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My first job out of college was designing and selling complex, customized physical security systems. My second job was selling technology research and consulting services to IT executives. What did these two roles have in common? In both I started out with zero knowledge of the subject matter. First it was fire safety code, control panels, and motion detectors followed by super techies listing technology priorities that I had never heard of before. While this lack of understanding could have hindered my pipeline in a major way, it instead forced the integration of what I consider a key play in a strong sales process – leveraging your internal resources.
Out of necessity, I quickly learned that while I sometimes had no clue what my prospects were talking about, there were a ton of smart people around me who did. Experience taught me that if I knew just enough to play Quarterback, I could match my prospect's needs with a resource that could not only help but could make a genuine connection and deliver true business value. The same positive results came when I would loop in my sales leadership and even the executive team. Putting my ego aside, I happily stood by and watched as my internal resources cinched a deal right up for me.
The moral of the story? Ask for help early and often and your bank account will thank you. Use every single tool you have at your disposal to get your deal done:
- Everyone loves to help sales people sell. Bringing in leadership, technical resources, or prospect peer roles within your own organization make your prospect feel like a VIP.
- Use executive connections as a carrot to be traded for a meeting with one of their executives if you are stuck at the influencer level.
- Leverage internal resources to increase the velocity of the negotiation process while you get to stay good cop.
- Differentiate yourself from the competition; they likely are not creating custom evaluation processes on your customer’s behalf.
- Keep the conversation at the business value level. It is very difficult to get stuck in the weeds on a call when they are talking to an executive.
Pulling in resources is also a fantastic way to gain exposure for yourself at your own company. It is essential to prepare the asset you are leveraging thoroughly so that they are comfortable with the role you would like them to play and value they need to deliver. If you do your diligence and the necessary legwork to make sure the connection is a successful call, you will build your own brand awareness quickly.
Thanks Alexandra Curtiss for the post!
