Sales is both an art and a science.
The science stuff is in the process, metrics, and calculus involved with building pipeline and achieving revenue targets. You know, the stuff you can design systems for.
Then there's the art stuff.
Building relationships, writing follow-ups, making creative assets and negotiating. These are examples of the art forms.
Both are vital for Sales Players to develop if they want to be at the top of their game.
In today's issue, I'm going to talk about what is arguably one of the hardest art forms to develop and deploy in your process.
Getting access to "Power."
Power, meaning Decision Maker, Authority, Above the Line, Executive Sponsor... You get the picture.
If you can develop this skill and master this art form, you'll accelerate your deals, increase your close rate, and maybe even double. your average deal size.
Before we get into it, a warning:
If done incorrectly, going above your Champion or Primary Contact's head to get access to Power in your deal can ruin your relationship and jeopardize your ability to get to signature.
I would know... I recently made this exact mistake. I've always been incredibly disciplined about how I'd go about getting access to Power in deals, but for some reason, this time, I had a lapse in judgment and decided to go above my Champion without letting them know first.
As you can guess, there was some fallout, and things now hang in the balance.
I'll have to work very hard now to build back trust in a relationship that I've been developing for over a year 😢
In my defense, my outreach to the Executive Sponsor (VP) of this deal was super casual and consisted of me introducing myself as their point of contact and offering a meeting with a VP peer on my side (see #3 below)
I'd been feeling like progress had stalled in the deal and that I wasn't getting the full story from my Champion so I took matters into my own hands. Also, note I'd made the ask for access to this VP a few times throughout the deal cycle, and been shut down (see #2 below).
In hindsight, I could have taken a better approach and avoided pissing off my Champion.
So here are some proven ways to get access to Power without ruffling feathers in your deals:
#1 - Start higher (whenever possible) - This may seem obvious, but the easiest way to get access to Power is to start the conversation with Power. Aim high when prospecting if your first engagement with a prospect brand is with a Decision Maker, you're going to have a much easier time.
#2 - Ask for access - I've been involved in many deals where simply asking for an intro to a Decision Maker or asking for the Executive Sponsor or signer to be included in a meeting has been effective. It may take building trust with your Champion before they are willing to stick their neck out and make that ask internally, but this approach can be very effective. I was once on an email thread with a VP of Growth cc'd, and I asked my Contact if I could include them in our next meeting and got the green light. I added this VP, and they ended up joining and becoming a big Champion, even helping us bypass a formal RFP process to get selected as vendor of choice. The deal (a multi-six-figure contract) closed within a few months of making this connection.
#3 - Utilize your Manager - This play is also known as "Executive Peering," which I've talked about extensively on the podcast and in this very newsletter. A great way to gain access to Power is by offering to connect them with a peer at your company or by having someone from your leadership team reach out directly. That way, no one is going over anyone's head, and a peer is reaching out to a peer.
#4 - Asking for information you know your Champion can't provide - Another approach is asking your champion to provide high-level impact metrics so you can create a strong business case. If you ask the right questions, there's a chance you end up getting access to Power to work directly with them on the business case. I had this happen before and ended up getting up to the C-Suite. The deal closed later that year.
Keep in mind, as a seller, you tend to get relegated to who you sound like. In other words, when you do finally reach out to Power, but you bring up lower-level problems, you'll get pushed back down in the organization.
And again, this is one of the hardest skills (art forms) to master as a seller. Give the above ideas a try in your own deals and keep pushing for access to Power.
Until next week.
-JW