Hey there 👋
Let’s talk pipeline reviews…
If you’re like most B2B orgs, the way you sell & talk to buyers has completely shifted in 2022 compared to last year – but what about the way you run your internal meetings?
Last year, your sellers could *maybe* get away with skipping steps in the sales process, and still make it to a good outcome.
But now? A deal today is not a guaranteed deal tomorrow. You need to make the MOST of every single opp you have in your pipeline.
And a key lever is ensuring you run consistent, productive pipeline reviews with your team. Cory Bray, Co-Founder of CoachCRM & ClozeLoop, shared this advice in our recent sales masterclass:
🔁 Emphasize structure over narrative
Avoid aimless chit chat & speculation about your deals. Have examples of good & bad deals at each stage, clear exit criteria, and a consistent structure in your pipeline reviews to drive productive discussions.
💰 “This person is going to buy from me because…"
If reps can’t answer this sentence, or it can’t stand on its own… they don’t have a real opp.
✅ “The risks in this deal are X, Y, Z and I’m doing A, B, C about them.”
Have your reps list the risks that could prevent a deal from closing, and the actions they’re taking to get ahead of them. (Tip: if they can’t fill in the 2nd part of this sentence, that’s a great opportunity for you to strategize as a team!)
Check out more tactics for making the most of every deal from Cory and sales leaders from Stripe & Elemy. Happy selling!
- Ross
In this newsletter:
- MAP advice from a sales exec, VP, manager, & top rep
- How to build a mission-driven sales team, with Galley’s Jonathan Press
- Accord updates: embed rich content into your mutual action plans
💸 Close More Deals in a Downturn with Mutual Action Plans
Here's a scary sentence as we approach Halloween: you might be losing winnable deals. 😱 👻
Whether you’re an exec, sales leader, or rep… chances are, in 2022 you’ve had to adapt your processes & figure out how to succeed in this new world.
Despite the pressure & challenges B2B sales folks are facing right now, I’ve always believed that times like these are an opportunity to grow & come out stronger on the other side.
The trick: 1) Focus on the things you CAN control. 2) Do MORE with LESS.
So how can you avoid losing winnable deals, despite all the things outside of our control right now?
You guessed it – by adopting + executing mutual action plans. 😉
Super excited to join forces again with the SalesPlaybook team for our next masterclass: How to Close More Deals in a Downturn with MAPs!
We’re bringing in incredible folks at every level of the sales org – exec, VP, manager, rep – to get their advice on aligning your team around MAPs and working successfully with buyers today.
You'll learn:
✅ How to get your team to adopt & execute great MAPs on every deal
🤝 Best practices for aligning with buyers & driving urgency
🎯 More B2B sales tactics from the exec, VP, manager, and rep level
Featuring sales pros:
- Manuel Hartmann – Founder, SDR & CEO at SalesPlaybook
- Keith Weightman – RVP, National Accounts at Bullhorn
- Johnston Gilfillan – Sr Sales Manager, Enterprise Retail at Affirm
- Raphael Köpf – Journey Executive at SalesPlaybook
We’re going live Thursday, Nov. 10 at 12pm ET.
🎙 On the Podcast: How to Build a Mission-Driven Sales Team, with Jonathan Press
After Jonathan Press left behind his past careers as an actor, opera singer, and paratrooper (among other things 👀), he landed in the B2B world and has been growing sales & GTM at Galley over the past 4 years.
He joined me on the podcast to talk about:
🔁 Balancing doing the unscalable with creating repeatability
🤝 Effectively partnering with customers & building relationships
💯 Embedding your team’s “why” into your sales playbook
Had a blast with this one – check out my 20-min chat with Jonathan here!
💥 Embed content directly into your Accord Mutual Action Plans
If you have a long or complex sales process, you need to make it as easy as possible for your buyers to buy and enable them to sell internally.
A great way to do that is removing friction from the process wherever you can and making all your shared resources easy to access.
We launched a new feature that allows buyers & sellers to embed rich media directly into Accord. Leveraging the power of Google Slides, YouTube, Loom and more, you’ll be able to add rich media content to collaborate in your Mutual Action Plans’ Executive Summaries & Steps.
You can learn more about Embedded Content here, or give it a try in your Accord workspace today.
Thanks for reading From Vendorship → Partnership 👋 I'd love to hear your feedback on this edition. Hit reply to send me a note!
Ross Rich (CEO and Co-founder)
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