Rocket Readings: How to Consistently Win the Big Deal Using a Buying Process Map

How to Consistently Win the Big Deal Using a Buying Process Map:from Sales Force Effectiveness Blog by Tony Albachiara
Sales Leaders always celebrate the Win on the Big Deal. There’s nothing better than the stories that go with winning that monster deal. But the real key is being able to dissect how and why you won. If you did it once, why can’t you do it again? The naysayers say these beasts aren’t repeatable. They say it’s a one-off, not a trend. I say, find out definitively what happened, and replicate it.
win the big deal
You can use the traditional Win/Loss Assessments as your launching point. Need the basics? Discover more about the nature of Win/Loss Assessments here.
Generally Win/Loss Assessments are used to discover why you lost. We’re going to turn this process around a bit. Win/Loss Assessments can be used for more than discovering why you were beaten. Instead, use it to discover why you won.
A few questions that you can answer with this type of Assessment are:

Where did you separate yourself from the competition?
What did you do that customers liked?
What did competitors do that customers didn’t like?
Was it a product/service offering that made the difference? Or was it a sales / customer service factor?

This insight is invaluable in determining what led to success in the past. You can bet it will yield success in the future, as well.
This is a great start, but you’ll need to dig deeper. Repeatable big deal wins will take evaluation through multiple perspectives. Really you need to look through a new lens.

Has the Buyer’s Journey Changed?

Leverage the Buying Process Map to see where you separate from competition.
This process will help you understand your buyers. You might notice that gaps you previously held over competitors have shrunk. This could very well mean that the Buyer’s Journey is changing. In this case, you need to adapt. Consistently winning the big deal means being aligned with how your customers buy.
Use the Buying Process Map:
Use your Buying Process Map to recreate what happened at each step in the process. This list of questions will uncover why you were selected over competitors.

Was each step in the Buying Process covered?

Really dig into the details here. Don’t just gloss over it with a half-hearted “yes” or “no” answer. How was each step covered? Why were the steps covered? What happened during each step?
Did you skip any steps? If so, why were those steps skipped?

What prompted the change? Is it a change that can be replicated across multiple clients?
Has the buyer added new steps into their process? If so, where and why?

Did you notice that this new step was added during the sales process? How did you handle it? Was it addressed or ignored?

As a result, are there new learnings to add to your Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona?
How and when did you create new value for the customer? Knowing exactly what provides value is crucial. It will help pinpoint what is dictating your customer’s buying behavior.

After you’ve asked yourself these questions, identify the points where you separated from competitors. What caused the separation? And perhaps more importantly, can it be replicated?
Analyzing your sales performance in this way will provide you with some keen insight. For instance:

Where you had the most advantage over competition. Keep hitting this area hard. Don’t let them close the gap, because this is likely your “sweet spot.” Let it define you.
Where the gaps between yourself and competitors has shrunk. This requires deep analysis to determine why this shrink occurred. Was it something you did wrong? A talent issue? A sales issue? Or was it something your competitor pounced on that you didn’t?
Where you still need to improve. In these areas, you may have no edge over competitors at all. Perhaps you’re even behind. Changes clearly need to be made in your offerings or your sales process.

It’s easy to become complacent after you win. In order to repeat you need to maintain the edge over competitors.
Take every big win and reconstruct the Buyer’s Journey. Knowing what created the value, and subsequently the win, is your goal. In my next blog, I’ll discuss how incorporate the Buying Process Map into your Sales Process.