Tackling Challenges that Face Enterprise Salespeople

Enterprise salespeople want 5X deals. The question is: Do you have an engine that will drive 5X contracts – repeatedly?

Enterprise salespeople who are trying to identify, develop, and close big deals right now are facing unprecedented challenges.  They include:

• Prospects being distracted, hard to reach, and hesitant to set meetings.
• Buying teams are avoiding any type of risk or perceived risk which includes changing products or services. As a seller, your biggest competitor for new customers is the ‘status quo’.
• Live virtual prospect meetings mean that relationship building is more difficult than ever.

The engine that will drive 5X deals includes three parts: relationships, strategic planning by the account team, and a long runway.

Enterprise Salespeople Need to Focus on All Three

Relationships

Relationship development goes well beyond an initial meeting.  Relationships are developed over time and built on a solid rapport and mutual trust. The account team must analyze each relationship to best understand the appropriate engagement plan. The account team should think strategically about relationships and ask themselves about the relationships they have and the ones they know they will need.

Strategic Account Planning

Account strategy meetings (or war rooms) are an opportunity to discuss how to be a trusted advisor for your prospect.  They also allow the team to do the strategy work necessary for future success.

This work cannot be accomplished in only one or two war room sessions.  It must be done over time.  Each session builds on the prior one as new information is learned.

A Long Runway

It takes time to develop relationships and work through all the war room elements.  It also takes time to learn, qualify, and develop the opportunity.  If these early sales stages are missed or rushed, results will suffer.

The other critical part of the time equation is understanding the buyer’s journey for big contracts.  What is your prospect doing, thinking, and feeling at each stage of their journey? The prospect’s journey takes time, too.  It is the job of the account team to add the right value at the right time.