Stacking The Deck!
I’ve got a terrible confession to make. I cheat. I don’t want to play fair and square. I don’t like to play on a level playing field. I do everything I can to tilt deals to my favor. I do everything I can to stack the deck.
I don’t think I’m alone in this. Our inclination as sales people is to do this. We want our customers to prioritize the things that we do well and that our competitors do poorly. Likewise, we want our customer to de-prioritize the things our competitors do well and we do poorly. We do everything we can to shift the criteria and customer’s attitudes in our favor.
Unfortunately, in the new world of buying, it’s becoming more and more difficult to stack the deck. Customers are determining their needs, requirements and priorities without us. By the time they’ve developed a short list, their requirements are already locked in concrete. The vendors on the shortlist—our competitors and us, are there because we all meet their minimum needs. The customers have leveled the playing field for those they have invited to play. Now we’re in an elimination match.
If we want to stack the deck, we have to change our approach. We can’t wait for the customer to have a need, we have to be premptive. We have to get in early–before the customer has a need, before they recognize they have a problem. To stack the deck, we need to get them excited about a new opportunity for their company–a way to grow, a way to improve. We want to create a sense of urgency around what that will do for them, and how we can help them do this.
If we want to stack the deck, we have to invest in them. We have to earn the right to have them listen to our ideas about changing their business. We have to have credibility and their trust.
We have to create value–both in the ideas and interactions, and in the solutions we offer. If we don’t we’re helping our competitors stack the deck for themselves. We have to offer more than a product pitch, we have to do more than answer their questions, handle their objections and ask for the order. Everyone else is doing that, we have to be different.
Some might say, “Dave that’s unrealistic, while we try to do that, the customer wants to create a level playing field.” I’m not sure I agree. I’m not sure that customers want to create a level playing field. I think customers want to stack the decks in their favor—in favor of helping them achieve their goals, and produce results. If we do our job right–we can align ourselves with the customer, stacking the deck to allow each of us achieve our objectives.
What are you doing to stack the deck?
Average Is Over
I read a fascinating Op Ed piece by Tom Friedman in the New York Times, Average Is Over. It’s a fascinating piece. As I reflected on the piece it struck me how important this concept is to professional selling.
Friedman makes the point, “”…everyone needs to find their extra–their unique value contribution that makes them stand out…” Friedman is not writing about organizations, he’s writing about individuals, each of us. It’s a profound concept, understanding it is like discovering the secret decoder ring for sales success.
In a buyer’s world, where too many products are undifferentiated, where the differences between the companies that stand behind the products are relatively small, where quality is similar, where everything balances out–and on average they are the same, there are two things that stand out as real differentiators: price and what each of us contributes as sales professionals. And in competitive situations, where pricing is roughly the same, the difference between winning and losing is each of us.
It’s no longer sufficient to be “average.” Each of us has to find a way to stand out and differentiate what we do. It might be our knowledge of what the customer is trying to do, it might be the confidence we instill about the new solution, it might be the trust we have earned in working with them.
Just good enough is no longer a winning strategy (a number of years ago, I worked with an industry leading company that had that as their strategy–and they were remarkably successful. We have to set ourselves apart, we have to create the value and differentiate ourselves. As Friedman points out, it is ultimately what each of us contributes that makes a real difference.
It’s a tremendously powerful concept for sales people, partly because it’s a simple concept, partly because it puts success or failure squarely in our hands. We can control and manage the difference we make with our customers. We can control and manage the value we create to set ourselves apart. Competing and winning becomes much more clear–we are in control because it is the differentiation that each of us create that separate us from the average. It can actually be quite easy–particularly if everyone else is striving to be average. In essence, we become the value proposition–or we can be one of the crowd, average.
Sales people–and the people they engage in working with a customer are the ultimate differentiators. How we and our team work with the customer is what separates us from the rest–the average.
Do you know what separates you and distinguishes you from everyone else? Are you demonstrating that in every interaction with your customers?
Do you know what distinctive value you create–for your customers, for the people you work with? Do they understand that value?
Are you constantly looking to set yourself apart?
Average is over. Average is not a winning sales strategy.
It’s All In Your Head!
Sales people are notoriously bad at writing things down and documenting things. I talk to thousands a year. When I start talking about documenting something–a deal plan, an account plan, territory, call plans, even a to-do list–all of a sudden you can see the resistance in their faces.
They sit back, fold their arms. Most say nothing, but a few courageous one’s will say, “Dave, you don’t get it. I’m too busy to do this. I don’t have time to document these things–it’s too bureaucratic–I’ve got a plan, it’s in my head!”
I’m used to this. I respond, “OK, I get it, let’s talk about your plan for this opportunity………” It’s always the same, they start talking, they tell me about the deal, they tell me about what they’ve done. I start asking questions, “Where are you in the sales process, how do you know you are aligned with the customer buying process, what are the risks to the customers in this project, what is your positioning vis a vis the competitors, ….. the list goes on.” I get more data, but as we proceed, it gets sketchier and sketchier.
We then talk about “What are the next things you need to do, who do you need to do it with, when are you going to do it? What’s the positioning you need to win this deal?” They respond, they outline action plans and strategies, I take notes, writing down the next steps. Ususally they don’t. They say, they’re under control, they can do the deal, they don’t need to document the plan. I smile and thank them.
At the first milestone, I call or email, “How did it go?” You know what happens–the majority of the time, the response comes back, “I forgot to do it, I’ll get right on it.” The second milestone, “How did it go?” You know…..
We sit down, I pull out my notes from the last meeting and ask “We developed these strategies to position ourselves to win. We committed to these steps and actions to execute the strategies. Where are we in executing the plan?” The discussion usually involves a lot of hand waving, some apologies, a re-commitment to execute the strategy, then a quick escape. This time they write a few things down, but too often, they’re forgotten.
Sales people are right, they are busy, they’ve got a lot of things to do, different deals, different accounts, different sales callse. Changing customer requirements, shifts in our strategies. It’s impossible to keep it in your head. You lose most of it–you may remember one or two things, you may have jotted down a couple of reminders, but most of the time we’re busy with activities, responding customer requests, reacting to what may have happened in the last call. We drift further and further away from our plans and strategies. Sales cycles get lengthened, deals go away.
It is impossible to keep it all in our heads! We need to document our plans, we need to use the plans to guide our actions, keeping us focused, on target, moving forward purposefully in the execution of our strategies. We need to document our plans–they provide the basis for what we do every day. They provide the foundation of taking our daily activities and transforming them into accomplishments.
Being too busy to document your plans–whether it’s a deal plan, prospecting, call, territory, account or other plan–is just an excuse. It’s an excuse for being less productive, it’s an excuse for winning less, it’s an excuse for not being accountable.
Writing it down, keeps us focused, having it documented, means we don’t have to remember and we never forget. Many of us work with teams–a documented plan keeps the team focused, well coordinated and moving forward.
- Do you take the time to maximize your productivity, impact and effectiveness?
- Are you documenting and updating all your deal/opportunity plans?
- Are you documenting and updating your prospecting plans?
- Are you documenting and updating your account and territory plans?
- Are you prioritizing all of these in your day to day activities?
