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23 Absolute Truths About Enterprise Selling |
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About 6 years ago there was a list of "Inalienable Truths of Enterprise Selling" that made its way around the Silicon Valley B2B/Enterprise startup scene.
The list was shared with me by my VP of Sales at the time (and honestly for a while I assumed he wrote it) turns out it comes from this post by Chris Mucha.
At the time, I was AE hire #1 at an early stage startup from out of the Bay Area that was in the process of moving its operations to Austin.
The product was an Enterprise data analytics platform for measuring engineering performance and productivity. After a delayed product launch, some pivots and ultimately the Founders asking me to stop building pipeline due to the inability to deliver even a proof of concept, I saw the writing on the wall and found the exit.
Within a year the company had flamed out and it's of course, now defunct.
Anyway... I'm sharing all of this because after it was all said and done, I felt like an absolute failure and I figured my career in Enterprise Sales was over. I'd left a Unicorn company to join an 18-person startup and wasted a year pitching a product that the team was unable to deliver to customers.
Looking back though, the mentorship and learnings I gained from working closely with this VP of Sales proved insanely valuable in the coming years. I'm so glad he shared these "Sales Truths" (and many other things that I still use today in my operating process).
What I've always loved about being in Tech is that even in a complete failure scenario, you can still find valuable lessons that set you up for later successes in your journey.
So without further ado Here's his version of the list as it was shared with me: I hope this helps you in your journey to become a true Sales Player, just as it's helped me in mine.
23 Absolute Truths About Enterprise Selling:
- It’s not “selling”, until they say “No.”
- Deals rarely come to you. You are paid to go and get them.
- Qualify early, thoroughly, and often.
- Be polite, professional, and sell like your grandmother is watching you. Scruples count.
- Your charter is to be prescriptive and consultative during the sales process. If you are a passive participant, you will lose.
- A customer’s Procurement and Legal departments never have our company’s best interests at heart.
- Prospective customers always have an option other than your solution. “Doing nothing” is one of them. They got their business to its current state without our help, they are not going to fold up shop and go home if you don’t work with them.
- The information you get from prospects must always be cross referenced. Sometimes the facts given are simply wrong through no fault of the source.
- Never discuss a deal, customer, or person anywhere where there is a possibility of being overheard – not the lobby, the bathroom, or the hallway. Only in private.
- “No” is an acceptable answer. So is “I don’t know, but I will find out”
- Pricing, product demonstrations, and references are all valuable currency during the sales process. Part with each only when the time is appropriate.
- If your primary contact is in Procurement, you are losing.
- Never (ever) put anything into email that you wouldn’t want your boss to read.
- Always check the “TO, CC, and BCC” lines in your email before sending. Accidentally copying a prospect or customer happens far more than people think.
- When on a web meeting, pay attention. If you’re not going to pay attention, don’t attend in the first place.
- Work as if you’re losing a deal through contract signatures complete. Then, you may breathe.
- Act with audacity; you’ll never know what you can get unless you ask.
- Do not be afraid of asking for the full value of our solution. It was not without cost to develop, nor is it without cost to maintain. You, however, are obligated to substantiate the value thereof. If you haven’t established value, even” free” will be seen as too expensive.
- Budget means very little without a funding strategy, i.e., the process and required approvals necessary for budget release.
- Uninformed customers rarely make informed decisions. You are responsible for educating them.
- If you don’t have a coach and champion at the customer, you don’t have a chance to win either.
- Getting selected is only 50% of the way there. From there, you must still navigate the funding, final approval, procurement, and legal processes.
- It’s not the lowest cost that wins; it’s the highest perceived value with the lowest perceived risk.
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