Gene McNaughton is a sales expert and on this episode of the Salesman Podcast, he explains how we can find and then close THE BIGGEST deals within the industry we work in. We’re going whale hunting in this one #SalesNation.
Featured on this episode:
Resources:
- MadeToPersuade.com
- Gene on Linkedin
- @GeneMcNaughton
- Book: The Sales EDGE: Your Ultimate Guide to Finding, Keeping, and Growing Accounts
Transcript
Speaker 1:
-and your entire customer list that you have of everybody you sell to, there is a smaller subset of what are called best buyer customers.
Will Barron:
Hello sales nation and welcome to today’s episode. On today show we have Gene McNorton. He is both a sales and persuasion expert. On today’s show he’s sharing how we can both bind and then develop and close the biggest deals that are available within our specific industry. You can find out more about Gene over at thesalesedge.co. Everything we talk about, including that link is available in the show notes for this episode, over at salesmanpodcast.com. And with all that said, let’s jump in today’s episode. Hey Gene, and welcome to the salesman podcast.
Speaker 1:
Well, glad to be here, baby. Let’s rock and roll.
Will Barron:
I’m glad to have you on, mate. So today’s topic is hunting big deals and closing them. We can define closing, what that means in a second, perhaps, but closing them with a consultative selling process or just becoming a consultant. I think this conversation has many, many pathways to go down. And so we’ll see where we go with it, Gene.
What is a Big Deal in B2B Sales? · [01:18]
Will Barron:
But first, just to add a bit of context to the conversation so that we are aligning the audience of where this is super applicable to them and probably anyone else who isn’t in that job, they know where they want to be aiming for within the realm of sales and the different roles, options, and careers within it. What is, or how do you define a big deal?
Speaker 1:
Well, it all depends on the individual and the organisation. So here’s the simplest way to look at it. Look at your entire customer list right now. In your entire customer list that you have of everybody you sell to. There is a smaller subset of what are called best buyer customers. They buy more of your stuff. They listen to your consulting advice. They look at you as a trusted advisor. And in most companies I go into, and I usually work with midsize and large size companies, that old school Pareto principle always exists. There’s a smaller number of companies that are doing a lot more revenue than the rest of the companies. So I’ve been known as the guy that’s gone into double sales or grow sales in companies. And this is not just the last couple years. This has been the last 20 years of my life of going in and being the person to help them grow the fastest, break the most records.
Speaker 1:
Well, one of my biggest secrets is I identify the details of their top clients. And I’m like, “Okay, how do we go double the amount of our top clients?” So that goes through a process. You know, what are the demographics of that client? Is it geographical? Is it size? Is it industry? Is it the company makeup? Is it have to do with something with the industry they’re in.
Speaker 1:
And then I go into the psychological profile. Do we have connections there? Are they aligned with our company’s visions, values, and missions? Are they trying to accomplish exactly what our company helps companies like them accomplish?
“When it comes to hunting big deals, big is relative. Big to one company may mean hunting a million-dollar deal. Big to another company may mean a hundred million dollar deal. And big to another company may mean a billion dollar deal.” – Gene McNaughton · [03:24]
Speaker 1:
So when it comes to hunting big deals, big is relative. Big to one company may mean hunting a million dollar deal. Big to another company may mean a hundred million dollar deal. And big to another company may mean a billion dollar deal.
Speaker 1:
But I’ll give you a great example. I worked with a company out of Iowa and they were in the call centre collection business. So companies would hire them for collections. People don’t pay their bills. And they were about a $60 million company. And we go in and I go through my process of, I do an audit, I go through their customer list, I meet their reps, I understand what they’re doing on a day by day basis. But as I looked at their customer list, what I saw was that same Pareto principle. 15 of their accounts were producing 90% of their revenue. Think about that. Now they had over 500 accounts they were dealing with. This was not a small outfit. And I’m like, “Okay, what is it about these 15 accounts that causes them to stay with you? Because there’s lots of competitors out there. And why? If I interviewed them and asked them why they continue to stay with you, what would be the answers they give?”, which we did.
Speaker 1:
And then we started building marketing programmes, not to attract the small, tiny offices, not that they weren’t important, but I knew that the fastest way to grow this organisation was to go find more of these ideal clients. And sure enough, we start putting on some educational sessions, some webinars, and we have the sales reps doing proactive, reach out to their target lists, companies we’ve identified to be in this buyer’s list, and they — I’ll give you the short story of all of it. This was a $60 million company that within 12 months landed an account, a large let’s call it wireless carrier account that everybody’s heard of that was worth over $120 million.
Speaker 1:
And prior to me and my team getting there, they never would’ve went after that account. They would’ve thought, “That account’s too big” or “We’ve got all these other competitors that are better suited for them” and “We don’t have international presence” and all that stuff. So I had to shift the mindset and the psychology that says, “Look, if you’re not making an effort to go after the big ones, you’re never going to get them.”
“If you’re not making an effort to go after the big accounts, you’re never going to get them. On the other hand, the bigger ones are harder to get. They’re more complex. There are more people involved. They take longer. But they’re always, always worth it.” – Gene McNaughton · [05:49]
Speaker 1:
On the other hand, what I’ll tell you is the bigger ones are harder to get. They’re more complex. There’s more people involved. They take longer. But Will, they’re always, always worth it.
Will Barron:
So let me ask you here. So clearly where the topic is hunting big deals and then closing them with consultative selling. So clearly step one is defining the right deals to go after. And something you may have purposely done or inadvertently done then was a distinction that I’ve not heard anyone else say on the show when we talk about prospecting and qualifying. So if we’re building these buyers lists, things like number of employees, turnover, if it’s a public company, things like that get mentioned all the time. But you also mentioned at a higher level indicator of the Pareto principle of how embedded we are in the company. And that is — and I’ll use your words. I wrote them down specifically. “They listen to you.”
Why You Need to Start Hunting Clients That are Similar to Your Best Customers · [06:50]
Will Barron:
So I’ve had customers in medical device sales. I’ve had some accounts that were great accounts. They just always bought, but I didn’t have much influence within the account. On the flip side of that, I’ve had great accounts that always bought, but I had huge influence within the accounts. And it’s relationships. It’s people that just genuinely like you as an individual and you get on with them. There’s many facets and many layers to all this. But is this something that we should be prioritising when we are trying to replicate our best customers? Should we be going after the customers, not just the bring in the biggest deal size, but should we be trying to replicate the customers that we have, that they actually listen to us and they care about us and we’ve got real inroads and relationships in that account?
Speaker 1:
Great point. Well, the very first step is how do you go find accounts that are similar to the ones you already have? And here’s why. Because you’ve got a good story to tell. You know, I can come to you and say, let’s say you run the Salesman Podcast, Inc. and you’re a billion dollar company.
Will Barron:
That’s the dream, Gene.
Speaker 1:
Okay. That there we go, future pacing you. And if I’m working with another company that’s similar to yours that chose me over all the other options and I’m delivering services for them and they’re getting a specific result and they’re continuing to work with me. Well, it would behove you, Will, for, if I called you and said, “Hey, I’ve been working with one of your competitors. I’ve been working with another company very similar to yours. They’ve had tremendous success. I’d like to come and tell you about what we’re doing for them and see if it might be a fit for you.” That’s why you go hunt clients that are similar to your best clients, because you’ve got a story to tell.
How to Identify Your Best Clients and Go After Clients That Are Just Like Them · [08:43]
Will Barron:
Let’s just stop here a sec. This is perfect. So super practically, as in the audience listening to this now, they’re driving on the way to the office. They are getting excited. They want to implement this at nine o’clock soon as they get there — or, you know, whatever time they get into the office. So you just kind of like lumped up a whole bunch of process in, of using a great account to create a story, to pitch for a meeting, to then pitch for business in the interview. What is the step by step process to doing that?
Will Barron:
Do we need to interview the great customer to pull out insights that we might not even realise that we are helping them on? Or is it higher level than that in that we can just go to the competitor and say, “Hey, we’re doing a great job over here. Let me come and spend a bit of time with you.”? How in detail do we need to get with all of this?
Speaker 1:
Well, what, what average companies do is they’ll say — like on their website, they’ll show, “Here’s all the big brands we work with.” Okay. Big deal. Everybody does that.
Will Barron:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
What I’m talking about is the most effective way to proactive call. And I don’t like to use the word cold call. I like to say, I don’t know anybody who loves the word cold calling, but there isn’t a person listening to this that doesn’t realise if they want to grow, they’ve got to be proactive. So let’s change our mindset to say we’re simply being proactive.
Speaker 1:
But if you call them to offer, to tell them a story for 15 to 20 minutes, “We’re working with the company. We’ve helped them reduce their overall cost by 25%. Their EBITDA has gone up by 15. And it was a few simple switches as a result of our company. I’d like to come and tell you about that.”
Speaker 1:
What you have to remember will is that the people that are within the company you’re calling on, it is their job to make sure they’re looking at new technology, new process, new systems. That’s how they’re measured. So to take away the intimidation that a lot of people have on making cold calls, “Oh, I’m interrupting people. Oh, nobody wants to talk to me. Oh, I’m just another,” you got to just wipe that out of your brain to say, “Look, I got a good story to tell you. And if you give me 15 minutes of your time, I’ll share what we’re doing. And if you like what we’re doing, then we’ll talk a little bit more about your company and we’ll understand if I can even help you or not.” Every deal I get into, that’s how it starts.
A Practical Approach to Consultative Selling on a Cold Call · [11:10]
Will Barron:
I think there’s a clear definition here, though, that’s worth drilling in that what you just described is you’re leading with insights or leading with value on a call that isn’t warm versus the stereotype of a cold call is you make 500 calls a day. It’s on an automatic dialer. You don’t really know who you’re speaking to, and you are going out your way to influence slash manipulate the conversation, to pull out all the insights so that you can act on the spot and try and close it a meeting down the line. I just thought is worth stopping there for a second, because what you are describing isn’t cold calling at all. This is, you know, it’s consultative selling just on a call that isn’t expected, perhaps.
Speaker 1:
Correct. And I want to separate what you just said. So there’s two ways. One is the proactive call. Now that may be because I looked on LinkedIn and I see that Will is connected to somebody that I want to meet with within a company and I asked will to give me a quality introduction. Or it could be a referral to somebody where I say, “Look, I’ll just come tell you the story.” That’s it. Right?
Speaker 1:
Then there’s this other model that is starting to become more prevalent in the United States, which is called a BDR model, business development rep, where these are the people that are literally making hundreds of calls every day to set the appointment for the account executives. And, you know, the jury’s still out on that. I’ve not seen that be massively successful, and I’m not saying it won’t be, but the big challenge that is being faced by account executives, by real sellers, is how do they keep track of servicing their existing accounts, growing those accounts, hunting new business?
Speaker 1:
And here’s the one thing I do know is that when you’re busy as heck, the last thing people do is default into prospecting mode. That’s what falls off the most. In fact, almost every company that brings me in, brings me in because they’re not hunting enough and they need better systems, they need better tools, they need to know what to say, they need know how to follow up. But so I’m seeing this BDR business development rep model elevate, but these are usually underpaid newer sellers, whose job is to simply make the cold call, hopefully say the right thing, depending on how well it’s scripted and laid out, and then gain an appointment for the account executive. So that’s happening a lot too, but in my mind, the jury’s still out.
Will Barron:
I’ll chime in on this because we talk — and I’m glad you said this. You are the first person to come on the show who has had a layer of scepticism around this BDR/AE model. That’s not the background I came from. I came from the medical device world, where I’m the surgeon, the CFO of the hospital, the procurement staff, the biomedical electronics team. I’m the first and last kind of protocol for all of these. And I worked within a specific geographic location. So having someone on the team, just cold call the potential 300 people that I could speak to every day, they’d get through it in half a day. So there’d be no point to it.
Will Barron:
But I’m glad you were sceptical of it because a lot of the guests that come on the show, they’re all based out of a lot of the tech industry and not the sales industry is based on the back of the tech industry. And they’re all hyper growth companies, or, you know, that’s what they’re claiming anyway, that’s what they’re getting investment on the back of. And so perhaps they need this model of kind of like spam, spam, spam, or minimal insights and just rapid burning through accounts and burning through numbers, just to get kind of growth numbers within a profit loss to get investment, to get that next round and get that next round.
Business Development is a Role For All Types of Salespeople · [15:15]
Will Barron:
But I’m glad you sceptical of it because it’s just context for my audience who might not be in tech sales. They might be in, other world of sales where it’s perhaps this change over to BDR, AE, then customer success or wherever that next role is, hasn’t quite happened yet. And I agree with you. I don’t think it’s for everyone.
Speaker 1:
Like I said, the jury’s still out and I see the value in it. In saying, “Okay, let’s let our sellers sell. Let’s let our prospectors prospect and let’s see where they intersect.” But what you find on the prospecting side is a lot of burnout. They’re usually low paid. They’re usually not trained well. And we’re asking them to make phone calls on CFOs and Directors of Operations. And that’s the part where I’m like, it’ll remained to be seen, but nothing beats the fact that I’ve been referred to you, you’re another CFO and a CFO that I work with has referred me to you. And I’m offering to come in and tell my story. Or we’ve met at an event and I talked about what it is we did and the problems we’ve solved and you’ve wanted to meet. I mean, that’s where every deal that I get comes from.
Will Barron:
For sure.
“I believe in the repeat and referral business. So if I do a great job for the clients I have, not only are they going to continue to work with me, but they’re going to tell other people about me. And the mindset you have is not just to close the deal and move on. But it’s close the deal, assure the client’s success, do account reviews to remind them of where they were before you got there, what’s changed since you’ve been there, how their business has gotten better because of your involvement.” – Gene McNaughton · [16:41]
Speaker 1:
I look at myself in the sales world. I have a consulting practise, but you know, I’m in sales is I’m in the repeat and referral business. So I do a great job for the clients I have. Not only are they going to continue to work with me, but they’re going to tell other people about me. And the more of that mindset you have, which is not just close the deal and move on. But it’s close the deal, assure the client’s success, do account reviews to remind them of where they were before you got there, what’s changed since you’ve been there, how their business has gotten better because of your involvement. That is where you get long term sustaining revenue and profitability. long-term
Will Barron:
Okay. I agree with this, and I guess these ongoing reviews with your best customers gives you opportunity to create content or for you to pass these insights to your marketing team, even to give you content, however it works within your organisation. So that allows you then to segment out your best customers, find out the similarities, build a list of potential new best customers, the whales, the big accounts. You align up, perhaps, your first meeting by sharing a story via insights from previous great accounts.
The Difference Between Going Into a First Meeting with a Huge Account Versus Normal Sized Accounts · [17:55]
Will Barron:
So now Gene, we’re in this meeting and we’ll follow, as far as time allows us on our call today, we’ll see how far we can get through the sales process. But we’re in our first meeting, whether it’s on the phone in person, whatever it is. What’s the difference between going into a first meeting with a huge account, what do we need to do to prepare for it versus going into a tiny meeting on a tiny account that, whether you win or lose it’s kind of like, you know, your pipeline’s relatively full. It’s not going to make or break your life. What’s the difference between that and going into a meeting which is potentially game changing?
Speaker 1:
Not that much difference. First of all, I don’t recommend companies bring in their big PowerPoint deck and open up their laptop and begin to show them the history of their company and all the great brand names they work with and so forth. The very first meeting should be about a meaningful conversation. And that means a couple things. One is, if the prospective client that you’re meeting with knows nothing about you, the first thing they’re going to say is, “Tell me about you and your company.” So you better be buttoned up on how you describe what you do, the problems you solve and what makes you different than your competitors. That’s key.
What is a Power Message? · [19:05]
Will Barron:
Are those three things, are those what should make up your elevator pitch in a nutshell?
Speaker 1:
Yeah. And you know, I’ve even gone away from calling in an elevator pitch. I call it a power message.
Will Barron:
Okay.
Speaker 1:
And the power message is simply this: it’s what makes you different? Why does it matter? What are the ultimate problems you solve for companies? And then you have to think through in advance, what could be the fears of the buyers that you’re talking about? Fear of change, fear of breaking up with the existing vendor, fear of a relationship move, but you’ve got to be able to understand that and anticipate that in advance.
Will Barron:
Is it more powerful to focus on people’s fears or focus on the upside of doing a deal with you? Or do you need to mix the two of them in there?
Understand The Buyer’s Most Pressing Needs · [19:47]
Speaker 1:
Well, it’s more important to understand what it is that organisation is trying to accomplish.
Will Barron:
Okay.
Speaker 1:
So you could be at a mid-level manager level, you could be at a director level, you could be at a VP level, but the first thing you got to understand is what are they trying to do? And the second thing is, what are they doing to make that happen? You’ve got to educate yourself on their situation. Third is, where are they in comparison to what their goals are? If they’re crushing it and they’re killing it and everything is good, then, I mean, it’s a lot easier to disqualify somebody because they’re in good shape. They’ve got a good programme. They’ve got a good company they’re working with. They’re completely happy. You can save yourself a hell of a lot of time by disqualifying early. You know, they’re not ready for what it is we have.
Speaker 1:
But what you’re going to find is if you do a good job, just like a doctor would, of understanding, “Okay, what is it that’s between where you are now and where you want to be? So you’re doing $50 million a year now in revenue, you need to do 75. Obviously what got you to where you are will not get you to where you want to be. So let’s talk about what’s in the middle of that.”
How to Spot the Gap From Where Your Buyer is Right Now and Where They Want to Be · [21:18]
Will Barron:
I think you’ve just dropped on something here, Gene. And sorry to interrupt you, mate, but I don’t want to kind of I’m scribbling it down so I don’t forget. But you just give us a really excellent question to ask. So at the moment, for context for yourself, the audience knows this, I sell the advertising space on the podcast so I can still experiment with everything that comes through the show, all different techniques and tools and all this kind of stuff. It’s becoming more difficult at the moment because people are coming to the inbound leads for selling the ad spaces far outweighs, there’s not enough ad space for me to proactively sell it anymore. So I need something else to sell, which is another story on its own.
Will Barron:
But you came up then with something that I think we can all probably do a better job of, and using myself as an example of this, of asking, “What are they currently doing now?” You’re almost by asking that question, “How are they trying to solve the problem, currently?”, you’re letting them dig themselves a hole aren’t you’re? You’re letting them say, well, as you said, even give you the opportunity to disqualify them, because they’re doing well and they don’t need your help, or they’re going to go, “Well, I’m doing this, I’m doing this. This isn’t working. This might work.” They they’re opening the doors and they’re doing a lot of the work for you when you ask that one simple question.
“You want to understand if there is a gap between where they are and where they want to be. Is there something they’re trying to do that they’re not getting the outcome of? Because the truth is, if there’s no gap, there’s no sale. And our job as sellers is to understand that gap like a doctor would and be prepared to make a prescription.” – Gene McNaughton · [22:30]
Speaker 1:
Well, what you want to understand is, is there a gap? Is there a gap between where they are and where they want to be? Is there something they’re trying to do that they’re not getting the outcome up? Because the truth is, Baron, if there’s no gap, there’s no sale. And our job as sellers is to understand that gap like a doctor would and.
Speaker 1:
Be prepared to make a prescription. Now, one thing you’ve got to remember is great sellers don’t lead with their features and benefits. And that’s what most people listening to this do. They walk in and they say, “Well, we offer ABC products and they have these great features. They have these great benefits.” You’ve got to realise that great sellers don’t lead that way. They lead to it. And before they get there, they’re first going to go, “Let me understand your situation. What are you trying to do? What’s in the middle of between where you are and where you want to be? What’s it going to mean if you get there? What’s it going to mean if you don’t get there?” So I call it the edge process. That’s the name of my book is called The Sales EDGE. It stands for educate yourself on the client, develop a gap, make the gap bigger. Meaning in six months, if this is solved, what will that mean to you? Or in six months, if you don’t solve this problem, what could that mean to you?
Future Pacing in B2B Sales Conversations · [23:50]
Will Barron:
And let me just ask you this. Because I’ve read this on your blog and different things in other interviews that you’ve done, that you’ve talked about this concept, but I don’t want to gloss over this. So you may call it future pacing. I don’t know how you define it, but what’s happening in the mind and the emotions and the moment of the prospect when you say, “Well, it seems like a small problem now that you’re focused on, but what’s going to happen in 12 months’ time?” What’s going on in their brain when you put them in this predicament?
Speaker 1:
They almost always say the same thing. “That’s a great question.” They always say the same thing. “That’s a great question.” Well, then it’s going to mean we may miss our number. It may mean we miss our EBITDA. It may mean that I lose my job. It may mean that we kill this project.
Speaker 1:
But this future pace that you mentioned is so powerful, which is saying, “Let’s say that you don’t change anything you’re doing now and you just hope that things change in the future.” And you know, hope is not a strategy. So all of this leads you to be able to talk about if your product or service can solve that problem. But you’ve got to take that time in the beginning to assess and understand where are they now? What are their gaps? What’s missing? You know, if you could design it in the perfect way, what would that look like?
Speaker 1:
What’s it going to mean if you don’t solve it? Right? That’s the D and the G: develop a gap and make the gap greater. And then the E in edge is you create an emotional connection where you say, “You know what? You remind me of another company that I was just working with”, or “One of my great clients” or “A client that somebody else in my office works with, who are going through the same thing.”
Speaker 1:
Now, oftentimes that can be even competitor specific. And what I mean by that is there are competitors in your field that are notorious for poor customer service, that are notorious for missed lead times, that are notorious for making the sale and never showing up again. So that way, you can tell a story of another similar client that was going through the same thing that decided to switch to you and has now gotten the benefits.
Will Barron:
Makes total sense.
“I don’t care what it is you’re selling, buying is still emotion followed by logic. And there’s a lot more to buying than just the price, quality, and service of what the product is. There’s risk, there’s money, there’s time, there’s frustration, there’s the hassles that the buyers get from people that receive the product and it’s wrong, or it’s off or it’s broken. I know this is going against the perception of most sellers but most companies are not buying just because it’s the cheapest price. You don’t buy that way. And nobody on this call buys that way. You buy because you see value in what it is that you’re buying.” – Gene McNaughton · [27:02]
Speaker 1:
All of this happens, Baron, because all of this happens prior to you going into the specs and the details and the speeds and the feeds and the pricing, because, I don’t care what it is you’re selling. If it’s accounting services, if it’s security services, whatever, buying is still emotional, followed by logic. And there’s a lot more to buying than just the price, quality, and service of what the product is. There’s risk, there’s money, there’s time, there’s frustration, there’s the hassles that the buyers get from people that receive the product and it’s wrong, or it’s off or it’s broken. So it’s not just about — companies aren’t just buying — I know this is going against the perception of most sellers. Most companies are not buying just because it’s the cheapest price. You don’t buy that way. And nobody on this call buys that way. You buy because you see value in what it is that you’re buying. You’ll spend more on the car because you believe it’s going to be more reliable or more safety or better for your kids or better gas mileage. Well, buying anything for your company is the same way.
Will Barron:
Makes total sense. I like this tie in with emotion. And I think if we’re chatting with our mates, if we’re trying to convince someone to come down the pub, we probably do this instinctively. We probably tell, “Well, what happens if you didn’t come out tonight? You might not meet this person or this thing might not happen,” and you’re pulling on — because I see my little brother do this when he is trying to get his mates to go out to the pub with him. I don’t really party anymore, but he certainly does. And it’s interesting that perhaps we need to be more conscious of this and use these similar principles that we’ve all probably done day to day out of sales and be conscious of using them in sales.
The Difference Between Closing a Big Deal Versus Closing a Small One · [28:15]
Will Barron:
And Gene, I’m conscious of time here, mate. So we haven’t got much to kind of leeway left in the conversation here, time wise, to go through all the other steps. But I just want to ask you, skipping the whole middle. Clearly this could be two years of adding value, of consulting, of going back and forth to close a huge deal. But pulling it towards the end, is there anything that happens differently as the sale wraps up as it closes? Is there anything that happens differently when we’re closing a big deal versus when we’re closing a small one?
Speaker 1:
Well, what a lot of companies underestimate is when they’re invited to come in and do a presentation. So if you think about how big deals go down, most companies are going to vet out 10 companies, prospective companies. They’re going to whittle it down to two or three. And they’re going to ask you to come in and do your half-hour or 45-minute presentation on why they should choose you. Most companies underestimate the power of this. So what I mean by that is the reps are fiddling around with their PowerPoint the night before. They’re trying to figure out the right message. They’re trying to get all their slide deck in order. And they’re focusing so much on building this excellent PowerPoint that is typically all about them. “Here’s our company. Here’s what we do. Here’s who we are. Here’s how long we’ve been in business. Here’s all our signature brands.”
“The best companies come into presentations with a client-focused presentation and work it down to a very simple protocol: How much have you learned about the company? What have you studied about their goals, their objectives, their challenges and issues? Number two, how are you going to help them solve those problems? What specifically will you, your company, or your product do to help them achieve what it is they’re trying to achieve or solve the problems they’re trying to solve? And then three, what is the proof you can do that? Case studies, company history, brands that you work with, transition process. That’s the recipe for a winning presentation.” – Gene McNaughton · [29:34]
Speaker 1:
What I find and what I teach is, the best companies come in with a client-focused presentation and it works it down to a very simple protocol. One is called the wow. How much have you learned about the company? What have you studied about their goals, their objectives, their challenges and issues? Number two, how are you going to help them solve those problems? What specifically will you, your company, or your product do to help them achieve what it is they’re trying to achieve or solve the problems they’re trying to solve? And then three, what is the proof you can do that? Case studies, company history, brands that you work with, transition process. That’s the recipe for a winning presentation.
Speaker 1:
But you’ll find 90% of the presentations that are given are “Here’s who we are. Here’s how we’re great. Here’s why you should choose us.” They all look the same. So a lot of companies hire me to come in and build those presentations for them so they’re customer facing. It proves that the sales organisation selling to them understands their goals and objectives, clearly lays out exactly how they’ll solve those goals and objectives, and demonstrates through what’s called social proof or case studies how they’ve done that for other companies just like them.
How to Set Yourself Apart From the Competition During a Sales Presentation · [30:58]
Will Barron:
So I asked you about the close here, Gene. Just so I’m clear on this. Are you saying that this is our point — that this is where kind of the deal is done? That someone comes ahead of the everyone else? It’s in this initial presentation. It’s not any trickery you do further down in the sales process. It’s this is the opportunity that we all have to really set ourselves apart and to win the deal and get ahead of the pack during that initial meeting.
“What I find is that even in price competitive situations, money does not equal price. If you prove that you’ve got the better situation for them, companies always find the money.” – Gene McNaughton · [31:29]
Speaker 1:
Well, there’s never going to be any trickery involved. It’s going to be a series — success loves sequence. So sequence begins with, have you identified the accounts you’re going after? Have you identified the people within those accounts that can make decisions? Have you had a qualified conversation where you’ve identified there’s an issue that you can solve? Have you been able to do the due diligence enough to come back and say, “We can solve this issue for you and here’s how, and here’s the proof of how we’ve done that.”? And then it’ll come down to price. But what I find is that even in price competitive situations, money does not equal price. If you prove that you’ve got the better situation for them, companies always find the money. They always can find the money.
Will Barron:
I’m going through this at the moment where I’m hesitant to talk about it too much with the show, but we’ve partnered with one big partner for the live — HubSpot partners and partnered with us for the live concept we’re doing. And there’s another partner in the works for the other side of things. And the deal that we’re doing with them, it’s gone from one size to the next size, to the next size of massive company. So kind of bottom line, for them it’s nothing. It’s only peanuts. But it’s super interesting to me that this deal is growing and growing and growing and growing, and the budget that wasn’t aligned or assigned to this at the beginning of the year — it literally did not exist. This conversation we’re having didn’t exist and the budget’s coming and it’s been found. And it’s been made bigger. And then it’s been found.
Why Closing Deals Rarely Come Down to Budget · [33:00]
Will Barron:
And it’s — I don’t know, I didn’t appreciate this in medical device sales, when someone, especially someone from finance said to me, “This is the budget that we’ve got.” I always took it as gospel. And I don’t think that’s probably ever the truth. Is it?
Speaker 1:
It, it’s not. And depends on who you’re talking to. Because, if you’re talking to procurement, then they’ve got a budget they have to work with. If you’re talking to somebody at a higher level that will see the value in what you have, they’ll almost always go find the money.
Gene’s Advice to His Younger Self on How to Become Better at Selling · [33:30]
Will Barron:
For sure. Makes total sense. And with that Gene, I could talk to you all day about this, sir. This is one of my favourite topics, this closing the big deal, the consultative sell and everything that is aligned in within this. But I’ve got one question to ask everyone that comes on the show. So I’ll wrap up with this. And that is, if you could go back in time and speak to your younger self, what be the one piece of advice you’d give him to help him become better at selling?
Speaker 1:
Keep learning, keep reading, keep studying the masters. Don’t take failure personally. Know that failure is part of success and flat out keep going. That’s it. I mean, that’s what it comes down to.
Speaker 1:
And, you know, sales — I don’t like to use the word that sales is a numbers game, but the truth is that a lot of sales people will lose one deal and they’ll globalise that. Somebody will say, “Well, you were great, but your price was too high.” And suddenly in their mind, they think, “Our price is too high”. But you’ve got to have that internal belief that you are going to lose some deals, but the more deals you’re in front of, the more deals you’re talking to, the more people you’re involved with, the more deals that are going to come your way.
“Success loves sequence. So get really good at each sequence of your selling process.” – Gene McNaughton · [34:44]
Speaker 1:
And the second thing is that success loves sequence. So get really good at each sequence of your selling process so that you can assess. Did I build rapport? Did I call on the right level of people? I mean, I can think back on deals that I thought for sure I had in the bag, but I was talking to the wrong person and suddenly that wrong person that I had spent all this time with was responsible for giving my pitch to the CEO. And I’m like, “Well, why wasn’t I talking to the CEO?”
Speaker 1:
So just know that you’ve got to learn from your mistakes and that there will always, always, always be a need for people like us to be able to explain our products, our services, what makes us different, what problems we solve. That’ll never go away. That’ll never be solved by the internet. The internet will give people pricing. It’ll give people specs and speeds and feeds. And if that’s how you’re selling, then you’re in for a really tough career. But if you commit to becoming the ultimate educator in your marketplace, the teacher of your marketplace, then you’re going to stand out for a long time.
Parting Thoughts · [35:58]
Will Barron:
Love it. Gene, with that, mate, tell us where we can find out more about you and everything that you are doing?
“Learning persuasion is the most profitable skill set you’ll ever master. If you make that become part of your DNA, part of what you study, then the financial riches, the career growth, all of that is there for you.” – Gene McNaughton · [36:35]
Speaker 1:
Well, go to thesalesedge.co. It’s my website, where I’m going to be putting chapters of my new book on. It also allows people to get free access to video based training that I built a few years back. Basic blocking and tackling selling. There’s no charge. There’s no credit card asked for. It’s purely, I’m giving it away. Because you know, I know that there’s thousands and thousands of sales people out there that just aren’t getting the level of sales training attention they deserve. And, I got to tell you, man, learning persuasion is the most profitable skill set you’ll ever master. So you make that become part of your DNA, part of what you study, then, you know, the financial riches, the career growth, all of that is there for you. Anybody can do it. You know, I’m living proof. Anybody can do it.
Will Barron:
Amazing stuff. We’ll link to that in the show notes for this episode over at salesmanpodcast.com. With that, Gene, I want to thank you for your time, your insights. I want to thank you for kind of doubling down on this idea of process as well. Because I think that’s something that perhaps we underestimate as we’re selling and having a go to and the next step of all of this, especially in these bigger deals where we can almost get in our own heads sometimes and get a bit nervous about it or not know where to go next. So I appreciate that, mate. And with that, I want to thank you for joining us on the salesman podcast.
Speaker 1:
All right. Good luck. Good selling everybody. Thanks, Will.
