How to Close BIG Deals
Every salesperson dreams of landing a big account — one that not only will bring in a huge commission check, but also respect from peers and executives. These big accounts, if serviced correctly, tend to bring in other big accounts as well due to social proof – your firm must be good if you handle so-and-so’s business goes the thinking.
These big accounts have more complications than selling to midsized or small businesses. Let’s cover some best practices to close deals faster despite all the moving parts.
Consider yourself a piece of their organization
Closing a big account requires a “trusted advisor” approach. I would go a step further. Before the first contact, you should thoroughly research the company, its structure, and its key personnel. Armed with this knowledge, picture how your solution is going to impact their organization as if you were an employee. It helps to mentally assume you have been put in charge of expanding their capabilities using your team.
Thinking this way makes your points more convincing and therefore close deals faster, as you will better understand the buyer’s viewpoint and what they really need to solve a problem or expand their operations. If assuming the viewpoint of their project manager or department head does not produce some killer arguments for purchasing your offering, perhaps you are wasting your time selling to this buyer.
Satisfy multiple decision makers
The next challenge is dealing with multiple decision makers. To close deals faster, you should become the expert in pitching to different kinds of buyers:
- Executive – Seeks growth and competitive advantage
- Financial – Needs the cost or financing to make sense
- Technical – Needs offering to meet specs
- User – Wants their specific problem solved
What you sell must satisfy these needs, and this might require presenting data in different ways to suit the job role of each buyer. Miss one, and your deal is in jeopardy.
Use an inside coach or develop one
There is one more type of buyer in an organization. He or she is called the coach or insider. This is your champion, the person in or close to the buying company who provides information to help you make the sale.
This person might be a mutual connection already, or someone you woo in order to get them to recommend you or otherwise grease the wheels. Of all tips to close deals faster when dealing with big accounts, this is probably the most important.
It works similar to a referral from an existing customer – the trust level is greatly increased when a recommendation comes from a friend or business associate.
We all want to close deals faster, especially the big, highly lucrative ones. The benefits are nice commission checks, greater revenue for your company, and the ability to fit more deals into your pipeline because they flow along briskly. For more tips, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Video Link – http://video.asherstrategies.com/skills-reinforcement/use-coaches-to-fully-understand-customer-requirements
