{"id":12102,"date":"2020-02-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/move-beyond-hope\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T16:02:13","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T16:02:13","slug":"move-beyond-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/move-beyond-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Move Beyond Hope: In Major Account Sales, You Win or You Learn!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hope, the saying goes, is not a strategy. Wise words! But\nare you perhaps relying on hope a bit too much after you and your team lose a\nmajor account?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales teams typically struggle with analyzing both major\naccount wins and major account losses \u2026 but they are particularly likely to\nmiss the opportunity to learn from a loss. They tend to favor \u201cjust moving on\u201d\nas rapidly and hopefully as possible, having learned little or nothing, \u201cLet\u2019s\njust focus on the next win!\u201d is the classic refrain. That is the sound of hope,\nrather than strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that hopeful response simply human nature? Maybe. Another\nbig reason effective win-loss analysis rarely happens, though, has nothing to\ndo with the selling psyche. It\u2019s the lack of practical Go\/No-Go frameworks that\ndictate whether major deals should be pursued in the first place \u2013 and if they\nare pursued, how the team can mitigate the risks and maximize the likelihood of\nwinning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider this scenario. It\u2019s midwinter. You have been lost for\neight hours in deep, dark, freezing woods. It has become a very snowy night. The\nsnow started out light about two hours ago, but now it\u2019s a raging blizzard. Before,\nyou were resolute. Now, you\u2019re desperate. You can\u2019t see a thing. The only thing\nyou can think to do is just keep moving forward. You feel your way ahead,\nblindly grabbing at trees, hoping somehow to reconnect with civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, shivering and frostbitten, you stumble onto the\nshoulder of a road. Cars zoom past. You wave your arms, hoping someone will\nstop and help you. You know you are fortunate to be alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the driver of the car that picks you up asks how you\nmade it through a dense forest in the midst of a blizzard, in pitch darkness, you\nconfess to having no clue how you did it. It was pure chance. You had no\nstrategy going in. No compass. No map. You developed no strategy when you\nrealized you got lost. You have no lessons learned. You do know, however, that\nwith just a little less luck, there could have been a very different end to\nyour story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about enterprise deals that selling teams pursue? What\nare their typical reasons for moving ahead? They, too, are \u201cjust moving\nforward\u201d in the dark. When they start into the forest, without a map or a\ncompass, it sounds like this: \u201cIt\u2019s a big deal\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s right in our power\nswing\u201d or \u201cThey really want us to bid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These critical Go\/No Go decisions simply can\u2019t be dictated by emotion or hearsay. The stakes are too high. Logic and pragmatic decision-making must prevail. If we decide to take the journey, we must make sure we can navigate it properly. In Sandler Enterprise Selling<\/strong><\/a>, we follow a framework to carefully review a deal\u2019s key issues before<\/em> we decide to walk into the woods. We make sure it really makes sense to head into the forest, and we make sure we have a map and a compass once we start. The framework I am talking about shows us clearly whether we should proceed with this opportunity \u2026 or pass. We call it Pursuit Navigator, because navigation is exactly what it provides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Pursuit Navigator, issues are evaluated in three\ncategories \u2013 client issues, selling team issues and financing\/contract issues. In\na team forum, accountable members of the selling organization assemble to provide\ninput about every relevant issue within each of those three categories. For\neach open issue, you must determine whether your position is stable \u2026 or\nwhether there\u2019s risk. If a risk is identified, it must be quickly determined\nwhat mitigation actions, if any, can be taken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples of open issues that present a risk include not\nhaving multi-level contacts, having doubts about an account\u2019s financial\nstability, and proposing a solution that has never been delivered before. These\nare important items to know about. If they are present, you must strategize for\nthem by executing real actions that mitigate the risks as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here\u2019s the question. Why wouldn\u2019t you utilize this type\nof analysis, given the heavy investment required in enterprise pursuits? A\nclient recently told me, \u201cEvery opportunity we decide to go after costs us\n$40,000 \u2013 win or lose, $40,000.\u201d And that\u2019s just the direct financial\ninvestment. What about your people who are engaged in enterprise pursuits?\nThere\u2019s an opportunity cost when their everyday work is stopped or stalled. And\nhow about your organization\u2019s overall energy? How many significant deals can you\ncredibly pursue at the same time? If you decide to cut corners to pursue\nmultiple deals, capable, laser-focused competitors can be counted on to create formidable\nchallenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a logical Go\/No-Go process like Pursuit Navigator enables\nyou to effectively spotlight and mitigate the risks. It makes your decision to proceed\nor pass an educated<\/em> decision. If you choose to move ahead and submit a\nproposal, your chances of success will have greatly increased. Eventually, one\nof two things will happen. You\u2019ll either win and move swiftly to get the contract\nsigned and kick off the business relationship, or you\u2019ll lose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though you may have put in your very best efforts, in\nthe enterprise world, losing happens. When it does, you may want to debrief\nwith the account, but you must also be professional and respect the moment.\nThey\u2019re likely very busy with your winning competitor, ramping things up. In\nthe immediate aftermath of a loss, your job is to conduct an internal analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The format of an effective post-loss analysis is often a complete\nmystery to selling organizations. If you used the Pursuit Navigator, however,\nthere\u2019s no mystery. Your decision to move ahead was based on a logical Go\/No-Go\nprocess. Your analysis, your post-mortem, now has a clear framework \u2013 the very\nprocess that dictated your decision to proceed. Your loss now provides real\ninsights, because there\u2019s a very good chance that you missed something. The\nquestion is, what did you miss?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you underestimated the severity of a certain risk. Or\nperhaps you judged that you were stable in an issue where you were not. Reviewing\nthose same issues now, in the clarity of the post-mortem, sets the stage for\nyou to turn your loss into an advance. Identifying previous mistakes ensures\nthat your next opportunity\u2019s Go\/No-Go process will be that much more effective,\nthus increasing your probability of winning, thanks to the valuable lessons\nlearned. Again: You win or you learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So make sure your analysis is a rigorous one. Conduct an effective\nGo\/No-Go process first. While post-mortems can indeed provide you with deep certainty\nregarding the various causes of death, you\u2019ll close more business if the danger\nsignals are diagnosed and treated while you still have the chance to do\nsomething about them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about Sandler Enterprise Selling, here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hope, the saying goes, is not a strategy. Wise words! But are you perhaps relying on hope a bit too much after you and your team lose a major account?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":12103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1120],"tags":[1042,1105,1136],"class_list":["post-12102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-account-management","tag-sales-process","tag-sales-success"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMove Beyond Hope: In Major Account Sales, You Win or You Learn! - Sandler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hope, the saying goes, is not a strategy. Wise words! 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