If you are not utilizing your time in sales meetings and “one on ones” to further opportunities appropriately, you are losing deals. A lot of sales meetings consist of going over revenue goals and where the team’s current position is in respect to those goals. Then mixed in with pipeline overviews and team motivation exercises, there are product/service enhancements and additions, some state of the union announcements, possibly some cursory resource planning. A lot of “one on one” sales meetings go a little deeper into assessing the pipeline, resource allocation, goal setting and some personal guidance on opportunities in the pipeline. These are all good elements of a sales meeting but many times overlooked are the strategic and tactical elements of winning opportunities that the entire sales team could participate.
Sales Success Mapping – Metric (scoring) based assessment of Key Opportunities
- Needs Assessment – Is there a clear and compelling need for your product/service?
- Provider Alignment- Demographic, psychographic, philosophic and capability to deliver
- Competitive Landscape- Who of your competitors are in the opportunity?
- Who are the players on the client team and what is the strength of your and the competitors’ relationships?
- Identify the Decision Maker and the influencers on the team
- Determine Strategy – Direct, Indirect, Divisional or Hold/Contain
- Open and honest discussion about position in opportunities
- Win/Loss reviews
- Featured Opportunity Review
- Collaborative ideas for Strategy and Tactical planning
We as sales individuals have an optimistic view when it comes to opportunities. Many times, to the detriment of winning opportunities. We tend to believe our capabilities have been exercised to the fullest potential. I assure you that is not the case in many opportunities. Taking time on a regular basis to perform the tasks above in a sales meeting will change the thinking of your team for the better. Instead of allowing team members to simply say “I’ve got this”, allow the team to assess potential opportunities and provide feedback, insights and ideas to help further the opportunity and move closer to “Yes” and a signed contract.
I have implemented this methodology with great success in “accuracy aligning” the pipeline and forecast. Nobody wants fluff and dreams in their pipeline. We want opportunities and deals that are real and tangible. Sales Leaders struggle with this day in and day out. If you guide your team to assess the opportunities with a scoring element, at the very least, you will get them thinking in a strategic and tactical manner that will prove to bolster the accuracy in pipeline development and forecasting but most importantly increase your Win percentage!
Tread4 Consulting – Traction in business performance!
Tread4.com