Don’t Waste Your Time On Just One Buyer
We’d been working an account for a while and gotten in really tight with Sunil, the head of IT and the technical buyer. He was our man on the inside and, in the long run, the reason why we didn’t get the big deal we were after.
He was a rock solid connection for us, but he was only one out of multiple people who we needed to convince to get the sale. Problem was, he wouldn’t let us talk to them. Whatever his reasons were for being so… possessive …of us, I guess I understand because, after all, he’s ultimately the one who’ll be judged on the success or failure of our product with his company.
Sunil had no power over the budget, the head of marketing did. So, because he wouldn’t let us talk with them, we eventually lost the sale after what seemed like several years of trying. We just weren’t in touch with the many buyers involved in the process.
There’s never just ONE buyer you need to convince at a large company – the most apt comparison would probably be more like Medusa than Larry from Marketing. Your job as a legendary sales guy is that you’re telling them all what they need to hear.
Think of the sales cycle: A company will first recognize a need, then go about determining how to solve that need. Ideally, you would want to get the company to recognize the need before the competition beats you to it. Our mistake was to wait for Sunil to recognize the need, then spend uber time with him to get the money for it. We put all our eggs in one basket and suffered for it. So, how can you avoid making the same mistake we did?
Go Over Heads If You Need To
Salespeople are often way more confident that things will happen than they should be. In reality it’s an 80 percent chance. Sunil seemed like it was a sure bet, but it never happened.
In hindsight, we were too cautious in our approach with Sunil. We should have pushed harder to speak to the marketing people. If he didn’t like it, we probably should have done it anyway. Of course you should always proceed with caution and realize that you may risk burning bridges which brings us to…
How To Do It Without Burning Bridges
You don’t want to cut off your nose to spite your face, but there’s a way you can avoid a mess: blame it on someone else.
Yes, have someone else within your company make it happen. A great candidate is… your sales manager! A helpful sales manager would be the one to make the call to the head of marketing to take the heat off of you. Just apologize after with a sincere, “hey, I’m sorry my boss did that. He went over my head, what a jerk.” Then slyly wink to your sales manager.
Convince Your Contact That You Can Do It
Make your case! If your relationship with your contact is strong enough (and it will be if you are using Spiro) and you present your agenda upfront, you may be able to convince him or her that you won’t screw things up with the marketing folks (or whomever it is you need to speak to).
Remember That You’re Not Here to Make Friends
Ok, this is sales. If you don’t like having to ruffle a few feathers once in a while to get things done, maybe you need to find a new career. You’re never going to make a deal if you’re only speaking to one person so push if you have to!
Keep these tips in mind and you should be on your way to being a legendary sales guy with million dollar deals in the palm of your hand.
