It’s the start of the quarter. The sales team has updated their accounts. You run your reports and there they are – the same “For Sure” deals you were counting on last quarter are now in this quarter’s forecast? You notice too that some of those “For Sure” deals which did not come in just disappeared and some are on the lost business report? They all turned out to not be so for sure.
In the next forecast review meeting you bring in your fortune teller! You add two questions into every forecast deal review.
- What does the client believe is the business impact of moving forward with this project?
- What does the client believe is unique about your proposed solution which is critical to getting that business impact?
If they don’t have good answers to these two questions, it’s not a “For Sure.”
- No quantified business impact (+$X revenue or +$Y profit) – it’s not for sure. No quantified business impact (more revenue or more profit from current revenue), means there is no decision motivation.
- No unique solution advantage tied to a specific business impact – it’s not for sure. If the customer does not believe you are superior in some way to the alternatives (including do nothing) and that those superiorities link directly to their hoped-for business impact, you do not have decision motivation for YOUR proposal.
Even if you get some answers that are on target, is it what the sale rep believes or knows? If the customer has not said it, then it’s not a “for sure.” There has to have been a direct conversation on the topic with the client. Getting answers to these questions is not being pushy. And when a decision influencer can’t quantify business impact they believe in, or solution advantages you offer that they agree with and believe are critical to getting that business impact, then you got some work to do, to get that deal.
Expect 75+% of your “For Sure” deals will no longer have that status. What you are left with, is truly business you can count on. Then it’s about helping the team get those answers on more deals. This is a customer engagement skill. At Finding Winners we believe the ONLY way to get better at customer engagement is to do customer engagement simulation (dogfight).
The ROI of this process is more deals that truly are “For Sures” in your forecast report. It’s not complicated, the team quickly learns the process. Your forecast situation changes. Your win rates improve because forcing the team to have to be able to answer these two simple questions, improves your position in every deal. And finally, when you have solid answers to these two questions, not only does the business come in sooner, but it also comes in at higher margin because you are less vulnerable to price challenges.
About the Author: Scott Martiny is the former CEO of two companies, one a startup. He has also held positions that involved leading, sales, support, project management, product management and development teams. His current company Finding Winners is a consulting company which executes role play based team development programs. www.findingwinners.com