Scott Anschuetz’s Post

When I work with established/legacy businesses, sometimes they can be a bit stuck in a rut. Revenues are not growing, and everyone blames sales. Sales seem to blame everyone else. Everyone else gets annoyed st sales and round and round it goes. This lack of growth is rarely a sales underperformance alone, in truth. If you are in business, you're in the business of sales - as the saying goes. Every person in your organisation is accountable for what is currently an ineffective culture. The root cause of why the business is no longer high-performing will be due to poorly communicated or understood Vision, Mission, Values, Culture and Goals framework. The odds are on, that even the Senior Leadership team don't have full buy-in to it. Or to put it another way - the quality of your Brand. A strong brand that's lived and breathed by the whole business, coupled with good product/market fit and differentiation, will drive and deliver a data-driven, optimised commercial performance. And everyone will be happy! Knowing how to drive this transformation is key - if any of this sounds a bit familiar, do drop me a line - happy to brainstorm with you.

How do you compensate business development originators or enablers at professional, financial, and consulting service firms? Typically - % commission on billings/revenue collected from origination Is that really aligning incentives? What I have found that leads to is: - BD being lone wolf - BD gaming the system to get origination credit from opportunities generated elsewhere - Frustration because of deals they originated but practice group couldn't close or dropped the ball - Frustration from practice group because deals originated are hairier than the usual referrals they receive How about we rethink this? What about bonuses based on what we really want as leaders? Originators - - Bonused on opportunities that make it to proposals that are not RFPs (or if in RFP heavy environment like architecture, bonus out on growth of RFP #) if true originator - Bonused on firm revenue growth if focus is brand awareness and referral source development Enablers - - Bonused on industry or practice group growth that they support in line with leadership growth focus - Bonused on individual partner book growth if focused on individual support - Bonused on client expansion and cross selling to focus on quarterbacking the internal communication Just some ideas as we are trying to align performance with results that matter, not creating a game to be played with no agreed upon success metric other than 'new clients' or a revenue target. ✌

𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗔𝘁 𝗔 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻(𝗮𝗹) 𝗢𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 🔹 Fractional Leadership, a great solution for many companies. It provides many benefits for businesses, including: ◼ 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽: A proven sales leader with general management experience to lead growth. ◼ 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 & 𝗥𝗢𝗜: A Fractional Sales Leader delivers at, well, a fraction of the cost. ◼ 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸: No long-term commitments - engage for a project or a time frame. ◼ 𝗔𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲: As your business grows, you can scale efforts up or down as needed. ◼ 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: Fractional executives often have a broad network they can leverage to help. 🔹 A Fractional Sales Leader is a highly effective & affordable way to access proven expertise and leadership to drive sales growth. 🔹 A Fractional Sales Leader provides the best of both worlds: high-quality sales leadership at an affordable price to drive performance and ROI. 👉 Would you consider a Fractional Sales Leader for your business? ◼ 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽: 𝗧𝗶𝗺.𝗧𝗲𝗲𝗻@𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗢𝗰𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳, 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴, 𝘌𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 & 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵-𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦, 𝘌𝘉𝘐𝘛𝘋𝘈, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩.

Dave Mattson tells a personal story on equal business stature in sales… This idea is particularly important to those who have ever felt they couldn't possibly connect with someone far above their pay grade… Dave has been there. Standing on shaky legs, tasked with pitching to a CEO of an $11 billion company with thousands of employees. The pressure was immense, and his initial nervousness almost sabotaged the meeting. "They could sense my fear, which nearly sent the wrong message about the product I believed in." What turned it around, and what can turn it around for you and your team, is realizing that preparation is your strongest ally. By practicing my pitch until it was second nature, I transformed that nervous energy into confident delivery. Embracing this mindset can not only ease your a salesperson's anxiety but also elevate their performance, ensuring they never feel outclassed in the boardroom again. #sales #salestips #saleshumor #sandlersales

How to find out who is who? Contact person, decision makers, gatekeepers and time wasters! The greatest challenge B2B sales persons facing in the early stage is, identifying the people involved in and their roles effecting the sales process. If you're good enough to identify the different characters involved in sales process, and handle them accordingly to close a sale. The human factor in B2B decision making is often neglected by many, not everything decided upon on the result of technical evaluation or the price. #b2bsales #businessdevelopment

This deal is a sinking ship 🚢 It's okay to work with people who have zero decision making authority As long as you check these three boxes: - Is the a pain/problem that has a sizeable enough impact that a business case can be made for your solution that will get others bought in? - Are they politically capable of building the deal internally to involve other people? (if not now, once they have validated your solution is a fit) - Are they willing to "play ball" and be forthcoming with information about their status quo and buying process? If “yes” then it might be time to open a deal room and begin building a business case If “no” then use the information gathered to prospect into the true champions and execs

Give serious thought to why your company should care about your strategy. Specifically, find problems that the board wants to be solved. What are senior managers scared of? Part of becoming a credible strategic thinker is learning effective approaches to selling ideas for your situation. You’ll know that you’re getting better at selling (or pitching) strategy when managers start coming to you when there is strategic thinking to be done. #blessinginspire #brandstrategist #kingdomentrepreneur

My biggest deal, $21m, took 18 months, involved 3 champions, a last minute change in CFO and a team of 14 people from my business. But there were many times when I just wanted to lose the deal so I could move on with my life. Large deals are all consuming. They keep you up at night, they occupy your mind at weekends and often your entire year's number hangs on their success. This particular deal got really sticky when the CFO changed just as we were about to sign terms. We had to go back to the drawing board and the whole thing was nearly derailed. Luckily we had built some great champions. Our champion's success was also tied in with this deal getting across the line, and to be honest that is what carried us home. Here are the most important traits of great enterprise deal makers ✅ Persistence ↳ They keep going to get the job done, getting back up whenever they are knocked down ✅ Humility ↳ They know it’s a team sport and that without everyone else involved in the deal, it doesn't get done! ✅ Action orientated ↳ While it's important to have a great appreciation for strategy in large deals, you need to be making progress (however small) everyday. ✅ Split time 80/20 above and below the power line ↳ Having great executive relationships is vital, but you build those by doing the work below the power line, cultivating a rich understanding of their clients business first hand, so that when they talk with the executive team, it has impact. ✅ Leadership ↳ They have an ability to influence without authority. They rally a virtual team around them, with a purpose of doing something meaningful, and they keep the team on track, through thick and thin. Finally... ✅ They build great champions! ↳ Champions that carry them through the hard times, whose goals are aligned this theirs. ✍️ Do you agree or disagree? ♻️ Reshare if I got it right. --------------- It's a marathon, not a sprint. P.S. If you want to learn more about being a great Account Executive/Account Manager, I have a range of free resources on my website (link in comments)

"You should want strategic partners who desire relationships via the introduction of contentious issues." A friend said this to me some years ago. I think it has stuck with me because I infer from it that resilient partnerships proactively embrace the difficult and that that in itself may be innovation enough. All strategic partnerships are great, sometimes mundanely so, when everyone's winning. The real opportunity for excellence and to excel lies in aligning on how to flourish during times of hardship (or at least on how to ensure mutual survival). #sales #negotiation #strategicpartners #culture #conflictmanagement #culturalintelligence

Give serious thought to why your company should care about your strategy. Specifically, find problems that the board wants to be solved. What are senior managers scared of? Part of becoming a credible strategic thinker is learning effective approaches to selling ideas for your situation. You’ll know that you’re getting better at selling (or pitching) strategy when managers start coming to you when there is strategic thinking to be done. #blessinginspire #brandstrategist #kingdomentrepreneur