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November 29, 2021
4 min read
Welcome back to The Weekly Pitch! We're excited to announce our upcoming three-part series starting December 6 – "A Day in the Life." We found three high-performing sales stars to share their secrets in a "typical" day. It's a must-read.
Today, in our Feature Story, we help sellers prepare for that next pipeline and deal review session with our manager. When deals stall – and they will stall – instead of saying, "there is nothing else we can do," we can counter with outside-the-box ideas to reignite our top opportunities.
First, let's look at our chart of the week.
It's 2022 sales planning season. A recent LinkedIn poll* gives us valuable data to consider – what's the proper ratio to staff our sales development (SDR) and account executive (AE) roles.
The winning ratio is at least two AEs to one SDR. This likely means the AE role will continue to include a nominal amount of prospecting and lead generation as part of their daily workflow.
*The author recognized the second and fourth options were identical after the poll launched.
"There is nothing else we can do." These seven words we should avoid no matter who we report to – the CEO, Chief Revenue Officer, VP of Sales, or frontline sales manager.
The initial question from our manager usually centers around top deals that have stalled. Yes, opportunities in the final stages have verbal confirmation, but as the saying goes – "time kills all deals."
The best closers know there's always more we can do.
Once our deals reach the final stages, expect them to stall. Here are twelve ideas, grouped by theme, to keep the momentum going:
When a deal stalls, a new person who reaches out signals to the prospect something is different and might need their attention. Identify leaders in and out of sales to assist.
The best sellers know how to reposition discount requests. Try these three below. If the prospect still wants a straight-line discount, we have leverage. Ask for a multi-year deal in exchange for a lower annual price.
Make sure we task our marketing, product, and professional services teams with a custom deliverable if it could close the deal. And ask a leader to fly co-pilot with us.
This batch of ideas works best with higher value prospects. Make our prospects feel part of the team if they offer valuable feedback for our business.
With just over 20 selling days left in 2021, rank-order our top deals and connect one of these tactics to each opportunity. Let's finish the year strong.
A post from Kevin "KD" Dorsey caught our attention this week. He lists questions sales leaders could ask reps to encourage us to be our best instead of implying we're not working hard enough.
He leaves leaders with sage advice:
"Everyone FEELS like they are working hard but aren't close to their best. Just telling someone to work harder is lazy leadership. Making (salespeople) their best is what a great leader does."
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