How to Make Strategic Sales Decisions

"We've been working this deal for 8 months and it just went dark." (Ouch!) Last week, I had three different sales leaders tell me versions of this same story. Big enterprise deals that seemed "sure things" suddenly stalling or disappearing completely. Here's what's really happening: You're selling like it's 2015, but buyers have fundamentally changed how they make decisions. Seriously, the old playbook is dead: → Build relationship with one champion → Demo your product extensively → Negotiate on price to close → Wait for their "decision timeline" Why this fails in modern enterprise selling? #1 Committee-based buying Average enterprise deal now involves 6-8 decision makers. Your single champion can't drive consensus alone, no matter how much they love your solution. #2 Risk-averse buyers Post-2008, post-COVID, buyers are terrified of making bad decisions. They'd rather stick with status quo than risk their careers on your "game-changing" solution. #3 Budget complexity Money exists, but it's trapped across departments. Your champion in IT loves you, but the budget owner in Finance has different priorities. Here’s how elite enterprise sellers win these days: A. Multi-thread from Day One Map the entire buying committee before you pitch anything. Identify the economic buyer, technical evaluator, user champions, and potential blockers. Build relationships with each. B. Sell business outcomes, not features Stop talking about what your product does. Start quantifying the business impact of not solving their problem. Make the cost of inaction higher than the risk of action. C. De-risk the decision Provide case studies from similar companies. Offer pilot programs. Create implementation roadmaps. Give them ammunition to defend the decision internally. D. Control the process Don't ask "What's your timeline?" Tell them "Based on your goals, here's the optimal implementation schedule." You drive urgency, they don't. Here’s a real life example: One client was stuck on a $400K deal for 6 months. We mapped 8 stakeholders they'd never engaged. Built business cases for each department. Deal closed in 45 days at $650K. The difference? They stopped selling a product and started orchestrating a business transformation. Enterprise deals aren't won in demo rooms. They're won in boardrooms, budget meetings, and implementation planning sessions. Sales leaders, how are you implementing this across ALL your reps? Want to talk about how we could help? Go here: https://lnkd.in/ghh8VCaf

Here’s the hidden pipeline killer most sales teams ignore. ~43% of deals aren’t lost to competitors. They weren't even lost to "no decision." They were lost to competing initiatives. While you're focused on beating your direct competitors, the real battle is for budget and attention against entirely different priorities. Your prospect has 25 projects competing for limited resources. Only 5-7 will get funded. Is yours one of them? Most sales teams are completely blind to this reality. They track competitive wins and losses but ignore the bigger threat. Here's how innovative sellers are addressing this hidden pipeline killer: 1️⃣ Map the priority landscape They ask directly: "What are the top 3-5 initiatives your team has committed to this quarter?" If your solution isn't aligned with one of these, you're already losing. 2️⃣ Identify the zero-sum game For every "yes" to your solution, something else gets a "no." The best reps ask: "What would have to come off your plate to make room for this project?" 3️⃣ Quantify the cost of inaction When initiatives compete, ROI isn't enough. You need to establish the cost of NOT implementing your solution. "What happens if this problem continues for another year?" 4️⃣ Connect to strategic priorities Tactical projects get cut first. Strategic initiatives survive. Top performers always tie their solution to the company's publicized strategic goals. 5️⃣ Prepare for budget reallocation Innovative reps build relationships with the teams who control resource allocation. "Who else is competing for the same resources? How are those decisions made?" Your competition isn't just other vendors. It's everything else your buyer could spend time and money on instead.

I’ve worked with some of the world’s largest companies to build annual plans. Tell me if this sounds familiar… It is month 1 or 2 of the new fiscal year – and you are already in trouble. You are in danger of missing the annual plan and aren’t entirely sure why. The next Executive Leadership or Board Meeting is already on your worry list. You’re unsure how to change the dynamic because your perspective on the business is limited. You are focused on the current month and quarter. Your plan has devolved into, “If I can make 1Q, I will figure out the rest later.” Here is a better idea. Invest in predictive models that highlight likely gaps-to-goal 12+ months into the future. Ensure the models span awareness-to-close; qualified-to-close isn’t broad enough. Devote at least 15% of leadership meetings to FUTURE quarters and leverage predictive models to drive the discussion. As you sit in month 1 or 2, use predictive models to evaluate the most likely outcomes in months 5, 6, 7, and beyond. Then, you can effectively evaluate the sales and marketing (S&M) investments that address predicted gaps. Make S&M investment decisions based on predictive models even the FP&A loves. YES, the FP&A team. I am talking about using real math! Let the math tell you where to spend–not the loudest voice in the room. The old way of closing gaps was to ask the CRO to do more. To find more. To sell more with existing resources. “Go get us a $1M deal.” The new way is to be methodical and leverage predictive modeling to drive decision-making. Try it. Looking farther into the future and taking action is way more fun than sticking your head into the ground.