This morning I did a webinar with Jeb Blount, Miles Austin, Mark Hunter, Mike Weinberg, and John Spence (What? You don’t know John Spence? Well prepare for a real treat). You can watch the replay here.
Some people emailed me to ask me for a written transcript, and we’ll try to get that done. In the meantime, here are my annotated notes on how to get massive revenue growth now.
Focus on the top of the funnel
Sales leaders and sales managers focus on what is close to closing. They review deals at the end of the sales process, late stage opportunities, to their detriment. This gives them a distorted view of their real pipeline, and a distorted view of their forecast.
Start with a shift in focus to opportunity acquisition. Ask these questions:
- How many new prospects moved into the funnel from target to qualified?
- How many new prospects moved from qualified to discovery (or needs analysis)
Focus on client acquisition not order acquisition
A lot of us sell things for which we can win an order and not actually win the client. Shifting to the front end of the pipeline shifts the focus to value creation instead of transactions. Coaching deal reviews in discovery in the early stages allows you to build relationships of value and focus on developing the client and the opportunity. Make these changes now.
- Review new opportunities created early in the process.
- Verify that the client believes they have a compelling reason to change.
- Verify that the process builds value at every stage of the buyer’s process.
Focus prospecting activity and nurturing on dream clients
I would have put this one first, but I was afraid you’d tune me out. This idea isn’t sexy; it’s the grind.
Your sales force has limited time and energy. They need to win clients for whom you can make a difference. You need to win clients for whom you create breath taking, jaw dropping, earth shattering value.
Your sales force avoids your dream clients because they aren’t receptive, and they already have someone they trust. You and your team need to:
- Insist that these dream clients are nurtured. And provide the tools.
- Develop a minimum of 12 value-creating touches.
- Prevent the sales force from moving downstream to more receptive prospects.
Teach your sales force to develop latent dissatisfaction.
The biggest challenge your sales force has is helping your client make the case for change. The status quo is deeply entrenched. You need to provide your sales force with a plan to develop dissatisfaction. Give them answers to these questions:
- What are the challenges your clients face that you can solve for them?
- What should they be concerned about?
- What are their opportunities to improve their business that they don’t recognize?
- How do you develop consensus inside your dream client’s company?
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