In a previous Tip we shared good win review questions, recognizing that we can learn a lot from our wins. Here are some win review takeaways as shared by some of our clients:

Whoever has the most coaches wins.

Although this may not always be true, it often is. Coaches are the people who want us to win, and they win when we win. The more of these we have, the more likely we are to win.

Getting to the right decision maker makes all the difference.

We are referring to the person who has the interest, ability, and resources to buy our value. Yes, customer organizations are more collaborative, but decision makers still exist. Many losses reflect a lack of decision maker access.

Deal effectively with procurement, but not exclusively.

Procurement is a reality in many sales cycles, and we need to learn how to deal with them appropriately. However, if they are the only buyer we interface with, our odds will drop significantly. Especially if we are a value-leading company.

Tell your story, but…

Stories are compelling, and additive to the sales process. However, the story should center on the customer. We love to tell stories about our experiences, but featuring the client’s situation and direction is more interesting and more compelling to the customer. If we tell the right story, the customer can see themselves in a better position in the future as a result of our partnership.

Quantify your value.

Your ability to translate your value into financial terms can make it easier for the customer to pay more for your value-oriented solutions. It certainly makes the stories mentioned above much more interesting.

Leverage your team.

Some of us are basically “lone rangers” working on our own, but many of us have a team behind us. Leverage the team for gaining insight, networking, accessing the right people, building a business case, and delivering a compelling message.

Thinking about these key takeaways early in the sales/relationship cycle can have a big impact on outcomes that are important to us – revenue, close rate, customer retention, etc.