Hey there 👋
Last Friday I dug in with revenue legends from Box, Sprout Social, and CapIntel about the art of getting on-site with decision makers. ICYMI, check out the recording here.
We covered a lot of key do’s and don’ts, but at its core was why getting on-site is more important than ever, and how it can transform deals + relationships.
As always, there were fire takeaways from our expert panelists - some highlights:
📈 Buyer committees continue to grow.
It takes many more people to get a deal done in this environment, and sellers are now doing less deals than they used to. When you’re on-site and have the ability to build relationships, meet more people, and collaborate IRL, it’s easier to get in front of those hard to track down additional stakeholders weighing in on decisions. Especially folks with a C or VP in their title!
🤝 Building trust will never not be important.
The info gathered when stepping outside the confines of a structured conversation is usually the best data that drives our success on deals. When you’re in person, it's more organic to co-solution and become a true partner. But being in the room isn’t the only thing that's important – it's also about walking to the elevator, having those unstructured conversations, and likely meeting other potential champions along the way.
🎲 Uncertainty in deals.
The best sellers know that to remove uncertainty from key deals, they need to prioritize meeting prospects in person whenever possible. Zoom and remote work tools are fantastic for many reasons. But one thing they can't replace are genuine connections and relationships that, 99% of the time, can only be formed face-to-face.
A huge thank you to Rob Crnkovic, Colleen Geiselhart, and Mark Wayland for joining the session and sharing all their hard-earned strategies!
- Ross
In this newsletter:
- Stakeholder mapping tips + template
- New features in Accord
🗺️ Getting on-site → Stakeholder maps
We spent our masterclass chatting about getting on-site with decision makers. So how can you ensure you have visibility into all stakeholders on the deal, so you’re getting face-time with all decision makers and champions when you are on-site? Here are some tips.
Why is stakeholder mapping important?
Especially in complex or enterprise partnerships, sales and success teams often need to get buy-in from multiple stakeholders throughout the customer journey – from individual end users of the product to executive decision makers who hold the budget.
A stakeholder map helps you understand what each of these stakeholders care about and the influence they have over the decision making process, so you can best align your solution to their priorities, improve multi-threading, and mitigate risks throughout the deal.
How do you create a stakeholder map?
There are many different ways you can approach stakeholder mapping, but keeping it simple is best. Here’s some of the basic information you’ll probably want to include about each stakeholder:
- Their name and job title / level
- Their role in the deal or partnership (end user, decision maker, etc.)
- Tier of importance / involvement in the deal or partnership (so you can prioritize your outreach and communication)
- The priorities and metrics/KPIs they care about
- Your next steps with each stakeholder
- Other relevant information as needed depending on your organization (existing relationship notes, contact info, etc.)
Looking for a template to get you started on stakeholder mapping?
We put together a proven template to help you get started with stakeholder mapping. Feel free to customize the columns based on the information you need about each stakeholder!
🆕 October Feature Releases
We have so many new features we are excited about. Here are the top 5!
1. Presentation Mode - Remove any internal-only objects to create a simple and clean UI for screen-sharing with your prospect.
2. @mention resources - @mention resources anywhere in your Accord for easy access. Clicking on the resource will open an in-app preview.
3. Gong integration - Natively integrate with Gong to easily share customer calls, and view them all in-app.
4. Saved views - Create a customized view of your Accords and overlay it with CRM data!
5. CRO Integration Connector - It's now easier than ever to connect Accords to your Opps + deals.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to reply with any feedback, questions, or requests for what to cover in our next edition. I’ll respond to every email. 👋
Ross Rich (CEO and Co-founder)
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