The Qualified Sales Leader: Proven Lessons from a Five Time CRO by John McMahon and Dev Ittycheria

Recommended by peers to read this – easily one of the best sales books I’ve read. John has amazing insight into how to run the full sales process, qualifying, building champions, focusing on pain and implication above all… Can tell he has the relevant real-life experiences, not just fluffy sales tips that many other sales books come with. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You weren’t here. You have to be here to be a good listener. You have to be an effective listener to be a constructive sales leader. Your reps deserve that from you.”

 

“When combined with the situational facts your brain processes,” I continued, “your intuition allows you to ask more perceptive questions. Triangulate between the rep, your mind and your gut. Triangulate to the right conclusion.”

 

“To utilize intuition, first, you have to trust it. Then, you need to be here, present in the moment. You can’t feel and intuit if you’re not here and keenly listening to your rep with a clear mind. Listen to understand, listen to feel, listen to sense. Don’t listen to talk.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Sixty-one days isn’t a lot of time to build qualified pipeline and move forecasted deals through the sales process,” I said. “That’s why urgent curiosity is critical to compressing sales cycles.”

 

 

 

 

 

For example, reps need to know base knowledge items below, without thinking:

 

Questioning: Asking the open-ended questions 2. Listening: Listening to understand 3. Confirming: Verifying your complete understanding 4. Feeling: Sensing the customers response

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the twenty-five percent of Forego’s cases in which an account actually purchased after a POC, their sales reps had been lucky to get an intelligent customer on the phone. The smart customer listened to the features (the drill bit features) and functions (how the bit works with the drill), and mentally performed a “back of the napkin” cost justification.

 

Many reps believe customers buy products based on price. What they need to learn is that customers buy products based on the value they perceive they will receive, not price.

 

“It’s time to teach the reps to slow down to go fast,” I said. “Have them slow down during the first two stages of the sales process. That ensures an understanding of the magnitude of the customer’s pains and environment, which in turn can translate to a potential match to your product.”

 

‘We deal with thousands of vendors selling thousands of products, especially in the security world where there is a plethora of choices. We have hundreds of issues to solve, but only the vendors who focus on solving the largest problems our company faces obtain our business.

 

“Interesting,” Jim said, “because companies live with hundreds of pains that aren’t negatively impacting the cost for them to run their business. In many of our deals, customers bought for small dollars for the few small pains that we discovered.”

 

“Understanding the to-be process, and their associated business outcome, helps us understand why they have to buy,” Carlos said. “Without quantified pain,” Andy said, “there is no way to prove business value, so there is only small deals, no large deals.”

 

“In simple terms, Andy means that in the cost justification, the customer’s gain must be significantly larger than the customer’s pain. It’s the only way to prove value and get a large deal. That’s why our customers gave us small deals since the value they perceived was minor,” said Jim.

 

Not quantifying the before and after is the main reason so many salespeople can’t overcome price objections. The customer won’t

 

Not quantifying the before and after is the main reason so many salespeople can’t overcome price objections. The customer won’t magically understand the value of your product.

 

What is important is that you can prove that your product capabilities deliver business value to the customer for their specific use case.”

 

The Scoping journey will generate three documents for review: A Cost Justification with as-is and to-be metrics A POV Plan that directly correlates to the POV criteria and preliminary cost justification A Preliminary Pricing Proposal which is a price quote based upon the preliminary cost justification

 

With their own product assessment, the customer becomes more reluctant to share pain and process metrics. When the customer has connected the dots between their problem and your solution, they no longer require anything more from you than pricing information.

 

“We’re too anxious to present. Too thrilled to find any pain. Once we find any—even a small pain—we stop investigating and pitch our product. Since we start presenting too soon, most times we don’t find the biggest pain, and we certainly never find all the pains.”

 

They want to solve major business issues. They are looking for significant business value, and they won’t connect the dots between our features and functions and their business by themselves.”

 

You can speak to all the companies in the world or target the companies that will benefit most from the value of your product capabilities to generate the highest average deal sizes for you.”

 

Again, the group struggled, so I shared the entire process on the board: Create a list of unique and defensible product differentiators. Target pain points that the differentiators solve. Map pain points to specific use cases. Quantify the business benefits of solving pains in each use case. List the negative consequences of customers not solving the pain. Discover companies/industries which have those specific uses cases. List the specific personas that own those use cases. Prioritize companies and industries based on highest customer value.

 

To effectively converse with their target customers, Forego needed to know everything about their target personas. Things like their title, their boss, their budget, their uses cases, their job measures, daily operating issues, people reporting to them, and their monthly or quarterly operating rhythms.

 

Multiple-stakeholder decision Multi-Level decision Multi-Department decision Multi-Location decision Accessibility to C-level executives. Lengthy POV requirement Strong cost-justification hurdles Lengthy Legal and Procurement processes

 

“Those are the high-level steps to building an ICP,” I said. “It’s hard work, but it pays off to know your target customers, the key personas, specific use cases, and major pain points before you make a sales call. It’s the only way to effectively converse with your customer.”

 

“He truly implicated pain by creating a negative outcome that focused on problems and the potential fear of not solving those problems. That forced you to reevaluate your purchase priorities. That is what we need to do.”

 

There was no sale when he only identified my pain. And potentially no sale after he quantified my pain. There was only a sale when he started to implicate the pain. He created an urgency for me to move from my current state of pain to a positive future outcome.

 

“Some salespeople will find pain, but fewer salespeople quantify pain, and only a small minority will ever implicate pain,” I continued. “If salespeople never quantify pain, they can’t justify their price point. If salespeople never implicate pain, they never create urgency. They never give the customer a powerful reason to buy now. A reason for them to change their priorities. That’s why so many forecasted deals die a slow death.”

 

“Time kills all deals without urgency. If you haven’t established urgency, then, as time moves on, the customer believes they can continue to operate without your solution.”

 

The best lawyers lead their witness through carefully crafted questions. Their main goal is to get the witness, through meticulous questioning, to admit to certain things. They’re very precise with their questions. They typically won’t ask one if they don’t suspect an expected or desired answer.

 

At Forego, you sell a complex software product which requires you to ask pinpoint open-ended questions and then listen carefully to dig deeper.

 

Found business pain creates opportunity. Quantified business pain drives higher price points. Implicated business pain drives urgency. Business pain and urgency finds business Champions. Business champions get you to the Economic Buyer. The Economic Buyer has access to major funds. You sell big deals based on value.

 

These are my top five key positive characteristics: Intelligence PHD Coachability and Adaptability Integrity Curiosity

 

A good coach is there to help through the never-ending process of: Inspiring Coaching and Developing Inspecting

 

Asses and become intimate with your reps’ sales abilities. Then, coach them on one skill until they have incorporated that skill into their DNA before moving to the next skill.

 

“Hannlin, I have to say that you were very impressive. Because you did your research on the buyer and investigated their pain, you controlled the meeting. The depth of your questions told him your grasp of the subject. Because of that, he gave you what you asked for: a high-level overview of the people, and the potential champion, the problem, the priority, the budget, and the timeframe. Is there anything you may have missed?”

 

“That’s right. You didn’t uncover the entirety of the impact to their business, but don’t beat yourself up. You found out about their current or potential vulnerability and an upcoming audit. In your next meetings, I suggest you collect more specific info from Greg, John, and Joel on the pains in their current process and why they believe they are vulnerable. Try to quantity the negative business impact. Overall, you did a really good job. Just remember to dig deeper during your next meetings.”

 

Who is working on critical projects? Who was recently promoted? Who has been assigned to complete new initiatives? Who is held personally accountable for key company decisions?

 

“Then where are the best places to find Champions in a company?” Andy asked. “Great question. Why don’t we all brainstorm this? Andy, can you scribe?” Who is working on critical projects? Who was recently promoted? Who has been assigned to complete new initiatives? Who is held personally accountable for key company decisions?

 

Who made the last major departmental purchase for the company? Who do the C-level executives confer with on critical company decisions? When presenting within a group at the company, whose statements are most influential? Who in group meetings asks very perceptive and deep-probing questions? Who do people say is most influential in these types of decisions?

 

“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,”

 

don’t think there is a Champion.” “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” I said. “Just because you haven’t seen an alien doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Just because you haven’t found a Champion doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”

 

“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” I said. “Just because you haven’t seen an alien doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Just because you haven’t found a Champion doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”

 

“Champions have personal aspirations,” I said. “To realize those aspirations, they need to differentiate themselves within the organization. One way to do that is to solve notable business problems. It’s a way for them to obtain a personal win by being recognized for their efforts and showing their added value to the company.

 

Personal wins could be as simple as the following: Recognition: Being recognized as a company problem solver, productivity enhancer, or cost cutter Control: Gaining control over the implemented solution and all the users of the solution Productivity: Increasing the productivity of their entire department Promotion: Obtaining a promotion in recognition for their continued problem-solving efforts Status: Gaining status by tying their name to a business solution

 

Will not align to small pains Won’t attach to unprepared salespeople

 

Champions are intellectually astute and politically shrewd. They’re careful in two predominant ways: Will not align to small pains Won’t attach to unprepared salespeople

 

A Champion evaluates trust through their expectations of value. There are three value elements Champions evaluate: Business Value of the Solution Do they trust that the solution completely solves their business problem? Do they trust that the future gain far outweighs the current pain in an ROI?

 

Do they trust that the solution will drive measurable impact on business goals? Performance Value of the Company Do they trust that the company will perform to support the Champion and product throughout an implementation? Do they trust that the company will perform in helping to adopt the solution with their people? Do they trust that the company will perform in helping to optimize the product in their environment? Experience Value of the Salesperson Has the experience of dealing with the salesperson developed a quality of trust? Has the experience of working with the salesperson demonstrated that they will be an ally to manage a successful implementation? Has the overall experience of working with the salesperson developed into a business partnership?

 

Educate them on everything from the competition’s product, competitive traps, and common objections. Show them how to justify your product internally. Have them speak to Champions in your installed base. Arrange meetings for them with executives at your company. All of this is done in the vein of educating a Champion, not selling.

 

“The Champion looked at us and told us not to worry, but Kathleen responded, ‘Well, I am worried. Together you and I have done a lot of work. We’ve reviewed everything from your business pain, the cost justification, and your desired business outcome. We’ve even discussed objections the Economic Buyer will be sure to ask. You and I together, need this meeting to be successful.’” At that moment, the Champion surprised both of them by showing his prepared notes on everything the Economic Buyer could possibly ask. All the potential objections, the competition, the cost justification, and quantified business outcome.

 

How are items purchased at XYZ company? What is the typical evaluation process for new products? Who made the last few major purchases? Can they help you map out the as-is process? Can they detail why the identified company pain could be classified as “major”? Can they explain the implications of not solving the pain? How do they see that your solution provides business value? How does the competition’s solution provide business value? Can they tell you what happened during the meeting with the competition?

 

What activities could we ask them to perform? Arrange a demonstration to a different department Facilitate an introduction to another stakeholder in the decision process Share any product evaluation documents Call a customer reference Sponsor a meeting with the Economic Buyer Help you create the POV criteria Introduce you to the Legal and Procurement contacts Help you craft a cost justification

 

Too many salespeople “burn” a potential Champion by prematurely asking them to do something before they’ve proved to the potential Champion that they performed their own due diligence and have earned the trust of Champion. Don’t be selfish.

 

side of himself. He commended Paul for his hard work. He now had a green light to make the larger purchase—a purchase that made his life simpler.” “It shows that even our Champions have certain limits that need to be tested.” Andy said.

 

If they refused, and that was their prerogative, Scott would need to respectfully disengage, since it would be clear that they were not buying what he was selling.

 

Good guy/bad guy is a simple but effective test. Everyone has a boss, so everyone can relate to the situation. You explain to your potential Champion that your boss thinks you’ve been spending too much time at the account. He believes there isn’t a potential sale at the account and that you’ve been wasting your time because they’ll never buy. Your boss thinks you should walk away. You ask the customer, “Would you have any advice for me? What should I tell my boss?”

 

“Jim,” I answered, “testing is just one method, but you’ll know you have a Champion when you are in control. When items in the sales process turn from unpredictable to predictable.”

 

Every Economic Buyer needs a Champion to ensure they obtain the desired business results post implementation. It’s also why you need a Champion for every implementation to ensure the account doesn’t churn.

 

Your ability to find a large business pain, develop trust with a Champion, and align your differentiators in the POV criteria to their business issues will determine your success in the EB meeting and the sale. It’s the critical reason reps need to slow down during Discovery and Scoping stage.

 

A high level summary of your Discovery and Scoping findings The company’s current state. The as-is The negative consequences of that current state Your proposed future state. The to-be The benefits of the future state

 

In a typical EB meeting, you need to substantiate the following with the EB: A high level summary of your Discovery and Scoping findings The company’s current state. The as-is The negative consequences of that current state Your proposed future state. The to-be The benefits of the future state

 

The required capabilities to achieve that future state Customer success stories with quantified before/after metrics High level description of your solution based on the criteria Confirmation of the remaining decision-process steps

 

Don’t explain business issues they already know. Instead, inform them about a business issue they didn’t consider. Explain the things they haven’t thought of that directly affect what their business could be doing.

 

For instance, link your solution to affect the company’s revenues, costs, and risks at the corporate level and their personal job measures like time to market, employee productivity and application quality and security

 

As-is vs. To-be: Goran discussed their current as-is process versus the proposed to-be process for designing transformers. Pain-Discovery Statement: Goran explained how, with William (our Champion) and his team, we discovered the current business pains. Quantified-Pain Statement: We understood that it took twenty-six weeks, cost X-amount

 

of dollars, and took Y-amount of people to design a transformer. ABB’s time to market on transformer projects had been increasing, which, in turn, increased product costs by $X-million due to lost engineering productivity. That delayed time to market by X-weeks and potentially lost Y-percent of the market share to the competition. Implications of Not Solving the Pain: If the issue wasn’t resolved, the business would require additional highly paid engineers to decrease time to market but would increase costs and make ABB less price competitive. Business Outcome Statement: Solving these issues would create a positive business outcome. An engineering productivity increase of X-percent would drastically reduce costs by $X-million and decrease time to market by X-number of weeks. That would allow ABB to be more price competitive and gain estimated market share of Y-percent in the global-transformer market.

 

“Prior to this meeting, William shared with me how the accuracy of your drawings for manufacturing will reduce production scrap by twenty percent. If you can prove the accuracy of drawings in the POV, it will allow me to essentially recapture the production of two plants, which easily justifies your 30.6-million-dollar request.” This story was a fantastic lesson on how quickly a high-level Economic Buyer can cost-justify a business solution. They do it through the big-picture lens of their entire business. The higher up you go, the bigger the picture, the larger the lens.

 

Required Capabilities and Differentiators: After careful diligence with William and his team—and based upon interactions with our customers who’d had similar issues—we believed a solution to solve these issues would need to contain the minimum required capabilities. (Here we outlined our unique and comparable differentiators, which aligned to their specific pains). Decision Criteria for the Validation Event: Therefore, we had incorporated those required capabilities into the decision criteria to validate our solution capabilities. (Here we listed our unique differentiators). Preliminary ROI: Based upon ABB’s internal cost numbers, we believed that ABB would be able to achieve a return on an investment (ROI) of 30.6 million dollars. We were quite confident of the ROI, since many of our customers had had very similar issues. Customer Success Stories: As an example of a company with similar issues, ABC corporation, prior to using our solution, had the same issues

 

in trying to increase engineering productivity and decrease time to market. After implementing our solution, ABC corporation decreased time to market by twenty percent and reduced engineering costs by $X-million.

 

Question to Ask the Economic Buyer Where in your priority list does this particular problem rank? What specific business measure does this issue most effect? When would you prefer to solve this issue? Would you be willing to allocate budget for $Y? E.g., If we could prove during the Validation Event that we could save your company $X for an investment of $Y, would you allocate $Y budget?

 

Besides yourself, is there anyone else required to approve a purchase of this size? If we are successful in the POV, what would be the remaining steps in your decision process?

 

“Great question, Luca!” I told them that the general, high level questions Economic Buyers almost always ask fall into four groups: Much-ness Soon-ness Sure-ness Easy-ness.

 

Much-ness: How much does it cost? How much does it cost to implement? How much will the company save?

 

Soon-ness: How soon can the solution be implemented? How soon before the company sees a return on the investment? How soon before my people are competent using the solution?

 

Sure-ness: How sure are you that your product will work in their environment? How sure are you of the cost justification?

 

Which of your customers can the I speak with to be sure your solution works? Easy-ness: How easy is it to implement? How easy is it for the company’s people to learn how to use it?

 

High in the tree is where the big money lives. High in the tree is where the people who control the money live. High in the tree is where big business problems are discussed. By starting high, you gain a huge advantage over the competition, since most competitors don’t climb high in the tree until it’s too late.

 

Speaking in business terms means hitting topics like increased revenues, decreased costs, improved margins, productivity, limit risks, time to market, and increased market share. If you don’t understand their business, you can’t solve a big business problem. If don’t you speak in their business terms, they will relegate you to the lower branches of the tree.

 

“The outcomes could easily go differently if reps find pain above the noise and a high-level Champion to get them to the EB,” said Jim.

 

“It’s becomes especially true in any replacement sale. The competition already has a Champion protecting the installed base. The person who originally purchased the competitor’s product will typically fight to keep you on the low branches and your product out of the account.”

 

“Because they are invested in their personal status within the account. When they bought the competitors product, they received a win—recognition, control, approval, promotion, etc.—and they will fight to protect the stature they gained.”

 

“Jim, right now, it’s more comfortable for your reps to not change. If you want to create change you need to ‘make it rain.’ Let me tell you a story about that.”

 

It’s our job to create an environment where it’s more pleasurable for reps to ask the customers the difficult qualifying questions, explore deeper during Discovery, and examine the details during Scoping. Otherwise, they’ll face the pain of the tough account and qualification questions you will constantly ask.

 

They gravitate toward pleasure and do anything to avoid pain. As leaders, we need to understand the pleasure/pain dynamic. It’s our job to create an environment where it’s more pleasurable for reps to ask the customers the difficult qualifying questions, explore deeper during Discovery, and examine the details during Scoping. Otherwise, they’ll face the pain of the tough account and qualification questions you will constantly ask.

 

When I say, “causing pain,” I don’t mean yelling or screaming, because that creates an intolerable work environment. What I am referring to is being consistent in training your reps by continually asking them qualification questions when they return from a sales call without you. Over time, they’ll understand the pain of continually facing

 

When I say, “causing pain,” I don’t mean yelling or screaming, because that creates an intolerable work environment. What I am referring to is being consistent in training your reps by continually asking them qualification questions when they return from a sales call without you. Over time, they’ll understand the pain of continually facing you without the answers to your account questions.

 

They’ll find pleasure in developing the courage and skill to ask the customer the questions.

 

Your focus should be on the things you can control, like recruiting the best people, onboarding new recruits, finding ways to increase training for your reps, developing your people’s skills, and leading your team. Focus on working diligently to make all the things under your control world class.”

 

“If you’re going to be in a startup, you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

 

“Figure it out,” he said. “Make the best decision you can with the information you have. And use your gut. Your best instincts. If it turns out you made the wrong decision, change it quickly. Don’t get married to your decisions. Don’t tie your ego to your decisions.”

 

Get comfortable making uncomfortable decisions.

 

“Not everyone will like you, and that’s OK,” I continued. “You’re not going to get an award for being popular. The job of the sales leader is about maximizing bookings by recruiting the best people, training and developing people, holding them accountable to standards of performance, getting individuals to perform as a cohesive team, and creating a culture of competence to help people win.

 

That’s OK, because if people believe you have their best interests at heart, if they are becoming more competent because of your coaching and they’re winning under your leadership, they’re not going to leave you.”

 

Reps want to be trained and developed. They want to grow. They want to be in a stimulating environment where everyone is winning, growing, and developing. When people win, they learn, develop, grow, make money and get promoted. That’s an engaging workplace culture. THAT is a culture that no one wants to leave. And that’s a culture people want to join.

 

“The sales manager is the leader,” I said to Jim. “Own that title. You are responsible for everything that happens with your people, your accounts, your forecast, and your bookings. The performance of your team is a direct reflection on your leadership. Take ownership. If you don’t own it, who does?”

 

At what specific step and stage of the sales process are they failing and why? What knowledge are they lacking? If it is knowledge, is there a training class that can improve their knowledge? Do they have the intelligence to comprehend the material? Are they failing because of a skill issue? If it is a skillset, can you, another manager, or another rep work with them to develop the skill? Are you competent in the area they are failing so you can help them?

 

If they always have been committed, what has changed? Has something changed in their personal life? Are you motivating them? Are they bored and need a new challenge? Are they adapting to the changing sales environment?” Is someone or something demotivating them? Do they have the desire to learn new material? Are they coachable?

 

“That means that anytime you have to terminate a rep, it’s a reflection on you. You either hired the wrong rep or you hired the right rep and couldn’t develop them.

 

“The rep has been here a year, if they were intelligent, they’d fully comprehend your product but not showing up prepared for meetings is a commitment issue. It’s lack of drive, lack of motivation. It comes down to character traits.”, I said.

 

It’s quid pro quo. You agreed with the Economic Buyer, prior to the validation event, that the winner will receive a purchase order subject only to legal review and pricing negotiation.”

 

Reps should be ready during Validation Events to do the following: Reconfirm the as-is and to-be process metrics from the cost justification. Adjust the as-is and to-be processes based on any new information. Capture material evidence of the solution solving the customer’s pain. Continue to align to the Champions’ personal win.

 

“What should you do after the Validation Event happens?” I asked. Stevie Mac quickly said, “We need to build a summary report of findings and share it, face-to-face, with our Champion. Obtaining buy-in from our Champion is critical to building their confidence and reducing their perceived risk of moving toward a purchase. We need to ensure the Champion understands and agrees with all elements of the business case. There shouldn’t be any doubt.” “And if our results materially change our original cost justification, incorporate those results into a new justification to share with the EB to further justify our price and increase the urgency to buy now,” Luca said.

 

Their corporate objectives Their strategic initiatives The business problem or opportunity How their problem or opportunity fits into meeting their strategic initiatives Descriptions of the before and after use-case scenarios with an explanation of how your solution uniquely solves the business problem An explanation on how your solution delivers the business outcome with the people, processes, and timeframes to solve the problem/achieve the goals A final cost justification that translates the quantifiable benefits of your solution into business value in the Economic Buyer’s terms.

 

The Business Case should be thought of as the customer’s internal document rather than the vendor’s document. Write the business case from their perspective—as if they wrote it. It should include everything you need for the meeting: Their corporate objectives Their strategic initiatives The business problem or opportunity How their problem or opportunity fits into meeting their strategic initiatives Descriptions of the before and after use-case scenarios with an explanation of how your solution uniquely solves the business problem An explanation on how your solution delivers the business outcome with the people, processes, and timeframes to solve the problem/achieve the goals A final cost justification that translates the quantifiable benefits of your solution into business value in the Economic Buyer’s terms.

 

Mention the negative consequences of not solving their pains. Share common results from other customers who have had the same pains and achieved positive results. Have them speak to a Champion at another company who had positive results. Remind them of their personal win and how this purchase will allow them to achieve an overall win.

 

“You also need to present an Implementation Plan,” I said. “A well-thought-out Implementation Plan decreases risk and increases the odds of achieving the success outlined in the Business Case. You’re highlighting the resources available to support the customer in the vein of ensuring their success.”

 

He wrote out a typical implementation template to use in order to maintain urgency: Start a project on (A DATE) Train (STAKEHOLDERS) by (B DATE) Reserve any internal resources for required services for (C DATE) Arrange all of this within the (TIMEFRAME) the Economic Buyer established in order to achieve the results by (D DATE) Finalize contract by (Z DATE) so required resources can be reserved and deadline can be met.

 

Every day that passes, the customer faces the negative consequences of not remedying their pain, because you have uncovered the why do I have to buy now.

 

The leader needs to minimize differences between individuals and enforce the motto: one for all and all for one. You’ll need to do whatever possible to ensure that everyone understands the importance and priority of the team.”

 

If this is a team, why would any one individual deserve special treatment?”

 

“You’re right. I need to set a few standards of performance for my team and establish minimum operating standards.” “More importantly, you’ll need to hold the player accountable, or

 

“You’re right. I need to set a few standards of performance for my team and establish minimum operating standards.” “More importantly, you’ll need to hold the player accountable, or you’ll lose the high performing members of your team.”

 

Jim shared just a few examples of the items on that list: Show up to meetings on time. Always be prepared. Show respect to other team members. Consistently give 100 percent effort. Forecast updates to CRM system every Friday by 5:00 p.m. Obtain required knowledge to understand and articulate needed variables such as: (items 7-18) The top competitive solution differentiators The competitors’ top differentiators The buyers’ top pain points and business issues Three customer success stories with dollar metrics Top three customer value drivers for our solution Be able to skillfully present product knowledge such as: The corporate overview Thirty-second elevator pitch A flawless whiteboard pitch Answers to the top-ten most common objections A list of the top-ten Discovery questions A list of the top-ten Scoping questions

 

“Because for any performance standard, you’ll need to define clear lines of demarcation for three levels: Exceptional performance Acceptable performance

 

“Because for any performance standard, you’ll need to define clear lines of demarcation for three levels: Exceptional performance Acceptable performance Unacceptable performance

 

Whereas, the non-performers were also smart, but weren’t as driven, appeared coachable, because they always seemed open to her advice. But they never adapted. They never learned new skills. Never changed their ways. They always fell into the same traps. Time traps, objection-handling traps, competitive traps, pipeline-generation traps.

 

“Because like a runner that uses proprioception to gain feedback on the affect that they have on the terain around them, I want you to start developing your emotional proprioception feedback system. I’d like to see you become intensely aware of the effect your words and actions have on those around you, especially the people that work for you.”

 

The success of each play What went right and why What went wrong and where the play went awry What knowledge or which skill each player may lack to complete a flawless play The effectiveness of the competition

 

the journey, you wouldn’t know your current location, how far you traveled, the next turn, distance to the next turn, remaining distance to your destination, or approximate time of arrival. You wouldn’t be able to tell your friend exactly when you would arrive.

 

Those answers lie in the Three WHYs: Why do they have to buy? Why do they have to buy from us? Why do they have to buy now?

 

Attaching your unique differentiators as the solution to that business pain and driving urgency creates a higher business value for your solution. Those answers lie in the Three WHYs: Why do they have to buy? Why do they have to buy from us? Why do they have to buy now?

 

The person who “owned” the pain was the VP of Engineering. That person needed to increase engineering productivity. Get new products out the door quicker, and for less cost. That was the person a rep needed to target. The VP Engineering was the they in why do THEY have to buy?

 

reiterate, why do THEY have to buy? reveals whether or not your rep identified the pain and the associated buyer most impacted by the pain during the Discovery stage.

 

Why do they HAVE TO buy? divulges whether or not your sales rep identified a major pain or a corporate initiative. Their description of the level of the pain is telling. Is the pain above the noise? Is their description in technical or business terms? These questions allow you to understand their level of investigation during the Discovery stage. Why do THEY have to buy? relates to the buyer in the organization who is most impacted by the pain. Who “owns” the pain? Whose job position will be most jeopardized by the pain? Can they name the specific person and articulate why they are impacted?

 

To reiterate, why do THEY have to buy? reveals whether or not your rep identified the pain and the associated buyer most impacted by the pain during the Discovery stage.

 

Your product differentiators need to map directly to the customer’s pain points to give you an edge over the competition. It answers the simple question: Is the customer buying what we’re selling?

 

If reps can’t explain how your product uniquely solves pain in the customer’s use case, then the rep hasn’t completed the Discovery stage.

 

If you move past Discovery without identifying why the customer has to buy from you, chances are the customer will believe you and your product are ordinary and indifferent. Just another indistinguishable product. Just another indistinguishable sales rep.

 

Reps have to understand this in order to understand customers priorities and drive customer urgency. Like the story about Dan, who sold me life insurance, the negative consequences change the customer’s priorities. It showcases the negative state they are in and displays a positive future state. If they don’t buy now, the consequences of not purchasing the solution are substantial.

 

The third question qualifies whether the rep understands the implications of the customer not solving their pain: Why do I have to buy it NOW?

 

Like the story about Dan, who sold me life insurance, the negative consequences change the customer’s priorities. It showcases the negative state they are in and displays a positive future state. If they don’t buy now, the consequences of not purchasing the solution are substantial.

 

What suffers by not solving the pain? The answer reveals the rep’s grasp of the pain’s effect on the customer’s business operations and discloses the level of impact the pain has on the company as a whole. The answer indicates whether or not your product will force the customer to buy now to solve the issue and reveal the level of buyer your rep is speaking with in the account.

 

It showcases the negative state they are in and displays a positive future state. If they don’t buy now, the consequences of not purchasing the solution are substantial. Is there an impending event forcing them to buy now?

 

For instance, what’s the negative state of releasing a new gaming application to the holiday market two months late? What is the positive future state that will affect product development costs, market share gains, positive influence on revenues, or profitability?

 

Qualifying Reps on the 3 WHYs Why do they HAVE TO buy? How would they describe the level pain level? What are the specific pain points? Is the pain above the noise? Is their description of pain in technical terms, business terms or both? What is the customer use case?

 

Why do THEY have to buy? Who is most impacted by the pain? What is the title of the person most impacted? How does this pain effect their job measures? Why do they have to buy from US? Do our product differentiators tie to their pains? Which of our product capabilities is uniquely differentiated? Why do they have to buy NOW? What happens if they do nothing? What company measurement suffers? Do they have another alternative to solve the pain? Do you know their desired business outcome? Is there an impending event which forces them to solve the pain?

 

“That’s absolutely correct. They should document the pain to understand whether or not the customer has the potential to buy what you’re selling and has an urgency to solve the problem.”

 

“Without quantifying before and after, your rep cannot build a cost justification that proves tangible business value. A powerful cost justification gives your rep strength later in the process.”

 

Several questions can indicate progress during the Scoping stage: What is the use case? Who owns the use case? How much is the quantified pain? Have you outlined the current as-is and the desired to-be scenarios? What is the quantified business value? Does the gain far outweigh the pain? What is their desired business outcome? How do you measure a successful business outcome? Do you have current KPIs you track for the business outcome? Have you built a preliminary cost justification? Have you shared the findings with your Champion? Is your Champion in agreement with each element of the justification? Have you reconfirmed why they need our differentiators in the to-be solution?

 

What price point will you set during your meeting with the EB?

 

Meaning, if our people haven’t been able to build the current and desired states with metrics, then they are still in the Scoping stage, right?” asked Luca.

 

Qualifying a rep’s intimate knowledge of the criteria (and if that criteria is in writing) is an indicator of the rep’s ability to find a Champion during the Scoping stage. A Champion will help your rep control the decision criteria.

 

Do your product capabilities align to the customer pains? Can you describe their major pain and how our product alleviates that pain? Did you help your Champion write the decision criteria?

 

Qualifying Reps on Decision Criteria We created a list of qualifying decision criteria questions: Do your product capabilities align to the customer pains? Can you describe their major pain and how our product alleviates that pain? Did you help your Champion write the decision criteria?

 

Which of our unique product differentiators are in the decision criteria? Have the criteria changed since the original agreement? If the criteria changed, which competitor has been influencing the criteria? What specific differentiators of the competition have been inserted into the criteria? When were their differentiators inserted into the criteria? Who is the competition speaking with that has the power to change the criteria? Are you in control of this deal or is the competition taking control? Why do you think you are in control? Are you prepared to discuss with the EB how the solution capabilities solve the customer’s business pain?

 

“The entire process from formulation to finalization of the decision criteria is extremely telling. It tells us everything we need to know about our position in the sales process: Whether we entered early or late into the sales process Where we are in the sales process How much power our Champion has If we have a coach or a Champion How much power the competition’s Champion has If we have confirmed agreement with the EB “It

 

A decision process may look like this: Have three vendors perform solution overview presentations by May 1 Have product demonstrations by May 8 Create a proof of concept completed by May 15 Deliver cost justifications by May 22 Have vendor selection and negotiations finalized by May 29 You

 

Qualifying Reps on Decision Process Here are some examples of qualifying decision process questions: What are the specific events the company will use to evaluate a solution? Besides your Champion, who else will be involved in each event of the decision process? Of those people involved in the process, who have you met with one on one? Have any new people entered the process since it was created? What are the timeframes associated with each event? Has the decision process changed since it was first created? Who changed it? Were you or your Champion involved? Is your Champion helping you control the process? If not, which competitor’s Champion is controlling the process? What is the title of the competition’s Champion? Does the POV have defined start and end dates? Which competitors are involved in the process? Are you prepared to confirm the decision process with the Economic Buyer? Can we meet with the EB after the POV?

 

summarized the additional qualifying information gained through the decision process: The person controlling the process Other key stakeholders involved in the process The power of the rep’s Champion and the power of the competitor’s Champion Whether or not the remaining steps are predictable or unknown Timeframes associated with events Our rep’s overall intimacy with the deal

 

Luca summarized the additional qualifying information gained through the decision process: The person controlling the process Other key stakeholders involved in the process The power of the rep’s Champion and the power of the competitor’s Champion Whether or not the remaining steps are predictable or unknown Timeframes associated with events Our rep’s overall intimacy with the deal

 

gain access to the EB To have an internal salesperson working on our behalf.

 

“The Champion has influence (power) in an account which gives them access to the EB. We’re looking for INA’s and IA’s.” said Luca. There are three big reasons you need a Champion: To gain access to the EB To have an internal salesperson working on our behalf. To gain control of the deal

 

The customer The competition You When the Customer Is in Control

 

During any forecast review, when a deal is at the mid-stages of the sales process, qualify whether or not your rep is in control. If they are in control, they should have a Champion. Together with their Champion, they should’ve created the decision criteria, formulated the decision process, and scheduled a meeting with the Economic Buyer.

 

Qualifying Reps on Having a Champion. These questions help to determine whether or not your rep has a Champion and is in control (which would indicate successful Discovery and Scoping stages): Were you told the criteria and process, or did you develop it? Did the Champion help the rep develop what was needed? Before-and-after scenarios Cost justification Decision criteria with your differentiator Decision process Agenda for the EB meeting What is the position of the Champion on the power chart? If they are an IA, how do you know they have influence? If they are an INA, why do they have influence? Are they NINA or ANI? Have you confirmed your Champion has influence with others? What is the Cham <You have reached the clipping limit for this item>