Brian LaManna shows how to surface the biggest risk in a deal and address it directly with your champion. Sellers usually know the problem—misaligned executives, no competitive review, missed milestones—but avoid naming it. Call it out together, explain why it matters to them, and solve it as a team.
Chapters
Here's one area I've been working with my enterprise sales leader on to begin the year. We strategize in deal reviews what is the biggest risk in each deal and the action plan around it. And oftentimes the best strategy is simple. Call out the elephant in the room. We often know the risk in the deal as sellers, but we dance around it in conversations with prospects. There are few things more powerful than just calling it out with your champion and working to solve it. Say you don't have executive alignment. Call it out. Say there's not enough stakeholders bought in for what you typically see in a close one deal. Call it out. Say they haven't looked at any competitors and you're only hearing good news so far. Call it out. Say your product is missing a key requirement that they will typically ask about at some point. Proactively call it out. Say they've missed timelines and milestones. That the deal keeps pushing. Call it out. The key with it is leading with the why this matters and framing it for your prospect, not for your deal or your close date. See, friction in a deal is not a bad thing for either side. If you sense it, say it.
