Master proven strategies and understand the complex dynamics of selling into enterprise accounts to unlock the secrets to closing large enterprise deals!
Hone your sales skills with the help of the Big Deal Sales Map.
Using the concept of a "subway journey" to navigate complex opportunities, you'll gain invaluable insights to improve your chance of success and win more big deals!
In this article not only do we have a brilliant step by step guide on how to navigate complex sales, we have a bonus podcast for you too!
In the podcast we delve into the strategies and insights that drive successful B2B sales in large Enterprise accounts.
Whether you’re a seasoned sales professional or just stepping into the B2B arena, understanding the intricacies of navigating complex sales processes is crucial.
The Big Deal Sales Map offers a comprehensive framework for identifying key decision-makers, aligning value propositions and strategically advancing through every stage of the sales cycle.
Join us as we unpack the elements of this powerful tool and share real-world examples of how you can elevate your sales game to new heights.
Listen in and prepare to navigate your way to larger, more lucrative deals!
The enterprise sales cycle is typically longer and more intricate than standard sales processes. It involves multiple stages, such as initial contact, needs assessment, proposal, negotiation and final agreement. Understanding this cycle is crucial for tailoring your approach at each phase.
A typical B2B Sales playbook includes the following;
This article goes way beyond covering the basics of a standard Sales Playbook. Why? Because selling to Enterprise clients is not easy. It involves multiple stakeholders, influencers and decision makers - both internally and on the client side.
It's important to have a solid methodology for your opportunity and to document your progress regularly. Tools such as the Big Deal Sales Map [which can be used with your preferred sales methodology, such as Spin or Sandler] give more context and more insights, making it easier for salespeople to find their way in complex enterprise opportunities.
The Big Deal Sales Map illustrates the path to securing major deals by using "the subway" as a metaphor to describe the different stages and options, represented by two tracks: the Customer Journey and the Sales Line.
The Sales Line has thirteen stops across three zones: The Markets, The Accounts, and The Opportunity. By navigating these zones and stops effectively, sales professionals can gain a competitive advantage and close more deals. Let's get going!
Adopting a full cycle sales model can be a game-changer for many businesses. It offers a powerful tool to drive revenue growth and optimise sales processes. By aligning your growth strategy with the objectives of full-cycle sales, you can streamline operations, reduce costs, and maximise your sales efforts.
With a full cycle sales model, sales professionals have the opportunity to take ownership of the entire sales process, from finding leads to closing deals. It's an effective way to adapt and thrive in today's competitive sales landscape
This model empowers sales representatives to take ownership of the entire sales process and consequently results in higher customer satisfaction rates, higher staff retention rates and higher close rates. If you're interested in discovering how to make the move to a full-cycle sales model, you can read about it in detail on our blog post here: apply McKinsey's 7S methodology to create a robust implementation plan.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves! While there's heaps of information on the full cycle sales model available here, let's keep our focus on sales playbooks for now!
According to Gartner, Playbooks are crucial to driving repeatable and consistent sales performance
If done right, sales playbooks are actionable guides for the sales team. They offer a superior alternative to content-heavy catalogs that many playbooks tend to become.
Intended solely for internal use, playbooks hold sensitive information on sales strategies, pricing models, and current sales plays and how to execute them successfully. Playbooks need to be updated regularly to reflect buyer insights, recent competitor analysis and new sales strategies that are working for the sales team.
Introduce your company in a concise and compelling way, shedding light on its rich history and core principles. Showcase your mission of delivering innovative solutions that exceed your customer's expectations. Include Company Strategy
Roles and Responsibilities:
Identify the specific market segments that would benefit from your solutions. Offer valuable insights into the potential clients within these segments.
Develop comprehensive customer profiles that delve into their specific challenges and pain points. Strategically align your solutions to effectively address and solve these pain points, providing valuable solutions to your target customers.
Provide a concise overview of the sales methodology your business is using, offering guidance on how to progress through each stage of the sales cycle.
Provide detailed insights into the tools and platforms that can be utilised for efficient lead tracking and management.
Establish and define lead scoring criteria and create a comprehensive framework for effective prospecting techniques to identify and prioritise potential customers.
Outline strategies for understanding customer pain points.
Emphasise customisation of solutions based on client needs.
Develop a guide on creating effective proposals, complete with tips for delivering compelling presentations.
Outline the transition from negotiation to the final stages of closing the deal. Highlight the importance of thorough post-close follow-up procedures to ensure customer satisfaction and maintain strong client relationships.
To make your playbook one that will be highly valuable, make sure to incorporate real-life scenarios, case studies, and interactive elements, ensuring the playbook is well adopted and practical tool for your sales team.
Utilising marketing materials, guides, battle cards, and sales resources provides valuable benefits to the entire sales team. This crucial component of a sales playbook allows for creating a comprehensive library of pre-made content that salespeople can rely on.
From voicemail scripts to social media content, this section serves as a valuable database that sales reps can turn to for assistance and support when faced with challenges or obstacles during the sales process.
By incorporating various materials into the sales playbook, sales reps will have access to a wealth of information and tools to enhance their selling efforts. These can include brochures, product catalogs, case studies, testimonials, and customer success stories that showcase the value and benefits of your company's solutions.
Tools like Canva and HubSpot Content Hub can help reps quickly repurpose and refine content for their prospects and customers. These resources provide tangible evidence of the effectiveness of your products or services, helping sales reps build credibility and trust with potential customers.
Additionally, including guides and templates for various sales activities can streamline the selling process and save time for sales reps. For example, providing pre-made voicemail scripts can help sales reps leave compelling messages when reaching out to leads. Social media content templates can assist in creating engaging posts and campaigns to attract and engage potential customers online.
Furthermore, including resources such as competitive analysis reports, industry trends, and market research can equip sales reps with valuable insights and knowledge about the business landscape. This information can help them tailor their sales approach and messaging to address specific customer pain points and stand out from the competition.
The inclusion of these resources in the sales playbook not only supports sales reps in their day-to-day selling activities but also ensures consistency in messaging and branding across the sales team. It provides a centralised repository of content that is readily accessible and easily shareable, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among sales reps.
Establishing goals for your sales team can be a powerful motivator and provide clear expectations. By setting specific and measurable goals, you create a roadmap for success and give your sales team something to strive towards. This not only boosts morale and motivation but also helps to align everyone's efforts towards a common objective.
When establishing goals for your sales team, it's important to consider both individual and team targets. Individual goals give each salesperson a sense of ownership and accountability, while team goals promote collaboration and encourage a sense of camaraderie.
To ensure that your goals are effective, they should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This means setting clear and specific targets, such as achieving a certain number of sales or reaching a specific revenue milestone. It also means establishing measurable metrics to track progress, such as conversion rates or average deal size.
Remember, establishing goals for your sales team is not a one-time event. It should be an ongoing process that evolves and adapts as your business and sales landscape changes. By regularly reviewing and updating goals, you ensure that they remain relevant and aligned with your overall business objectives.
Make sure to include information on the sales team commission structure and compensation plan. This is crucial in providing transparency and clarity to the sales team regarding their financial incentives and rewards. By including details of the sales plan, you empower your sales representatives to understand how their performance directly impacts their earnings.
Remember to regularly update and communicate any changes or modifications to the commission structure and compensation plan to ensure that the sales team is always aware of the latest information. This will further enhance their engagement and commitment to achieving their sales goals.
Begin the playbook journey by organising a comprehensive training session that not only introduces the playbook but also encourages open discussion and collaboration among the sales team on how to effectively utilise it. This training session should provide a platform for sales representatives to share their insights, experiences, and best practices for different sales scenarios.
To facilitate the training session, consider incorporating interactive elements such as role-playing exercises, case studies, and real-life scenarios. This hands-on approach allows sales representatives to apply the concepts and strategies outlined in the playbook in a simulated environment, enhancing their understanding and confidence in utilising the playbook effectively.
Furthermore, encourage open dialogue and discussion during the training session. This creates an opportunity for sales representatives to ask questions, seek clarification, and share their own perspectives and insights. By fostering a collaborative learning environment, you empower the sales team to contribute to the playbook's development and improvement collectively.
Once the training session is complete, ensure that the playbook is easily accessible to all sales representatives. Consider using a digital platform or software that allows for easy navigation and search, making it convenient for sales representatives to find the relevant information they need during different stages of the sales process.
Regularly review and update the playbook to incorporate new strategies, buyer insights, and competitive analysis. This ensures that the playbook remains relevant and aligned with the evolving sales landscape. Additionally, communicate any changes or modifications to the playbook promptly to the sales team, ensuring transparency and clarity.
By beginning the playbook journey with an engaging and informative training session, incorporating valuable feedback and regularly updating content, you create a playbook that is not only a comprehensive guide but also a living document that continually evolves to meet the changing needs of the sales team.
This approach not only enhances the effectiveness of the playbook by providing a structured and comprehensive guide for the sales team, but it also fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement within your sales organisation.
Playbooks shouldn’t be created in a silo. Instead, teams should work with subject matter experts across product, sales and/or customer success teams to create the best content. It’s also helpful to ask a few sales reps to review your playbook before launching it to the rest of the organisation.
Crafting sales playbooks demands significant effort and planning. Teams that use a sales enablement tool find it more straightforward and efficient to develop, implement, and revise playbooks. These tools offer features that allow access to valuable playbook data and insights necessary for updating playbooks efficiently.
When rolling out your playbook, timing is everything. Evaluate the organisation's current projects and activities to find the best time for its release. For example, if the sales team is close to the end of a quarter, or working on an RFP with an imminent submission date, it’s not practical to introduce a new playbook that requires salespeople to complete extra training quickly.
So now you have a template for your Full Cycle Sales Playbook you need to create another version of the playbook specifically to pursue Big Deal Opportunities.
Big Deals are not like your run rate business. Big Deals can be 5X or 10X the value of your average deal. They are complex, take much longer to close and need to be treated very differently.
This is where the Big Deal Sales Map becomes your trusty GPS to help you navigate your Big Deal journey.
Let's go!
ZONE 3 Stop 1: Corporate Strategy
Before pursuing any deals, a clear understanding of your company's mission and corporate strategy is essential. This clarity helps define your target markets, territories, and accounts. A clear, concise company strategy acts as the primary filter for identifying where to hunt for opportunities.
This involves answering key questions about your target audience (B2G, B2B, B2C), the specific type of B2B or B2G you are targeting, your position in the supply chain, your organic growth strategy, the business flows you are selling to, and the regulatory environment of your market.
Once the corporate strategy is defined, you can identify and assess potential markets to pinpoint target territories. This involves considering various dimensions, such as:
Geographic definition
Entire supply chains
Industry category or subcategory
Organisational type
Head Office location
International inbound or outbound focus
Market tiers
Market leadership
Based on your territory definition, identify all potential accounts within that territory and create a spreadsheet with accounts on the X-axis and your solutions on the Y-axis, as in the example below.
This forms your Territory Plan. Evaluate each combination of account and solution to prioritise accounts by considering the market opportunity, white space, incumbent suppliers, installed base, competitive solutions, key influencers, market trends, and company culture.
Using a colour-coded system (green for opportunities, red for no opportunity, amber for further qualification needed) provides a visual overview of your territory and helps focus on the best accounts.
ZONE 2 Stop 3: Account Plan
Zone 2 involves breaking down target accounts into key components/divisions and ranking them by importance. Map out the most important people within each division, their relationships, and the decision-making processes. This understanding helps tailor solutions to meet specific needs and secure relationships with the right decision-makers.
Large, complex accounts can be daunting, so leverage sales methodologies to break them down into manageable segments. Avoid wasting time on publicly available information and focus on understanding the data's relevance to your account plan.
To effectively sell solutions, understand the objectives that drive executive investments. Anthony Parinello, in his book Selling to VITO, highlights these objectives as:
1. Acquiring new capability
2. Increasing capacity
3. Increasing revenue
4. Decreasing costs
5. Increasing efficiency
6. Improving operations
In their 2023 CEO Survey, Deloitte reported that the biggest CEO concern is managing growth. Align your solution's benefits with these CEO objectives to connect with the target account's challenges and demonstrate value. This approach enables the development of tailored win themes, a customer-unique value proposition, and competitive counter-positioning.
Stop 4:
Organisations structure their resources into logical groups (e.g., cost centres, profit centres, business units). Understanding how your target accounts report revenue provides insight into their executive team's focus.
Use the Boston Consulting Group's Growth-Share Matrix to map your account's divisions and group them into rising stars, cash cows, dogs, and question marks. This analysis reveals the divisions receiving investments, those to focus on, and those left without investment.
Match your solution's benefits against the six investment objectives for the account's key divisions (as identified in the BCG matrix). This results in powerful statements that position your solution in line with the business's priorities. For example:
"Our solution increases efficiency and reduces the costs of running a highly transactional business such as Division A (customer cash cow)."
"We increase revenue through acquiring new capability for rising star Division B."
"The operational improvements associated with our solution will enable you to increase your return on investment in Division X (rising star)."
"Our solution increases capacity without increasing costs to conserve capital investment in Division G (customer cash cow, dog, or rising star)."
Next, map the customer's strategically important logical groups against your own corporate priorities using a segmentation matrix.This visualisation helps prioritise efforts for the resource-intensive political mapping stage.
Stop 5:
Developing a political map is crucial, as it often differs significantly from the formal organisational chart. It reveals the informal networks and relationships that influence budget decisions. To understand both the formal and informal budgeting processes, invest time in talking to people across the organisation and test the statements developed in Stop 4. Use open-ended questions to uncover information about unforeseen projects, business unit performance, and executive communications.
Building authentic long-term relationships within the customer base is key to becoming a trusted advisor. This status enables the navigation of the informal processes. Uncovering the right political players and informal processes involves asking questions about topics like:
The responses to these questions will reveal the informal power dynamics and identify the key individuals who can influence decisions.
Stop 6:
A coach, or champion, within the customer organisation, supports your success. Ideally, this coach holds a position of power and influence within the inner circle, or "Power Base".
Qualify potential coaches based on their ability to provide insights into the account's challenges, opportunities, and strategic threats. Accessing the inner circle can be achieved by leveraging successful customer references or connecting with individuals just outside the inner circle who are eager to prove their value.
Invest time in understanding your chosen coach. Develop detailed call plans using frameworks like Parinello's VITO or Miller Heiman to structure your discussions and build rapport, trust, and mutual respect. Consider incorporating the following questions into your call plan:
1. Confirm the coach's role in the customer's strategy.
2. Verify your account segmentation and seek insights into why, who, and when.
3. Discuss their successes, aspirations, and goals.
4. Talk about balancing work and family pressures.
5. Explore their beliefs, their origins, and the actions/reactions they inspire.
6. Understand their journey to their current position, including family upbringing and cultural influences.
7. Determine their motivations, whether it's helping others, peer recognition, power, money, or control.
8. Understand how they measure success and how they are evaluated (and compensated).
9. Identify their dislikes.
10. Ask leading open questions to confirm and clarify your external analysis of the company/business unit's challenges and opportunities.
11. Discuss market forces and competitive pressures.
Zone 1: Stop 7: Win Themes
Zone 1 focuses on qualifying, pursuing, and winning opportunities. This involves leveraging established relationships with key decision-makers to understand their agendas and tailor solutions accordingly. Develop a unique value proposition (UVP) by combining the customer's challenges with your solution's benefits, expressed as statements that ideally quantify return on investment (ROI).
Tailor your UVP and win themes to resonate with each decision-makers formal and informal wins, as well as their perceptions, interpretations, and beliefs about achieving the formally stated buying criteria.
Stop 8:
Analyse your competitors' messaging, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and understand their sales strategy. Position your solution strategically by highlighting your advantages and addressing the customer's needs more effectively than your competitors.
Use your coaches to gather information about the decision criteria and ensure your key benefits and objectives are favoured. If you are not aware of the competitive messaging circulating within the account, it indicates a lack of proximity to the inner circle.
Get your free copy to download and keep
Stop 9:
Once your sales strategy is defined, revisit the key decision-makers and influencers to refine and confirm your win themes and positioning.
Stop 10:
A compelling event motivates customers to take action and invest in a new solution. Identify deadlines and changes that create urgency, such as:
Use Porter's Five Forces framework to uncover potential compelling events affecting your customers. These events create a need and budget allocation for a solution.
Porters 5 Forces
Stop 11:
Be cautious when responding to unsolicited tenders, as they often reflect the influence of your competitors who have already established their position in the buying cycle. The tender document's requirements may be tailored to favour their solutions. Carefully consider if the tender truly aligns with your strengths before investing significant resources in responding.
There are three main types of formal RFPs:
1. Type 1: Can you…? Focuses on functionality (the WHAT) without specifying the implementation approach (the HOW).
2. Type 2: Show me how you…? Specifies functionality and requests clarification on the implementation approach, enabling comparisons between vendors.
3. Type 3: Can you do it our way and if so tell us how you do…? Outlines both functionality and the required implementation approach, leaving little room for interpretation.
Each RFP type requires a different level of effort from both the issuer and the responder. Type 1 is the easiest, Type 2 requires twice the effort and Type 3 demands three times the effort.
The degree to which the RFP reflects your sales efforts and desired implementation approach indicates your level of influence in the sales process.
Technical features and functions allow you to compete, but the implementation approach and other factors allow you to win. Strive to influence the RFP before it is issued to increase your chances of winning. Use a framework like Bid Metrics to manage your RFP response and ensure alignment with your win themes and sales positioning.
Stop 12:
If shortlisted, the demonstration (demo) phase presents an opportunity to solidify your position and close the deal. Influence the form and scope of the demo to showcase your solution's strengths and address the customer's key concerns.
Ensure your team understands the WHAT and the HOW, and rehearse thoroughly to deliver a seamless presentation.
Negotiation is a critical stage where you must navigate the interests of the procurement team, decision-makers, and stakeholders.
Negotiation is not an innate skill; rather, it is one that can be acquired and honed over time. When perfected, negotiation skills can secure more favourable deals for your business and enhance the value of those deals for your customers.
Procurement teams prioritise reducing costs and ensuring the solution provides the necessary functionality at the lowest price. However most deals are not won on price alone.
You need to understand the significance of each aspect of the deal for both you and your customer, enabling you to assist them in communicating their priorities to procurement specialists who may be less flexible or more focused on processes.
Although you probably know who has the authority to sign a contract, you also need to be sure to identify anyone who may have veto power or other interests in the deal.
The Schranner Negotiation Institute offers a simple three-point categorisation of importance:
Additional factors to consider
1. Only involve the CEO when absolutely necessary. Many individuals will be curious about the situation, but most don't require updates - maintain a confident demeanour, regardless of the circumstances.
2. Some individuals will need regular and early briefings, typically including the CEO, CFO, and COO. It's crucial to understand their informational requirements. In-person briefings are generally most effective; also, be prepared to answer "How can I help?" If assistance isn't currently needed, indicate when and what kind of support might be required in the future. Executives dislike surprises, so keeping them consistently informed will ensure their support.
3. Remember to always make your customer look good. By making your counterpart look smart, you will be seen as a partner more than a supplier.
Leverage your relationships with the decision-makers and stakeholders to regain control over discussions about the WHAT (the solution's functionality).
Use negotiation techniques to address procurement's concerns about the HOW (the implementation approach and commercial terms).
Effective techniques include:
Successfully navigating the negotiation stage requires balancing the interests of all parties involved to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome.
Keep in mind that there are always rules to follow; while some internal ones might be flexible, external ones are not. Although it may seem tedious, familiarise yourself with your customer’s policies and regulations thoroughly. It's likely your negotiating counterpart hasn't, providing you with a strategic edge.
Finally, remember the deal is not closed until the contract is signed, you have an order and there are no loose ends!
Conclusion
The Big Deal Sales Map provides a valuable framework for navigating the complex sales process and winning big deals. By following the steps outlined in this guide, sales professionals can increase their chances of success and build long-lasting, profitable relationships with their customers.
Remember to constantly update your Territory and Account plans to reflect the evolving market dynamics and customer needs.
For help with your sales playbooks or proven strategies to win large deals with Enterprise clients contact us to arrange an obligation free chat using this meeting link
Sales Big Deal Sales Negotiations
Forbes:Closing large deals with Enterprise sales
Simplifying your Sales Tech Stack
B2B Sales Methodologies and Qualification Frameworks