Inside Our Head

Complex sales are the biggest of all sales. You have big commission dollars at stake. Sometimes, a salesperson's entire year can be made or broken on one major sale. The problem is your competition wants that commission as much as you do.

If you want to win the big sale you've got to out-SELL your competition. The 10 keys to winning a complex sale tell you how.

In a complex sale, your goal is to identify the players who will be involved in a buying decision and help them see the unique value of your solution. Any decision-maker who you do not meet is a potential threat to winning the sale. This leads to the 10 keys to winning a complex sale. The more of these you do, the better your chance of winning the sale.

1. Before you deliver your sales presentation, meet with at least three people affected by the sale.


You need multiple sources of information. Winning a complex sale hinges on gathering information about how the decision will be made, who will make it and why. If you meet with only one person, how will you know if the information that person gives you is correct? Meeting with at least three people also helps you create greater momentum in the buying process - three people who want to buy from you are better than one. And it helps you better understand the customer's needs. By the time you've met with three decision-makers, you'll know if there's someone else you need to meet with.

2. If the gatekeeper is not an influential person in the decision, get past this person as soon as
 possible.

How? Ask the gatekeeper questions that he or she can't answer. If the questions you ask are important to understanding the need, you'll hopefully get the gatekeeper's OK to find out the answers.

Offer to gather information from other people and report back to the gatekeeper with your findings.

Sell your gatekeeper on it. There may be benefits to the gatekeeper if higher level decision-makers get involved. One possible benefit is that the money to buy may come from someone else's budget besides the gatekeeper's.


If you do it early in a sales process, you may be able go over a gatekeeper's head without asking for permission. This is more upsetting to the gatekeeper the closer you get to the decision. If a decision is about to be made, and you think you're going to lose, going over the gatekeeper's head sends the message that you are questioning his or her decision-making process. This is what is so upsetting to them. But if you go over the gatekeeper's head early in a sales process, the gatekeeper has less invested in the decision, so he or she will likely be less upset by it.

3. Identify all the decision-makers and their positions on the team.

A few general questions to ask would be: How will your organization go about making this decision? Who else will you need to talk to?


To identify specific players on the buying team, ask these questions: Who's budget is at stake here? (gets you the Virtual Authority). Who will be evaluating the technical aspects of this decision? (gets you the Integrator).

You'll have no problem finding the User, and the gatekeeper usually finds you! And, you must find the Power Broker, so ask, "Who will be the key decision-maker on this?"

4. Finding the Power Broker before your competition does is crucial.

If the Power Broker wants to buy from you, your success is almost assured. If the Power Broker prefers your competition, forget it.

The Power Broker derives his/her power from credibility with the Virtual Authority, perhaps by being the recognized expert. Or, the Power Broker may be the Virtual Authority's "right-hand person."


Power Brokers tend to be strong-willed individuals who are goal-oriented and persuasive communicators - just like salespeople. An effective Power Broker is an effective internal salesperson. So, which member of the buying team is the most effective salesperson? Chances are, that's your Power Broker.

5. Identify where each decision-maker is in the buying process.

Your sales approach with each player depends on where that person is with regards to the decision. Be a "doctor" with someone who doesn't recognize a need. A prospect in the comparison stage needs to know why you are their best choice, how you are different from the other options, etc. So, you want to be a Coach.


Think of the roles as "selling hats." Which hat you wear depends on where each prospect is in the buying process. When a player moves in the buying process (hopefully forward, but possibly backward) change your selling hat to meet their new needs. The speed with which each buyer's wheel turns determines how fast you should change your selling role.

6. After each meeting with a prospect, send that person a letter stating your understanding of their needs.

You cannot rely on verbal communication alone, because selling the person sitting in front of you is not enough. You must also provide your prospect with the tools needed to sell other decision-makers on your behalf. And since most sales literature focuses on your product's features and benefits, not on your customers' needs, they're ineffective as a leave-behind.


Your letter of understanding will reinforce the importance of the meeting for your prospect, solidify why the need is important, and provide information your prospect will need to sell other decision-makers.

7. Develop as many sponsors for your cause as possible.

Think back to the biggest sale you've ever made. Chances are, there was at least one person in your client's organization who wanted you to win the sale.


A sponsor is any decision maker who wants you to succeed. Think about a complex sale you're working on now. Is there any decision-maker in there to wants you to succeed? If not, what can you do to develop one (or two)?

8. Find your enemies and neutralize them.

While you are cultivating sponsors for your cause, your competitors will be busy developing sponsors for their counterattack. The biggest threat to your winning a complex sale is the existence of an individual who wants your competition to win.

The most successful strategy is to neutralize that person by being proactive. Identify who is against you, assess that person's power influence on the decision, and take action to defuse the threat. Don't sit back and wait!

Sometimes, your enemies are difficult to recognize. They may not want you to know they exist. These people may say wonderful things about you to your face, but as soon as you leave, they begin pulling strings to make you lose. Once again, having multiple sources of information is the key to identifying these stealthy adversaries. Ask your contacts, "Is there anyone who may be opposed to this?"


To neutralize your enemy, try overwhelming them with superior numbers. If you can develop several sponsors among the members of the complex buying team, you can create enough momentum for your solution to overpower the enemy's opposition.


How much credibility does your enemy have with other members of the Complex Buying Team? If your answer is "a lot," try to meet with your enemy one-on-one. Ask questions such as "What concerns might you have about our solution?" Apply the sales role of a therapist and try to draw out their concerns.

Don't underestimate the importance of personal agendas. The best supplier with the best offering does not always win. Suppose you made a sale to Department A that was successfully implemented. Now you're trying to make a similar sale to Department B. If department A's manager is at odds with the manager of Department B, you may lose the sale to B because you were successful with A.




9. Develop a complex sales strategy by answering these three questions:

What factors are working for you in this sale? What factors are working against you? What can you do better to position yourself to win?

10. Don't get overconfident!

The greatest barrier to winning the sale may be you! Overconfidence about how a sale is progressing may lull you into a false sense of security. Always question your basic premises. Sir Francis Bacon said, "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties." Don't assume anything!

Winning a complex sale is difficult. Your competition wants them as much as you do. Winning is no accident. The salesperson who wins will likely be the one who works just a little bit harder than the others, who does a few things that other salespeople don't do.

Work harder and apply these ideas, and you WILL close more large-dollar, complex sales. You can bet on it!

Is your industry becoming more competitive? Are your prospects taking a closer look at what your competitors have to offer? Selling in today's marketplace reminds me of that old line from ABC's Wide World of Sports: "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

For the salesperson and the sales manager in the arena, it's winner take all. There are no rewards for second place.

This trend of intensifying competition makes selling more interesting -- but also much more difficult than it once was. If you want to stop losing sales to competition and make more money -- and we all do -- then you've got to sharpen your competitive selling skills.

Here are four of the most common reasons why competitive sales opportunities are lost -- and specifically what you can do to win more often. These are the mistakes to avoid if you want to give your competitors fits.

1) Your competitor understands the prospect's needs better than you do.

Sun Tzu wrote his classic book, The Art of War, 2,500 years ago. In it he said, "If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you'll also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will lose every battle."

Between you and me, Sun Tzu had it easy! In 500 B.C., all he had to do was learn about himself and his enemy. Today, it's not enough to know about yourself and the competition. You also have to know about the customers' needs. When you know the specific ways in which you're different from your competition - AND you know your customers' needs - you'll know which differences are going to be the most important to your customer. And that knowledge is what will put your name on the scoreboard.

One simple strategy for understanding your customers' needs better than your competition is to resist the natural temptation to talk about yourself, and instead, keep the conversation focused on your customer's needs. If your customer asks you about your product or service - as they often do - answer their question, then redirect the conversation back to your customer's needs. A good rule of thumb is to identify at least eight customer buying criteria before you start talking about your product or service.

2) Can't reach the key decision-maker.

All decision-makers are not created equal. In every buying decision there exists a "Power Broker," one person who wields more power and influence than anyone else. When the Power Broker talks, others listen. Think of an important prospect you are calling on now. If he or she is not the key decision-maker, who is? The first salesperson to identify and win over the Power Broker almost always wins the sale.

To identify the Power Broker, ask your contact questions such as, "How will your organization make the decision on this? Who else will you need to talk to? Whose budget is at stake here? Who's going to be the key decision-maker on this? Power Brokers derive their power because they have credibility with superiors, perhaps as a recognized expert. They tend to be strong-willed individuals who are goal-oriented and possess good communication skills. The Power Broker is an effective internal salesperson who you want championing your cause.

3) The salesperson overlooks seemingly minor differences between his/her solution and the competition.

A friend of mine sells voice recording systems for emergency 911 centers. One "minor" difference between his system and those of competitors is that his system has been approved by Underwriters Laboratories. For years, my friend and his fellow salespeople made nothing of this differentiator. Then one diligent salesperson was carefully studying her prospect's cost components, and discovered that installation of a product that was U. L. approved would qualify a 911 center for a significant reduction in insurance premiums. This translated into a huge cost savings for the customer - and a nice commission for the salesperson.

The point is - don't overlook anything! Differences that may seem minor to you could be of significant importance to your customer.

4) No game plan to beat the competition.

The one common thread weaving through all of these reasons for losing sales this: We don't slow down and think. For years, salespeople have been told that the key to selling is to think fast on your feet and to make lots of calls. This bias for quick thinking and a high activity level is exactly the opposite of what it takes to win competitive sales.

I'm not suggesting you make fewer sales calls. What I am saying is that you need to put more thought into each call you make. Think like a coach thinks, and make a game plan to win.

What's your understanding of your prospect's buying criteria? Which of those criteria represent a competitive edge for you? Which represent a competitive disadvantage? Who is positioned most favorably at this time - you or your competition? How can you influence the customer's buying criteria - or modify your offering, in such as way as to create a better match between what you have and what your customer needs? Your effectiveness in competitive selling situations will be largely determined by the questions you ask yourself before each sales call.

In sports, when two teams are evenly matched, the winner will be the team that executes its plays the best - the team that makes the fewest mistakes. To win more competitive sales opportunities, you must do the same.

I recently reread Jim Collins' book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't and found that many of his ideas can help you improve performance of your sales team.

Collins' book answers the question: How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? Using tough standards, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of "comparison" companies that failed to make the leap from good to great.

Over five years and 15,000 hours of research, Collins and his team deduced the key determinants of greatness – why some companies make the leap and others don't. Here are a few of their findings and what, I think, Collins' findings mean to you and the development of your team.

Good is the enemy of great

Some sales teams will never be great because their sales managers settle for being good. It's easier than being great.

First Who... then What

Collins expected to find that Good to Great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. What their research discovered, however, was that the best leaders first got the right people on the team, de-hired the wrong people, and got everyone in their optimal position... and then decided what the vision and strategy was. The saying, "People are your most important asset" is incorrect. It should be changed to, "The right people are your most important asset." Then, put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.

Application questions: Is there anybody on your team who shouldn't be? Do you have any team members in a less-than-optimal position, a person whose skills are not being fully utilized? What, and when will you rectify these situations?

Confront the brutal facts, but never lose faith

One of the most important findings from Collins' research is that breakthrough results come about by a series of good decisions, diligently executed and accumulated one on top of the other. You don't need to be perfect, but to be great you do need to make many more good decisions than bad ones. And good decision-making requires accurate information, which can be difficult to obtain. Collins writes:

Indeed, for those of you with a strong, charismatic personality, it is worthwhile to consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems, when people filter the brutal facts from you.

Winston Churchill understood the liabilities of his strong personality. He was concerned that he wouldn't get accurate information from his subordinates, so, during the darkest days of World War II, he founded the "Statistical Office", a separate department outside the command structure that fed him the most accurate, indeed brutal, facts of the war. Churchill also possessed the second requirement of greatness -- an unwavering faith that Britain would survive and thrive, even when things looked so bleak.

Application questions: What's one great dream you would dare to dream (for your team) if you knew you could not fail?

Your "Stop doing" list is more important than your "To do" list.

Many sales managers lead busy lives, accomplishing task after task after task. Interestingly, the leaders studied in "Good to Great" companies made as much use of "stop doing" lists as "to do" lists. They continually asked themselves:

What can we do better than anyone else? What type of opportunities are we passionate about? And, what segment of customers allows us to make the most profit?

Good to Great leaders instilled the culture of discipline - by teaching their team where to focus, and what to ignore.

Application questions: What opportunities, or customer segments, can your team make a compelling case of being the best choice? Which of these opportunities are most profitable, and why? Finally, what can you become passionate about?

Is your team brilliant on the basics? If not, you may be losing sales you should be winning. At TopLine Leadership, we help salespeople re-focus on the fundamentals of effective salesmanship, and sales managers to master the basics of management / leadership. We can help you and your sales team with these concepts. Contact us today.