0
SPEAKER_00
Welcome back to the Advanced Selling Podcast, the longest running sales training podcast, podcast history.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m your host, Bill Kasky.
0
SPEAKER_00
Co-host, Brian Neal.
0
SPEAKER_00
Are we hosting co-hosts or are we both co-hosts?
0
SPEAKER_00
We re both co-hosts.
0
SPEAKER_00
One of our insider members just started a podcast and it s amazing how much like ours his is.
0
SPEAKER_00
As it should be.
0
SPEAKER_00
All the way down to the introduction and it s funny.
0
SPEAKER_01
This is the shortest running podcast in sales podcast history because he just started.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s not wrong with that.
0
SPEAKER_01
Someone s got to be that.
0
SPEAKER_01
I heard a crazy stat that only, Oh, what is it?
0
SPEAKER_01
There s only like, uh, 2000 or 1500 podcasts that get past episode two or 10 or 20 or something.
0
SPEAKER_01
What is that stat?
0
SPEAKER_01
That s a great stat.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s it s a high percentage.
0
SPEAKER_00
Uh, yeah.
0
12.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
Something like that.
0
SPEAKER_01
Are we past 12?
0
SPEAKER_01
We re past 12.
0
SPEAKER_01
We re on the way to a thousand 12.
0
SPEAKER_01
We re on our way to a thousand episodes.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s crazy, isn t it?
0
SPEAKER_01
That s good though.
0
SPEAKER_00
I heard something the other day.
0
SPEAKER_00
I want to get your feedback on this.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m tempted to shut it down, so I ll tell you what it is.
0
SPEAKER_00
When someone is trying to explain something to you, and you get it on the first explanation, but that s not satisfying for them.
0
SPEAKER_00
They continue to go on.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I get you.
0
SPEAKER_00
Well, so no, so the camera, I mean, the camera, no, no, I got, I got, well, I mean, yeah, the camera, it s a, it s a Logitech.
0
SPEAKER_00
I mean, you know what I mean?
0
SPEAKER_01
No, I get it.
0
SPEAKER_01
I totally, I totally get it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so at what point do you raise your voice a little bit and say, I got it.
0
SPEAKER_00
I get it.
0
SPEAKER_00
Oh, you just let it go.
0
SPEAKER_00
And what s in people s mind and heart when they feel, do they just not feel understood?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because I don t know.
0
SPEAKER_00
I got it.
0
SPEAKER_00
It was pretty clear, I think.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m notorious at probably the shutting down of people.
0
SPEAKER_01
probably with my energy and my words.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I think I might do this to Mrs. Neal sometimes.
0
SPEAKER_01
She s explaining something.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m like, I got, I know what you, I know, I know, I know.
0
SPEAKER_01
I got it.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s not, I don t think that s what Mrs. Neal wants to hear.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don t think so either at all.
0
SPEAKER_01
So she probably wants to hear it.
0
SPEAKER_01
Totally.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m sorry.
0
SPEAKER_01
You feel that way, babe.
0
SPEAKER_01
Um, yeah, I don t, that s a great question, but now, okay, so it s one thing to do in a marriage.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s another thing to do like in a, you know, when the service providers at your house, we ve talked about this, we were the, you know, the, the plumber wants to explain the entire process.
0
SPEAKER_01
So let me take a look here.
0
SPEAKER_01
So we got a J joint coming out of here.
0
SPEAKER_01
We run this down.
0
SPEAKER_01
So we got this coupling, now this coupling.
0
SPEAKER_01
So whoever put it in, put the wrong size in.
0
SPEAKER_01
It should be a 16 eights and they put in a 14 five.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I m going to replace that.
0
SPEAKER_01
But when I do, I m like, love you, dude.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m mad respect for what you can do.
0
SPEAKER_01
I don t give a flying.
0
SPEAKER_00
I will not be replacing it.
0
SPEAKER_00
When you leave, I will not be redoing your work.
0
SPEAKER_01
All I want to have happen is when I turn the faucet on, the water comes out, then we re good.
0
SPEAKER_01
Then you re my hero.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m sorry, man.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I m not trying to be disrespectful of their work.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s like, I m just so disinterested in.
0
SPEAKER_00
Let me tell you how we make this hot dog.
0
SPEAKER_00
No, no, I don t go no service here.
0
SPEAKER_00
So we put a lot and then we take some old beef that s been sitting around for a while.
0
SPEAKER_01
And just assume that you re interested.
0
SPEAKER_01
Like, let me, let me take you downstairs and show you something.
0
SPEAKER_01
Cause you can t say, I m like, look, dude, I don t need to see anything.
0
SPEAKER_01
Just fix the fricking thing.
0
SPEAKER_01
Right?
0
SPEAKER_01
So anyway, yeah, I don t know what the right way is, Bill.
0
SPEAKER_00
And the cousin of that is when someone tries to explain something to you not on site.
0
SPEAKER_00
Like the plumber example, you could actually point and say, you know, here s something.
0
SPEAKER_00
But when you re out at a party and someone says, you know, there s a U, I got a U-joint.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, in the U-joint, the car works.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s right.
0
SPEAKER_00
Hook up, you know, right there where it s like, no.
0
SPEAKER_01
Oh, geez.
0
SPEAKER_01
I don t know what that is.
0
SPEAKER_01
No, thank you.
0
SPEAKER_01
This is funny.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, topic today.
0
SPEAKER_00
Let s do it.
0
SPEAKER_00
You knew we d get to the topic at some point eventually.
0
SPEAKER_00
I had a couple clients, one specifically, who just closed a really large deal, largest deal in their company history.
0
SPEAKER_00
And they re just really good.
0
SPEAKER_00
He s really good.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I thought you probably had similar things.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I thought it might be useful to talk about what are a handful of elements of big deals that we have to be conscious of that might be a little different than the small deal, or maybe not.
0
SPEAKER_00
Maybe it s all the same.
0
SPEAKER_00
It just is a little bit more rigorous and large deals.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I thought it would be useful to talk about maybe a client that you have, not by name, but just somebody who s closed something and what you saw them do during it, if you were involved in the coaching of it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I ll share the same thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
I love this.
0
SPEAKER_01
This is such a good topic.
0
SPEAKER_01
I can t believe we ve never done it before.
0
SPEAKER_01
What a good topic.
0
SPEAKER_01
We, you know, and we sometimes I feel like we teach
0
SPEAKER_01
I don t want to say the opposite of this.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m quoting you, Bill.
0
SPEAKER_01
You talked about, I think you said this years ago to me, big deal-itis.
0
SPEAKER_01
I get big deal-itis.
0
SPEAKER_01
I get all wound up.
0
SPEAKER_01
I get super attached.
0
SPEAKER_01
I get all excited.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I change my stuff.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I think what we re talking about today, and I m nuanced here, there s a nuance to big deals that is different in some cases.
0
SPEAKER_01
Like you said, there s some that are the same.
0
SPEAKER_01
But there are some things that are different in these bigger deals.
0
SPEAKER_01
And so I think it s a great topic to explore what that is.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I wrote three things down here that I think are unique to big deals, or you unique-er.
0
SPEAKER_01
Can I say unique-er?
0
SPEAKER_00
Unique-er.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yes, that s a word.
0
SPEAKER_00
Unique-er.
0
SPEAKER_00
Unique-er.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s the old fucking grammar.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s stupider.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don t know which is more stupider or unique-er.
0
SPEAKER_00
Stupider.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s like my grandkids are not allowed to say stupid.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I say it all the time.
0
SPEAKER_00
And they love it when I say it.
0
SPEAKER_00
They giggle.
0
SPEAKER_00
Kind of like that sophomore humor callback from last episode.
0
SPEAKER_01
Stupid.
0
SPEAKER_01
That s stupid.
0
SPEAKER_01
Then when you get something, you say it on purpose, don t you?
0
SPEAKER_01
I love it.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, so I wrote down three things that I think do make big deals unique.
0
SPEAKER_00
OK, you do.
0
SPEAKER_00
We ll just alternate.
0
SPEAKER_01
OK, cool.
0
SPEAKER_01
So the first one, here we go, really.
0
SPEAKER_01
Buzzword jargon alert here.
0
SPEAKER_01
Multithreading.
0
SPEAKER_01
Multithreading is like the buzzword.
0
SPEAKER_01
I think it comes from, get ready, SaaS.
0
SPEAKER_01
I think it s a SaaS word.
0
SPEAKER_01
Multithreading is what it says.
0
SPEAKER_01
Big deals tend to involve lots of people, multiple people on the buying side.
0
SPEAKER_01
Very rarely is there one person or even two on a big deal.
0
SPEAKER_01
Usually you ve got functional representation, meaning you ve got someone from finance, someone from ops, someone from sales, marketing, learning and development, all sorts of people represented.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I think you have to be hyper-conscious of how you multi-thread a big deal.
0
SPEAKER_01
You have to be thinking about creating a list of people that you need to go interact with to gain perspective and input from.
0
SPEAKER_01
versus letting the your key contact dictate that for you.
0
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I think you need to say I need to gather info and talk to these people for perspective, not, hey, well, thanks for coming in, Bill.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I m gonna I need to talk to our senior leadership team, we need to have a meeting, then I m going to meet with the sales team, and I made my five regional managers, and then I ll communicate what I find back and then use the Salesforce.
0
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
0
SPEAKER_01
I think you as a salesperson need to multi-thread and get with those people yourself.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I agree.
0
SPEAKER_00
Totally agree.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, one thing that kind of picked up on that that he did actually quite well, and it wasn t one of my three, but I think it s important is you really have to identify, and I m not sure I like the word champion because I think it s been overused.
0
SPEAKER_00
It becomes diluted.
0
SPEAKER_00
But somebody in that organization who wants it worse than you do.
0
SPEAKER_00
who really sees the value in what you re doing and is willing to put it all on the line to make sure you get to those people.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because sometimes it s hard if you just start calling people willy nilly and you don t have the permission or the blessing or whatever you want to call it from that champion.
0
SPEAKER_00
it can become kind of weird.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I always say to the champion, find somebody who really is committed to you and to the solution and to fixing the problem.
0
SPEAKER_00
They don t have to be committed to your solution, only they have to be committed to the problem that you re addressing.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I like the idea of having somebody that s your initial contact, key contact, champion, advocate, there s all sorts of names for it.
0
SPEAKER_01
I love that you said more than you.
0
SPEAKER_01
instead of also.
0
SPEAKER_01
Like someone that cares about this more than you do, even as a salesperson, versus someone who cares about this a lot, too.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s really good.
0
SPEAKER_01
So that s my list, but you go ahead.
0
SPEAKER_01
It is now.
0
SPEAKER_01
This one I heard, and I love to give credit when I hear things, and I forgot who told me this one.
0
SPEAKER_01
I need to figure this out.
0
SPEAKER_01
When you re dealing with a big deal, I think it s really, really critical to sell to the detractors of the big deal.
0
SPEAKER_01
Because big deals have multiple people, there s going to be someone who doesn t want to do it, who thinks it s a bad idea, who doesn t want to bring outside help, who thinks it s not a big problem.
0
SPEAKER_01
There s going to be someone who s resistor, detractor, whatever.
0
SPEAKER_01
I think you need to go at the detractors, not to convince them over, not to pull them over, win them over, or argue with them.
0
SPEAKER_01
But you need to figure out if that detractor is in such a place where they re just going to not, they re going to get the deal killed and it s not going to work.
0
SPEAKER_01
So you don t put too much time and effort into it.
0
SPEAKER_01
Because these take a lot of time and effort.
0
SPEAKER_01
They do sell to the detractor as a strategy for a big deal.
1
SPEAKER_00
get in it with them, just understand them what s going on.
1
SPEAKER_01
I love that.
1
SPEAKER_01
I love that.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because if you approach it correctly with the detractor, they ll give you honest feedback.
1
SPEAKER_01
They ll tell you exactly what their resistance is or what their concerns are.
1
SPEAKER_01
You can position it.
1
SPEAKER_01
I wouldn t call it objections, because that s our language.
1
SPEAKER_01
But I would just call it, tell me, I kind of noticed that you were maybe not as on board as other people here.
1
SPEAKER_01
I understand that.
1
SPEAKER_01
I respect that.
1
SPEAKER_01
Tell me, what are you feeling about this?
1
SPEAKER_01
How are you thinking about this?
1
SPEAKER_01
They ll tell you.
1
SPEAKER_01
They ll say, well, no, I like it.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s just that.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then the truth will come out.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s just that I m not sure we re ready for it.
1
SPEAKER_01
OK, well, let s talk about that.
1
SPEAKER_01
Just the very idea that you re willing to reach out and have this honest conversation will make a huge difference.
1
SPEAKER_01
Forget about, and I like what you said, don t try to convince them.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s the last thing they want.
1
SPEAKER_01
What they want to do is they want to be heard.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_01
And they want to be acknowledged for this resistance.
1
SPEAKER_01
And just the idea of you reaching out and having this discussion, I think will start to flip.
1
SPEAKER_01
It ll start to change them.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_00
And you will learn.
1
SPEAKER_00
You will learn from that.
1
SPEAKER_00
You will be informed.
1
SPEAKER_00
So that s my number two.
1
SPEAKER_01
OK, my number two is with this guy who did the big deal is he was very focused on process all the way through.
1
SPEAKER_01
He didn t lay out this master sales process in the first meeting and then never refer to it again.
1
SPEAKER_01
He laid it out, and after every time he met, and this was like a three-month, 90-day selling cycle, every time he met, he would adjust the process.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then in his follow-up email, he would say, OK, John, this is usually the step in the process where we talk about analysis.
1
SPEAKER_01
But I kind of got the sense that you wanted to have one more meeting with the group.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I ve adjusted that.
1
SPEAKER_01
So next step is one more meeting with the group.
1
SPEAKER_01
Next step is analysis.
1
SPEAKER_01
You have to constantly be moving the process.
1
SPEAKER_01
you can t move it to the point where it doesn t look like a process anymore, but you re going to have people in big deals.
1
SPEAKER_01
And like you said, there s an ecosystem is could be massive.
1
SPEAKER_01
A lot of people who were, you re going to have to tweak and you re going to have to adjust.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I would rather adjust in the moment than have to adjust in the 11th hour when we miss something because we weren t willing to change the process.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s brilliant.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that s so important.
1
SPEAKER_00
And if I see people muck these up, these big deals, that s the number one place they do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
They fall off process.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s my last one.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it kind of goes along with that.
1
SPEAKER_00
I wrote down two words, patience and persistence, patience and persistence.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then I underline persistence.
1
SPEAKER_00
Because these big deals, these, these, these large deals within the customer organization aren t always the number one priority.
1
SPEAKER_00
They re important, but they re not the day to day.
1
SPEAKER_00
And you have to be the one to press the deal forward, and still maintain patience because they take a while.
1
SPEAKER_00
I just we went through a close lost kind of analysis for our firm here.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I noticed a trend here.
1
SPEAKER_00
that we have some growth to do around persistence in these big deals.
1
SPEAKER_00
We lost a couple of big deals.
1
SPEAKER_00
I m kind of examining our behavior back with these huge gaps of silence, huge gaps of silence.
1
SPEAKER_00
We cannot do that.
1
SPEAKER_00
And these big deals, they just fall away.
1
SPEAKER_00
They just disappear.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
And it could have been the best thing for them.
1
SPEAKER_01
And they may have wanted to do it, but totally, there s one of those dabs up.
1
SPEAKER_00
Something else gets in the way.
1
SPEAKER_00
No doubt.
1
SPEAKER_00
No doubt that that s true.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I think the other thing that this gentleman did was he was constantly aware of this potential gap, and he said he never let a week go by when there was silence without him sending something.
1
SPEAKER_01
Not the email that says, hey, where are we?
1
SPEAKER_01
How are we doing?
1
SPEAKER_01
Do you have any questions?
1
SPEAKER_01
It was something of value.
1
SPEAKER_01
He shot a video and put it on LinkedIn.
1
SPEAKER_01
It was about something that they actually were concerned with.
1
SPEAKER_01
He didn t mention their name, but it was literally shot for them.
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, if the truth were known, he did this video just so they could see it, but he posted it on his LinkedIn and just things like that.
1
SPEAKER_01
can be helpful because it s like a reminder it s like oh yeah you know and it keeps the problem that they told you they have in front of them without you having to say hey remember remember now we re solving these five problems it s a little bit more subtle than that but i like
1
SPEAKER_01
And the question is then what assets do you have that you can bring to bear during the process?
1
SPEAKER_01
It s not just an email asking for another meeting, because that can get weary.
1
SPEAKER_01
That gets weary.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I also, finally, I like what you said about patience.
1
SPEAKER_01
Sometimes these things, I mean, we re in a situation right now, we ve got NDAs are going back and forth.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I know that once it hits legal, you got to have a little patience.
1
SPEAKER_01
Correct.
1
SPEAKER_01
You do.
1
SPEAKER_01
And persistence, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
and call calling them every three days saying where is it is not yes it s just you become you become a pest absolutely it s really good what a great topic big deals really really good so if you have any uh questions or comments uh we ll put this in the linkedin group just go to the group and comment on the
1
SPEAKER_01
issue that we just talked about.
1
SPEAKER_01
If you have an idea that you want to put out to the group, we ve got 12,000 members of it.
1
SPEAKER_01
People read it.
1
SPEAKER_01
We get a lot of activity on it.
1
SPEAKER_01
Go ahead.
1
SPEAKER_01
We d love to hear.
1
SPEAKER_01
This is part of the engagement.
1
SPEAKER_01
We want to hear from our audience too on this.
1
SPEAKER_01
So we don t, we just gave you a half dozen, but I m sure there are a lot more.
1
SPEAKER_00
And you know, we steal ideas and use them.
1
SPEAKER_00
And don t give credit.
1
SPEAKER_00
We never said that.
1
SPEAKER_00
I always give credit.
1
SPEAKER_00
Giving credit s weak.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s over.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s overrated.
1
SPEAKER_00
Just steal it.
1
SPEAKER_00
Own it.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay, that s it.
1
SPEAKER_00
See you next time.
1
SPEAKER_00
Alright, see you.
1
SPEAKER_00
Bye.
1
SPEAKER_00
Bye.