The Scrambled Egg - a blog every sales professional should wake up to.

Are you using influencer and champion interchangeably? If the answer is yes, you’re making a grave mistake. While the definitions of these terms might vary slightly, that minor difference can makes a massive impact in a sale. If you’re not aware of this difference you could also be misinterpreting how close you’re deals are to closing. Which could mean you’re not allocating your time correctly and missing quota. 

An influencer is someone who can impact the decision to go with your product or service. This is the person who has access to the decision maker(s) and is usually the one doing the research and evaluating vendors.

A champion is the influencer that will impact the decision. The slight difference is “can” and “will”. A champion is the person that will run through walls to get the deal done. Having a champion in a deal will increase the likelihood of the account purchasing by 2x. While the expression “running through walls” is a great analogy, how do you really know if your influencer has turned into a champion?

Here is a list of things that are indications you have a champion on your hands: 

1. You have been brought to the decision maker(s)
2. Your champion has coached you on how to sell the decision maker(s)
3. If there are extenuating circumstances where the DMs don’t allow vendor presentations (this can happen with DM boards and committees), your champion will allow you to coach them on their presentation.

The above list are clear examples of a champion, however they are examples of a deal that would be towards the middle or towards the end of the a sale. So the next obvious question is if there are indicators of a champion earlier in sale?

Here is a list of earlier indications you’re working with a champion:

1. The person will give you inside information about what’s going on internally at their company.
2. They will pull in other people who can help influence the sale.
3. The champion will tell you who to avoid at their company.
4. They will tell what steps are next with out you asking. They will become your GPS and will pull you through the sale instead of you pushing them.
5. The champion will provide you with something tangible. I had coffee with Jeff Hoffman in the Spring when he mentioned he used to look for a prospect to provide something tangible to gauge if he had a potential champion at every step in his sale. In other words, will they provide you with something? Anything.  Will they provide you with reports they look at, perhaps complete a questionnaire you provided or share their internal presentation they might have done recently. 

Having an influencer in a sale is the first step and it’s your job to turn them into a champion. Spending your time with deals that have champions will allow you to work the same amount of deals, however sell more.

Go back through your pipeline with the lists provide above. Do you have influencers or champions in your pipe? Forecast the ones with champions and remove the ones with influencers.  Determine if the influencers can be made a champion and if they can’t, move on to another deal.

Ever watch the show What Would You Do with John Quinones on ABC? It’s a hidden camera show that creates unique situations with actors putting some unsuspecting bystander into a moral dilemma. An example would be a teen actor telling his fake and unsupportive parents he's gay. They have a loud disagreement and the hidden cameras role to watch the reaction of the onlooker(s). The topics cover everything from race, class and even recently covered the topic of The Christmas Spirit.

I had a what would you do moment in my sales career which I was reminded of just last week. Rick Roberge sent an email to a very accomplished group that consisted of Lori Richerdson, Trish Bertuzzi and Jill Konrath. In the email Rick referenced his first impression of me. The question was then posed by Trish if this same statement would have been said and thought if I were male. Rick posted most of the email exchange on his blog where the discussion continued. 

Until, it was time to bring me to the President. She became timid, gave every veiled objection you could think of, she insisted on doing the presentation alone and became distant. This wasn’t conducive to her prior behavior. She had been my champion all the way up until her most important role in the sale. What happened?

Best Practice – I always find it best to be upfront and transparent when a prospect greatly changes their behavior and/or story. Bridge the topic very carefully, but honestly. Here’s how I approached the subject with my influencer:

With a very soft slow voice, even fake a stutter to indicate the topic is difficult for me to bring up, this shows vulnerability because I'm expecting the same in return with her answer. “Mary, I’m going to do what ever you think is best. But I’m a bit… well….. confused…. We’ve had such open communication and you’ve been great to work with. You said you need this because of XYZ. When I’m in these situations it’s natural to bring to the person that makes the decision with you. It’s our best shot of getting this approved. Has something changed…..? Did I do something…….?”

I was letting my influencer know, all BS aside, I knew something was wrong and it was ok to trust me with the REAL objection. Be prepared as this approach works. Her answer floored me. “Katharine, you’re right, there is something….. My president won’t work with women sales reps. I’m so sorry”. Mary was a true champion, not an influencer. A topic I'll dive deeper into next week.

My first thought was to pity for her working for him. My stomach turned. I had a moral dilemma on my hands. I also had a quota and commission dilemma. This company needed the services I was selling and they would be a good customer for my company. As sales people we naturally want to make the sale. But even at the price of ignoring blatant sexism? While I wanted to hang up the phone, pull my hair out and write this guy a scathing email, do I teach him a lesson at the cost of my own commission?

I’ll share how I handled the situation and if I closed the deal, but first I’d like to hear what would you do? 

While it’s been a while since I wrote, I recently had an experience worth sharing. Last Thursday I was scheduled to meet with Rick Roberge. He was fighting through the traffic cause by Storrow Drive being closed. We were to be meeting in person, however we settled for meeting via phone. 

As I spoke with Rick, the door to the conference room opened. At HubSpot, we’re infamous for having a shortage of meeting rooms. It was Mark Roberge and Jill Konrath entering the room. Of course I recognized her right away (holly crap that’s Jill Konrath!) and assumed they were in need of a room. Although in mid conversation with Rick, I stood to offer the room. I had no idea Rick was the mastermind behind this meeting until Mark told me Jill was there to meet with Rick and I.

For those of you not yet familiar with Jill’s work, she’s the author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies among other accomplishments. Anyone would jump at the opportunity to pick her well tenured sales brain. That’s just what I did. This is when I learned her expression "movers and shakers".

I asked Jill what is the number one thing she looks for when determining if she should spend her time with an influencer. She answered, “if they are a mover and a shaker”. In other words, does this person get shit done? Do they take initiative? Are they proactive instead of reactive? It’s true and brilliant in its simplicity. 

Here are some questions to determine if your influencer is a mover and a shaker: 

Any of the above questions would help you uncover if you have a mover and a shaker on your hands. Why is this so important? Time management as a rep is a required skill for success and survival. Jill mentioned most deals she works on will close. She was not bragging, merely demonstrating by identifying who to spend her time with, yields a much higher probability of purchase.