As most competitive evaluations progress, there is a point where they turn from logical and rational to emotional and political. This is typically because the principals have not reached a consensus and have divided camps. Because they can’t find everything they want from a single vendor, they often can’t agree on what their priorities are. Sometimes the result is a power struggle, where multimillion dollar deals flip in a matter of hours.
We use the metaphor of the canyon and the crucible to describe this dynamic. The canyon is the narrowing list of vendors with only one survivor (it’s not a funnel — gravity, nor large numbers do anything for you). The crucible, as in chemistry, is where political pressure builds, the decision process melts down, and tempers often explode.
In other cases, clients can find a solution from several vendors, and the issues shift to non-product differentiators. Some evaluations stall out altogether from increased risk, low value, or lack of sponsorship.
As one of our clients said, “They don’t decide how to decide until they can’t decide.” Things move fast in the crucible, which means that strategy revision should be daily and dynamic.
When Jack Barr was selling to Lockheed Martin for SAP Software, the evaluation committee at Lockheed included 207 members. But, in reality, the decision was made by only five people.
Though those five were positioned as only a part of a democratic vote, it was really an algebraic democracy. Both Jack and his competitor knew this, but the competitor didn’t believe it.
In the end, Jack concentrated his efforts on the right people and won.
Decisions in a buying committee often are reached by what we call algebraic democracy. Although most people have some sort of vote, some votes count more than other people’s votes. While some votes count x, other votes count 5x, and some votes equal the sum of all other votes plus one. This is a blind spot in most sales plans. Other decisions may be by department or autocratic or may be twotiered.
In an organization, power is both invisible and dynamic. Some power comes from positional authority, but many people hold personal power and influence without a powerful title.
To make things even more complicated, people within a company gain and lose power every day. You have to be able to identify power in a prospect account and win the prospect’s support early on in the sales cycle. Start early figuring out multiple navigation routes to powerful people. If you can build preference and win the hearts of the powerful people, they will help you win the votes you need.
You also can borrow power from one person to gain access to someone else. In the very beginning, start asking questions about political power so that you can find out who has it and where you should spend your time.
Some methodologies have defined strategy at only the account or opportunity level — frontal (price and product superiority), flanking (changing the pain, process, or power), fractional (divide and conquer or take a slice), and timing (delay or accelerate). These are important models, but without a plan for how to win the hearts of each individual stakeholder or to live without their vote, you have a strategy in name only. You have the what but not the how-to action items to execute your plan.
A winning strategy enables you to anticipate events and communicate your plan. Complex sales strategies must be driven at the industry, enterprise, opportunity, and individual levels. Without a plan, you are at risk of having more than one salesperson on an account saying the wrong things to the wrong people.
Collaboration is critical to the extended sales team. Not only do you have to have a clear strategy, but you also have to be able to communicate the plan to the team. Everyone on the team must know the goals and objectives and must be accountable for their part.
Additionally, you need to have a plan B. Once you have tested your plan, develop alternative strategies. Bad news early is good news because you can still change your plan. Like poker, the worst outcome is to finish second, late after you’ve spent your resources.
Bibliography
Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, and Charles Burck, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. New York, New York: Crown Business, 2002.
Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, Now, Discover Your Strengths. New York, New York: The Free Press, 2001.
Robert Coram, Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War. New York, New York: Back Bay Books, 2002.
Neil Rackham and John DeVincentis, Rethinking the Sales Force: Redefining Selling to Create and Capture Customer Value. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999.
Jim Dickie and Barry Trailer, Sales Effectiveness Insights — 2005 State of the Marketplace Review. Bolder, CO: CSO Insights, 2005.
Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York, New York: Basic Books, 1983.
Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.
Michael Lewis, Moneybalclass="underline" The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. New York: Norton, 2004.
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Chet Richards, Certain to War: The Strategy of John Boyd Applied to Business. Philadelphia, PA: XLibris Corporation, 2004.
The Complex Sale, Inc.
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Around the globe, in more than 50 countries, The Complex Sale, Inc., teaches sales teams the processes and skills they need to achieve competitive advantage.
R.A.D.A.R.®—Winning Opportunity Strategies is a proven opportunity management methodology and live-account workshop that enables salespeople to win the competitive, political sales evaluation.
Total Enterprise Account Management® (T.E.A.M.) enables sales forces to build company-to-company relationships in strategic or global accounts.
Best Practices Sales Cycle Workshops for your sales management team to capture the best practice sales cycle unique to your organization, target market, and value proposition.
Coaching the Complex Sale provides managers with a deep understanding of their role as coaches of the sales and business processes implemented by your organization.
FORe — Forecast Opportunity Reviews are one-day workshops designed to install a common language and methodology for coaching opportunity strategies and avoiding forecast surprises.
P.R.I.S.M.® Preemptive Integrated Sales Messaging solves the knowledge-transfer problem between marketing and sales. Build a playbook that the salesperson can use to provide buyers with compelling, differentiated messages.
Bonfire of Management Principles is a three-day tactical management program designed to create a winning performance culture of standards, tolerances, principles, and expectations among your management team.
Negotiating for Value Workshops address specific issues your sales team will face in maintaining value in a negotiation resulting in lower discounts and better margins.
Sales Strategy Execution Series is a series of individual skills-development courses that teach salespeople how to execute selling strategies.
Global Planning for Sales (GPS) suite of software products integrates with your CRM system and enables the methodologies of The Complex Sale in a simple, yet powerful fashion.