Welcome to part 3/3 of the multithreading series! If you haven't seen them yet, here's part 1 and part 2.
Wouldn't it be amazing if you could sell every deal at power and ride that momentum throughout the cycle? However, you and I both know that's typically too good to be true.
Ultimately, your golden path may start with finding a champion to get the ball rolling, meeting power via introductions, and rallying the troops behind you in the big team meeting.
Here are the four steps to do this successfully:
- Run the first meeting
- Make the ask
- Sell with your champion
- Hold the big team meeting
And here's what it look like, let's rock.
Win the champion first
You've worked really hard to book that first meeting. Now, it's time to make all the cold calling count!
While we won't do an entire noozy (here) on discovery, here are some things to double underline to prepare to multithread in champion-level discovery:
- Solve their problem first: Understand why they decided to talk with you in the first place. These may or may not be business problems, but they're THEIR problems.
- Drill down to 2-3 business or boss-level problems: These should be problems their business (and power) cares about -- attrition, missed goals, etc.
- Ask questions one-level-up to plant the seed: -- like if you're meeting with a Head of Content, ask them "how might your CMO think about this?"
If you've done this correctly, you'll be well positioned to go in for the big ask.
Sell the ask to power
Most sales reps ask for power because THEY need it to close a deal. But you need to explain to your prospect that it's actually in THEIR favor to bring in power:
- Suggest the golden path: Don't just ask them who should be involved. Suggest explicitly which roles typically help drive a buying process forward.
- Know your names: Don't just drop those roles. Be ready to drop the names of the people you need to reach.
- Phrase your ask in terms of why it’s necessary to talk to these specific people: Foreshadow that you'll need to work with folks above the line to resolve those business level pains you just found!
Bad Example: “We need to get Mary involved because she writes the check.”
Good Example: "Mary's feeling XYZ business problem and that's gonna help you solve YOUR problem with more support."
Once they’re on board, you can stop selling to them and start selling with them. (Teamwork makes the dream work.)
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And damn this got pretty long so I heard Nick's squeaky voice yelling at me.
We're not gonna cut this short -- so, this wraps up Chapter 3A of How To Multithread, and we will continue with 3B in the next edition.
