Kelley Robertson
Today’s blog post is brought to you by Kelley Robertson of Robertson Training Group in Canada. Thanks for contributing today Kelley!
Navigating and negotiating a standard sale can be challenging at the best of times. However, when you add a team dynamic to the equation, it can be downright frustrating not to mention difficult. Here are a few guidelines to consider when several people on your team are involved in a particular deal.
First and foremost, assign a point person. Someone MUST be in charge and assume the lead role during the entire sales process. Someone needs to maintain control and act as the liaison between the team and the prospect; otherwise three things can go wrong.
1. Critical issues may slip through the cracks because no one has their eye on the big picture. However, when one person leads the sale, that individual becomes responsible for managing the details and all aspects of the sales process.
2. Confusion. Too many people doing too many things usually leads to duplication of efforts and confusion, for both your company and your prospect. One person can coordinate communication and ensure that the right information gets to the right person at the right time.
3. Loss of information. If too many people are acting individually, it is easy for information to get lost or misplaced.
Establish roles. Does everyone on the team have a specific role and do they know what that role is? It is usually easy to determine the roles based on the requirements of the deal; however, it is essential that all players on the team know exactly how to execute their role. You may have people from finance, IT, logistics, operations, marketing, customer service, etc. If each person’s role is not clarified in the beginning stages of the sales process, it is possible that some people will tread on someone else’s turf or territory.
Part of the role assignment is to determine who will present information. Not everyone can deliver a great presentation and the bigger the deal, the more important the sales presentation becomes. This means checking egos and politics at the door and doing what’s best to ensure a positive outcome for the deal.
Establish clear goals and objectives. Do you know what you want to accomplish at each stage of the sales process? Make sure this is clarified early in the process and as the sale develops and progress. It sound easy but it’s not uncommon for each person to have their own objective and these goals can clash and conflict with others. For example, IT may want to provide additional support while a finance person is concerned with preventing cost overruns.
Prepare. Prepare. Prepare. This includes briefing the team on a regular basis and keeping everyone informed on the progress. When more than one person is required to visit or present to the prospect, it is critical that you plan your approach. You want to ensure that anyone communicating with the prospect has the necessary background and history so they have the big picture. I strongly suggest that pre-call meetings are conducted prior to ensure that all the details are reviewed.
Rehearse your presentations. This is essential especially if several people will be presenting at one meeting. Multiple person presentations can be tricky to execute and you want your presentation to flow smoothly from start to finish. This also prevents your team from inadvertently presenting conflicting information.
Negotiating a multiple person sale can be challenging but with some forethought you can reduce the chance of someone on your team making mistakes that cost you the deal.
Kelley Robertson helps people master their sales conversations so they can win more business and increase their sales. He does this by conducting sales training workshops and delivering keynote speeches at conferences, sales meetings and other events. Subscribe to Kelley’s newsletter at www.Fearless-Selling.ca Book Kelley for your next event: 905-633-7750 or Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com.
