Moving the Needle
tried and true sales practices to help open and close more deals
I’ve seen it too often. After the serve, it’s a swing and a miss.
Or we’ve returned serve so hard the ball isn’t even in our own court anymore. (Tennis anyone? Pickleball?)
We lose momentum, miss completely and end up looking for the next match just as we were getting started.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
7 Creative Plays to Resurrect a Deal Without “Just Checking In” from Nate Nasralla.
Ian Koniak talks about selling to executives at the enterprise level.
And - tried and true sales practices to help open and close more deals - all by keeping momentum so we can move the needle.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
7 Creative Plays to Resurrect a Deal Without “Just Checking In”
Really good post from one of my new favorite follows - Nate Nasralla on keeping deals moving. In fact, Nate clearly points out that with industry-best close rates at 30%, that means. the majority of our pipeline is DEAD.
So - how do we bring new life to a dying deal? Creatively checking in without “checking in”. Steal these ideas:
Draft a “Future State” Press Release
Ghostwrite an All Staff Email From Their CEO (brilliant)
Send an ‘Idea’ Email With a Genuinely Helpful Tool
Line Up a Guest Interview For Them
Ask For an Internal Doc to Build Their Business Case
Do What You’re “Not Supposed” To Do
Send a Gift You Couldn’t Send to Anyone Else
You’ll definitely want to check this one out and dive into the details and share with your team. Great stuff Nate!
Selling to Executives at the Enterprise Level
It has been quite sometime since I featured an episode from one of my “must-listen” podcasts - 30 Min to Presidents Club. (Required listening for all sellers in my opinion, so share with your team)
If you don’t follow Ian Koniak on LinkedIn - you should. A great follow with real-world, tactical advice (and he has his own newsletter) for Enterprise sellers. For a sales leader - its valuable content to digest and share with the team.
In this episode, Ian talks about selling to Executives at the enterprise level (they’re human just like us)
Highlights:
Start your calls with a point of view on HOW you can help your prospect.
Kill the deck. Focus on ACTIVE LISTENING.
Sell the executive on the Discovery process. Then YOYO sell (sell below then recap back up to Executive) to reduce “fatigue” from your executive.
Find new executives at companies. (They often are brought in to solve problems now)
Always a great listen in a short 30 min so add this one to your queue.
STRETCH SNIPPETS
🧠 David Hoffeld gives us six questions (The Six Why’s) that represent the mental steps our brains go through when forming buying decisions. The key to sales success is gaining commitments from the buyer on each of the 6 Whys…
⏳ 50 word emails have a 65% higher chance of getting a reply than 125 word emails. Rory Sadler points out that on average, you have 10 seconds to capture the reader's attention and 8 tips to move the needle.
🚫 We know “Open Ended Questions” are key during a demo…but when do “Close Ended Questions” make sense? Mor Assouline gives us a few examples of that help move that post demo - to close won.
🖐 David Durham documents how to lose on a disco call in 5 simple steps, and how to fix it.
🗣 Sellers need to stop with the passive language says Scott Leese. Be confident in your words. Don’t say think, probably, maybe, possibly, etc.
🧠 Mindset
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
Are you a VP, Director, thought leader, or content producer in the SaaS space? We’d love to have you contribute. Just reply to this email and I’ll be in touch.
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