CEO @ Aligned | Helping revenue teams manage deal complexity | Follow to learn how focusing on your buyers is the top 1% formula
I’m turning 40 next month. I’ve been in sales for 17 years and managed 100s of AEs. Here are the top 10 things I wish I’d known when starting out: 1. Sellers don’t close deals, buyers do. Obsess with buyers’ internal meetings as much as your sales meetings. Tie your actions to the critical tasks they need to complete to build consensus internally, not your sales stages. 2. Having all calls on the calendar ≠ control (!). It is the illusion of control. If calls aren’t balanced with a good between-meeting buyer enablement workflow, you’ll most likely end up surprised. 3. Your role is not to just execute your sales stages, but offer ‘Project Management Services’ to your buyers’ stages. The sales stages are there to offer a good foundation to go back to, but they cover only 5-17% of your buyers’ stages… 4. Budget rarely is a reason to qualify out. Nobody wakes up with a budget set aside for the thing you sell. "No budget" simply means they haven’t found a good enough reason to create one yet. Unless they’re too small, in which case, why are you having a sales call? 5. Multithreading is more than how many people are on your calls/emails. That’s a vanity metric. It’s about building relationships with each key stakeholder separately to support their specific needs/requirements/concerns. That’s what moves the needle. 6. Structured deep discovery doesn’t work well in executive calls. You *have to* lead with stories, teach them something new, and let a conversation develop. If you try to have conversations first, they’ll tune off. 7. You *cannot* run Outbound intro calls like it’s Inbound. Lead with discovery on the latter. Lead with insights on the first (like w/execs). It’s ok to use slides if they serve the discovery. It’s even OK to demo before you have all the pain points figured out. As long as it all serves the discovery. 8. Only in a perfect role-play can you get all disco done in an intro call. If you try too hard, you end up with angry prospects. Worry less about the letters in your framework, and more about having a meaningful conversation around ‘why do anything’, ‘why now’ and ‘why you’. The rest only helps you and can come later. 9. Nothing cuts down deal cycles like dictating a high rhythm of communication. Received an email? Answer from your phone right away. Talking next steps? Offer a call tomorrow. Discussed timelines/MAP? Recap that on every follow-up. It’s not a sales trick, it’s sociology, human nature. 10. Never begin a POC without executive alignment. On the scope, success criteria, and the problem and priorities the project addresses. Explain to your champion how getting execs involved helps get their voices heard before putting in all the resources that a POC requires. Make it about them, not you. ——— Don’t make it harder than it has to be. Make mistakes and learn. But make sure to learn from other people’s mistakes first. What do you think’s missing? What hard-learned lessons would you give your younger self?
A wonderful post and for me - everything hit home, except for #7! Demo before pain points are identified, using slides in a discovery, I don’t agree with it - it’s the kind of actions that get you qualified out as a seller - regardless of the product you’re selling. Framing conversations are important in calls with execs - if you don’t have the context of their pain points, you can lead with examples! But if you resort to reading of slides, what credibility will you have in the buyers eyes?
Help them make an informed decision. Educate your buyer about the the landscape, major competitors and maybe even suggest use cases that a competitor might be better suited for. Dont shy away from talking about where your product or service wont fit their needs. Obviously, get laser focused about their pain points and then demo your solution to solve. I believe trust gets built when you help the buyer to connect the dots about what boxes your solution checks and what potential gaps that a competitor might fill that you can’t. Simple as “We can solve pain 1&2 really well but if pain 3 is the major priority, company XYZ might be worth considering. Its all about helping the buyer. Period. Even if that means you’re solution isn’t the best fit.
Ali Greenberg Austin Wern Kelly Cavan great tips in here - I love point 7 7. You *cannot* run Outbound intro calls like it’s Inbound. Lead with discovery on the latter. Lead with insights on the first (like w/execs). It’s ok to use slides if they serve the discovery. It’s even OK to demo before you have all the pain points figured out. As long as it all serves the discovery.
#5 - such a great call out on the difference. do you know what each stakeholder cares about and how this project affects their KPIs? then you know you are multi-threaded #7 also I believe is a huge issue in our industry. not all leads are equal, not all buyers are in the same buyers journey. need to understand where they are at and sell accordingly. Great list and happy early birthday Gal Aga!
I love the 7th learning that you shared. I just more people think that way.
Number 8 has been something I've felt viscerally but didn't know how to put into words in my sales roles. I've constantly been told that "you should be able to complete a full discovery call in 30 minutes" and when I attempt it, I feel completely selfish. Because it is! Focus on the why change, why now, why you...give a great meeting, earn their trust and the rest will come. "The rest only helps you and can come later." Spot on.
40 is the new 30!
Amazing list of tips! Make it as simple as possible, it should not be a headache. By the way, you don't look like you're 40, Gal!
Well said!no one wakes up with a budget set aside for what you sell !! But if asked the right questions , given the right discourse, finding the right people and deliever the correct and most effective solution then , of course they’ll buy … I’d add it ain’t done till it’s done !! Never presume or gloss over any points during the deal because they will come back to haunt you just before signing… ✍️
Founder @ FDTC | AEs and Sales Teams Win More with My Training, Enablement, and Coaching | 2x VP of Sales | >10x Startup Advisor & Consultant | Grab my top 24 disco questions below ⬇️
1moI think out of your entire list, this one is the most underrated...and undertalked about: "Structured deep discovery doesn’t work well in executive calls. You *have to* lead with stories, teach them something new, and let a conversation develop. If you try to have conversations first, they’ll tune off." I think executives are up for answering questions, but that's not what they want to sit through. Find a way to straight up just chat with them and weave in your questions.