The Art of Selling: Mobilizing and Championing Effective Sales Deals

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Welcome to the live Better Sell Better.

Podcast with your host Kevin Dorsey of.

Inside Sales Excellence, the number one Patreon group and YouTube channel for tech sellers and tech sales leaders, where we dive in deep for tactical advice on how to book more meetings, close more deals faster, and lead sales teams to success. But we don't stop there. We also focus on the person in salesperson. We talk about mindset goals, time management and so much more. So thank you for listening and if you're interested, head on over to patreon.com InsideSalesExcellence now with that, grab a notepad, get ready and let's dive into the good stuff. What up everybody pumped for this one? We talk about champion selling and how to navigate the end of the call. Because this is an area that I see a lot of reps struggle, a lot of reps do the wrong way and unfortunately there's not a lot of content out there on what to do when you get to the end of the call, right? Like everyone talks about how to close and how to wrap up, but when you talk about a long sales cycle or even one that's relatively short but you're not in touch with the decision maker, this is the process you need to go through because you know the numbers now vary all over the place. Like it's anywhere from 4.7 to 6.8 decision makers or people are involved in any B2B purchase. So knowing how to navigate the end of the call the right way is going to set you up for way more success. Actually creating a champion, but also creating a mobilizer, which is a phrase that Doug Landis and the Challenger customer talks about a lot. It's one thing to have a Champion. It's another thing to have a mobilizer. So we're going to talk about that in this training today. So this is what I want to touch on first. A buyer's focused process. Most sales reps have never bought the software, which actually is a pretty funny thing to think about, right? On top of that, most salespeople don't even use the software they sell. Let that sink in for one second. Unless you're at a gong or an outreach or a sales loft. Like a lot of salespersons don't even use the software that they sell, which means you don't understand what it's like to buy. And it makes it very hard to build a buying process because you don't know how to buy it. Right. Buyers care about themselves, their security and their results, and you need to build a process accordingly. It always cracks me up. I talk about this my own team and it happens to me all the time. It's like you don't know what it's like to buy. Sales reps never sit through demos. Sales reps never go get approval from finance to buy something. They never have to talk to the cfo. Like you never go through the process. And so a lot of calls end the wrong way because we're not thinking about what the buyer is about to go through. And that's what this process is a lot about, is how to help the buyer buy. Now, all of this starts in discovery, right? So this is one of those things. Anytime a rep comes to me says I'm having trouble closing, or I'm having trouble getting deals across the line or deals are stalling out, I always go all the way back to discovery. If you're not doing problem based discovery, the end of the call will never go the way that you want it to. No problem, no next steps, no deal. Like, you'll be referencing the problems that you found in discovery in the coaching part of the demo. So this is key. We have a whole other training on problem based discovery. If you haven't watched that, go watch it right away. Because if you don't know how to do that, you're never going to be able to wrap up the calls the way that you need to. Almost every single time I have a rep struggling with closing, they're actually struggling with discovery. And that sets up a bad close and a bad championing and mobilizing process. So I won't touch on it too much here. But upfront agreements are a big part of coaching too. I also do cover this in the discovery training. But most reps ask for decisions too early. With an upfront contract, the key is to know what normally comes next. So back to that buyer's process. If you know what normally comes next, whether that is talking to legal, whether that's pulling in someone above them, whether that's going cross functional, this is what you build into your upfront agreements, right? You know, you're pitching me. We're kind of getting ready and say, well, hey, at the end of this, kd, if you believe this will actually solve XYZ better than what you're doing right now, we can talk about a follow up meeting and pulling in Betty and Kim. But if not, no worries. All I ask is that you let me know on this call. Would that be okay? The upfront agreement's about setting up another call. If you listen to a lot of upfront agreements, they're asking for a decision, right? Like, if you like what you hear today, is this something you'd be able to move forward with? Whoa, we haven't talked about anything yet. Like, we haven't done anything yet. So you can't go that far down. But you need to be thinking strategically. What is the normal next step? And if you're really trying to get to that next level, you make that your upfront agreement. Hey, if you like what you see today and you think will solve XYZ problem, next steps will probably be pulling in Betty or Kim. If not, let me know. But if you do, we can go that route. Does that sound all right with you? Now you have agreement to that next step in the very beginning. So the upfront agreement done the right way, helps you with your mobilizing and champion selling. So now this is a little like, trick is the wrong word. It's just psychology and the power of language. So seeding and priming. If you haven't read Methods of Persuasion yet by Nick Kolenda, please go read it. I've been recommending it to y' all for years now, like, go get this book. But seeding and priming means like dropping hints, dropping ideas throughout a process. So by the end, it's very easy to agree to. And oftentimes they even think it was their idea. So throughout the entire presentation, you're seeding next steps. So when we show this to the group, they're really going to want to see this. When we pull in Kim, this is going to be an area that she really is going to want to dive into. Your team is going to love to see this. When we cover this again, we'll Go even further in depth. Do you hear what I'm doing? I'm planting the seed throughout the demo that one, there are next steps and two, what are they? So by the time we get to the end of the demo, they've already been hearing this idea for the last 25, 30 minutes. Right. When you share this with the team, like when you're really getting people excited about this, take this as a note down to make sure that you share, because you're seeding the idea that they are going to mobilize, but you're also seeding the idea of that next step, which so often is just trying to get the next decision maker involved. Now, honestly, I should have added a slide on this and I'll just talk about it real fast. You need to know who you actually need to get involved. It always cracks me up when a salesperson wants to talk to my cfo. Do you really think that you're going to sell internally better than me? The CFO doesn't know you. Right. There's no relationship there. Right. So it's empowering your buyer who has the best chance to get it done. But like you, you sometimes you don't want to talk to the approver versus the decision maker. There's a big difference there. You need to make sure that you understand the difference in your sales process. Who makes the decision versus who approves the funds. Those are two totally different people more often than not. And you need to have the processes in place to help. And we talk about it a little bit further along in this training. So a champion loves what you do. A mobilizer can sell internally and spread the good word. This is the difference. People do this all the time. I got a champion. I've got a champion. That just means they love what you do. A mobilizer can sell internally and spread the good word. Decision maker is different than approver, Right? The CFO might approve, but they're not the decision maker. If I'm picking sales loft or outreach, they're not the decision maker. If I'm picking salesforce or HubSpot, they might approve the financial commitment, but they're not the decision maker. You need to find out the difference. In order to create a mobilizer, you have to empower them throughout the entire process. Let's talk about how to navigate this call. If you did discovery, right, if you seeded and primed and looped the right way, if you did the upfront contract right now, when we get to the end, there's a very specific process. You have to follow. And. And we're going to go through this step by step. Step number one, which honestly, most sales people skip every single time, confirming your immobilizer is sold. Because if your contact isn't sold, no one else will be either. And the key here is asking them if they think it will solve a problem, not if they want to buy. Right. And you really have to listen here for a hard yes. Anything else you need to back up and. And dig in so it looks like this. So, hey, you know, Katie, before we talk next steps and pulling people in, what do you think? Do you think this would potentially solve XYZ better than what you're doing right now? This is so important. Do you think it will solve xyz? We're still agreeing that there's a problem. We're agreeing that we'll solve it. And we're getting commitment from them. And you're listening for a hard yes? Yeah, I do. Next question. Why? Which part really stood out? What would change if you did? This is important because now everything that follows. If we get a hard yes and a why, Everything that follows is about helping them get what they want, not what we want. And you'll see how this adds up. But you gotta listen for this hard yes. Because if they give you a soft yes. Yeah, I think so. Need to pause. They are not sold yet. And if your mobilizer isn't sold, they will never sell internally if they hit you with an objection or a deflection. Right. Do you think this will solve XYZ problem for you? Well, it kind of depends on how much it costs. Timeout. No, it doesn't. Whether or not they believe it'll solve the problem has nothing to do with the cost. And you actually do need to push back there a little bit. Well, actually, kd, if this was free and you didn't believe it would actually solve the problem, you still wouldn't move forward. So before we even get into price, I want to. Does that mean that you do think it would solve XYZ problem? That's why you're curious about price. You gotta back up. Right? So this is the first step. Confirm they are sold. And then the second part. Why? Why do I believe it'll solve a problem? Because this is what we're gonna anchor on moving forward. So now we're trying to get them what they want. Every step follows after this. This is where you're guiding them. Remember, they may not have bought a product like this before. Explain why getting other people involved benefits them. Who else should we pull in with this to give us the best shot of making this happen for you. It's usually X, Y or Z. And this is important, y', all, especially for the bigger deals. Do your pre research. You should be able to name drop the VP of people or the VP of sale. Like name drop who you think should come next. This is part of that prep. Going into a demo, it's still shocking to me. Like reps trying to close multiple six figure deals, million dollar deals. And they haven't done enough pre research to even know who to suggest should come next. So this is the key. Once you know why I want it, everything comes back to it. And you're guiding me along. This is to help me get what I want. Now here's why pulling in someone else benefits me, here's why pulling in the rest of the team benefits me. Is to help get me what I want. Remember, this is the core of all this. Because if you're not helping me get what I want, I'll never be a mobilizer. Right, so next we need to learn about the boss. What do they care about? How do they like to make decisions? What should I change or come ready with? In the next conversation, notice how we're still seating. What should we include in the proposal? ROI testimonials. How did buying something like this go last time? Does the boss know about the problem and impact? These are the things that you really need to start digging into. But again, you can only do it if you know they're sold. This is the difference. If you don't know they're sold and you start asking these questions, it sounds like you're being dismissive, but because you know they're sold and you set them up with, okay, well I want to help you get what you want. So let's talk about Jimmy. Let's talk about Jimmy. Because we need to get Jimmy on our side to make sure this is something you can finally get in your hands. What do they care about? How do they like to make decisions? What should we include? How do we get them on the next call? Okay, we get them on the next call. Like how do we prepare for it? You need to learn about the boss and the team. It's still shocking to me where someone will demo one of my managers or one of my directors and then I get on the call. They know nothing about me. Now they're asking me random questions that I don't have the time or patience for. Versus they could have prepped with their champion immobilizer. And by the way throughout this whole process, all of these are also tests and dates to see if you actually have immobilizer or champion. Because if they're not willing to share this stuff with you, if they're not willing to work with you, you don't have a champion or mobilizer. And again, you need to back up and see how you can turn them into one. So now step three, you gotta learn about the boss and the committee. Step four, suggesting next steps in homework. This is where you really start to be the guide. I learned this from Sam McKenna. It was so bold. She said your goal should be either double the quantity or the quality of people on the next call. I loved this mentality and just like this imagery. So if you're doing like a big sale and you're talking to one person, now we gotta go get two, you're talking to a director. Okay, now we gotta go to a vp. You're trying to double either the quantity or the quality, ideally both if you can, for the next call, who should get involved? Again, I cannot stress enough. You may actually know better than your contact. If you're a sales rep and you're selling one deal a month, that's 12 a year. You know how many times I'm buying a sales engagement tool? One time, maybe ever, you'll know who to pull in better than I will. As a buyer. This is where you get to suggest what homework needs to be done on both sides to give us the best shot. This is where you are. You are suggesting and coaching them along like, okay, so kd, we already know you want this. Here's what probably going to give us the best shot. Here's what I need you to do and then I'm going to go do this. You need to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I will blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're going to get back together before our call with Jim to make sure we're on the same page. Does that sound like a good idea to you? So this is one way to do it. Okay, so here's the next best steps to give us the chance to making this happen for you and finally getting the problem solution for the team. This is for like Snack Nation, right? We're going to set up a mini tasting event. I'll send over the box, I'll address it to the boss directly so they can try on this call. We'll go over together one more time with everyone while you're snacking to make sure we can answer any questions. I mean who wouldn't want to show up for that? Who would? Hop on no. Okay, can I at least copy them? This is the other key. This is a little bit of psychology here. When you ask to meet with the next person, if they say no immediately, you have to be ready with okay, can I at least copy them on the proposal? Is their email kduperbiz.com the Big no to little yes. This is very important to have your next best thing ready. No, like Jim will never hop on this call. Dude, totally get it. Can I at least copy them on the proposal then? Jimuperbiz.com we're using that correct and confirm that we've talked about in bull script before. But it's being ready of what is the next best thing you could ask for. And have it right after that first note. Right, because they've shown this too. Someone tells you no to a big thing, they're more likely to say yes to a small thing. Copying someone on an email, super, super simple. They say no, just send it to me. It's like, okay, well then can you at least do this for me and share my video? We're down to the smallest thing by this time they're gonna say yes or they say no to that again, you don't have a mobilizer and you need to back up and say, well, hold on. You know, Katie, I'm trying to help you get this and I'm just doing my best to give you the tools or the resources to make it happen for you, but it sounds like we may not be on the same page. Did I miss something? You need to be willing to pull back a second to find out where your champion or immobilizer actually sits. That's what brings us here. Now you got to close something. Remember, a close is just an agreement to action. Yes, getting the deal closed is the ultimate close. But there are a hundred other things that you can close. Getting the next meeting scheduled, agreeing to build a video, getting the homework done. Right, like what is the next best thing? We were just talking about it a little bit. Be prepared. Maybe it's the next meeting, maybe it's CC ing them. Maybe it's reviewing the proposal together. Maybe it's scheduling a follow up call. Schedule the next steps. Like this is a big one we're going to talk about on the next slide. But close something where you get them to agree to some sort of action. This is so important. I cannot tell you how many calls that I get off of with the salesperson. They're like, okay, well, yeah, we'll follow up next week. I'm like, cool. No agreement. No agreement to any sort of action. Right. So what is next? Katie, I just need you to go get me two names of the people in legal that are going to review this and what they care about. Katie, I need you to go grab this, like, data point for me so I can finish out this proposal with you together and then we'll send it on over. Get a commitment to something at the end of every single call. But remember, it's all about getting them to solve their problem. I cannot stress this enough. When you're closing something, the reason, because it's going to give them the best chance to solve the problem they agreed to. That's going to give them the best chance to get what they said that they wanted. Right? So you got to close something. One of the biggest ones is making sure the next steps are always scheduled. Everything needs to be scheduled. Everything. When are they going to discuss with the team? When is the next meeting going to happen? This is one of my favorite questions as I'm navigating a sales process. Okay, so how can we get X done by Y? How can we get that meeting on the books before next Thursday? How can we get Jim on the call before we build the proposal? How can we get legal on board before we send this to Finance? How can we buy. Why? This is very, very important. Everything needs to have a date, even if they're unsure. So sporx. Oftentimes it's like, honestly, I'm not sure when I can get Jim on. Okay, can you at least send him an email this week and then you and I can touch base on Friday at say, 1 o' clock if we haven't heard back to come up with a new strategy. Always schedule. Always get that commitment of when they're going to do it. And then if we're going to talk on Friday at 1, send the calendar invite and ask me to accept it while on the call. All right, Katie, Awesome. Well, we're going to talk at 1:00 clock on Friday. Can you accept that calendar invite for me real quick? Just while we're on the call so I know it made it through and we're alive. Yes. Now it's on the calendar and accepted. Bonus tip. I've learned this from Josh o' Brien at Rev Shop. I think it was genius. Create a Slack channel. This is genius. Like, if these are big deals, create a Slack channel you can communicate with directly with your mobilizer and potentially other people. So there's that one to one connection. This is such a great idea and it's something I wish I had done earlier in my career. Like, hey, would it be okay if we made a Slack channel? Just so we're not trading emails and all back and forth. We can just handle this boom. Like now you've got a direct line, which I think is a phenomenal idea. Getting the schedule and commitment. This is also key salespeople. We love to turn a question into a statement. Okay, we're all set for Friday at 1 o'. Clock. If you could accept that calendar invite for me too, that would be great and I'm really looking forward to it. Have a great rest of your day. We didn't get a commitment. Hey, I sent that calendar invite for you for one o' clock on Friday. Could you accept that for me real quick, please? Quiet. You make the ask so they will actually do what you're asking them to do. It's very, very important that you get that commitment, not just turn it into a statement. So I just mentioned this, right? Get them to accept while on the call. Avoid the chase up front. One of my top reps, he always used to say this, dk, if you ever watch this training, you know this is about you. He always says, hey, I love yeses. I'm okay with no's. I hate the chase. Can we at least agree to not get into a chase if we have to move the meeting, just tell me if it's a no, just tell me, would that be okay? But don't make me chase you because that makes nobody feel good. It's avoiding that chase up front. But notice how still a question. Can we agree to not do this? And you make them answer. So now we get into a little bit of recap and coaching. So first of all, recap what each side is going to do and why this is important. Coach them. Everyone talks about coaching, like their contact, but we don't actually coach them. Do they know what they're going to say? Do they know what they shouldn't say? This is important. This is working with your contact. Like, okay, we're going to talk to Jim. Here's what happens with a lot of the gyms of the world. We got to avoid saying things like, yeah, it's an email automatizer. Avoid that because they always freak out when they hear the word automation or we really need to make sure that we don't say xyz. Think about what y' all are watching right now. You're getting coached on how to sell. You have a manager who helps you sell. You have a playbook who helps you sell. But dear old little me buying your software have nothing. Ask me to say it back, role play it with them. Right. Like this is also, again, it's a gauge of true interest. Of like, okay, let's do this real quick. So if Jim says, oh, that's way too expensive. What do we say? If Jim says xyz, like how should we handle that? Like, this is what I've seen work across the deals I've closed this year is when X is set or Y is said. Like, do you feel comfortable having those conversations? That was one of my favorites from my reps. And the bigger deals, coaching the contact. Because especially at Snack Nation, all we ever sold to was office managers. So we got really, really good at this. But also asking that question, I mean, do you feel comfortable having this conversation with Karen or could we do it together? You're gauging that interest and the ability of your champion to do it because think about this for one second. How do you think most these conversations go? A manager comes to me and says, hey, I'm interested in this tool. What's the first question I ask? What is it? Well, it's an email automatizer. No, no, I don't want to automate. No, I don't. Conversation's already dead. But say, well, it's an email automatizer. Next question I'm going to ask, how much does it cost? Well, it's 60 bucks ahead. Nope. Versus hey, when you talk to Kevin, you want to open like this? Hey, so you know how a lot of our reps aren't getting to their pipeline numbers right now I think I know why we're only sending 20 emails a day. And in order to get to the numbers we need to, we should be pushing 70 or 80. But they don't have time to do that. I talked with a company that might be able to solve that. Could I show it to you? Whoa. Now you've coached your contacts. Send them the email, send them the script, work with them, help them buy. So often we just set up our contacts just to be butchered in these meetings because they don't know what to say. Help them recap and coach them. This is so important. And now we get into the follow up and proposals. So one problem based language in your follow up and proposal. Most proposals are all about the product and price, nothing about the problem. The more places you can put in there. You said you wanted, you told Me, you're using their language back, reminding them like, these are the problems you have now and the better future that you are trying to get. Reminding them of the commitments they made and why. And this bullet point right here, your proportion proposal is for who you didn't talk to, not for who you did. You already spoke to them. The proposals for the people that you didn't that already should make your proposals better. Because so often they glaze over the problems, they glaze over the issues, they glaze over the impact because they think everyone gets it, it's not the case. The proposals for where you didn't remember I said making it easy for them. Have the frequently asked questions by Persona in there and ready. What are the most common questions from legal? What are the most common concerns from finance? What are the most common questions from hr? Like have those in there. You know what they're going to be. At least you should know what they're going to be. If you're a professional in your industry and in your process, you know what a buyer goes through. If you do not know what a buyer goes through to buy your product, you need to go find out. You need to go interview 15, 20 customers and say, walk me through the entire process. Who did you have to talk to? Who was the approver versus the decision maker? Where were the sticking points? Why do you think you were able to get it across the line? Why did the boss agree, right, like go find these things out so you can help build this process out. You know how often I have to build a business case or I have to go answer legal questions or I have to chase people down. Single sign on, what's the secure login like? Build that out for me. You know my biz system team is going to ask me, have it ready for me in this follow up and proposal, right? Like now we're talking the problem, the impact of that problem. Remember discovery training, why they need to fix it, why the impact will be so important to them, the return on it, how your product does it, FAQs like now you're talking about proposals. Now it's valuable and it's going to help drive the process forward.

All right?

You're selling the very next step. So if you know I've thrown a lot at you already, but I want you to think about this. These are the four must ask or must do things when you're trying to mobilize and champion. One, is your champion sold? Two, why are they sold? Three, what has to be in the proposal? And four, how can we get this done by X with reasons. Even if they're rushing you off the phone, you got to get the answer to these four questions. Because also too, if they're rushing you off the phone, you missed something. Are you sold? And why? What has to be in the proposal to earn the next step? How can we get the next step done by why? This is the core format here that you need to understand and remember. So remember this coaching is where you make or break your deals. You can give the pitch of your life and if you just leave it there, you let them off the hook. You let them run off to their boss and you don't equip them, you're going to lose deals. Now remember, this isn't going to work on everyone, but it's going to allow you to get that one extra deal out of 10. That can be thousands of dollars per month. Build your relationship so you can leverage it. If they love you so much, they should be willing to go above and beyond for you to get a deal done. I hear so many closers talk about, oh, they love me. I'm a relationship seller. Cool. Then leverage the relationship to earn the next step. And if they love you and you love them, empower them, help them buy. So this process here is going to bring your close rates up, kind of bring your sales cycles down. You'll be able to close deals faster and you'll turn a champion into a mobilizer. I hope this was helpful. If you have questions, hit me up in the Slack channel or on LinkedIn. But until the next time y' all go mobilize and go close later, y' all.