CEO @ Aligned | Don't Sell, Offer Buying Process As A Service | From Email-File-Chaos to a Digital Sales Room. End Indecision & Ghosting.
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Iâve been in sales for 17 years and managed 100s of AEs. This profession is so full of bad advice and it took me ages to find my mentors. Here are 9 things I wish someone had told me years ago⊠1. Buyers Close Deals, Not You Itâs easy to obsess over sales meetings. But the real magic happens in buyers' internal meetingsâthose youâre not invited to. Align your actions with the critical steps THEY need to build consensus. Don't sell. Enable them to buy. 2. Your Sales Process is Meant to Be Broken On that note, your role is not just to execute your process but to offer âProject Management Servicesâ to your buyersâ process. Your process is there to offer a good foundation to build on, but it only covers 5-17% of your buyersâ process. 3. Calendar Overload = Illusion of Control Weekly champion syncs feel great, but the truth isâyouâre probably not moving the needle much. If you fail to equip buyers between calls with the right tools or content, youâll discover your âchampionâ isnât championing. Help them build momentum internallyâ24/7. 4. Budget is Almost Never the Deal-Breaker Stop asking about budget on the first call. It is rarely a reason to qualify out. No buyer only spends on pre-allocated line items. âNo budgetâ simply means âNo Justificationâ to create one for the value youâve been able to convey. 5. Accessing Stakeholders is NOT Enough Multithreading is not about having many people on your calls/emails. Thatâs a vanity metric. Itâs about building separate relationships to support their specific needs/requirements/concerns. Thatâs what truly moves the needle. 6. Executives Hate Deep Discovery on Calls Structured deep discovery doesnât work well in executive calls. You must lead with stories, teach them something new, and let a conversation develop. They have zero patience. If you try to have long conversations first, theyâll tune off. 7. Youâll Fail 99% of Outbound Intro Calls if You Treat Them Like Inbound You lead with discovery on Inbound, but lead with insights on OutboundâItâs OK to use slides if they serve the discovery. Itâs even OK to demo before you have all the pain points figured out. As long as it all serves the discovery. 8. Drop the âPerfect Discoveryâ Fantasy A perfect disco only works in a role-play. Try it in real life and you'll end up with no next steps. Worry less about your framework, and more about having a meaningful conversation around âwhy do anythingâ, âwhy nowâ, and âwhy youâ. The rest only helps you and can come later. 9. Speed is Your Biggest Easy âHackâ to Drive Urgency Nothing cuts down deal cycles like dictating a fast rhythm of communication. Received an email? Answer from your phone right away. Talking next steps? Offer a call tomorrow. Discussed timeline/MAP? Recap that on every follow-up. ââ Donât make it harder than it has to be. Make mistakes. Learn from them. But always learn from other peopleâs mistakes first. Whatâs one mistake you've learned and hope others avoid in 2025?
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