Let's slow down.
We don't hear that very often in our fast-paced, monthly and quarterly performance driven sales teams. But sometimes, it's exactly what we need to do.
A few years ago, one of my sales professionals was winning a large enterprise contract. Before the first round of negotiations, the sales professional proposed a strategy. They believed we could get to signed contracts in thirty days and that we would end up at a particular price. Let's call that price X. Their strategy was to negotiate to X quickly in pursuit of a thirty day close.
As the leader
of the business unit, I was often the person pushing us to close business. I'd seen this team build a masterful sales strategy and a very strong business case over many months. I knew from the team's great work that the business impact was strategic and not about price. To my team's surprise, I gave them permission and a mandate to slow down and focus on the business case and our value - not the close date.
Over the next five months, the team leveraged that strong business case through a lengthy contract negotiation. On the last day of our fiscal year, the team received signed contracts. And the price? 2X.
That final contract was one of the largest in the company's history. Had we rushed ourselves and the customer through a fast-paced negotiation, we would have simply devalued our offering. Sometimes, the right strategy is to slow down.
Happy Selling!
(Image Credit: Photo by Logan Weaver on Unsplash.)
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