HOW TO CLOSE THE LARGE ENTERPRISE DEALS FAST

A lot of people say, hey, Brian, interview people more who sell industrial products, who sell capital equipment, uh, because the software stuff, oh, that's different. Well, you know, sales, it really comes down to how many people have to get involved, why are they buying it, what are their alternatives, why they need to buy it now. And You know, what you're selling, yeah, it has a certain nuance to it, but certain elements are also the same. You know, the economics of buying something that's $100K within a company has a lot of the same behavior regardless of what it is. Different people get involved maybe on the usage end of it, but on the paying for it and the approving side of it, Might be the same people. Uh, today, Justin Pike is coming back on the show. He was on almost 2 years ago. A great rep, a lot of good experience, a lot of great stories to share and things that we all can learn when we're selling a big deal into a company.

Let's get into the interview.

I'll sum it up at the end. And if you know any another sales rep, Tell them about the show, will you? Also, I'm looking for great guests, so if you know one or are one, hit me up on LinkedIn. Here we go.

Hey, Justin, thanks for joining us today. Give us a little update and a little, um, status on yourself there.

Yeah, Brian, awesome to be with you again. I think it's been about a year and a half since we, uh, last chatted. Um, things are going really well. I'm still with Bruckner Group USA. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Exciting news, we're moving our facility to Dover, New Hampshire, but I work specifically for Hefel Packaging, which is thermoforming equipment in the world of plastics and fire. Things are going very good. Our company is doing very well. The landscape is ever so— it's changing dramatically. The dynamics are day to day, so it's a really fast-paced environment. While still maintaining a pretty slow and methodical and strategic sales process.

Yeah. And you having a good year?

Yeah. You know, things are really good. I feel really fortunate because the way that our sales process works is it takes a full team, right? It's a team sport. Our company has assembled one of the finest teams that I've seen assembled in a long time. So I've got resources right and left. It's really helped me. Last year was very, very good. You know, crushed our goal. I crushed mine. This year's off to a really good start. But as you know, and as I'm sure many of your guests say, you know, you're only as good as the next one. And like Tom Brady says, the next ring is his favorite. The next sale is my favorite. So, you can never get too complacent.

And what are you running into in the market?

So, there's a lot of acquisitions in our landscape. So, what happened was over the last year, as you know, some of the dynamics have changed and things have been kind of hectic. A lot of the smaller to mid-sized companies are actually putting themselves either up for sale and getting, you know, get bought by a big, one of the big packaging companies. And at the same time, I found that those same smaller size companies strategically can move from a small to a mid to a larger company pretty quickly, especially when some of these guys have some equity backing behind them. Private equity is huge in our industry. So the market's dynamic, it's changing every day, and it's really— I think it's set up to be really successful for both plastics and fiber moving forward for the next 3 to 5 years.

And what would you say is your key obstacle in getting the deals done either bigger or faster?

So bigger or faster, one key obstacle is always loyalty. Brand loyalty. So if you're trying to get into a customer you haven't gotten into before, that makes the deal obviously very difficult. To get done faster, I think the economy— people have been a little bit hesitant. And while some people have been hesitant, others have been aggressive. Some of that aggressive nature works really well and some of it hasn't worked so good. But those are really the big things is, you know, you can get into the right place if you're— as you know, if you're in the right place talking to the right prospects about the right technology and the right fit, You've got a better chance of winning. So now it's just knowing that pitch to hit. And I think I said that to you the last time we talked. You really have to know when it's your pitch to hit. And as my job is no longer— I mean, it never has been this technical wizardry. It's more assembling the team and bringing in the right sources, right resources at the right time.

And how do you know when that is?

Yeah, that's a good question. And that's probably the biggest key to a complex sales cycle and the complex sales process, right? You gotta know when, when bring in a technical resource, when to bring in somebody on the financial end. I have some really good intuitions about that. That's probably one of my bigger, bigger strengths is understanding what the customer's asking for. It might not be what they say, but you have to read between the lines and figure out what do they really need. And sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong. But I think repetition is the biggest thing. So I think if anybody's out there starting in sales, And this is, you know, year one. The biggest knack that I could, that I could emphasize it's important to have is knowing when the— when it is your pitch to hit, and then knowing who to bring in, when to bring them in, and knowing how to talk to that prospect. We deal with a lot of global companies, so the cultural dynamics are there, and you really have to know who you're talking to and who your audience is.

And this is kind of a pet peeve that I have, because a lot of people, they want to do everything super fast because they Every— the manager's always telling them, you know, time kills all deals. Well, certain time at certain places kill all deals.

Fortunately for me, Brian, I don't have that manager. I have— my boss is a take your time, be methodical. This isn't a sprint, this is a marathon. He's been in the game a very long time. I can go to him with just about anything and I don't ever feel pressure. to rush anything. So, and neither— and then there's one other person above him in our company. He also methodical. Let's play the ground game. So I don't really have that dynamic. Obviously you want to win deals and there's always the questions, well, what are the next steps? How do we lose this deal? How do we win this deal? But all in all, I can't complain. Our company is very strategic both here and in Germany at our headquarters.

But you also have to rein yourself in sometimes because like, I got to imagine the customer may not know what to do next. So they assume, send me a proposal.

Yep. Yeah. And part of that has been— I've learned a lot about that, actually. I've learned, I've learned a lot about what the customer needs and when they need it. And yes, some of them don't know what to say. Some of them don't know the right questions to ask. The best thing that a salesperson can do is to not ever make them feel like they don't know what to ask, but to just kind of probe and, well, you know, have you thought about this? What do you think about this? How do you feel X could solve Y? And then you slowly extract the information and never assume. So it's funny because there are some people that will play it like that to me, but they really do know what they want and they know, but they're just kind of trying to get a feel for me. And how I'm going to lead them down the sales process. So there's all sorts of dynamics around that. It's always a challenge, right? You never know.

Well, let's say you give them everything that they ask for when they ask for it.

Yeah. Why would— just wave goodbye to them. Wave goodbye to them.

Kills the deal more often than that because now they think, oh, now time's killing the deal. You know, no, you just killed the deal.

Yeah, and that you hear a lot of people do that. I've done it, I've done it. You know, you think it's a trap.

It's hard not to.

Yeah, there's a difference. And my boss and I talk about this a lot. There's a difference between, uh, responsiveness and actually giving the customer what they need. You can answer a call any day of the week, and you can answer it instantly, and you can call somebody back. And this is something I've learned a lot about in the last year. It's not just being— it's not just answering that call. Now you've got a whole nother set of expectations that you need to deliver on. And I've had some learning opportunities in the last year and a half when we've talked, and that's the area that I'm working on the most is just understanding how do I set this up? Because as soon as you give everybody, as soon as you give a prospect everything, they're gonna walk away. You have nothing left to give them. And if then you have no more reasons to tie, get back in touch with them really quickly because you've already given them that stuff and they don't need to talk to you anymore.

So yeah.

You've kind of— you've lost the control in the process, right?

And they think they've got everything they need. They're not going to take action, or they will take action and the people above them are going to say, well, did you do this? Did you do that? And they're going to go, no. Yeah, then they got to go start again. And, you know, just— does anybody buy the equipment that hasn't seen it, used it, got a reference call, tested it out?

No, there's, there's too many boxes to check. Um, you know, these are million-dollar machines. Uh, they're, you know, they're the length of— they're almost half of a football field. There's so many components and so many pieces of it. You're never going to sell a piece of equipment until it's thoroughly vetted. And I'm always weary or eerie of the companies that will do that because I'm thinking, man, what are we doing? We haven't— we're going to get something on their floor. Are they going to be completely satisfied with it? Did they feel like this is the right purchase or are they just listening to me tell them this is the right purchase? That's not— you've gotta have some synergy there and on all those different pieces in the air.

Well, that's it because how many of us, we fall into that trap because it's just so easy. Send me a proposal on the DB50, right? And it's like, I'm not sure that's the one you want. It's the cheaper one, but you told me you needed something like this.

Exactly.

And the difference between the simple sale and the complex sale is there's other people that have to be convinced along the path.

Right. And there's so many of them for us. I mean, I know we've spoken about this before. I probably have, you know, you've got technical buyers, you have influencers, you've got the economic buyer who can say yes when everybody else says no and who can say no when everybody else says yes because he's signing the check. There's such a It's like orchestrating this little symphony almost, and you've got to make sure you do it in a way that one, you're not jumping over people and you're not jumping the chain because you have to slowly work through that. And also keeping in mind that you're really not— you don't have a legit opportunity if you haven't talked to some of these people yet. You know, I see a lot of salespeople put stuff in their pipeline and it's like, oh my God, I got a call from Paul and Paul breathed on the phone, so I'm opening an opportunity. Like, Don't do that. Under-promise, over-deliver. Set the stage, make sure you've checked the boxes. I think we talked about— I use a thing called BANTA: budget, application, need, timeline, and authority. If I don't have those boxes checked, then it's really— it's not, it's not really substantive yet. So that's also a challenge.

I think the other thing people get in the trap of is think— acting like they're in service versus sales.

Yeah, you're hitting all the good questions, man. I feel like, uh, I feel like you got an inside view into our world.

Oh yeah, I've done this before.

I know, you got it. It's, it's really a challenge, right? Because as a salesperson, you want to be everything to your customer. You want to make— yeah, you want them to be, you want them to be satisfied, and you really want to do, you know, this almost Superman job. Where I— what I found, and, and if anybody's listening that has a service department, this is one piece of advice I would I would give you, stay in your lane. Let— if service is involved, if there's other departments involved, let them do their job. Trust your team because as soon as you take your eye off the ball and you go try to do those things that are not in your wheelhouse, you're not only gonna destroy the customer relationship, but now you've really decimated the good feeling and morale of your team. I always try to let people do what they're good at and just— and if I see any fires, then yeah, I'll say, hey, I see the fire, let's put it out.

But I also mean in mindset, because when the customer or the prospect asks for something, we jump.

We—

like we're in service, like we get paid on tips. Also a good commission.

Yeah, also a good point. And that's— it's just such a challenge because you want to do— you want to be responsive, you want to make sure that they know you're there, but some people don't want an answer right away. Some people would rather you go in. And so yeah, that's always a challenge as well. You can't be everything to everybody. You've gotta pace yourself throughout the process.

Well, they want an answer, but they really want something solved. They're hunting and pecking through this process.

Right.

How often do they buy a piece of equipment like yours?

Yeah, I mean, this is probably, you know, for some of the companies that might have 20 lines on the floor, it's pretty, You know, pretty often. Other companies, it's one every 10 years. So—

What's often? Is often a month?

So I've sold— I have one customer that I've sold, let's see, I will have been about 15 or 16 machines to in the last 12 months. And those are— That is pretty often. Yeah, that's often. Now, those are few and far between. Let's not be mistaken, because I mean, I wouldn't— it would be crazy to think that you could sell them that quickly. Other ones are one-offs. A lot of sales are one. And then you won't see another one for 3 years because it's just not in their capital plan. And they might be— a lot of people have their hands in different things. So a lot of thermoformers will have their hands in injection molding and the world of plastics. So yeah, they don't flood the— there's no sales just waiting to come in. But yeah, it really ranges on their plan. And one of the greatest things that some of my customers have really started to do that helps me a lot, they share their strategic plan with me.

Good.

And that's when you know you've become an advisor, right? And you've hit that advisor role. I had a CEO of a really large company say to me 2 weeks ago, he said, we're going to share our plan with you so that you know where you fit in this equation. When you've hit that mark, now you're in the driver's seat. But that takes a lot of time, a lot of proving, and a lot of time to— not everything's going to go perfectly. Always going to have those obstacles. There's always going to be those issues, but it's how you respond to them. You can either make it or break it. And companies like that that I just described, we've done a good job with.

And what part of the sale or selling do you feel you're the best at?

Definitely the relationship and opening the door. I mean, I have that personality where I'm not afraid to go— I don't know if I've told you this before, but my first job in sales was insurance sales and they gave me a phone book and the saying was, call until they buy or die. So if you think about that, you've got to really develop some thick skin. More importantly though, I think my biggest strength is opening the door, building the relationship, and also bringing excitement. I know it sounds crazy, but if you're not passionate about what you're selling, people pick up on that.

Of course.

Yeah.

And they want to— they don't need to have you jumping, doing cartwheels in their lobby. But they pick up on when you're excited. And when you're excited to help them make more money, then you've done a good job. And I think that's what I probably do the best is just positioning us to build the relationship, make them feel good, make them feel like they're important. I'll fly down to a customer in Virginia just to go out for lunch and fly home if it means that that will happen. So those commitments are big.

Well, I've got to imagine at that price point, It's about finding the right person at the right time.

Yeah.

Yeah. There's always bluebirds, right? You get those.

And I had one of those.

Yeah, I had one of those last year that was a big one and it really helped and I'll take it. I'm not going to— not going to say no. You do have to be in the right place at the right time. And I still go back to this. I know it sounds like I'm really repeating it, but if you know your business, and you know your process and you know your customer that's gonna fit the mold, you'll know when you see it. And then it's just a matter of taking it from there. Because there are some people that call me and I'll get off the phone and I'll be like, he doesn't know what he wants. He doesn't know how to get there. So this is like, you have to play the long game. I'm working with a company right now that's starting from scratch. That's gonna be a 24 to 36 month cycle before I get a first PO.

Now, that skill, that evaluation of an opportunity, is a very powerful skill.

Cannot be understated. That cannot be understated.

Because a lot of investors would look at that 24 to 36-month deal and they might put it up as an A, that's ready to go.

I know. That's what I always do. So we have a kind of a cool— we developed this little standardization percentage thing in our CRM, where we can just dumb down percentages. So it doesn't even really show up. It just weights the pipeline a little bit. You're right, a lot of people will see that. And conversely, Brian, a lot of people will see that and not pay attention to it. Right? You'll— some salespeople would be like, oh, this isn't going to happen for 36 months. I'm— Right. Let's deal with it, you know, next year when I'm not busy, or, you know, when I don't have to travel so much or this and that. That's also a mistake, because that cycle is not going to change just because you shorten it up on their end. It's just not. They're gonna still have to check all the boxes. So I think both things are kind of downfalls. The organized strategic process, and I can't emphasize enough how critical it is when you're doing $1 million to— I mean, I've gotten some $10 million POs in the last year. You have to be super diligent. And you have— I mean, everything from reminders to who the people are, little organizational maps. It doesn't happen overnight. So it's been a learning process for me. I'm still learning. I said this last time, I'll say it again, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. So for all those people listening out there, you gotta— it's a constant improvement.

And I got to imagine when you sit in on a QBR, or when you hear other reps talk about a deal, do certain flags go off in your mind saying that that's not really where it is?

They do. And if they're on the opposing team, then I'm like, oh, no, let them go. If there's somebody in our organization, then I'm I might just be like, hey, you know, I've had this situation before. Have you done X, Y, and Z? Or have they done X, Y, and Z yet? Okay, no. Well, geez, I really don't see a path to the win without doing those steps. Have you asked them if they need to do these steps? Like, yes, I'll get that kind of feeling when you hear people talking about it, but I'm not always right. There was a deal that we did a year and a half ago where my boss came to me and he said, hey, I've got this consultant and this is how this is gonna go. And I'm like, this doesn't sound like an opportunity. Well, sure enough it was. So that's also a skill you really need to master. And I learned a lot from my last position and my last manager, who's also been on your show, about what's an opportunity and when it's an opportunity. And that little metric, the budget, application, need, timeline, and authority, if you're in manufacturing capital equipment sales, that's a really good thing to go by. You know, that's a really good box to check.

Yeah.

I mean, those are the key ingredients, right?

A lot of other variables.

Yeah.

And those are kind of great for forecasting, but how about the deals that have all of that and they either get stuck or they don't close for some reason or they drag out?

Yeah.

What have you learned from that?

What I've learned from it is it's always better to be proactive. As a salesperson, I know if somebody said to me they're going to get back to me next month, we're making a decision, and now we're 8 weeks past it, I know something's not right. So therefore, that's the time where you need to step in and you need to figure out, brainstorm with the— you need to talk to the customer, you need to talk to your support team. Hey, am I missing something? They said this was going to happen. And if you don't— at least— Say this a lot too. I want to go to bed at night knowing I've given everything I can and that I've tried every option. So when those deals seem to be stalling, really important to jump in and try to figure out what you're getting stuck at. Don't let it go because the longer you let it go, that chance of closing that sale goes down and down and down because there's a reason they're not following up with you and it's usually not a good one.

It's not a good one. It's not a good sign.

Not a good sign. No. And you know, You'll always hear those conversations with managers, and I've had them with other people, and I've had it with my manager. Hey, this one seems like it's kind of derailed. What's going on? Those are important things to talk about.

And what is the typical cause in your space, or is there— is there a pattern?

Yeah, I think the typical cause in our space is that people will be looking into a couple of brands and a couple of different machine suppliers. They'll have it down to like the top 2 or 3. If you're on the outside looking into that top 3, or if you're third and you've got somebody 2 spots ahead of you, they're probably going through the final stage with that last company or the company they think they're going to choose. Another thing, you got to jump in at that point if you want to have a chance. So it's really important to understand that too. You don't always know. Sometimes it's a guessing game, right? I mean, you really don't. There have been situations where I've thought things are in the bag and they go away. And there are situations where I've thought that I was like number 5 on the list and I'll get a call the next day and they'll say, hey, we've selected you to be our supplier. So study the trends, be aware of the trends, but also be able to be moving constantly and adjusting on the fly.

But do they ever really concede that you're the, you're the best machine? And because a lot of people, a lot of companies will negotiate before they even evaluate, right?

Putting the cart before the horse.

Or they'll negotiate every call.

Yeah, right.

Give me a pound of this, a pound of that, and you get nothing, right? And clearly you get column A, B, and C. How do you know when you're column A without them telling you?

There's some, there's some signs. Typically, just as important as it is for a salesperson to follow up, customers say they're going to follow up. And if they're following up, that's the first sign to me, hey, we're on the right path here. If they're saying, hey, we're going to get this information from you now, we're going to circle back in 2 weeks, we want some more information, I'm going to call you next Friday and we'll set up a call for the following week. All these little things, if you don't— if you pay attention to them, And you listen, they're telling you without telling you. And those are often the case. So I try to pick up on little things like that. The only other thing that I can think of is just the normal buying signs. Hey, I'd like to come down and meet with you face-to-face. If a person's really serious, they're going to take that meeting.

Of course.

Right? They're not going to send you a million-dollar check over the phone and say, hey, we did a great Zoom call and we'll send the check in the mail.

And the inverse is true too, right? If they pick somebody else, they don't want to meet with you. They're going to feel bad. They don't— because it's going to be harder to tell you no.

That's a really good point. Um, that's a really good point, and that's something that is absolutely the case. If there are people listening and, and you, you throw a line that you feel like would be a reasonable expectation at that point, And they just don't—

No interest.

Don't accept it. No interest. That's a problem. I have seen that. When it happens to me, I usually say, hey, Brian, are we— am I off the rails a little bit here? Like, where have we gone off track? Am I missing something? Like, and you kind of ask those questions. And usually if you ask the right questions at the right time, they'll give you an answer, not necessarily a thorough answer that you can extrapolate all the information, but they'll at least give you bits and pieces. So it's a really— you made a really good point there.

And you— do you always run into like a beauty contest? I guess if they're not an existing customer, because an existing customer will most likely go with the incumbent, right? For maintenance, for consistency, whatever.

Yep.

Um, but the new customers looking at you and 2 others, a great rep knows how to edge out those At least sense, you know, do they care about your singing, your bikini, or your talent, right? What is the criteria that they're going to pick the winner for?

Right. And I think that if you've asked— I know it sounds crazy and sounds cliché, but ask the right questions to begin with. The other thing I will try to do is I will try to be front of mind, in front of them. I will— there are some customers where I need to be in there once a month And I need to be face to face. I need to take them over to Germany to visit our headquarters. I need them to sit down with the CEO. I mean, I literally— we do this. Like, I'll be like, okay, if I feel like we're in a really close race, I'll fly over to Germany with you. I'll meet you over there. Let's go tour the facility. Let's see the machines. You can run the machines, so forth. So there's little tactics you can use from the sales side that will help you. develop and to be front of, you know, in the front of their mind. And I think that a lot of people sometimes are scared to do those things, but they're well worth it. Taking 4 days and going over to Germany for a $2 million sale is worth it. And that might not be Germany, obviously, for other people that might be, you know, driving 120 miles down the road.

But that was kind of a power move that I had, you know, when I was doing a million-dollar deal. If you could get them to home office, Home turf.

You're on the home turf.

Because you've got a minimum of a day with them, right? You meet them for breakfast, that you meet the management team, you take them on their— your tour of your facility. You get that bonding, but the real issues tend to surface then. Yep. You know, because when you get the RFI, it's all horseshit. It's all market speak, and everyone's going to say yes. Oh, we won the RFI. No one ever wins an RFI, right?

It's like— You're right. You're right. And you have to know who your company is, right? You got to know what your company's strengths are. You can also kind of shoot yourself in the foot if you sign up for something that maybe won't put you in the best light. I know our facility over in Europe is spotless. The machines are top-notch. The facilities are amazing. Our leadership group's amazing. Sending somebody over there is like— and you're right, you get them on their home turf. It's now a home game. And now you're in the driver's seat because you can dictate what happens during that period. So I think that's really important.

Right.

And the decision makers or the power people love those trips.

Love it. Love it. They feed on— let me backtrack. I won't say they feed off it, but they certainly do like those. They like when they have the captive audience. And if you've got a leadership team at your company that is willing to block off an hour so they can shake their hands. You're crazy if you don't, or you're crazy. Luckily, I have one. Um, you know, I have a direct line to our global CEO. If I need something, he's, he's there. He'll, he'll help in a heartbeat. Um, so it really is important to have that. And you're right, some people, some of those people really thrive off those trips. They get their dinner, they go out to drinks, you know. And, and Brian, how could— it can't be understated. how valuable that one-on-one time is. You can't replace it, right? You can't replace— you cannot replace sitting down with somebody, learning maybe their kids going to graduate school, all those little things. That's when you start to develop a relationship that just transcends just the superficial sales guy relationship.

Especially, I, I gotta imagine, in your space, because the people, the economic people, don't really understand it. The product, right?

No, they don't care to. They don't care to. They don't care.

They want to make sure it's the, the best option for the company and what's going to make them the most money.

Yeah, right. Yeah, it's funny because we, uh, just a quick story, we were at a show one time and this guy comes over, no name tag, right? Nothing. And he says who he works for and he's asking me questions and he goes, Tell me why your machine is going to make me more money. And I looked at— so we had the conversation, he walked away. And I said to a junior sales guy next to me, I said, that's the owner of that company. I guarantee it. And he goes, really? I'm like, I guarantee it. Sure enough, we're at an event later that night and he gets called up on the stage and he's the owner of this multi, tens of millions of dollar company. But that's what they care about. How does it positively impact their bottom line? And if you can't show them, Good luck selling them. You've got to be able to illustrate it.

And executives, they want to talk with other executives. They want to see where the product plan is, the stability of the company, the leadership, the style, you know, and if there's a problem, how do they get it fixed and resolved?

Yep. And one another piece of advice I would offer those that are in the sales industry that have just started or that have been in a while Don't feel bad about that. If they want— if a VP wants— That's how I feel. Yeah. If a VP wants to talk to your boss and you know that's going to move the needle, let it happen. Let those things happen organically. Don't try to ever be a gatekeeper there because what you're doing is you're essentially moving yourself to the back of the line if you don't give them what they're looking for. And you're right, a lot of those people want to talk on similar levels. I think it's great. I personally recommend it. The more levels we can hit a company at, the more chances we have to success.

Right, because at the end of the quarter when you're not getting the call back or your champion has given you either the runaround or let me check, let me see where it is, the CEO-to-CEO call—

Invaluable.

As powerful as you get.

It is. And you know what? It's also the quickest way to an answer.

Yes.

Because they have way more— there's way more of a chance that they're gonna just shoot direct on that phone call. And I'm okay with that. Let it happen. Because then if you find out that you're not going somewhere, you can go spend your energy somewhere else. So I see, I see it as a plus. And we do it all the time. Everybody from our North American CEO, global CEO, our global CEO for Keyful, he knows most of the customers because he's interacted with them. And that's a $250 million a year company. So, you know, it is, it is definitely— Interactions take place. Follow, follow the prescription your customer is trying to write. Don't try to rewrite your own because it's not going to go well.

Cool, Justin. Hey, I appreciate your time. Where can people go to connect and follow you?

So I'm on LinkedIn, Justin Pike, and I work at Bruckner Group USA. So if they, if they search that, I welcome all the notes. I got a bunch of notes last time I was on the show. I really appreciate each and every one of them. And, and I really appreciate you having me on again, Brian. I love following your stuff. It's helpful. As a veteran sales guy, I can tell you I listen to it all the time. And it makes a real big difference in how I approach business. So I appreciate your efforts.

In the large capital equipment sale, or any large sale, it's very dangerous, meaning that it looks pretty simple. The people who want it, who test it, who like it, recommend it, and you build up your business case, or you give a great proposal, you brief the executives, and then all of a sudden, one of a few things happen. It stalls, they delay it, uh, all of a sudden, uh, they start asking, do you have this thing that the competitor has? And all of a sudden they go quiet on you. What does that mean? If you haven't been through the complex sale a couple hundred times, had your income destroyed Or built with it, you don't understand these nuances. You're playing a game that there's no written rules. There's no referee. There's only a little bit of folklore out there or people who have done it before, who have mapped it out and understand what you're up against. And is it worth learning that? I don't know. It's just your career. And if you don't learn it, What value are you really bringing? Are you just a glorified service person? Yes, I'd be happy to get you a proposal. 3 more? Would you like another proposal? Would you like another sample? Too many of us fall into doing just what is asked versus leading the deal. Now, you got to understand the people on the other end. It might have been a couple of years since they bought something big. It might be different people. Things have changed internally. Companies gotten bought and sold a couple times. This increases the complexity of the deal, which means the likelihood of it closing gets reduced. Not because you didn't do the service side of sales, but you didn't do the economic side of sales. Because you're putting all this energy into it, are you getting the reward? How do you know how to judge a deal? How do you block out those competitors? How do you prevent that competitor from just calling up their buddy CEOs and just saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, that company's— that product, they're having issues with it. Stick with us. All of these things are kind of known to people who have been through it before. And if your strategy, if you have one, Other than being told what to do, has to include that. Now, this is your income. This is your ability to win this deal. And if you're just servicing, just doing what you're asked, reporting on it like a journalist, are you winning it? Our job is to win the complex sale, not just participate, not just forecast and have a big fat pipeline of deals that will never close. We have to win it. So go to theb2brevenue.com, sign up for Winning the Complex Sale. It is a game changer.

It—

you will learn how these deals get done. You will learn how to lead your prospect through it, guide them, not just react to them, how to prevent those little surprises that always come at the very end, right when you think you're going to get it. Oh, we lost a no decision. How do you avoid that? Is that in your plan? Do you have one? Do you need one?

Yeah.

Go to b2brevenue.com. Step up your game. It's your income. Do you want it to be big or do you want to save money?

It's your life.

We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening.

I was just going to give a bit of a testimonial, if that's all right, just to kick it off.

Only if it's positive.

No, it is positive. It was a— yeah, um, just because I started the course, I think, in June of last year, 2021. I got a few more months left of access, which is good, um, but I feel like it's been a transformative experience in my own personal and professional life. I was able to go from a period of a low sales slump in the middle of last year, in the summer and early fall, and then really was able to then come back and exceed my target by the end of the, by the end of the 4th quarter. And so the only other thing I would say is that it's also really differentiated me amongst people on the sales team in terms of focus and clarity of what's important. And now I feel really good about what I'm doing. In terms of the approach of reaching out to customers and having those conversations and being focused, as opposed to just doing a lot of the other busy work on the side, like organizing resources and doing business analytics and all this other stuff. And so it's really been a noticeable difference with our executive team at my company. And so I just want to thank you for the content and for these opportunities. And so I hope that helps. If there's anybody new, it It's— I'm a work in progress, but it's getting better. Good. Yeah.

And you're selling pretty hard stuff.