Driving deal velocity with a Transformation Plan (Chris Von Huene, Sales Director @ Prodigal)

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1. 4:25

   Chris, how do you introduce this to the customer? Because I'm sure you can't just like show up at a discovery call and be like, hey, here's the document. We're going through all this today. Because there's a co-creation element. So can you talk about how you tee that up and introduce it to the customer? Yeah. So it's very strategic. “So I do my discovery first, then I do my demo.” I don't do disco and demos, I absolutely hate them and I'm not a fan of them. So discovery is one meeting, demo is a second meeting. Then once you've done your vendor onboarding, I have actually a workflow meeting since my product is very workflow specific. So that's a little unique to my product, but you need to understand your workflows.

   In Discovery and qualification

2. 4:31

   the document. We're going through all this today. Because there's a co-creation element. So can you talk about how you tee that up and introduce it to the customer? Yeah. So it's very strategic. So I do my discovery first, then I do my demo. I don't do disco and demos, I absolutely hate them and I'm not a fan of them. “So discovery is one meeting, demo is a second meeting.” Then once you've done your vendor onboarding, I have actually a workflow meeting since my product is very workflow specific. So that's a little unique to my product, but you need to understand your workflows. Then I actually put everything I've heard from those three meetings together in a transformation plan. So this is prior to the trial starting.

   In Discovery meeting structure

3. 6:07

   Yeah, of course. So discovery is your typical, hey, what's your world? It's like world building. What are you struggling with today? Can I solve it? Do we have enough synergy here where this is actually a viable solution for you, right? So typical pain, what are you going through? “Get the details, get the confirmation, just make sure that there's enough substance there.” So that's why in my meeting invites, I always say the first, I always put an agenda of targeted outcomes, but from a discovery, it's just gain consensus on mutual fit. So that's really the whole point of a discovery in my world is I'm qualifying you, you're qualifying me. Then I go to the demo and I demo based off of the main points that you cared about from the

   In Discovery and qualification

4. 6:21

   actually a viable solution for you, right? So typical pain, what are you going through? Get the details, get the confirmation, just make sure that there's enough substance there. So that's why in my meeting invites, I always say the first, I always put an agenda of targeted outcomes, but from a discovery, it's just gain consensus on mutual fit. So that's really the “whole point of a discovery in my world is I'm qualifying you, you're qualifying me.” Then I go to the demo and I demo based off of the main points that you cared about from the discovery. And I always ask each person that's in the meeting, unless it's like 20 people, then you just use the chat. What are the top three things you want to get out of this demo to ensure it's a good use of your time? And that way I'm kind of reconfirming what you've already

   In Discovery and qualification

5. 13:25

   you got, right? Hopefully that's like your ICP and that's a good champion for you. So you got to do the demo for them just to say, Hey, is it worth me sticking my neck out on the line? Then they usually bring in their boss. And so you do a demo for the boss and then the boss is like, okay, bring the squad. So basically it could be about three demos because you got to remember, “you got to get their buy-in first because they're speaking on your behalf. That's their reputation.” Now they need to go run it by their management and get permission that, Hey, this is something of interest. I agree. You know, your executive sponsor. Now the executive sponsor is going to rally all the other parties that this product could potentially affect and make sure that there's group consensus that we see value across the organization. So typically for me, enterprise

   In Champion identification

6. 15:48

   doing before we bring everybody else in. That's one way to empower your champion. One of the most important things in an enterprise cycle is having a good relationship with one point person at the company. Do you have any other best practices for building that relationship or enabling your champion? Yeah, I think you really got to figure out “what do they have to gain or lose? Like again, put yourself in their shoes, right?” What do they stand to gain by getting this piece in? What do they stand to lose by keeping the status quo, right? Because like they're aware at this point that status quo is not good, right? It works, but there's a difference between working and being good, right? Many things work that aren't good. So I think you really need to understand like what's in it from them as far

   In Champion identification

7. 17:19

   say like, I'm like, hey, you know, what's your fears and concerns? Like who really is going to be blunt, honest and be like, oh, blah. So, I mean, again, it's not how we communicate in our personal lives. Why would we do it in our professional lives? So I think that's where walk them through, let them know that they're going to get support every step of the way. “And then ask them, does that align with the way that they're buying or what they're looking for” from you? And they'll come back and tell you yes or no. You can sort of swag your way through like a mid-market sale, but it's very clear. You have an enterprise sales process, but you came from Xerox and like, you don't have a traditional enterprise SaaS background at all. How did you learn all this stuff about like the transformation plan and whatnot? Did you

   In Buying process discovery

8. 23:41

   conversation. I think that's the biggest mistake I see a rep make is they just start giving up price and they get nothing in return. They counter it because then you got to really see how serious are they on the discount? Are they just asking to ask? Here's what I say before you even get into the negotiation conversation and get that nuances. I say, look, the thing that I asked for “you is let me know that I'm your vendor of choice and tell me why I'm your vendor of choice. That” way I can shore a line because if we're just kicking tires before you told me I'm the vendor of choice, to be frank, I don't see that being a good use of everyone's time. And it's just not resulted in successful completion of a sale. So I need to make sure that we're your vendor of choice. And then at that point, that gives me the leverage I need to go fight for you and make sure

   In Competitive differentiation

9. 24:53

   going to work. Everyone's going to sign. Even if you don't fit my ICP, even if it's a fringe use case, we don't really do. Honestly, the best thing you can do is stay in your lane. I chased a couple deals that were not within our ICP that were just not like they were on a fringe use case, burned through a lot of time, they didn't sign. So I think that's the number one thing. Stay in “your lane, know your ICP. If they're not a fit, DQ early so you can go find companies that are.”

   In Disqualification criteria

10. 24:53

    going to work. Everyone's going to sign. Even if you don't fit my ICP, even if it's a fringe use case, we don't really do. Honestly, the best thing you can do is stay in your lane. I chased a couple deals that were not within our ICP that were just not like they were on a fringe use case, burned through a lot of time, they didn't sign. So I think that's the number one thing. Stay in “your lane, know your ICP. If they're not a fit, DQ early so you can go find companies that are.”

    In Negative ICP criteria