“So I focused on fewer accounts, but I focused on getting in with the right executives, finding the right executives, really getting high up, and being a partner.” – Ian Koniak in today’s Tip 1369

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and learn more about Ian!

Less vs More Pain vs Pleasure – Ian Koniak & Jeff Bajorek
Ian Koniak on Sales Success Stories Interview
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip is just a clip from the slightly longer hallway conversation between Jeff Bajorek and Ian Koniak that we just released on the Sales Success Stories podcast as a bonus episode today. Here’s Ian:

Ian Koniak: One of my mentors, Ed Mylett. He says, “Make your mess your message.” And my mess was I was a transactional sales guy in an enterprise role at the largest SaaS company in the world Salesforce.com, failing miserably, trying to be the guy who is pleasing others, be the guy who’s outworking everyone, be the hustler. And it didn’t work. And I missed three years in a row of quota and I looked at myself in the mirror. This was between 2014 – 2016, so a while ago. And I said; Everything I thought I knew about sales is wrong. And there is a big difference between transactional sales and enterprise sales. And when you’re selling to a large enterprise, they don’t want someone who’s going to grind and hustle, they want a partner, someone who understands their business, someone who really takes the time to listen and understand where their challenges are and co-create a solution, not someone who’s trying to pitch or sell them. And that was what I was missing. I always thought you just show up and you throw up and you go in and you try and close deals. And that is actually ineffective when you’re working with very large organizations where sometimes it’s been 10 or 15 years of building in something that you’re taking out or changing. And I think once I realized that the approach that I was taking was not working, that’s when I took a step back and I said, I need to invest in myself. I need to really take a step back. And I ended up signing up for a coach in a Mastermind program. I invested $20,000 in my own money. And what they taught me was to slow down. A lot of the focus was around creating your vision for what you want in your life, doing a lot of meditation, doing a lot of visualization work, doing work that had nothing to do with hustling in the transactional pressure-oriented sales rule, and actually slowing down. So I think it started really six years ago and one of the things that that translates to so that year I finished number one at Salesforce globally in the enterprise and made seven figures. And it wasn’t by doing more, it was actually by doing less. Hence my theme of addition by subtraction. So I focused on fewer accounts, but I focused on getting in with the right executives, finding the right executives, really getting high up, and being a partner. And I can tell you stories for days about what that looked like, but the short answer is less is more.

Scott Ingram: For links to both the full hallway conversation between Jeff and Ian, as well as my full original deep dive episode with Ian Koniak on Sales Success Stories, click over to DailySales.Tips/1369. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Your fear understand that it’s not real and then you want to accept it, acknowledge it, adapt, and anticipate that it will be favorable. ” – Meshell Baker in today’s Tip 1368

How about you? What’s your thought about this?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Meshell Baker. Meshell is a certified sales confidence igniter and an authentic selling crusader. She helps business owners and sales leaders tap into unlimited human potential to create diverse and inclusive culture change and disrupt the sales training status quo. Here she is:

Meshell Baker: Hello! Today we’re going to talk about How to 4X4 Your Fear of the Close. Starting with the top four reasons sellers are hesitant to close.

Number four. Overcoming objections. This is in part due to a lack of preparation or anticipating that the buyer might possibly say no and having contingencies in place and being willing to understand that sometimes you’re going to get a no but it doesn’t mean not never. So the experience of the seller is that they think that that objection creates in them a state of apprehension, doubt, and fear. And they focus on that instead of calmly asking another question, seeing where maybe in that part of the sale they weren’t clear enough.

Number three. Details of the presentation. This is definitely pre-call planning. Preparing yourself and knowing as much as you possibly can. And it also traces back. If you had a discovery call. What questions did you ask in preparation so that when you were speaking to that potential buyer of proposing to them what your product or offer is and how it helps them with a solution or to overcome a challenge. You’re prepared to allow that conversation to go in the manner is so that they can see the advantages and the benefits of saying yes.

Number two is inexperienced. Sometimes you just not have enough experience. It’s maybe the first few times you’ve actually had a conversation about the product or service with the buyer and you’re just getting your feel and your comfort and your confidence in your building up. This is rookies. Remember, practice makes you prepared, does it make you perfect?

And the number one reason is fear of rejection. Many sellers just have either established a rapport with a buyer or they’re just outright scared that somebody’s going to not like them. Or what happens if I just bomb so badly that I can’t ever come through this door again? So again it goes through a lot of this fear is emotional and it’s the story that the seller has created in their head about what they expect to happen to go wrong.

So now we’re going to go to the top four things that will help you to overcome this.

Number one is to accept. Accept the feeling of fear. It’s just a feeling, it’s not real. Remember, your mentality is your reality. The feeling doesn’t become real until you allow it to be the decision that you follow with the fear. So accept it and decide in that moment you want to do something different.

So acknowledging would be the next one. That’s where you say the fear. I’m feeling it. I acknowledge it. Now, what am I going to do with this? What am I going to do with this feeling of fear?

And then the next one is to adapt. Adapting how you actually have behaved in the past with these feelings and deciding that I am going to create a different outcome. Yes, historically, I have closed down. I have shut down. I have not known how to ask the question. I’ve run away, I’ve been embarrassed. And today or the next day is going forward, I am going to face it, even if I need to say out loud to the buyer; Hey, can I get a moment? Let me ask another question. Can I take a break? Can we reschedule this, be honest in that moment and adapt accordingly to the belief that you have something valuable for that buyer, that’s what will help you move through. And that’s why some of the preparation is very important.

And the last thing is anticipate. When you actually anticipate that you are valuable, that what you have to offer is valuable, that this is the right conversation at the right time, with the right buyer, with the right product, and you’re anticipating that it’s going to go well, it does not mean that you’ll still get the sale. And more than likely, you will move in a direction that is favorable. Even if they don’t buy today, when they do decide to buy, when you anticipate valuable outcomes, you leave that buyer better offer having met with you.

So again, 4×4 Your fear understand that it’s not real and then you want to accept it, acknowledge it, adapt, and anticipate that it will be favorable. Have a great day selling.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with Meshell and for a transcript of this tip, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1368. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Toughest competitor and the biggest competitor, the one that’s really the hardest to beat, is the decision to do nothing.” – Steve Weinberg in today’s Tip 1367

Who is your toughest and biggest competitor?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from  Steve Weinberg. Steve is an expert at building, guiding, and sustaining high-caliber sales teams, and creating exemplary standards in account management. He is also the author of Above Quota Performance. Here he is:

Steve Weinberg: When I ask salespeople who their biggest competitor is or their toughest competitor, I sometimes get a short list or even a long list of names of companies that they typically run into in the marketplace. And sometimes the salespeople get very emotional about this. They say, we see this darn competitor all the time and they’re very tough to beat.

But the salespeople are wrong. Toughest competitor and the biggest competitor, the one that’s really the hardest to beat, is the decision to do nothing or status quo or remain with the current solution.

There’s no inertia to change. The sale possibly has fallen into what I call the black hole on the fear of change.

And people do fear change. It’s very uncomfortable for them. It could require maybe additional training, additional resources, maybe more work on their part, and certainly more risk. And most people are very risk-averse.

In addition, there are seven reasons that I’ve determined for this to happen.

Number one is companies have reduced staff.

And a lot of times the buying team doesn’t want to take on the additional work that’s required by making a purchase or disrupting the current situation.

They don’t account for the cost of doing nothing. That’s always left out of the equation when someone decides to stay where they’re at.

Another possible reason is they may not be satisfied with any of the alternatives that were presented to them, yours as well as your competitors, the other competitors.

Or possibly the costs that were proposed to them exceeded the budget that they had envisioned for this project.

Also, there could have been a lack of an executive sponsor as well on this.

Or even possibly the salespeople really didn’t sell the value of going forward and making the change. So the result of this is a stalled sale, and those are really the toughest situation to change.

A lot of times, salespeople came to me and said to me, “Steve, can you call this person?” And I would ask them why. And they would say, “Well, they’ve been sitting on this proposal of mine for two or three months,” and that’s when I give them the bad news is it’s probably not going to change, unless you can come up with a really compelling reason why it’s in their best interest to make the change.

Scott Ingram: Check out Steve’s recently released Above Quota Performance Book. Of course, we’ve got the link for you at DailySales.Tips/1367. Go click over there and then be sure to click back here for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Instead of focusing on closing the deal, spend your time opening the relationship with your customer.” – Scott Ingram in today’s Tip 1356

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and connect with DJ on LinkedIn!

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from DJ Sebastian. As a top-producing sales executive for some of the best technology companies, DJ learned that to become great at selling, you must be a great communicator. Now, as a sales coach and author, DJ’s mission is to help the next generation of B2B sales professionals become elite sellers. Here he is:

DJ Sebastian: The Always Be Closing Myth. The phrase always be closing has been a sales mantra since the days when door-to-door salesmen, walked from house to house in search of their next naive customer who would fall prey for their pushy sales pitch. Some sales managers might still invoke this tired old refrain by chanting ABC always be closing. When you hear this, here’s better advice ignore always be closing. It’s a myth. Here’s why.

First, closing implies a discreet event where the salesperson manipulates the customer with sneaky harsh tactics that should be avoided.

Second, a closing mindset implies a single transactional event where no relationship is being cultivated. If you have this short-term mindset, the only positive outcome is when you close the deal and then move on to your next victim. This is not how elite sales professionals think or act.

Third, customers are much more knowledgeable and savvy when it comes to researching possible solutions. Many of them expect to perform upwards of 90% of their product research before even contacting salespeople.

Instead of focusing on closing the deal, spend your time opening the relationship with your customer. Here’s how.

First, collaborate with your customer on the steps, the vision, and the proof points.

Second, conduct discovery sessions to mutually identify areas of customer need, either known or hidden issues that you have uncovered through interactive dialogue.

Third, focus your sales process on how you can generate substantial business value for your customer.

This approach positions you as a partner, not just a vendor, and increases your chance of winning and opening the customer relationship.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with DJ, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1366. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“The more you pause and practice out loud, the more you get comfortable connecting brain and mouth.” – Jack Wilson in today’s Tip 1365

How about you? Have you already done this?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. It’s Friday, so here’s Jack Wilson with another tip to make you just a little bit smarter and a little bit better:

Jack Wilson: What’s going on Daily Sales Tips Community. Jack Wilson back with another tip. And I’m going to continue the thread of learning and progressing primarily because I’m in a new role. I’m actually in week three of a new role. And as I start to learn I used to practice that I actually heard on LinkedIn. Now, it’s not an original thought. I can’t remember who first posted about this. So if you remember who you are, shout out to you, feel free to tag yourself.

But the practice I want to talk about is when you’re listening to gong calls to do some learning. After you’ve done a handful of calls and you’re comfortable with the general flow and word tracks and questions and responses from buyers. What I want you to do is to start a call that you’ve already listened to. And when your buyer asks a question or has some feedback and generally pauses and it would be time for the rep in the call to speak next. I want you to hit pause and then I want you to practice what you would say in that moment before hitting play again. And say it out loud, not just in your head.

Now, a couple of things are going to happen. Either the person who originally ran the call is going to say something completely different and take a different path, and that’s okay. That might help you gain an understanding of a different perspective or different approach you could take in a call, or they might say the same thing you are going to say, but in a different way. So it could help you either hone your approach or better understand why you like or dislike the way you are going to say it.

Do this a couple of times in a few different key areas on calls. The verbal agenda and the setup. In the beginning, follow-up questions and deeper discovery. Even next steps toward the end of the call. The more you pause and practice out loud, the more you get comfortable connecting brain and mouth. A lot of times, specifically when I’m prepping, I do a lot of learning by Osmosis. I listen, I listen, I listen, I listen. And then when I practice, I do it sort of in my own head. But it’s important to connect the synapses and actually get those thoughts into words. Because sometimes they don’t always come out the way we plan. Give this a try and let me know if it helps you in learning a new skill or tactic.

Scott Ingram: Hopefully you’ve already done this, but for links to connect with Jack, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1365. Once you’ve been over there, be sure to come right back here for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“If you could have that confidence and just be optimistic, people hear that in your voice, it comes across in your messaging, in your emails, comes across as excited. And the value that provides, I think the mental headspace, is extremely important.” – Andrew Claus in today’s Tip 1364

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and check out the full interview with Andrew!

Andrew Claus on Sales Success Stories Interview
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. For today’s Throwback Thursday tip we’re going all the way back to… Tuesday. Here’s a clip from my most recent conversation with Andrew Claus, the top sales performer at Kixie. Check this out:

Scott Ingram: When I created this show, it was good times for years, but I knew, I’m like, you know what, we’re going to get an opportunity here to learn from the people that outperform in those challenging times. Like we’re going to go through a recession. That’s how it works. It’s a market, it’s a cycle. I wasn’t planning on a pandemic, so we got some interesting insights out of that. And I mean, the reality is even if you’ve never been through a recession because it’s been a while, it’s not very different from having to deal with the pandemic. Like, okay, things are going to change, right? You’re going to have to adapt. You just got to keep moving your feet, moving forward and, you know, you may have to be a little bit more diligent and on top of your deals to your point, right? You can’t that was not the time to get lax with your process and your structure and your approach.

Andrew Claus: Maybe not across all industries, but buyers are a little gun-shy as far as spending money. And the moment that they express interest in, regardless of your product or service, the moment that they express interest, that’s a good sign. You need to capitalize that, because it’s going to get harder and harder the longer that it goes or if there are times that you’re not continuing to add value. The moment that you don’t add value is the moment they go, maybe I won’t do it unless it’s like an absolute must-buy.

In our world, and like I said, I’ve been here for a couple of years. The pandemic didn’t help anything, but we were okay because everyone needs a phone system. And what’s interesting is even though the market and the way everything is currently, I was still able to pull in some pretty massive deals in our world and you just never know. You have to go one step above everyone else. You really do have to outperform and outsell when we’re in this. You have to provide more value, which is why going back again with co-selling as much value as you can add, just the better chance you have. So it’s an interesting time.

Scott Ingram: Yeah, I think another piece of it is just kind of managing the mindset because it is harder. We have to call that out. But a lot of people start to feel kind of defeatist and so then the opportunity is, okay, well, if you can maintain your activity levels and maintain your own psychology in a positive state, you’re going to be able to outpace those folks.

Andrew Claus: Absolutely. And it is especially when you start losing deals, that’s when you get that defeated feeling and the attitude, and that’s very easy to happen. I have a way, because of the performing arts background, I’ve been able to separate myself from when a deal closes, it’s a bummer, move on to the next. Not everyone can do that because you’re looking at your paycheck. You have these big deals, you put all this time into it, and then it doesn’t go through. You can feel so defeated. And if you carry that with you, it’s going to go into the rest of your calls, it’s going to go into the rest of the deals, and you’re going to come in and just subconsciously you’re going to sabotage yourself. Whereas if you could have that confidence and just be optimistic, people hear that in your voice, it comes across in your messaging, in your emails, comes across as excited. And the value that provide, I think the mental headspace, is extremely important.

Scott Ingram: For a link to my full interview with Andrew and to connect with him directly, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1364. Once you’ve done that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“By asking the question, we can gain additional clarity and understand things from the perspective of others to be in a better position, to actually serve the customers we work with.” – Jacquelyn Nicholson & Mike Simmons in today’s Tip 1363

Do you seek clarity?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tips is a little bit unique as it features both Jacquelyn Nicholson and Mike Simmons in the first of several joint tips they recorded together. Here they are:

Jacquelyn Nicholson: I’ve been thinking a lot about clarity, Mike.

Mike Simmons: What do you mean?

Jacquelyn Nicholson: Well, I feel like sometimes my prospect or my customer and I are not on the same page, and I often have to find myself seeking clarity. And it’s actually something a coach of mine taught me years ago. Shout out to Rive if you’re listening to this, of no one can really fault you when you’re seeking clarity. So if you’re just like, look, I’m just trying to understand her. I’m just looking for some clarity here. Can you help me understand this? It’s a non-confrontational phrase. It’s a really gentle way to get into a conversation, to get to the heart of the matter. That might not necessarily be an easy conversation, but if you go at it the wrong way, you’re not going to get the clarity that you seek. So that’s just one of my thoughts about clarity is, it’s something that is going to help both people, right? It’s going to help the prospect, it’s going to help you.

Mike Simmons: Well, and I did it there. When I asked you the question, what do you mean? I felt comfortable, right?

Jacquelyn Nicholson: I didn’t even know you did it. That was good.

Mike Simmons: And that’s the thing. Like, we can have these natural conversations with people. We’re generally interested in the perspective of others or getting a deeper understanding of what it was that we think we heard so that we can confirm that validate an understanding. And we can do that with asking simple questions, sharing information, and then asking a follow-up question. What else you have?

Jacquelyn Nicholson: Well, I think about it in terms of when you and I first met, actually in Austin. You were running an idea by me, and I was like, I really love that. And you said, what do you love about it? And you know what? Usually, people will just stop with the first answer, right? And as salespeople, we can get into this trap. Like, you know, you hear your prospect or your customers say something, and instead of digging in and asking a clarifying question or another open-ended question to tease out some more details, you jump right to telling them something or selling them something or like, oh, this is my point where I can dive in. But you didn’t let me do that. I said, I really love that idea, and I was ready to ask you some questions about it. You’re like, why do you say that? I was like, what do you love about it? I think it was exactly what you said, so I thought that was great, and you have that gift. And I have really tried to exercise more of that, channeling my inner Mike Simmons.

Mike Simmons: Here’s the next questions. I think we’ll get into this in the next one. But simplifying those questions, if we ask questions, it demonstrates a level of interest, a level of curiosity. We’re interested in knowing something. I’m not going to ask a question if I’m not really interested in learning more about it. I don’t need to manufacture that kind of stuff. If I want to share perspective, I’m happy I can share perspective. And if your response would have been, well, I don’t know, tell me more, then I could have told you more, but I read there was going to be some other thing that was going to come up through it. But by asking the question, we can gain additional clarity and understand things from the perspective of others to be in a better position, to actually serve the customers we work with.

Jacquelyn Nicholson: Oh, absolutely. Like one of my favorite Stephen Covey things to seek first to understand before you seek to be understood.

Mike Simmons: I can’t think of there a way to wrap up that one. That’s an awesome, Stephen Coveyism.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with both Jacquelyn and Mike, and also to see the video version of this tip, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1363. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“Establish a practice where you know how to ground and center yourself so that you can remember that you’re completely capable of leveraging, optimizing and utilizing anything that’s in front of you to create your desired sales success.” – Meshell Baker in today’s Tip 1362

Do you have a PEACE of mind?

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. It’s Monday, so Meshell Baker is back to challenge our thinking with today’s tip. Here she is:

Meshell Baker: Today I want to share with you, PEACE of Mind Equals More Time.

Interesting concept that people aren’t aware of. Many people focus on more money, more achievements, more acquisitions, more accolades, promotions, expanding your business, yet there’s not a lot to talk about the most precious and limited commodity that you have and that’s your time.

Time cannot be borrowed, it cannot be bought, it cannot be expanded. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. So your ability to utilize it, optimize it, and leverage it is what creates the success that you seek and desire.

So I just want to share with you that peace of mind is how you acquire more time. Because when you are at peace, you make better decisions, you are able to focus, you have clarity, you have creativity. All of the essence of what makes you amazing is at your fingertips. It’s within your reach and you get to utilize it, and you get to synthesize the expansiveness of your thoughts, your experiences, your knowledge, your desires will all come. This is how you have epiphanies, those AHA moments, those remembrances of all the things and the people you know are right at the tip of your fingertips when you have peace of mind.

The PEACE for me, P-E-A-C-E is Patiently Examine Awareness Choosing Excellence. And I’ll say that again, Patiently Examine Awareness Choosing Excellence.

The quality of your life is directly correlated to the choices you make under pressure because the one constant you have in life is change. And change will always create in you either panic or peace. The choice is yours. And when you’re able to stay in that state of knowing that everything outside of you is temporary, it’s not real. It has nothing to do with who you’ve decided to be, what you’ve decided to create, and why that’s most important to you, when you stay at peace, you can make decisions that will help you maneuver, that will help you go around under straight through and take place on anything that has decided to deter, deny, dissuade, delay, derail your dreams and desires.

When you are sitting in a state of not enough time, wish you had more time, constantly running out of time, which creates a sense of overwhelm, busy and swamped. It is because you have not put in a practice where you are taking control of your peace of mind.

The takeaway from this today’s tip is to establish a practice where you know how to ground and center yourself so that you can remember that you’re completely capable of leveraging, optimizing, and utilizing anything that’s in front of you to create your desired sales success.

Remember, Patiently Examine the Awareness Choose Excellence. And that will only happen when you exercise the muscle of your mind so you can garner and optimize your time. Have a great day selling!

Scott Ingram: For a great use of your time. Do yourself a favor and click over to DailySales.Tips/1362 where you’ll find a link to connect with Meshell Baker on LinkedIn. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“One of the things you can do to help speed up Q4 deals inside your own company is have an internal conversation with your leadership, with your deal teams on high priority in contract deals.” – David Weiss in today’s Tip 1361

What’s your thought about this?

Join the conversation below and go check out the links!

1360: Closing Q4 Deals (Part 1)
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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. This weekend David Weiss is here to help us think about how best to close out our Q4 deals in a 2 part series. If you missed the first part you might want to jump back to tip #1360. Here’s part 2:

David Weiss: All right. So last time we reviewed actions that you can take with your potential future client. Now we’re going to talk about some things you can do inside your own company.

So one of the things you can do to help speed up Q4 deals inside your own company is have an internal conversation with your leadership, with your deal teams on high priority in contract deals. And talk to them about your gift to get, your walkaway numbers. Ideally where they’d like to see the deal land at both on contract terms as well as cost points and as well as kind of things that they want in return. Like do we want more references, do we want client testimonials, do we want to be able to use their logo on the website? Do we want to be able to write papers or have them speak at conferences? There are great levers that the business can pull to gain advantages to sell future deals that you may want to sacrifice certain things now to get greater growth later. These are all things you want to discuss internally.

So have those conversations ahead of time. And so when procurement does ask for things, you don’t need to bother an already bogged down group of people that are talking to lots of different folks inside your business about lots of different deals, you’ve got to figure out ahead of time so you know your guardrails and how to operate.

Lastly, when you’re presenting things to procurement, do your best to present them as best and final. The reason for this is procurement is trained to keep asking for stuff until you get to know. So the faster you can find out your guardrails, understand their asks, communicate those guardrails, and let them know that no matter how much more they ask, you’ve already done your legwork, you’ve already talked to all your teams, and this is the best you can do. That’s when real decisions can be made. So get to that point as soon as possible.

Next, brief your executives on key deals that you may need their support on. Make sure they have an executive summary. Make sure that they know the key players. Hopefully, you’ve introduced them to other executives at your hopeful future client and they’ve built relationships. So if and when the deal goes sideways, something breaks down in negotiation, procurement is taking too long to get back to you. You’re missing a milestone. There’s an ask that you frankly just can’t agree to. You have your team prepared and ready with what needs to happen so they can go directly to their peer executive and have an executive-to-executive conversation. By having this ready ahead of time, it again just kind of speeds up the deal cycle, and your execs know where you may run into trouble and where they may need to support and help so they can help you get it across the line.

Lastly, this feedback is more for you to share with executives or leadership, or if there is a leader listening to this call, they hopefully heed this advice, which is cut back on all unnecessary trainings, extra meetings, anything that’s not related to closing out the year. Try and save for the start of Q1. There’s always plenty of time to do more training, and Q1 is the time to do it. Support your team, get involved in deals, focus on closing exercises, and just remember this is an incredibly tough time of year for your entire revenue ecosystem. In every decision you’re making, just have empathy. Think about the team already being stressed way more than their max. Do what you can to help reduce that stress by removing last-minute tasks and extra meetings and just create space and have people’s back. That’s what they need from you this time of year and please deliver that to them and they will be eternally grateful and work that much harder to get revenue across the line right now. Thanks for listening. I appreciate it and if I can do anything for anybody, please let me know. Take care.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with David and for a link to his original LinkedIn post that inspired this two-part series. Just click over to DailySales.Tips/1361. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!

“It keeps everybody in the loop, progressing towards the same end goal. And it will also speed up if you run into roadblocks, that executive sponsor getting involved and kind of pushing on procurement to get us back on track.” – David Weiss in today’s Tip 1360

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Transcript

Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. This weekend David Weiss is here to help us think about how best to close out our Q4 deals in a 2 part series. Here’s part 1:

David Weiss: Hello, everyone. This is David Weiss, and I’m coming at you with a sales tip of the day.

So there are five to six selling weeks left in the year, and there are some key things that you need to be doing in this time. So I’m going to break this down into a two-parter.

First is with your hopeful future client. There are six things that would be greatly helpful to you to do.

One. Contracts. Get them in the hands of procurement this week. They will take, especially during this time of year, potentially extra time to review. So if your normal contracting times a month, realistically speaking, it could take two, so you’re already behind the eight ball there.

Meet with your champion and executive sponsor and get aligned with them on the business case for change. You want to get them to a point where say you’re generating $250,000 annually for them. There’s 250 working days in a year. So every day they don’t make a change, it’s costing them a thousand bucks, get to that point that’s going to really help you create levels of urgency.

Next, they need to communicate this business case and timeline to procurement. So we’re all on the same page. Like, guys, we got to get this done by the end of the year. And it’s for every day that we don’t make a change. It’s costing us this much money. So we need to go and meet our commitments.

Next is you then need to work with procurement to understand the legal and business sides of the contracting process. Essentially creating milestones that give you cushion to hit this end of the year date. So that looks like, hey, help me understand inside, outside council, what are some requests that you guys are always asking for? How long does it typically take for you to finalize an agreement like this? How many agreements are you working? What’s the process? What tools and systems do you use? Who’s ultimately signing it? Are they aware of it? Are they around or going on vacation anytime that we need to be aware of. It’s really just digging deep on this to find out, are we on track for the end of the year? What could get in our way? What milestones and do we need to have? How many meetings or whatnot do we need to put on the calendar so we have regular cadence back and forth. It’s that conversation.

Then you want to just create like a really top-line goal, like, hey, do you think it’s reasonable for us to get first pass red lines back in the next week? The reason why you want to start anchoring on a goal like that is that’s creating almost the hardest part of what I’ve seen in the procurement process is just creating urgency to have legal teams start working on it and start that back-and-forth communication. That’s often the most time-consuming thing and that can take weeks or I’ve seen up to a month before they even get a chance to review the damn document and write up their feedback. Like try and create urgency there because then that’s high priority in their cue to start going back and forth around.

And then lastly, just create weekly touch points both with your champion, if you can get the executive sponsor involved and procurement involved, great, but the very least with your champion and create the expectation that prior to that meeting, they’re going to check with procurement to see where we stand. And after that meeting, they are going to update the executive sponsor on if we’re tracking.

What that does is that creates a constant feedback loop of where do we stand, what’s getting on our way, where do we need to go, what help do we need to potentially ask for? And it keeps everybody in the loop, progressing towards the same end goal. And it will also speed up if you run into roadblocks, that executive sponsor getting involved and kind of pushing on procurement to get us back on track.

So that’s what you need to do with your hopeful future client to get this thing in a place where it can get signed by the end of the year. The next, I’m going to give you some advice around what to do inside your company to help speed up the deal cycle as well.

Talk to you soon.

Scott Ingram: For links to connect with David and for a link to his original LinkedIn post that inspired this two-part series. Just click over to DailySales.Tips/1360. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for part 2. Thanks for listening!