How to Win More Complex Sales

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How to Win More Complex Sales

How to Win More Complex SalesSelling complex products and services can be a tough

job. You’re typically selling them to big companies

who deal in corporate politics. At the same time,

you have to endure countless meetings and grueling

negotiations. If you don’t handle all these factors

right, you might as well forget your deal. This is why

success at this level of sales requires a strong mindset

and organized plan.

Your first goal is to find an internal champion who’s

willing to help and has some power. Usually, you’ll

have to spend some time to turn someone into your

champion. You can do this by being polite (read: not

pushy) and sharing insights that subtly relate your

offer to their agenda.

Once you’ve got this champion, your next goal is to

learn two important things from them. You need from

them a clearer picture of (1) their company’s buying

process and (2) a list of the key stakeholders. Don’t

overlook either of these two things, because if you do,

your deal could face unforeseen issues further down

the road.

Get a meeting with your champion and ask them about

everything that happens until the deal gets signed. You

About the authorAsh Patel heads up business development and customer success at ClearSales. When he’s not talking to sales executives about sales issues, he’s writing about them.



want to know what problems you could face at any

point before closing the deal. Steli Efti, a renowned

sales expert from San Francisco, recommends that

you get the following questions answered during

your meeting:

The Stakeholders• Who’s involved (their name & role)?

• What are their current priorities?

• What initiatives have they headed?

• Are there any deals they’ve objected to in the

past? If yes, why?

The Buying Process• How long does it take for deals like this one to

happen?

• How do legal and procurement work?

• Would legal look at your standard contract

now to speed up closing?

Once you know whose decision counts, your next job

is to get the majority of them on your side. Make sure

this happens early on, before many meetings take

place. Simply introduce yourself to each decision-

maker via email and mention that you may meet

soon. You’ll get extra points for making your email

relevant to their role. Add 100 bonus points if you

share relevant content.



Michael: a complex sales success storyMichael sells enterprise application

management software to big companies.

He recently turned a target company’s IT

Infrastructure VP into his internal champion.

She explained their buying process in great

detail. She told him that the CFO is focused

on cost cutting and shuts down deals that

don’t offer significant cost savings.

Using his champion’s knowledge, Michael

found a cost analysis document his finance

team sent earlier. It showed how companies

similar to his target lowered their costs using

his software. Michael sent the CFO this

document highlighting figures that were

relevant to the target company’s situation.

The CFO was impressed by Michael’s

forethought in sharing this information. This

made her really think about his product well

before they met. She asked him questions

about the document’s assumptions, and

he promptly responded with answers

from his own CFO. Seeing the deal from

her perspective helped Michael get rapid

approval.



You can get more stakeholders on your side and spark

conversation by sharing relevant information with

them. The simple truth is that stakeholders won’t care

about your offering if you don’t show its relevance

to their agenda. But once you’ve won over the

stakeholders, you’ve got to work your way through

your target’s legal and procurement processes.

A lot of big companies’ legal and procurement

departments tend to slow down and sometimes stall

negotiations. You don’t want your deal to end up

at the back of the queue. Try and get your standard

agreements and contracts in the hands of your target

company’s legal team as early as possible. You can ask

your internal champion to forward the documents to

legal, so that the deal closes faster.

Procurement’s mission is to commoditize even the

most innovative products and services. They’ll use

a lot of tactics to get a lower price—too many for

us to explore right now. Your best bet for handling

them is building deeper relationships with the

deal’s stakeholders. Their say can really sway how

procurement values your offering.



About ClearSalesClearSales exists to be your partner in sales

success:

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enterprise-facing sales teams.

• We share ideas for improving your sales

techniques, operations and everything in

between.

• We keep our lights on by helping you

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negotiate and get deals signed.

But enough about us. We want to learn how we

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efforts. Get in touch by visiting www.clearsales.io.

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How to Win More Complex Sales