Everybody likes to be in control, right?  One of the challenges in any sales process is to try and get in control of the sales and buying process.  Well, at least try to get in control of as much of it as possible.  To do this right, you need to create a winning sales plan that includes a great sales strategy full of the right tactics to beat the competition, win the political battle within the customer and get the deal closed.

In a complex sales environment, this strategy and tactics may take months or even years to play out and come to a conclusion with a signed contract.  During this time, your sales team may meet with and deal with a buying team that might include up to 30-50 members, or even up to 100 members in large complex organizations.

Think about it.  Dealing with as many as 100 people who have evaluated your product from a technical, financial, and product fit perspective.  You have shown them your product multiple times, maybe answered an RFP that is measured in pounds when complete and taken them to see one or more of your customers using your product.  And, they did that with your company and perhaps two or more of your competitors.

So now you have won the deal!  Ask yourself these questions:  Was the vote to select your firm and product unanimous?  Did everyone want you?  Was there any “collateral damage” inside the buying organization at the end of the buying and sales cycle.  Are there still some key stakeholders that did not want you to win, but wanted one of your competitors to win?  If so, are any of these stakeholders in key positions?  Are any of these stakeholders in a position to make or break the implementation phase of your product and solution?

If you answered no to any of these questions, then you are kidding yourself.  The single biggest success point in your implementation is the transition from the sales cycle to the implementation and customer support phase.  It’s our job in sales to make sure this goes smooth.  It is our responsibility to make sure that we educate our implementation and support teams on everything we know about our new customer.

Think about how much you know about this customer at the end of the sales cycle.  You know all the key stakeholders.  You know who wanted you to win and you know who wanted the competitor to win.  You know who has the power and who does not.  You know who has a big title but no power, who has a lot of power and a small title.  You know all of the various levels of pain within the organization.  You know what low level operational pains need solving, AND you know the high level strategic plans that need implementing.  By now, you should know as much about this new customer’s organization as they do.

You need to share this with your internal team in the handoff from sales to implementation and customer support.  This handoff is critical to long term success.  It is not your product or your great implementation methodology that will make or break you.  What will break you now, is not sharing everything you know with your own internal teammates.  Show them “where the bodies are buried”.   A bad handoff is the single biggest point of failure for the implementation.

Just because the contract is signed and you got your commission check doesn’t mean your sales job is over.  If you ever want to sell this customer something else down the line (and I am sure you do!), you need to make sure your product gets installed correctly and the customer is happy.  So stay involved, stay engaged and help make this client transition handoff smooth and effective.

If you like these thoughts and ideas, my friend Scott has great ideas as well.  Read his thoughts on winning in the complex sales arena at: 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 am and is filed under Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.