the other situation
Speaker 3: that happens often and another one that we should expect,
Speaker 3: but could put us into a reactive mode and make
Speaker 3: us feel like we don't have control of the deal,
Speaker 3: and that's when a competitor enters the situation. How do
Speaker 3: you handle that, John, what's the action plan there?
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, this should be a non issue
Speaker 1: because you are always competing with someone or something, even
Speaker 1: if it's doing nothing or doing it themselves. And I
Speaker 1: would consider any deal that you're working on right now
Speaker 1: and that you're calling no competition that deals at risk.
Speaker 1: There's always competition. The economy is competition, right. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a red flag for me to say. It's not
Speaker 1: if competition is going to come, it's when competition's going
Speaker 1: to come. So let's go back to what we talked about.
Speaker 1: We said we're doing two main things that we're always
Speaker 1: doing as sellers. We're attaching the biggest business issues, and
Speaker 1: we're influencing the decision criteria with our differentiation. The very
Speaker 1: nature of doing that process of making sure that the
Speaker 1: decision criteria is favorable for the customer and favorable for
Speaker 1: us influenced by our differentiation, you have to consider competition
Speaker 1: and so that if you're doing that, if you're constantly
Speaker 1: doing that, competition will always be considered. And remember, if
Speaker 1: we truly have champions, then they're just as invested with
Speaker 1: all of these issues we're talking about as we are.
Speaker 1: So if the deal is not qualified, if the deal
Speaker 1: is not in control, or the opportunity is not qualified,
Speaker 1: the opportunity is not in control, it's the same for
Speaker 1: the champion. So when you have a champion that is
Speaker 1: has power and influence, is actively selling on your behalf
Speaker 1: and as a vested interest in your success. The very
Speaker 1: nature of that definition means you're not alone on these deals.
Speaker 1: So if the competitor shows up, it's not just competition
Speaker 1: against you, it's competition against you and you're champion because
Speaker 1: you're focused on the same things. If another person shows
Speaker 1: up in the process, it is then the champion's best
Speaker 1: interest to listen to you, because you do this for
Speaker 1: a living every day. Let's say you're selling software. They
Speaker 1: don't buy software every day. You sell software every day.
Speaker 1: They don't buy software every day. They're doing things that
Speaker 1: need your software, and so that champion at Behoo's that
Speaker 1: champion to really utilize that relationship with you to attack
Speaker 1: these things. But the main point I wanted to say,
Speaker 1: Rachel is you're never alone. If you're feeling alone on
Speaker 1: a deal, you're at risk because it means you don't
Speaker 1: have a champion. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And as we talk about this, John, you're giving us
Speaker 3: some great tips of what to do when something happens.
Speaker 3: But the overarching theme here is to be anticipate and
Speaker 3: be proactive. And there's two concepts at play here that
Speaker 3: if you're disciplined about following them, these situations will be
Speaker 3: less of an issue for you. And one is qualification.
Speaker 3: This is why you use a tool like medic or medpick.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Rachel, I think medpick. Medic is one of the
Speaker 1: greatest tools ever created in the history of sales. I
Speaker 1: love its origin at PTC. When we were all there
Speaker 1: at PTC, my buddies and I. I didn't invent medic,
Speaker 1: but I was at art of utilizing medic and it
Speaker 1: was invented at PTC and it was in The results
Speaker 1: were unbelievable historic. I think medic and medpick and qualification.
Speaker 1: It's the equivalent of like a wearable like an Apple watch.
Speaker 1: It gives you real time updates on your health and
Speaker 1: in this case, it's the health of your sales opportunity.
Speaker 1: So you're always qualifying and how that helps you be
Speaker 1: proactive instead of reactive. I hate being reactive in life.
Speaker 1: I hate being reactive, and I think qualification, medic medpick,
Speaker 1: whatever the variations are of that help you stay in
Speaker 1: that proactive mode. So this is one of the greatest
Speaker 1: disciplines ever created in sales. It's right up there with
Speaker 1: asking outside in discovery questions, which great discovery questions are
Speaker 1: the ones that allow the customer to make it all
Speaker 1: about them and then give you the right to earn
Speaker 1: the right to make it all about you. So it's
Speaker 1: right up there with great discovery and qualification are kind
Speaker 1: of pivotal pillars in the history of sales skills.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and great selling means being proactive to your point.
Speaker 3: The other concept I wanted to bring up is one
Speaker 3: of ours here at Force Management, and that's what we
Speaker 3: call being audible Ready. We love it so much we
Speaker 3: name the podcast after it. But talk about how that's
Speaker 3: at play here, Johnnah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean audible ready. What it's always meant to me, Rachel,
Speaker 1: is in anything in life, you prepare and you over
Speaker 1: prepare to try to create a situation where you're ready
Speaker 1: for any scenario. And where we're audible already comes from
Speaker 1: is the sports analogy. When somebody comes up to a competitor,
Speaker 1: and they see what the competitor is doing and then
Speaker 1: they change their play or they make an audible to
Speaker 1: address a better advantage based upon what they see. So
Speaker 1: for me, audible ready it just means that you're able
Speaker 1: to adjust to true north no matter where your buyer is.
Speaker 1: And that's what I meant by kind of like playing
Speaker 1: where your feed are. You meet the buyer wherever they are,
Speaker 1: and you rely on qualification to keep you true north.
Speaker 1: So if you're prepared with what an ideal opportunity should
Speaker 1: look like, you will notice when an opportunity is not ideal,
Speaker 1: and therefore you are permitted to kind of take action.
Speaker 1: So buyers are going to change, needs are going to change,
Speaker 1: and that's all part of selling. Your ability to be
Speaker 1: audible ready or prepared for when those changes come will
Speaker 1: help you control the deal.
Speaker 3: Be a racious qualifier, be audible ready, be proactive with
Speaker 3: your customers and your selling process. But John, I want
Speaker 3: you to give us a bottom line to wrap up
Speaker 3: this conversation today.
Speaker 1: This gabe a pretty good one. Let me try. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Bi don and I like it, So play wherever your
Speaker 1: feed are meeting, meet the buyer wherever they are in
Speaker 1: the buyer's journey and keep control of the sales process
Speaker 1: by utilizing medic medpick qualification process. In the end, I
Speaker 1: said that there were three master kind of skills that
Speaker 1: you have to have. You've got to be able to
Speaker 1: when you wake up in the morning as a seller,
Speaker 1: You've got to be saying, I need to attach myself
Speaker 1: to the biggest business issue facing this customer. I need
Speaker 1: to influence decision criteria with my differentiation. And as you
Speaker 1: just so eloquently put it earlier, I need to be
Speaker 1: a voracious qualifier when you wake up in the morning.
Speaker 1: If you're listening to this podcast, look at those three
Speaker 1: things and it should help you control any deal on
Speaker 1: the planet.
Speaker 3: That's awesome. You said it better than Ida John. Thank you.
Speaker 1: You're welcome, go get them.
Speaker 3: Thank you to all of you for listening to the
Speaker 3: Audible Ready Sales podcast.
Speaker 4: At Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into
Speaker 4: a eight teams. Our proven methodologies deliver programs that build
Speaker 4: company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams
Speaker 4: the ability to execute the growth strategy at the point
Speaker 4: of sale. Our strength is our experience. The proof is
Speaker 4: in our results. Let's get started. Visit us at forcemanagement
Speaker 4: dot com.
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