Techniques For Handling Multiple Stakeholders In Negotiation

"Can we schedule another call? I don't remember what we discussed." A prospect sent me this. After we'd already had THREE calls. I looked back at my notes: First call: Demo with IT team Second call: Pricing with Finance Third call: Implementation with Ops Different stakeholders. Different questions. Different emails. Each with separate attachments and follow-ups. No wonder they were confused. The problem wasn't my product. It was how I shared information. I had created a mess of scattered content. A mentor noticed my frustration. "What if you gave every stakeholder access to EVERYTHING, organized by THEIR priorities?" So for my next deal, I tried something different: Created a single digital room for the entire account. Inside: - Section for each department's concerns - All previous call recordings, organized by topic - Every question answered, accessible to all stakeholders - Timeline showing who needs to do what, when The result? The CIO messaged me: "Just reviewed the security details the IT team discussed. This answers my questions. Moving to approval." He never even needed a call with me. Here's what changed: Old approach: Siloed conversations that force YOU to be the connector. New approach: Transparent space where stakeholders can self-serve information. When stakeholders get confused, deals die. When they can find answers on their own, deals accelerate. The average B2B purchase involves 6-10 decision makers. Are you expecting each one to piece together your value from fragmented emails? Or are you giving them ONE place to align? Stop being the bottleneck in your own deals. Start building bridges between stakeholders. Agree?

A PM at Google asked me how I managed 30+ stakeholders. 'More meetings?' Wrong. Here's the RACI framework that cut my meeting load by 60% while increasing influence. 1/ 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙫𝙨 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 Most PMs drown because they invite everyone who's "interested." Instead, split your stakeholders into: - R: People doing the work - A: People accountable for success 2/ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙥 Stop asking for approval from everyone. Create two clear buckets: - C: Must consult before decisions - I: Just keep informed of progress 3/ 𝘿𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 > 𝙈𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 For "Informed" stakeholders, switch to documented updates. They'll actually retain more than in another recurring meeting. 4/ 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙋𝙝𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙚 "𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲." Use this in every email. Watch the right people emerge. 5/ 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 Build your approval flows around your R&A stakeholders only. Everyone else gets strategic updates. --- This isn't about excluding people. It's about respecting everyone's time while maintaining momentum. If you found this framework helpful for managing stakeholders: 1. Follow Alex Rechevskiy for more actionable frameworks on product leadership and time management 2. Bookmark and retweet to save these tactics and help other PMs streamline their stakeholder management

Selling into a Fortune 50 company isn’t a straight shot—it’s a multi-threaded, high-stakes game where you have to win over three completely different audiences at the same time. 👑 C-Suite (aka "The Big Picture People") – They care about risk, revenue, and competitive advantage. If your pitch doesn’t tie back to a business outcome, it’s dead on arrival. Keep it short, strategic, and dollar-driven—they have about 30 seconds before they mentally check out. 🧠 Technologists & Strategists (aka "The Architects of the Future") – These folks are your deal-makers or deal-breakers. They want to know if your solution fits their long-term IT roadmap, scales, and won’t become next year’s tech debt. If you can’t show how your product integrates seamlessly with what they already have, you’re in for a long road. ⚙️ Practitioners (aka "The Ones Who Actually Use the Thing") – These are the engineers, security teams, and network admins who will either champion your solution internally… or fight it tooth and nail. If your product makes their lives easier (less manual work, better automation, no fire drills at 2 AM), they’ll become your secret weapon in getting the deal done. 🎯 The Trick? Selling to All Three in Parallel. C-suite? Tie it to revenue and risk. Technologists? Prove it’s a strategic fit. Practitioners? Make their job easier. The best enterprise salespeople aren’t just selling—they’re orchestrating. Every great deal is won at multiple levels. How do you navigate selling to different stakeholders? Drop your best tips below! ⬇️ #EnterpriseSales #TechSales #StrategicSelling