This is the fifth in a series of seven posts on the importance of bringing a focused methodology to the madness that is the sales environment.
At this point we already understand the importance of “finding the need’ and “articulating the solution”. We’ve done our job communicating real value, and the customer seems to be on-board. We’re doing our best to “spark a fire” and inspire urgency for an implementation, but things are stalling on the final decision.
This is where the next part of our acronym comes into play: the letter “T.”
TAG YOUR ADVOCATE
We’ll talk about recognizing when it’s time to tag an internal advocate in order to push a viable sale through those nuisance hurdles that tend to arise in complex business decisions.
Perhaps it’s getting the sign-off of a busy executive that shuns your calls. Or maybe there are procedural matters in the purchasing department that need to be cleared away, and you don’t have access to those decision-makers. Whatever the case may be, having the knowledgeable advocacy of someone close to the customer’s own interests—someone highly motivated to help the deal along—can lower procedural resistance and help finalize decisions that might otherwise hang in the balance for months.
But how do we identify such an individual?
And, more importantly, how can we equip that person to see the deal through in a way that clearly benefits both parties at the table?
A few observations are in order:
A good advocate has a personal stake in your solution.
Let’s face it: there are certain aspects of the sales process we simply can’t control. Most discussions and decisions about the ‘winner’ take place when you’re not there.
So how will we go about the task of keeping our prospects focused on the value of our product when we’re not even present to answer objections?
We need a champion … someone who has a seat at the table who can sell for you when you are not there and keep you up to speed – if you have a champion in the room, it’s more likely you’ll win more deals.
But let’s remember that our customers are going to look out for themselves first. Potential advocates will only speak up when there’s something in it for them, too.
That’s why choosing the right internal candidate begins with recognizing who in the deliberation process has a genuine personal stake in seeing the problem solved and who merely wants everyone to reach agreement, regardless of which solution (if any) is finally chosen.
Someone who lacks a personal stake in both the problem and our solution will probably succumb to the desire for group consensus behind closed doors when the current of discussion favors the cheaper option of simply maintaining the status quo.
Worse, they may leave room for a competitor’s evangelist to pipe up in our place!
Passionate, personally invested individuals are the ones we want to groom for advocacy because, as veteran entrepreneur Mark Suster explains (see this helpful infographic from SalesLoft), these are the individuals who will not hesitate to break a few eggs, if necessary, in order to build their case. They have something to lose if they don’t get their way; fortunately, their way just happens to be good for us, too.
A word of caution is in order when tagging an advocate, though.
Do not mistake fondness for advocacy, because not everyone who likes our products and us is going to possess that added characteristic of being willing to ‘sell’ for us when were not there – that takes guts!
“There might be somebody in the room who is most knowledgeable and/or most passionate about which solution to pick,” Suster observes. “But that person is irrelevant if he’s not willing to defend his position strongly when others advocate harder for a different answer.”
We’re simply not interested in courting a room full of head-nodders who are enthusiastic about our products yet lack the resolve to stand their ground in the face of competing opinions. We’re after those rare individuals who want to work with us as passionately as we want to work with them. So we do well to test the waters to make sure we’re targeting the right advocate in the first place.
One very important sign that we’ve made a fruitful connection with a potential champion is forthrightness and transparency regarding internal decision-making procedures. Advocates who are passionately invested in our solutions will want to expedite implementation, and so they will coach us through the necessary steps to see that happen. They may suggest a phone call to specific higher-ups to get the ball rolling, or they may offer a detailed time-line for the decision, suggesting specific milestones that need to be met by certain deadlines for us to stay on top.
Whatever the case, when someone begins working on our behalf to help us succeed, it’s time to take a closer look at the individual’s street cred within the organization.
And that leads to our next point…
An effective advocate needs to have authority and influence in the buyer’s organization.
We must find someone who is seen as an authority on the subject matter and is able to explain the benefits of the product to others.
The best champions also have influence over higher-ups within the company and understand the buying process. They will have to explain why sticking with the status quo would be a risky and potentially far more costly decision. And they will need to explain why this project is in the best interests of both their colleagues and the company as a whole.
That’s a tall order, but such individuals do indeed exist in every organization, and they have their part to play in every major business decision.
Sales counselor Steve W. Martin calls them the “bully with the juice.” “Some people are natural-born leaders,” he says. “They have an aura that can motivate and instill confidence. They command respect and people naturally follow their lead.” While committees charged with making purchasing recommendations may help put more “fingerprints of accountability” on purchase deliberations, Martin believes that “behind every committee is a bully who has the juice, and the committee’s decision will reflect this.”
It’s our job to make sure we’ve singled this individual out and secured his or her buy-in 100%. Forget about all the rest of the friendly faces in the room: when it comes time to argue for budget allocations, we’re going to need both the influence and authority of that specific individual to persuade his or her colleagues that they’re making the right choice.
Again, it’s helpful to test potential advocates to make sure we’re not dealing with a time-waster. We can ask questions like, “Who holds the budget for this project?” or “Who else is involved in making this decision?”
If we’re talking to “the bully with the juice,” the answers will come with elaboration and enthusiasm. If the person seems clueless or reticent, then either we’re dealing with the wrong person or, worse, we’ve already lost our shot at winning the one voice in the organization that really matters.
Most advocates will need your help to do their job.
But let’s stay optimistic. Let’s assume we’ve narrowed our sights on precisely the right influencer in the organization. It’s time to equip that person to make the case for us as persuasively as possible. It is almost always true that internal champions do not have selling skills, and it is always true that they do not know as much about your solutions and company as we do.
So, if they are to sell for us effectively, then rehearsing becomes a big deal.
We have to go that extra mile with our internal advocates to make sure that they know both the user and buyer side of the value we bring to the organization. We have to prepare them to answer potential objections with concrete, data-rich responses. And we have to arm them with meaningful case study examples that they can use to paint a vivid picture of what it will be like for their organization to work with us.
Some of us recoil at the notion of “coaching” an advocate like this because we fear coming across as manipulative, pushy, or arrogant. These are legitimate concerns, and if we handle the coaching process carelessly, we certainly do risk disillusioning our advocates, converting them into opponents who may leverage their influence to shut us down instead.
But as long as you apply a modest amount of emotional intelligence to this exercise, you can do it in a way that seems helpful and in no way patronizing, condescending or questioning of your champion’s ability. You can present it as the shared learning from helping dozens of people in positions like theirs.
In other words, humility is supremely important. We need to demonstrate real respect for our advocates’ unique influence and specific insider knowledge of their organizations’ business operations while at the same time offering our own distinctive facts and observations that will enable them to anticipate and overcome peer objections.
Point to remember: You’re the salesperson—your champion isn’t—so help them help you.
Even if we’re fortunate enough to land an internal advocate who has a sales background, the fact remains that we’re the ones who bear ultimate responsibility for making sure the proper value is communicated to final decision-makers.
Coaching an advocate is not about delegating that responsibility to someone else; it’s about recruiting and empowering an influential individual to help us do our job more effectively.
So now we’ve managed to make the case for our solution, get key decision-makers on-board, and tag an internal advocate to help us push toward the goal.
Before we relax and congratulate ourselves for landing the sale, we need to step back and consider the big picture a bit. In complex sales decisions like this, there are generally a host of other key players involved besides the people we’re already talking to.
If we’re to have an accurate portrait of how deliberations are proceeding around our solution, then we should familiarize ourselves with these people, too.
We’ll talk about some of these personalities next time.
