But the superhero model has a flaw, it’s focused on YOU and YOUR ego. Superheroes don’t share their superpowers. Why? (more…)
Tag: sales
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Hey Sales Leader, Stop Being a Superhero
Who doesn’t love a good superhero? If you’re a Sales leader, chances are you want to be the kind that saves the day by swooping in to fix everyone’s deals. -
10 Commandments of Success
In an election year, the concept of a promise takes on odd meaning.
What can we believe…. What can we not…..
Sadly, these promises cannot be counted on, certainly not as a guarantee. Leaving us to wonder:
When will the day come that we can believe a guarantee?
Great news for you: That day has come. Today. Right now.
As a result of our work with dozens of companies, hundreds of sales leaders and thousands of sales reps; we have distilled these 10 Commandments of Success which, if followed, WILL increase your sales. I personally guarantee it.
The 10 Commandments of Success:
1. Simplify:
Many reps make the path to success overly complex. Today, I spent hours reviewing opportunities where reps over-engineered simple concepts and put an undue burden on their prospects for actions that the rep should be completing. Keep simplifying the task until it’s in its simplest, most elemental state. Put as little burden on your prospect as possible.
‘Make it as simple as possible but no simpler.’ Albert Einstein
2. Commit:
Too many reps ‘kinda’ want to do a deal but in reality, they aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to win. Instead, they partially commit to many opportunities, weakly pursuing them and winning very little. If it isn’t worth winning, don’t bother. If it is, be willing to do whatever it takes.
Want to delve deeper? I recommend this book: The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Whatever You Want by Mike Hernacki.
3. Plan:
How many times have you gone to a meeting where you are the star and yet you didn’t have a clear map for these 3 basic elements: 1) your goals for the meeting, 2) the prospects goals for the meeting and 3) your expected next steps? Without at least a basic plan, you are slowing down your path to success and wasting everyone’s time.
‘Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.’ Sun Tzu.
4. Move:
Ok. Planning is great but Action is greater. When in doubt, friggin’ DO something. Make a call, do some research, edit a proposal. Many times even the wrong action is more powerful than doing nothing correctly.
‘Have a Bias for Action’ , learn more in Tom Peters’ book In Search of Excellence.
5. Listen:
<shock> Your clients really don’t give a rip what you have to say until they KNOW you have listened to them from your core. No, not listened to ‘respond’. Truly listened to understand and echo back to them what you heard. Listening creates intimacy and trust. You MUST have these to do meaningful deals.
‘Seek to Understand before you seek to be Understood’. Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
6. Focus:
‘Value’ is the only currency today. If you aren’t trading in that, you are in the commodities market. Value aligned to a prospect’s known (or unknown) Business Pain is the only way to do meaningful business.
‘Focus on what is Vital and ignore what is Trivial’ . Greg McKeown, Essentialism.
7. Be Brave:
So many reps that I coach admit with embarrassment that they are afraid in their sales cycles. Awesome! Sometimes it IS a bit scary. BUT…. We must pursue anyway. It is OK to be afraid. What is not OK is to have that fear paralyze you. Please read Feel the Fear…. and do it Anyway by Dr. Susan Jeffers. It will liberate you.
8. Be Honest, with YOURSELF:
Often times, we don’t like what we know or suspect. So we do the smart thing: IGNORE it. That solves nothing and only prevents us from being successful. Reps that embrace whatever the truth is and build a realistic plan to deal with it: WIN. Reps that don’t: LOSE. It’s THAT simple. Save yourself the heartache and Run to the Truth™
9. Persevere:
Starting is easy. Buzzy, fun, exciting…. And then it gets hard. It doesn’t go well. Sh*t hits the fan. We get discouraged. Here is what I know: At some point, the big deals that I have been involved with were really ugly, beaten up or even dead but, because we chose to fight on and endure, we were able to cross the finish line victorious.
‘Have the Courage to Endure.’ Ruben Gonzalez, The Courage to Succeed.
10. Be different:
We frequently feel we have to do something crazy when, in the end, our prospects simply want to count on what we say we’re going to do. I saved this one for last as it’s been the biggest success maker for me and our clients at Span the Chasm. Simply follow Larry Winget’s #1 Rule of Business (and relationships) from his book, The Idiot Factor:
- Do what you said you were going to do
- The way that you said you were going to do it
- When you said you were going to get it done.
BOOM! (mic drop)
You might have noticed a lot of books referenced in this post. Here is a bonus: Read.
Find a partner and hold each other accountable to reading a book per month for a year. It’s an important factor in your own personal development.
I have worked this concept with many reps to date and have never heard negative feedback. Your personal success matters to us at Span the Chasm. Try these out, let us know what you think! I guarantee you’ll see results, if you stick to it and COMMIT.
BONUS!
You may have noticed I used a lot of quotes in this blog. Quotes are powerful teachers and provide daily inspiration for me. We gather wisdom and new insights through quotes. I’ve assembled my favorite 10 success quotes in a handy PDF.
Click here to download and place it on your desk for daily inspiration!
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Don’t Lose Critical SaaS Renewals
“We lost the XX renewal? How the &*?# did THAT happen?!”
Everyone in the office can hear your raised voice from a mile away.
This was NOT supposed to happen, especially with THIS client.
Sh*t happens. Daily. Especially in the world of SaaS software sales and renewals.
Today you’re the darling and tomorrow you’re out. But WHY does it keep happening?
First, let’s review a typical SaaS deal flow.
✅ Your New Logo team captures a new client.
✅ They hand it off to Implementation who gets them up and running.
✅ Implementation hands them off to your Account Management team to secure the renewal (ARR) and upsell (NRR) over the ensuing months.
✅ Professional Services plays a supportive role throughout the process.
Sounds pretty straightforward, right?
And yet renewal rates for SaaS teams slip each year. Surprise losses occur for your team every quarter. It can feel like money goes out the back door faster than your New Logo team can bring it in the front door. #ChurnSucks
Before your CEO calls you in for that tough talk, learn the secret killer of your SaaS deals, and stop the carnage.
DRIFT – The SaaS renewal killer. What you need to know.
Drift is a slow, incremental process of beliefs, goals, and expectations widening between two parties. It’s why marriages fall apart and why SaaS software companies don’t get their renewals.
Drift is insidious. It starts very small and grows slowly. No one even realizes until the gap becomes wide. Even a small angle of differing expectations left unchecked can result in a massive expectations gap. Next thing you know, your SaaS deals are headed for divorce court.
Drift won’t show up in your Loss Report or in internal QBRs. It shows up, like slow-growing cancer, at renewal time when your account manager loses a deal.
Look for the tell-tale signs:
- Economic Buyers aren’t as interested in meeting.
- You hear that ‘priorities have shifted’ within the account.
- The client was using the application for non-strategic purposes, and no one noticed.
- Your product never became critical to their operation.
If any of these sound familiar, fear not, there are immediate steps to prevent DRIFT in your accounts. Do these NOW:
1. Build a plan WITH your Economic Buyer (EB) for ‘90 days to Success’. Have your team define and deliver a quick win. Something that aligns with a key element your EB identified when making the initial investment. SaaS teams who are in tune with the EB can better predict renewals and improve success within this 90-day window.
Superstar move: Have the EB repeat the value back to you. They are selling their own ideas.
2. Have your team run QBRs with your client: Every 90 days, highlight your success by delivering the original value and tweak as needed. This is one of the most impactful things you can do to minimize the damage of DRIFT. If your client won’t enter this process, get with the EB to initiate it. If it was important then, it’s important now. If not, then you know their priorities have changed.
Superstar move: Go back to the original business impacting goal with your EB and have them describe progress and changes. Always align/re-align back to VALUE.
3. Drive your teams to execute smooth transitions: From New Logo team all the way to the Account Managers, make sure:
⇒ The activities within each step are clearly defined.
⇒ The roles within each step are clearly defined.
⇒ The inputs and outputs for each step are clearly defined.
⇒ 100% adherence is the only option. No variations. Period.
Superstar move: Periodically inspect all of the steps and documents for the client’s full life cycle. A periodic DEEP inspection will get everyone’s attention. Especially if you’re creating a culture where 100% compliance is the only way.
Bonus:
Always guide your teams to Focus On What Matters™(FOWM). Implementation teams have lots to do. Account managers get busy and distractions are everywhere. Be diligent and keep them FOWM: Delivering value that’s aligned back to the EB and adjusting when necessary. Do this quarterly, and you’ll eliminate DRIFT and stay out of divorce court.
Your commitment to putting you, your teams and your company in a winning position require rigor and execution. Our customers who map this out, execute at a high level and have QSRs with ARR and NRR above their industry peers. Those who don’t have difficult conversations that are loud and full of expletives. Don’t let that be you.
Now, go! Help your team get the renewal! It starts with great rigor and execution on day one!
Contact us and let’s work together to map out YOUR 90-day plan to more renewals.
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Avoid These 3 Sales Forecasting Mistakes and Make it Rain
Your sales leader just asked you a very reasonable question.
Admit it, you don’t know the answer.You’re embarrassed and your palms are sweating.
“Why did you forecast opportunity X to close on Y date?”
We’ve all been there at some point in our career (probably more than once). Our forecasts don’t stand up to inspection. A deal slips 2 quarters in a row, only to slowly fade into oblivion.
You were sure but then you weren’t. It was a ‘done deal’ but then it wasn’t.
Forecasting IS a tricky process. Often more magic than science but, in the end, the elite reps replace voodoo with rigor and do bigger, faster deals.
For many, their sales forecast has the same accuracy as the 15-day weather forecast, even if it was created using the latest technology by Accuweather.com
You would never buy a new car based on commissions you MIGHT earn. So why would your company put faith behind a forecast with less than a 50% chance of actually happening?
There’s a reason your forecasting is as unpredictable as a July pop-up thunderstorm in Atlanta.
Actually, there are 3 reasons your forecasts aren’t close to 100%:
- They’re ALL about YOU.
YOU need the deal by a certain date.
YOUR quota relies on it.
YOUR measurement is dependent on it.
YOU, YOU, YOU!
This all-too-common approach will ALWAYS fail because no one on the other side of the table cares about YOUR issues.
Your manager.
Your prospect.
Anyone. They aren’t motivated by your goals. And everyone that works near you quickly sees your credibility is shot.
Action: Stop forecasting deals because you need them. Instead, Run to the Truth™ and focus on reason #2.
- They are based on hope instead of strategy.
Because you NEED these deals, you haven’t created a defined action on the opportunities other than a feeble statement that you’re going to ‘follow up with them right after this forecast review’.
Deals that move through the pipeline with velocity have value aligned action steps with support from your prospect. Without this, there IS NO velocity.
Action: Get with your leader and review your top opportunities. For each opportunity, plan the next 2 value aligned steps that would make sense to both you and your prospect. Reach out to each prospect and get consensus immediately.
And make one of those steps include #3.
- They’re not connected to the Economic Buyer (EB).
Elite sales reps are connected with the EB.
(If you don’t know who this is, call me IMMEDIATELY on 404-307-3201. I mean it. Call me RIGHT NOW!)
The EB holds the key to the discretionary dollars needed to fund this effort.
3 things you must know from your EB:
Are they going to fund this?
When are they planning this? And
What priority is it on their list?
If you haven’t heard from the EB, you’re flying blind. Ask us about our win-loss data regarding the EB involvement for B2B strategic deals. There’s a shocking correlation related to the failure of deals that don’t involve the EB.
Action: Use your Champion on the account to get in front of the EB and find the answers to the 3 questions above IMMEDIATELY. Recast your forecast. Now, apologize to your sales leader and promise NEVER to miss this important step again!
Just like forecasting the weather, sales forecasting is hard and rarely 100% accurate, even under the best of circumstances. With these specific steps, you can increase your certainty. This is not a complete list, but it’s a great place to begin some serious self-examination.
Remember, in the end, YOU own your success. No one else. It’s up to YOU to be amazing.
‘HOPE’ does NOT work. Maybe for a lousy weatherman, but not for a successful sales rep.
Elite reps know this and they map it out. They execute the plan. They ask for help.
If you’re ready to enter the world of the elite, start with asking for help. Contact us using the sidebar, and we’ll help you create a rainmaking forecast.
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4 Key Sales Lessons: Enterprise B2B Sales and Selling Concessions
WE FRIGGIN’ CRUSHED IT!!!Selling concessions this last weekend at the regional wrestling tournament was a blast. Fabulous people, a good cause and, BONUS, a reminder of some core but crucial elements in Enterprise B2B Sales.
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APIMA: 5 Critical Steps for a Successful Sales Campaign
It’s a foundational sales truth:
You simply cannot win in today’s competitive world without them. You know what they are…
Sales Campaigns.