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Create Multiple Coaches at Multiple Levels

Last week we talked about the importance of developing an inside advocate (coach) in your client or prospect portfolio. A coach can help you with strategy & wants you to win. Check out the article posted at labarberagroup.com if you missed it or recently subscribed.

The purpose of account strategy is to increase your probability of success. One way to do that is to put together a strategy to develop multiple coaches at multiple levels. And, the more complex the situation, the more you need this.

Here are three reasons you want multiple coaches at multiple levels:

  • Different levels of information access – Some people are just closer to the information than others. And, information is often filtered up (and down) an organization. It’s rare that one person would be part of every formal or informal conversation going on about this decision. With multiple coaches you have a chance at accessing that info.
  • Multiple points of view – Ever been in a client meeting and you come out of it hearing something different than your teammate did? Each person reads situations through their own filtered lenses. With multiple coaches, you can create your own picture of what’s going on by integrating these different viewpoints.
  • Minimize risk – Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. With only one coach, you’re exposed because you have a single point of failure. What if that person is promoted or transferred? What if this person leaves the organization, or sadly, this planet? It’s a risky decision to depend on one person as a coach when thousands or millions of dollars are at stake.

Application step: Look at the opportunities in your pipeline. In how many of your opportunities (by %) do you have at least one coach? In how many of your opportunities (by %) do you have two or more coaches, with at least one being at a senior executive level? You’re doing well if those numbers are 90% & 75%, respectively.

Still-not-sure-this-works step: Take a look at your losses in the last two years. How many came when you had: multiple coaches, with at least one of them a senior executive? How many when you had one coach, at a lower level? And, how many when you had no coaches?

It makes sense that your best chance of winning is in those deals where you have multiple coaches. And, if you won without a coach, consider yourself fortunate. It’s nice to have those come in, but they should be treated as bonuses and not part of your business building strategy. If you’re interested in a short class on how to build coaches at multiple levels, how to keep them & not lose them, and how to best utilize them in a deal, let me know. I’ve got a short class on that topic that includes coaching by me!

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Your #1 Asset in Prospect/Client Strategy

When it comes to account strategy, in other words, what you need to do to win the deal, renew the contract, or even persuade a key individual to take some kind of action, the way to increase your probability of success is by checking in with your inside advocate. I like to call this person “the coach”.

Some professionals refer to them as client advocates or champions, but no matter what you call them, in order to be considered a coach, this inside person MUST have these BOTH of these characteristics: (1.) They have key information that helps you develop your strategy. (2.) They want you to win.

That’s a tall order, but developing coaches is well worth it.

When I look back on my career, my biggest wins happened when I had a coach. Early on, it was someone taking me under their wing and giving me advice. Thank God for those folks! Once I figured out that developing a coach should be a part of my strategy, my overall win percentage went up.

Let’s drill down on these two key characteristics.

First, the key information coaches possess and can share with us takes many forms. They can share what their colleagues in the decision process really care about, not just what’s in the RFP. They can tell you what your competitor showed in their presentation and demo and who liked what and what they were concerned about. And a whole lot more. Bottom line: You don’t need to have a copy of the competitor’s proposal for your coach to provide valuable information so you’ll know what to do and what not to do.

Second, to be a coach, they have to want you to win. Some key players, I call them “fake coaches”, make you feel as if they’re giving you inside information exclusively, but they’re sharing the same info with your competitors. Why would they do that? Some feel that’s only fair. Some feel it makes the process more efficient. Or, worse, they’re giving you false information because they want your competitor to win. This is tough. If something doesn’t feel right, trust your gut. Take the information given with a grain of salt and look for confirmation elsewhere.

A real coach wants you to win. How come? Because they win when you win. Typically, their needs or wants stand a greater chance of being fulfilled with your solution than with other options. And, these needs or wants don’t have to be product or service related. They may feel a recommendation for your solution will be seen as less risky or get approved faster, both of which could benefit them.

Coaches are huge assets and not having them presents risk. To apply this in your world, you can do the following: If you’re a relationship manager, client partner, or account manager, click through your client portfolio. If you’re a sales executive focused on new account sales, look at your pipeline of forecasted business. Ask yourself, “What percentage of my client portfolio or pipeline do I have at least one coach?” And, then go through last year’s wins & losses. Which ones had coaches?

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How to “Simplify” Complex Business Negotiations

Picture courtesy of qimono on Pixabay.

As stated in my last article, the biggest mistake even experienced sales executives, relationship managers and sales managers make in a negotiation is underpreparing. Negotiations are too complex, there’s too much that can go wrong & the consequences of mistakes can be too extreme for you not to put in the time.

But, we’re all pressed for time. With only so many hours in the day and a multitude of demands put on you, how do you maximize the probability of success while minimizing how long it takes?

It starts with having a system (or, framework if you prefer). A good negotiating system:

  • Acts as a checklist to make sure nothing important is missed
  • Tracks progress and previews what’s coming for you & your team
  • Guides you to best next steps
  • Even helps your confidence as you have a tool you can rely on

Inside your system you’ll need items such as:

  • Who all the players are on both sides who have a say in the outcome and what they want
  • What boundaries we’re setting (what’s minimally acceptable) for each issue
  • What role everyone on your team will play
  • Whether our overall strategy is to be collaborative or competitive

However, to take it to the next level, a great negotiating system does all of the above and:

  • Identifies and leverages your power.
  • Provides strategies for: finding common ground, handling baggage, leveraging your power, getting inside information, framing your offer, dealing with competing objectives, personality & style differences, working with partners, working with or against consultants, and many others.
  • Provides counterstrategies and scripts to handle difficult negotiation situations like dirty tricks & other power maneuvers.
  • Provides a process you can share with your client.

This last item may have caught you by surprise – “a process you can share with your client”. If you want a more collaborative negotiation, you need to share a tool to help foster that.

Does sharing the process mean you should also share your internal strategy and everything else inside your system? Of course not. But you should share the process you believe will best lead to an outcome both sides can be happy with.

Bottom line: To simplify complex negotiations, to save time and maximize the outcome, you need a good system. But there’s still one more thing you need and that’s coming in the next article.

Free report: My clients and I have identified 38 different things that can impact a negotiation that you want to be prepared for. If you’d like that list, click here to download it.

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The Biggest Mistake Even Experienced Negotiators Make

Over the last 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of teaching and coaching negotiating strategies and skills to some of the finest salespeople, relationship managers, sales managers and senior executives in the technology space.

These negotiations are complicated and there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Some are unpreventable, but the biggest preventable mistake I’ve seen made is … under preparation.

Why do otherwise skilled business developers under prepare for a client or prospect negotiation? Sometimes it’s due to overwhelm, feeling they don’t have the time; that they’re too busy. Sometimes it’s overconfidence, not believing it’s necessary to do a lot of prep because they’ve been doing this for a long time. And, being human, a few are a little lazy. But, whatever the reason, why is it a huge mistake to under prepare?

Because of the quantity of variables impacting a negotiation, any one of which can derail it. Clients and I have identified 38. 38! Here are three, and why you have to be prepared to deal with them:

Competing objectives – Both sides have stakeholders whose individual objectives don’t line up with each other. On your side, your management wants you to protect company profits and at the same time protect the relationship. Your client expects you to be their advocate. And, their side has people who are incented to minimize cost while others are tasked with maximizing functionality or ease of use or productivity. It’s like trying to thread a needle while wearing oven mitts in a windstorm.

Baggage – Things happen in long-term relationships. Have they moved on from last month’s, last year’s or last decade’s service issues? Everyone? Have those who wanted your competitor’s solution years ago gotten over that decision? If not addressed, baggage can weigh down any chance at collaboration.

Savvy negotiators – A skilled client or a consultant they’ve hired to act as their proxy can take you to the cleaners if you’re not ready for them. They know how to use power, emotion, competition, standards, reframes and other tactics to keep you off-balance. It’s always safest to assume someone on the other side is “incented” to strike a great deal for the client and have countermeasures for those maneuvers.

Bottom line: It’s worth it to find the time to diligently prepare for each negotiation. How do we best do that? I’ll talk about that in my next article.

Picture courtesy of Tumisu on Pixabay.