Read Time: 3 Minutes
Go ahead… name 10
When I ask this question in my sales leadership program, most sales leaders and their reps can name 5 or 6 steps off the top of their heads.
- But almost no one gets all 10.
And I’m not surprised since 95% of all sales teams don’t have an intentional and deliberate plan or roadmap to win their big deals.
They just don’t. Do you?
Without a plan and a structured approach to their complex sales campaigns, it’s really easy to miss important steps or stakeholders that could sink your deal.
Here’s the roadmap I teach in my program – Winning the Six-Figure Sale.
- Ping me, and I’ll send you a copy you can use with your sales team.
People often tell me I’m making this way too complicated, but struggle when I ask them which steps they’d eliminate,
So here they are, the Top 10 Steps in a Complex Sales Campaign.
Step 1 – Deal Structure and Economics:
Big deals often require big discounts or low gross margins. Getting the deal approved early will help the sales team understand where the guardrails are before they make commitments (to their customers) they can’t keep.
Step 2 – Relationship Mapping:
More specific than an org chart, the Relationship Map helps the team identify all the key players they need to meet and influence.
It also helps YOU understand how wide and deep the team is selling.
- In a future email, I’ll cover a lot more detail about the Relationship Map and give you the template I use, so you don’t have to invent one on your own.
Step 3 – Follow the Money:
Ruthless Qualification is NOT an area of strength for most sales reps.
Sales leaders are often guilty of assuming that if a deal is in the forecast, it must be well-qualified… when it’s not.
This is so fundamental.
I see reps and leaders look back at their slipped deals and realize the root cause was poor Qualification!
Is it just me, or do you see this all the time?
I’m working on a 60-minute video sales course to help sales leaders and their reps Ruthlessly Qualify their big deals by asking 6 questions BEFORE a deal ever gets forecasted.!
- Ping me if you’re interested, and I’ll send you more information.
To ruthlessly qualify a big deal, sales teams should Think B.A.N.T. plus…
- Budget
- Authority
- Needs and Business Outcomes
- Timing
- Plus: Internal Coach, Relationship Map, Look-Back Question
Step 4 – Solution Fit:
Does the team have a solution to the customer’s problem, and do they understand what Business Outcomes the customer expects from the solution?
Step 5 – Winning Sales Strategy:
What is the strategy to win, other than low price, and what is the primary competitors’ strategy to beat you?
Step 6 – Gaining a Competitive Edge:
How are you currently perceived in the account (Product Vendor, Credible Source, Problem Solver, Trusted Advisor) AND how will the team develop a competitive advantage to win?
Step 7 – Value-Added Partnering:
Have you got a partnering strategy that adds value to you and the customer, and have you set clear, written expectations with your partner?
Step 8 – Customer Success:
What are you doing to ensure customer success BEFORE you get your purchase order?
The customer success team can’t make the customer happy if the customer’s success wasn’t engineered into the solution upfront. Think about training, implementation services, consulting and skills transfer… before you take your PO.
Step 9 – Negotiating the Deal:
What’s your negotiating strategy?
Who will you be negotiating with (IT, Line of business, Procurement or all three) and do you understand how the customer plans to negotiate with you?
Step 10 – Next Step Action Planning:
How does the team keep track of all the moving parts in their campaign? How will they hold themselves accountable for execution?
Wow, as you can see, there are a lot of moving parts… that’s why it’s called a Complex Sales Campaign!
No rocket science here, but if it was easy, you’d already be doing all of this!
See you next week when I ask: What’s the Fastest way to get an ugly deal approved internally?
See you next Saturday.
Great Selling – Jeff@SalesLeadersOnly.com
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
1. If you’re looking to improve the way you coach your team’s complex sales campaigns:
→ Watch this short video
2. If you’re looking for a simple guide to WIN More Big Deals With my Proven 3-Step System:
→ Read my Book – Winning the Six-Figure Sale
3. If you want help implementing a structured Big Deal review process in your sales organization:
→ Book a free discovery call in my calendar
Lead, Grow and Over-Achieve your Sales Targets.
Join 1200+ Subscribers who get 1 actionable sales leadership tip every Saturday morning.
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Read Time: 3 Minutes
Go ahead… name 10
When I ask this question in my sales leadership program, most sales leaders and their reps can name 5 or 6 steps off the top of their heads.
- But almost no one gets all 10.
And I’m not surprised since 95% of all sales teams don’t have an intentional and deliberate plan or roadmap to win their big deals.
They just don’t. Do you?
Without a plan and a structured approach to their complex sales campaigns, it’s really easy to miss important steps or stakeholders that could sink your deal.
Here’s the roadmap I teach in my program – Winning the Six-Figure Sale.
- Ping me, and I’ll send you a copy you can use with your sales team.
People often tell me I’m making this way too complicated, but struggle when I ask them which steps they’d eliminate,
So here they are, the Top 10 Steps in a Complex Sales Campaign.
Step 1 – Deal Structure and Economics:
Big deals often require big discounts or low gross margins. Getting the deal approved early will help the sales team understand where the guardrails are before they make commitments (to their customers) they can’t keep.
Step 2 – Relationship Mapping:
More specific than an org chart, the Relationship Map helps the team identify all the key players they need to meet and influence.
It also helps YOU understand how wide and deep the team is selling.
- In a future email, I’ll cover a lot more detail about the Relationship Map and give you the template I use, so you don’t have to invent one on your own.
Step 3 – Follow the Money:
Ruthless Qualification is NOT an area of strength for most sales reps.
Sales leaders are often guilty of assuming that if a deal is in the forecast, it must be well-qualified… when it’s not.
This is so fundamental.
I see reps and leaders look back at their slipped deals and realize the root cause was poor Qualification!
Is it just me, or do you see this all the time?
I’m working on a 60-minute video sales course to help sales leaders and their reps Ruthlessly Qualify their big deals by asking 6 questions BEFORE a deal ever gets forecasted.!
- Ping me if you’re interested, and I’ll send you more information.
To ruthlessly qualify a big deal, sales teams should Think B.A.N.T. plus…
- Budget
- Authority
- Needs and Business Outcomes
- Timing
- Plus: Internal Coach, Relationship Map, Look-Back Question
Step 4 – Solution Fit:
Does the team have a solution to the customer’s problem, and do they understand what Business Outcomes the customer expects from the solution?
Step 5 – Winning Sales Strategy:
What is the strategy to win, other than low price, and what is the primary competitors’ strategy to beat you?
Step 6 – Gaining a Competitive Edge:
How are you currently perceived in the account (Product Vendor, Credible Source, Problem Solver, Trusted Advisor) AND how will the team develop a competitive advantage to win?
Step 7 – Value-Added Partnering:
Have you got a partnering strategy that adds value to you and the customer, and have you set clear, written expectations with your partner?
Step 8 – Customer Success:
What are you doing to ensure customer success BEFORE you get your purchase order?
The customer success team can’t make the customer happy if the customer’s success wasn’t engineered into the solution upfront. Think about training, implementation services, consulting and skills transfer… before you take your PO.
Step 9 – Negotiating the Deal:
What’s your negotiating strategy?
Who will you be negotiating with (IT, Line of business, Procurement or all three) and do you understand how the customer plans to negotiate with you?
Step 10 – Next Step Action Planning:
How does the team keep track of all the moving parts in their campaign? How will they hold themselves accountable for execution?
Wow, as you can see, there are a lot of moving parts… that’s why it’s called a Complex Sales Campaign!
No rocket science here, but if it was easy, you’d already be doing all of this!
See you next week when I ask: What’s the Fastest way to get an ugly deal approved internally?
See you next Saturday.
Great Selling – Jeff@SalesLeadersOnly.com
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
1. If you’re looking to improve the way you coach your team’s complex sales campaigns:
→ Watch this short video
2. If you’re looking for a simple guide to WIN More Big Deals With my Proven 3-Step System:
→ Read my Book – Winning the Six-Figure Sale
3. If you want help implementing a structured Big Deal review process in your sales organization:
→ Book a free discovery call in my calendar
Lead, Grow and Over-Achieve your Sales Targets.
Join 1200+ Subscribers who get 1 actionable sales leadership tip every Saturday morning.