Planning for Chaos in Your Deal Reviews

Most deal reviews are built on hope. And hope is not a plan. Here's the one habit that lets you pivot when a deal goes sideways, instead of scrambling.

For more strategies like this, check out my sales tip video library on YouTube...

If you prefer to read - here is the transcript:

Customers value that you have insights about other customers. I've often said that people don't care what you do. They don't care about the features that you offer. They care about the value it brings, and they really care about the value it brings to other people like them.

When we say, "here's why I'm such an expert" or "here's why I'm so good," they think, well, of course you're saying that. You're the sales rep. But as soon as you frame it by saying, "customers like you have experienced this," or "the last time I worked with a large sporting goods retailer," or "the chief product officer at another retailer told me," they start listening.

Two things happen. One, they think, "Colleen has worked with people like me, so she's an insider. She understands my business." Just like that, trust has been created. Second, they lean in and think, "I want to be like those companies."

Now, you can't always use the company's name. There may be confidentiality agreements, or your clients might not want you to use their name. Some of you work in industries where it's simply not a good idea to share a competitor's data. So just use the industry.

"We work with a lot of pharmaceutical companies, and the chief technology officers come to us because they're trying to solve this problem. Here's what a variety of them have said we've been able to do for them." "Here are the results we were able to get for another manufacturing company in the plastics industry." "Here's what other retailers, especially those in sporting goods, say about our products."

When we frame it in the words of the customer, our prospects start listening. They start to value us for our business insights, and they see us as an expert. We can't tell them we're experts, because that just sounds arrogant. But we can show them we're experts by showing them what other customers have accomplished using our solutions.