Same Old Song and Dance

One thing that causes endless aggravation for early-stage B2B revenue leaders is deal reviews with their sales reps.  Whenever these meetings take place, one thing is typically guaranteed to happen: the leader walks away having heard a lot of words but not getting a lot of answers about deals: are they going to close, when, how confident is the rep, what are the next steps, does the rep need help…?  Not getting answers doesn’t exactly spark confidence.

A big part of the problem is that these calls are too conversational and unstructured.  When offered up 30 mins to “talk about their deals”, many sales reps do what many sales reps do: they show up and throw up. Meaning that they talk about every conversation, email, and call they’ve ever completed with a prospect, tossed around with a heavy dose of anecdotes and rose-colored predictions. This leaves revenue leaders longing for a little less conversation and a little more action.

Deal reviews need to occur, and they need to be meaningful for the leader and the rep.  To get a little less bark and a little more bite out of them, the discussion should center on movement: of a rep’s active deals, which ones were created, which ones advanced, and which ones closed or are close to closing?  Leaders typically know about Closed Won deals, and often about those that are about to close (especially the bigger ones).  But they’re less likely to know about ones that are newer to the pipeline.  Those deals, if nurtured correctly over time, could become wins.

A Change Would Do You Good

Tired of talking about deals without results?  Don’t procrastinate or articulate.  Try this instead:

• Weekly Cadence: Meet once a week.  Regardless of how many deals there are or the average deal cycle length, meeting once per week keeps the emphasis on results and movement.  It also gives reps enough time to do the activities (calls, emails, virtual meetings, site visits, conferences, etc.) that lead to deal movement.
• Expectations: In addition to defining the verifiable outcomes that identify the correct deal stage, set clear expectations for what you expect in the meeting.  When the meeting ends, what information needs to be exchanged between leader and rep.
• Format: Use the same format each time, and let the agenda drive the meeting so you don’t get off track.  The best I’ve seen comes from Mike Weinberg’s Accountability Meeting agenda.
• Movement: Keep the focus on what’s moved…and what hasn’t.  Stalled deals (age, pushes) might be ready for the Closed Lost pile or may simply need some direction or help from leadership.  Use this time to figure out which.