In order to be an extraordinary seller. Number one, you have to have confidence in yourself, but number two, you have to be willing to take those risks knowing that the payoff is going to be bigger. You're listening to the Audible Ready Podcast, the show that helps you and your teams sell more faster. We'll feature sales leaders sharing their best insights on how to create a sales engine that helps you fuel repeatable revenue growth. Presented by the team Enforce
Management, a leader in B to B sales effectiveness. Let's get started. Hello and welcome to the Audible Ready Sales Podcast. I'm Rachel Klappmiller. Today we are going to talk about expanding your opportunity, using your conversations to expand the opportunity. We know that going wide and deep in an organization increases the size of your deals because you're able to expand the problem and then the value of your solutions. There's a lot of ways that you can do that.
One is looking at implementation. One is just getting higher in the organization. So that's what we're going to talk about today with Antonella. Oh Day, Hi Antonella, Hi, Rachel, great to see you, Yes, thank you for joining me for this conversation. So let's level set at the start with talking about our mindset, the challenges around our mindset that may hinder us
really when we're trying to build that larger deal. Such a great starting point, Rachel, because your mindset can really dictate where a lot of this goes. So when I think about mindset and relation to getting those bigger deals, I believe there's four big blockers that really can stand in the way of getting those bigger deals. The challenge is not that we're not getting those deals done, because we are, but what we're not realizing is that these big four
prevent us from maximizing the size of those opportunities. And when I think about those big four and boil them down to get patients, lack of adoptability for planning, and lack of content, let me break those downs so our audience can determine if any of these are standing in their way, So that very first one in patience. It seems like it's almost instinctual for US sellers to want to close deals asap dep signature, but when it's all about speed to
signature, this creates some limitations. What do I mean bigger deals often require what more Stakeholders who have more pay more in different metrics, more in different requirements, And in order to connect these individuals and gather this information it takes time. So in the process of speeding through the buying cycle, we find that we're missing these key opportunities to involve people who can help us make a
stronger case for a bigger opportunity. My greatest advice is to slow down in order to speed up at the back end and have some urgency and land those bigger deals. The second blocker I find is lack of adaptability. Sometimes we're so focused on our own agenda that we lose sight of the importance of adaptability
in every single customer interaction. What do I mean by that? We're so focused on what we're trying to accomplish that we make assumptions, we don't ask the right questions, we don't understand the long term goals and outcomes the customer striving for. We don't tire ourselves to how to achieve those long term goals and outcomes because we're focused on the strategy we want to execute it on, and in the process of doing that, we fail to understand the customer's agenda.
We don't listen, we don't help the customer articulate what they're thinking and feeling. And to land those bigger deals, it needs to be the customer's agenda, not ours. And it's our inability to pivot that really prevents us from getting the customer to articulate what it is they're looking for. The third one the pre planning for this well, like, if you're planning is not really well thought out, if you're not thinking through the potential stakeholders that can
be impacted by your product or service. If you're not thinking through how you could potentially get an edge over the competition by expanding your requirements, to think about the things beyond the norm. If you're not thinking through how you're going to execute on your plan, chances are you're going to cop short. So big deals require big plans. And the last one, and I think it's a pretty important one, is lack of confidence, specifically in thinking beyond getting
to the signature. It can be really scary as a seller to stay in an opportunity longer in order to land the bigger deal, and sometimes our tendency is to lean into the path of least resistance, and this may present itself as let me just lay on the deal and I'll worry about expanding later. And in order to be an extraordinary seller, number one, you have to have confidence in yourself. But number two, you have to be willing to
take those risks knowing that the payoff is going to be bigger. So if you need to pursue a deal for a longer period of time because you know what, you can get to the C level, or if you can involve the implementation team and the decision making process, you can create a compelling business case rad requirements that will provide your organization with an edge and expand the opportunity. You have to be confident that the additional time is worth it, and
you have to be willing to take the risk of wes. I love that idea of being confident to be patient too, right like I'll want to merge the two. You have to be confident to be patient that the value will come on the other end. You mentioned in your planning Antonella, the stakeholders and all the stakeholders that are going to be impacted the larger year deal gets.
And so one of the ways to think through the conversation is through that planning that you're talking about, and to really assess all the people who are going to be impacted. And I know sometimes with our first management clients we use a concept called decision points to help us think through that. Can you
walk through that? Yeah? Sure? So the first decision point is something that I talked about a little bit, which is getting to the sign deal, talking to the people that we get access to, understanding what their problems are, understanding what the outcomes are trying to achieve, and getting them to
ultimately sign with us versus another vendor. And that's all good and well, but something to think about here is how we really explore all the important key stakeholders that could and should be weighing in on the decision making process and have I captured all of their pains and outcomes, Because very often what I'll see, because the goal is to get the signature, maybe we only have conversations
with those at the project level. They have a budget, they're given us access to them, and maybe we don't think about how this could potentially impact the organization as a whole, and getting access to those that are more focused on the business versus the project or understanding will be involved once the deal is signed, and what do they need in order to achieve those successful outcomes?
Both of these scenarios can create huge opportunities, so inever a deal, think about that only how your product or service can impact those that own the project, but how can are also pack the business and those who will be responsible in the implementation? Who are those people? How can I get in front of them? The second decision point, and I think it very often goes unaddressed altogether, are the people that make sure that the outcomes are achieved?
And very often this falls on an implementation type of team, but it could include other teams as well. Do we know who those people are who will be responsible have ownership of that implementation? Do we know what's important to them? Do we understand requirements they may need in order to execute successfully? If your answered to any of those questions is no, you're leaving muddy on the table. So those are some really great points to think through the decisions that
a customer is making, as are relates to our broadening our deal. And we always say that there is as much differentiation and how you sell as there is in what you sell, and this is where that how what we're talking about today can really be a differentiator for you as a salesperson. Yeah, I'm a big believer in that phrase to differentiating yourself and how you sell an addition to what they sell. But how do we differentiate yourself on how you
sell in the context of what we're talking about? And I want to go back to one of those big blockers I mentioned at the beginning is specifically the poor planning piece. Sometimes we get caught up in our opportunities and we go where the customer takes us versus guiding the customer to take us where we should
be going. For example, if I know my goal is to go beyond that common approach which is just getting the deal sign and I want to be super focused on getting my customer to their successful outcomes, I should have a plan as it relates to who should I be engaging with within the organization.
I did have a plan if that entails talking to those on the implementation team or talking to those on the C level, because at both of those ends of the spectrum, they care about achieving successful outcomes, so I need to understand it from both their points of view. If that's part of every strategy, I include that as part of my expectations with my customers, and now I have a higher likelihood of those introductions. Now I understand an even broader
scope of what the customers trying to achieve. I'm building more relationships, I'm getting more people around like plots and services. I'm opening their aperture to think even beyond the norm. And suddenly suddenly I'm differentiating myself on how myself just
by the way I engage deeper and wider within the organization. And the beauty of this type of differentiation for the seller is that very often it's the way that you can beat your competition because you're adding value and your competitor probably isn't, and you're focused on the long term outcome, which is very much so by or focused. The more people you talk to, right, the more discovery you can do, which helps you craft a better deal, which is
helping you set you up for greater success. Absolutely, So you know there's some other you know, I think big takeaways in terms of how it also sets us up for success, Like you know you just mentioned, it expands that circle of connection within the opportunity it me and you're not only hopefully connecting with economic buyers, technical buyers, influencers, implementation teams. But if you can gather those people and align them, you're one step closer to that kalentthed
Yes. In the process of expanding that circle, it's going to allow you to identifying more champions and coaches throughout the organization. And this is one of those areas I consistently here as a struggle. So if you struggle in terms of developing additional champions and coaches, expand that circle and finding those champions and coaches will happen organically. We all know the value of having a champion,
think about the long term value of having multiple champions. Understanding the outcomes from
a different perspective also creates urgency, and you mentioned that right. Getting more people agreeing that you can help them not only to solve their problems but also achieve long term outcomes is very often the quickest way to get from getting people from I'm not that sure to that signature and getting that bigger deal side and then finally, more conversations with more stakeholders very often leads to more requirements,
and those requirements that are specific that maybe not be the norm like those technical requirements more specific to the business or maybe specific to the partner. Those kinds of things can really help increase your chances in solidifying the deal in your favor. So you want to expand that when it favors you as much as possible. That's good. Okay. So as we kind of move towards the end
of our conversation, let's provide a little bit of the how. As a rat, what are the some of the things that I need to consider when I tackle expanding the value in differentiation? What are my key takeaways here? I'd say number one, consider the who. Identify who you want to connect
with and why do you want to connect with them. Make a list of those impacted by purchasing your product or service from the sea level all the way to implementation, and revisit the lists often add names, subtract them as you have conversations that ballogate who you should be talking to who you shouldn't be talking to, so that you're targeting those that may have the greatest impact on things
moving forward. Explore those positive business outcomes for all stakeholders. If the goal is to help your stakeholders achieve their positive business outcomes, you need to start with what they are and then determine how to get them there. And then
the last one is those required capabilities. We'll probably look at this through the technical lens of the features and functions that are required, but if we're broadening the decision maker pool implementation may care about some of the same technical requirements you may have uncovered, but maybe you're looking for something like documentation or support related to troubleshooting, and the technical team may not consider that. On the other
end, the economic buyer might be looking for efficiencies in their requirements. So think about these and relations your differentiators lay traps to have greater influence on the wirements at all levels, so you're always in a strong position when evaluation comes
into play. That's great you mentioned patients. Right as we are eager to get a deal and to get it closed, the hustle to seal the deal, we also want to hold ourselves accountable into really providing great value for our customer, but then a great outcomes for us too to increase that deal size and that text that takes that confidence and really considering all these things that you've talked about today and Tonella, thanks so much for ch'all, and I'll just
leave it with one final thought around this whole entire topic. Like prioritizing customer outcomes over closing deals, it really creates a customer first buying cycle. It builds trusts, it fosters great relationships, It leads to additional allies, It leads to additional champions and coaches. And then it results in you differentiating yourself and how you sell as well as what you sell. You add these all up together and the result are those larger, more successful deals because clients see
value and partnering with someone that puts them first. I love that. Thank you, Antonella, Thanks so much, Rachel, and thank you to all of you for listening to the Audible Ready Sales podcast. At Force Management, we're focused on transforming sales organizations into elite teams. Are proven methodologies, deliver programs that build company alignment and fuel repeatable revenue growth. Give your teams the ability to execute the growth strategy at the point of sale. Our strength is
our experience. The proof is in our results. Let's get started. Visit us at force management dot com. You've been listening to the Audible Ready podcast to not miss an episode subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player Until next time.