Interested to get your view on changing perception in client/ customer-base
Hello Callum,
You may not be doing this, but often when I see/hear comments like this, it is because the seller is selling a tool and not a solution.
I hear AEs in my current company looking to sell use cases to fix a symptom rather than a solution to fix a business problem.
you have to find the pain…expose the pain…then exploit it.
Understand the company metrics (ie increase revenue by X%, or EBITDA by Y%, etc) and how your solution will help them realize these targets.
If you are stuck talking about feature/functionality, you are forever in the “friend zone”. LOL!
Level up the conversation and talk more business and less tool. Your goal should be to find the person who has a $5B migraine and you have a $5M pill to rid them of that pain.
putting it in personal terms…
if you are driving around town and you pop a tire, you have time to shop around for the best deal. no real urgency since you are close to home or have some other way to get to where you want to go.
now, if you are driving somewhere in the middle of nowhere (say route 66) by yourself, you aren’t thinking about what kind of deal you can get on a tire, but how you can get back on the road quickly.
one is a tool…one is a solution.
Hope this makes sense and helps!
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I also feel there is an aspect of champion building that goes into moving beyond vendor. Do you understand what your champion is measured on or their goals?
How do you support those ambitions?
Getting to this level of relationship means they will take you places in the company to solve those business problems.
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100% @jack!
now that you brought up a Champion…
How do you identify/define a Champion?
Sorry, old sales leader in me. When I hear Champion my ears perk up.
I have seen way too many sales reps crash and burn because they think they have a Champion and at best all they have is a coach.
Great topic, Callum! For me, I have always had the ability to build very strategic relationships, becoming the customer’s “Trusted Advisor”. Recently, over the past year, I’ve taken more of a financial acumen approach on assisting my clients and helping them weather through the whole economic crisis/downturn.
They’ve definitely appreciated that approach and this is what builds a “Strategic Partner”, one who is strategic in helping their clients and prospects. This builds and solidifies solid relationships.
@will.valera.1 Question: How do you approach a customer relationship when there isn’t a renewal?
What’s your process to maintain relationships without leaning too hard into the financial deal side of things? Any tips or stories that could help shed light on that?
Call me a cynic, but a lot of people like to call themselves a strategic partner to C-Level execs on LinkedIn but in my experience, most never achieve this status. They may be trusted. They may be a partner. But just because you do business with a company and have a solid relationship does not make you a strategic partner or advisor. In talking to several C-Level folks about this they’ve told me they often have a handful - less than 5 for sure - of what they would call strategic partners. These are usually companies with whom they are spending many multiple millions of dollars and are critical to the running and future of their business. A lot of solutions simply don’t fall into that category. But within those partners, the ones who do stand out and enter that sacred realm are the ones who provide value in every interaction, who listen, who bring great resources to the client proactively, and who truly - not superficially - have the client’s best interests at heart. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen for everyone. But regardless of whether you become a “strategic partner”, doing those things will certainly move you up the food chain and theres is absolutely value in that.
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Totally agree, Andrew. The fact is that very few solutions out there will rise to the level of spend that will land, and stay, on a CXOs desk. Especially at larger enterprises.
That being said, moving from vendor to Strategic Partner is relevant as soon as you hit P&L owners that have a need to balance multiple priorities.
What I found is that more than anything, it requires a shift in mindset. The AE needs to believe they have sometime meaningful to deliver to that executive, they need to act like it, and they need to make good on that promise.
Coming in with a strong executive POV, sharing meaningful insights, guiding the executive vs. letting them lead you. Those are all elements of moving in that direction. It’s not easy and it takes time. But it can lead to a very strong and mutually beneficial relationship
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Points raised here in the thread are excellent, @andrew.gibian and @ran.haimoff. Appreciate you both.
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@greg.nishihira I love that you brought this up. Champion or “Mirage” is a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot recently and may be worthy of a standalone thread. I think it’s safe to assume a majority of us have fallen into this trap before: we (incorrectly) assume we’ve found our champion – they’re seemingly giving us everything we need (frequent updates on the process, names of key decision makers, news of additional demand they’ve driven with peers) – we get comfortable (which makes us reactive) and we end up following the customer’s decision/selection process – we know we’re single threaded or not high enough in the account but we have a strong champion who has executive support (at least that’s what they told me?) – we realize too late we’ve been banking on a champion that we’ve never actually tested – maybe our Champion has actually been, at best, a Coach.
- What are some of the most effective ways to test a champion?
- In the example above, we assume we have a champion and they’ve communicated to us that they have strong executive support. They are running the proposal up the chain and want to hold off on introducing us to the exec buyers until they’ve gone through the internal reviews first. As a seller, our sales leaders and executives are always pushing for top to top alignment on in-flight deals. How do you determine if and when it’s a good time to go over your champions head and reach out directly to the customer/prospect’s executive team?
Hey @trevor.gill,
great question and one I am asked frequently.
Several years ago while at BMC, MEDDPICC was hammered into us. Especially when it came to a Champion.
IMO, a well qualified Champion will help you understand all the other aspects of MEDDPICC. But to answer your question…
Sales Professionals are way too quick to give a contact the honor of being a Champion. This leads to the example you shared.
It should be difficult to give a contact the Champion flag…they should earn it.
So here is how you qualify…
The answers to all the question MUST be yes, if not, they are best a coach.
1.) Do they have a personal win?
2.) Are they selling on your behalf?
3.) Do they have political clout?
4.) Do they have access to power?
To test, you will need to find out the following:
1.) what is in it for them if they bring your product in? What does it mean for them if this project is successful?
2.) Are they talking about your product when you are not in the room? When you are in the meeting are they selling the value?
3.) When they talk…do people listen? Can they get the right people in the room?
4.) Can they/will they get you a meeting with the EB?
As you can see, you have to develop a Champion. You may initially identify the wrong person(s), but you need to keep looking.
Additionally, you should build an Army of Champions. The more you have, the higher the probability of winning.
Pro Tip:
If you have a team you work with (ie SC, Customer Success, etc) you should task them with building a champion as well and hold them to the same standard.
Happy to chat live if you want to dig into this deeper.
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