Pipeline Mastery: Process, Progress, Pruning, Prospecting with Alana Nicol

Summary

In this Sandler webinar, Mike Monu, Head Coach, introduces Alana, a top-award-winning trainer, who discusses 'Pipeline Mastery'. Alana presents strategies for accurately forecasting sales by leveraging the 'four Ps': process, data, progress, and pruning. She emphasizes the importance of a defined sales process, high-quality data, making consistent progress, and the necessity of disqualifying non-viable deals. The webinar aims to help sales professionals improve their sales forecasting accuracy and manage their sales pipeline more effectively.

Takeaways

• 😀 **Webinar Introduction**: The webinar is a free educational event by Sandler, aimed at helping participants sell more effectively and understand the Sandler approach.
• 🏆 **Special Guest**: Alana, a top award winner from the Sandler Summit, is the guest speaker, recognized for her valuable contributions as a Sandler trainer.
• 📈 **Pipeline Mastery**: The focus is on mastering the sales pipeline and leveraging the 'four Ps' to drive revenue, based on Alana's award-winning presentation.
• 🎟️ **Sandler Summit 2025**: Tickets for the next Sandler Summit in 2025 are available, offering an opportunity for further learning and networking.
• 🌐 **Global Participation**: The webinar is attended by participants from various locations worldwide, emphasizing the global reach of Sandler's training.
• 💬 **Engagement Encouraged**: Audience interaction is encouraged through chat, where participants can ask questions and share their thoughts throughout the session.
• 🎯 **Forecasting Challenges**: Accurately forecasting sales is a universal challenge for salespeople and leaders, and the webinar aims to address this issue.
• 🎲 **Sales as a Gamble**: The concept of sales being akin to gambling is introduced, highlighting the need for a more strategic and data-driven approach to improve odds.
• 📊 **Data Quality**: The importance of high-quality data in the sales process is emphasized, as it directly impacts decision-making and the ability to forecast accurately.
• 🛠️ **Sales Process**: Having a defined sales process with clear stages and criteria is crucial for managing deals effectively and improving the chances of closing them.
• 🌳 **Spaghetti Model**: The buying journey is likened to a 'spaghetti model', indicating its complexity and nonlinear nature, which salespeople must navigate.
• 🔍 **Evidence Over Emotion**: The need for salespeople to act like detectives, seeking evidence-based criteria rather than relying on emotions or assumptions, is stressed.
• 🌱 **Pruning the Pipeline**: Regularly disqualifying and removing unrealistic deals from the pipeline is essential for maintaining a healthy and accurate sales forecast.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the Sandler webinar?

The Sandler webinar is a free, educational event held monthly to share knowledge, help participants sell more easily, and introduce them to the Sandler training approach.

Who is the special guest in this webinar?

The special guest is Alana, the top award winner from the last Sandler Summit, who presented on the topic of cleaning up your sales pipeline.

What is the David H. Sandler award?

The David H. Sandler award is the top award given by Sandler to a trainer who has delivered the most value, been the most giving, and exemplified what a Sandler trainer should be globally.

How can participants join the comments during the webinar?

Participants can join the comments by using the chat feature on YouTube anytime during the webinar.

What is the significance of the 'gambling' analogy in sales?

The 'gambling' analogy in sales refers to the inherent risks and uncertainties in predicting which deals will close and when. It emphasizes the need for a process and data-driven approach to improve the odds of success.

What is the 'spaghetti model' of the buying journey?

The 'spaghetti model' describes the complex, non-linear process that buyers go through when making decisions, which can involve multiple steps and require alignment and consensus among various stakeholders.

Why is it important for salespeople to have a defined sales process?

A defined sales process helps salespeople navigate the stages of a deal systematically, with clear criteria and expectations at each stage, ultimately improving the accuracy of sales forecasts and the likelihood of closing deals.

What are the four Ps that Alana discusses for driving revenue?

The four Ps discussed by Alana are Process, Pipeline, Progress, and Pruning. These elements are crucial for managing and optimizing the sales pipeline.

What is the role of a salesperson in the context of the 'spaghetti model'?

In the context of the 'spaghetti model', a salesperson's role is to act as a coach, guiding buyers and influencers through the complex buying process, helping them navigate the various steps and align on decisions.

How can salespeople improve their odds of closing deals?

Salespeople can improve their odds of closing deals by having a clear, defined sales process, using data to make informed decisions, regularly making progress on deals, and being disciplined about pruning or disqualifying deals that are not likely to close.

What is the significance of the 'close the file' method mentioned by Alana?

The 'close the file' method is a strategy for dealing with stagnant deals in the sales pipeline. It involves directly communicating with the prospect to determine if the deal is still a priority, and if not, closing the file to focus on more promising opportunities.

Outlines

00:00

🎉 Welcome to the Sandler Webinar

The script opens with a welcome message for a Sandler webinar, highlighting the educational nature of these free monthly events. Mike Monu, the head coach at Sandler, introduces the special guest, Alana, who recently won the top award at the Sandler Summit. The topic of her presentation was 'cleaning up your pipeline,' and she is celebrated for her contribution. The webinar aims to help participants sell more effectively and understand Sandler's approach. Mike also encourages audience interaction through the chat and mentions the availability of tickets for the 2025 Sandler Summit.

05:01

🚀 Pipeline Mastery and the Four Ps

Alana discusses the importance of accurately forecasting sales and the challenges salespeople face in predicting which deals will close. She emphasizes the need for a structured approach to navigating deals from identification to closure. The session aims to help participants improve their sales forecasting abilities. Alana engages the audience with a chat activity, asking if they have gambled in the past year, and uses this as a metaphor for the risks salespeople take in their daily work. She also introduces the concept of professional gamblers like Annie Duke and Daniel Negreanu, who use data and process to make informed decisions, suggesting that salespeople can learn from their approach.

10:02

💰 Understanding the Current Sales Landscape

Alana delves into the complexities of the current sales environment, noting changes in cost, technology, decision-making speed, and the buyer's journey. She introduces the 'spaghetti model' to illustrate the non-linear and complex nature of the buying process today. The discussion highlights the challenges buyers face in aligning decisions and the role of salespeople in helping them navigate this process. Alana emphasizes the need for salespeople to understand the obstacles that buyers encounter and to improve their odds of success by adapting their sales strategies.

15:03

🤔 The Importance of a Defined Sales Process

Alana stresses the importance of having a clear and defined sales process, from identifying a potential opportunity to closing a deal. She engages the audience in a chat activity to gauge whether they have a formal sales process or if they are 'winging it.' The discussion clarifies the difference between a sales methodology and a process, with the former being a set of techniques and the latter being the specific steps taken to advance a sale. Alana encourages participants to think about how they can define and improve their sales process to increase their chances of success.

20:04

📊 Data Quality and Its Impact on Decision Making

The conversation turns to the quality of data in the sales process. Alana discusses how professional gamblers rely on high-quality data to make decisions, drawing a parallel to how salespeople should use data to guide their sales strategies. She asks participants to rate the quality of their data on a scale of one to ten, emphasizing the need for consistent and proven data. The discussion also touches on the use of CRM systems and the importance of having a high-quality data management system to support the sales process.

25:07

📈 Defining Stages and Criteria in the Sales Process

Alana explains the importance of defining stages and exit criteria in the sales process. She discusses how stages should be clearly defined with associated win rates, and how exit criteria help ensure that the necessary information is gathered at each stage before moving on. The conversation highlights the need for salespeople to avoid 'leapfrogging' or skipping stages and to ensure that they have a clear understanding of what constitutes a qualified deal. Alana also emphasizes the need for consistency in how criteria are applied across the organization.

30:08

🔍 Evidence-Based Selling and the Sandler Methodology

Alana introduces the Sandler methodology, which focuses on a consultative approach to selling. She discusses the importance of uncovering the problem, understanding the impact, and mapping the competitive landscape. The conversation emphasizes the need for salespeople to act like detectives, gathering evidence to support their sales pitches. Alana also discusses the importance of understanding buyer success criteria and the decision-making process, highlighting the need for salespeople to align their presentations with what buyers consider successful.

35:11

🌳 Mapping Influencers and the Importance of Team Selling

The discussion moves to the importance of mapping influencers in the sales process. Alana notes the increase in the number of influencers involved in deals and the complexity of understanding their influence. She emphasizes the need for sales teams to map out who these influencers are, their level of advocacy, and their influence. The conversation also touches on the importance of team selling, especially in complex sales environments, and the need for salespeople to understand how their team aligns with the buying team.

40:12

🌱 Pruning the Sales Pipeline

Alana discusses the concept of 'pruning' the sales pipeline, which involves disqualifying deals that are not moving forward. She emphasizes the importance of making regular progress on deals and the need for salespeople to be disciplined in evaluating the reality of each opportunity. The conversation includes a technique for determining whether a deal is still viable, involving a communication strategy to gauge the buyer's interest. Alana encourages salespeople to be honest with themselves about the viability of deals and to focus on proactive prospecting to fill their pipelines.

45:13

🔄 The CARE Model and Prospecting Strategies

The final paragraph focuses on the CARE model, which stands for Keep, Expand, Attain, and Recapture. Alana explains the importance of understanding the proportion of business that should come from existing customers versus new ones. She discusses the need for a balanced prospecting strategy that includes asking for introductions, networking, and targeted prospecting. The conversation concludes with a reminder of the importance of having a strong pipeline and the role of prospecting in achieving sales success.

Keywords

💡Pipeline Mastery

Pipeline Mastery refers to the ability to effectively manage and forecast sales opportunities within a sales pipeline. In the video's context, it is about leveraging the four Ps to drive revenue and accurately predict which deals will close. The script discusses the importance of understanding where deals are in the pipeline and how to navigate them to a successful close, which is central to the theme of improving sales forecasting and accuracy.

💡David H. Sandler Award

The David H. Sandler Award is a top honor given to a Sandler trainer who has delivered the most value and serves as an exemplary representative of the Sandler training philosophy. In the script, Alana is congratulated for winning this award at the Sandler Summit, highlighting her expertise in the field of sales training and her contribution to the sales community.

💡Forecasting

Forecasting in the sales context is the process of predicting future sales outcomes based on current data and trends. The video emphasizes the challenge of accurately forecasting sales, likening it to a gamble due to the unpredictability involved. The script uses the concept of weather forecasting as a humorous comparison to illustrate the difficulty of making accurate predictions more than seven days out, a challenge that salespeople must overcome to improve their sales processes.

💡Sales Process

A sales process is a series of steps or stages that a sales team follows to move a potential customer from prospect to close. The script discusses the importance of having a clearly defined sales process with stages and exit criteria to ensure that sales are advanced systematically and that the quality of data captured is high. This process is crucial for improving the odds of closing deals and is a central concept in the video's message about sales effectiveness.

💡Gamblers

In the script, professional gamblers like Annie Duke and Daniel Negreanu are mentioned as examples of individuals who make decisions based on process and data. Their approach to gambling is contrasted with the everyday decision-making in sales, where the script suggests that salespeople are 'gambling' without the same level of data-driven process. The use of gamblers in the script serves to illustrate the importance of having a structured approach to increasing the likelihood of success in sales.

💡Spaghetti Model

The 'spaghetti model' is a term used in the script to describe the complex and nonlinear nature of the modern buying journey. It contrasts with the traditional linear approach to decision-making, highlighting the many variables and stakeholders involved in today's business purchases. The script uses this concept to explain the challenges faced by salespeople in navigating the buying process and the need for a structured sales approach to overcome these challenges.

💡Exit Criteria

Exit criteria in a sales process are the specific conditions or milestones that must be met before a sales opportunity can move from one stage to the next. The script emphasizes the importance of clearly defining these criteria to ensure that deals are advanced based on objective measures rather than optimism or guesswork. This concept is integral to the video's theme of improving the accuracy and effectiveness of sales forecasting.

💡Progress

Progress in the sales context refers to the forward movement of a deal through the sales stages. The script discusses the need for consistent progress in deals and the importance of setting clear future commitments to ensure that progress is being made. The concept of progress is tied to the video's theme of improving the management of sales pipelines and the ability to forecast with greater accuracy.

💡Pruning

Pruning, in the context of the script, refers to the practice of disqualifying or removing deals from the sales pipeline that are not moving forward or do not meet the defined criteria for progression. The script suggests that effective pruning is essential for maintaining a healthy pipeline and focusing sales efforts on the most promising opportunities. This concept is part of the video's overall message on optimizing the sales process for better forecasting and revenue generation.

💡Prospecting

Prospecting is the process of searching for new sales opportunities and potential customers. The script discusses the importance of consistent prospecting to feed the sales pipeline with a sufficient number of quality leads. It suggests that the strength of a salesperson's conviction in their ability to close deals is directly related to the strength of their pipeline, which is fueled by effective prospecting. This concept is key to the video's theme of enhancing sales performance and forecast accuracy.

Highlights

Introduction to Sandler webinars and the guest speaker Alana, a top award winner at the Sandler Summit.

Alana's presentation on 'Cleaning up your pipeline' and its significance in winning the David H. Sandler award.

The importance of accurately forecasting sales and the challenges faced by salespeople in doing so.

The analogy between weather forecasts and sales forecasts, highlighting the inaccuracy of long-term predictions.

The concept of 'gambling' in sales and the need to improve the odds of successful deals.

The use of the 'Four Ps' framework for driving revenue and mastering pipeline management.

A chat-based interactive session to gauge participants' experience with gambling and its relation to sales.

The need for a defined sales process and the role of process, data, and coaching in improving sales outcomes.

The impact of the changing world on the sales process, including remote workforces and talent gaps.

The 'spaghetti model' of the buying journey and its implications for sales strategies.

The importance of understanding and navigating the buyer's decision-making process as a salesperson.

The role of salespeople as coaches, guiding buyers through the complex buying journey.

The significance of having a clear, defined sales process with stages and exit criteria for each stage.

The challenge of maintaining progress in sales deals and the need for regular movement towards closure.

The concept of 'pruning' in sales, which involves disqualifying and removing non-viable deals from the pipeline.

The necessity of a robust prospecting strategy to ensure a strong pipeline and sales success.

The CARE method for evaluating business opportunities: Keep, Expand, Attain, and Recapture.

The Sandler Summit invitation and details for the 2025 event.

Transcripts

welcome everybody it is time for another

Sandler webinar these are free

educational webinars that we do uh every

month or so to help uh share some

knowledge help everybody sell more sell

more easily and for you to get to know

Sandler a little bit better I'm Mike

monu head coach here at the home office

in Sandler and uh I'm really excited to

welcome a special guest this month it is

our top award winner from the last

Sandler Summit Alana

uh presented at the Sandler Summit this

topic about cleaning up your pipeline

and she won our top award it's called

the David H Sandler award after our

namesake and it's the top award uh out

of the entire network we give away once

a year for the trainer who has delivered

really the most value uh been the most

giving and the and the best example of

what a Sandler trainer should be uh

around the world and so Alana

congratulations and thanks again for

sharing your time and attention and and

thought leadership with the network

thanks for having me really

excited all right now we're talking

about your pipeline so pipeline Mastery

and leveraging the four Ps to drive

Revenue again this is a talk she gave at

the Sandler Summit if you want to attend

next year the tickets are available for

the 2025 Sandler Summit you can do that

now I'm going to pop up some comments

too you can join the comments in YouTube

anytime and say hi tell us where you're

from we got people from British Columbia

here uh Peters and Purgatory we've got

Omaha we've got Jersey City uh

Sacramento all around the world joining

us today so if you want to participate

you can pop them in the chat and we will

uh make sure we pay attention to those

answer any questions you have we'll try

to save some time for questions at the

end but we do want to hear from you and

we want you to participate Alana will

ask a few questions as we go uh along

the way there but tickets available

sandler.com Summit if you want to see

more cool information like this and hear

more about what we have going on for the

next year uh a ton of stuff planned

we're really excited for that let's jump

into it Alana tell us a little bit about

Pipeline and maybe where people mess

this up and how we can help them uh get

it more accurate

forecasts uh solve challenges in their

own life about what they're gonna make

and and whether they're GNA keep their

job or not or really know like what

deals are real and are going to close

and which ones are going to be maybe a

little bit further out last thing I'll

say is I got to repeat my joke uh I did

at the Sandler Summit which is how do

you uh what do weather forecasters and

salespeople have in

common any forecasts more than seven

days out are completely inaccurate U so

Alana is gonna help us fix that problem

at least from the sales side there you

go Alana awesome thanks so much Mike as

most most of you know whether you're a

salesperson or a sales leader being able

to accurately predict just like the

weather which they get a pass right I

mean weathermen can be wrong and it

doesn't matter but unfortunately in

sales it's not quite the case right but

being a accurately able to forecast

what's going to close when it's going to

close um and then being able to navigate

our deals effectively is really what

we're going to talk about today because

it is a universal Challenge and probably

one of the most common things we hear

over and over again from sales leaders

and sales people that you know I'm just

really frustrated in my inability to

accurately forecast my sales um which is

a direct relation to how you're setting

up your deals and how you're navigating

from opportunity identification to win

or loss so really that's what we're here

to talk about today um I wish it were

like when we were together in Orlando

and I could see all your smiling faces

smiling back at me but in this framework

I don't have that ability um so will be

asking everybody that's on today to

please participate me with me by chat

I'm going to ask for a lot of feedback

ask you to put a lot of things in chat

if there's like questions that are

really top of Mind as I'm kind of going

here go ahead and put those in the chat

and our hope is that we'll be able to

cover a couple of those at the end um

but please use the chat because I can't

see or hear you it's really important

that I know that you're getting out of

what you want to get out of the session

by using the chat so hopefully you're

willing to do that with me today I did

forget to jump in with one upfront

contract there Elana which is we the

recording will be instantly available on

YouTube so it's like a DVR it's already

recording you people can go in and start

from the beginning right now but as soon

as we're done it'll be up there live we

don't share the PowerPoint and there

shouldn't be any handouts that you need

today but if you want to check the

recording just come back to this exact

same link uh anytime after this it'll be

up there you can share with people that

you think need to hear it and all kinds

of good stuff uh so back to the back to

our Pres

all right so let's start with our first

chat activity as the group and I'd like

to hear from everyone put yes in the

chat window if you've done any form of

gambling in let's say the last 12 months

so you don't have to have gone to Vegas

obviously you see commercials on TV

non-stop for all those betting apps so

that counts if you're in a Fantasy

Football Fantasy Baseball you did

squares you've done a Bracketology

during March Madness whatever that looks

like there's different varieties and

there's some I'm willing to do and some

I are but for the purpose of discussion

today we're going to count any of those

as gambling so if you've gambled in the

last 12 months in any of those formats

go ahead and put it in chat look like we

I ate some gas station Sushi does does

that count

yes looks like most of the people are

saying yes we're getting about 90% yeses

here I can't throw them all up here but

uh yes yes uh

Diablo I is the game um absolutely so

we've got some convicted love to play

the odds I like it Tony Tony Orlando's

here uh and he says yes uh Tony Orlando

is in Vegas for sure H in the last 12

days 100% from Randy uh awesome oh and

Andy rich rich is living up to his last

name seven figure bets there I guess I

guess all right so we've got quite a few

and believe it or not the stat says that

like about 85% of the population has

gambled over their lifetime and about

60% of the US population have gambled in

the last 12 months so I don't know the

total number of people on and I'm not

very good at math but there you go

there's the stats for you um but what I

would argue is that if we are in sales

we are all gambling whether we realize

it or not but I'm going to go to my

gamblers first so any of you that put

yes into the chat I have a bet for you

so if you like to gamble I'm going to

give you an opportunity so what I want

you to do is if you would bet your

annual income that the deals in your

pipeline the ones that you have closable

in the next 30 days if you would bet

your annual income that those deals are

going to close for what and when you say

they are go ahead and type bet me into

the chat window so we like to gamble how

many of you are going to gamble that

everything you've got that says closable

in the next 30 days is going to close

for what and when you said it

would all right we're still waiting for

any comments in the chat we might be

waiting here for a while but I'll throw

up anybody that that says yes on this

one Kelly says not a chance

yeah I love it not a chance Kelly

appreciate your honesty and

amazing um how we we get a little

nervous when we put gambling in this can

context because some of us are bigger

Risk Takers than others but even the

biggest Risk Takers are going nope not

it um but I got to tell you whether you

realize it or not you are gambling every

single day you are in sales in the

decisions that you're making as you're

advancing deals you're gambling bets on

resources you're going to allocate money

that's going to come in decisions that

you're going to make um so our goal

today is really kind of help you improve

your odds and make you feel a little bit

more comfortable about feeling good

about what is closable in your pipeline

some of you might know who these folks

are but these are two of the most

well-known gamblers meaning professional

poker players uh on the left is Annie

Duke and on the right is Daniel nean

collectively they've won over $10

million um and they are Prof

professional gamblers it's what they do

for a living but my argument would be is

that these two are gambling a whole lot

less every time they play than we are

every day in sales because no decision

that they're making is being made

without a process without hard data to

allow them to make high quality

decisions over time now does that mean

they win every time they sit down at the

table no but they certainly know their

odds because they have a process and

data that they use to consistently help

them improve their odds and improve

their winnings so over the next I would

say 40 45 minutes today my goal is

really that you walk away with one thing

it's not really a high bar guys it

shouldn't be right one thing that will

help you improve your odds for being

able to predict the deals that are going

to close in your pipeline so we've got

to start with understanding what are

your Cent odds so back to the chat again

I'd like you to think again about those

opportunities that we said that no way

heck am I going to bet on right now but

what's your average win rate today what

are the current odds your current win

weight your current re conversion rate

between opportunities that you think are

closable and actually close what do we

think put in some percentages and we're

probably expect to be a fair number of

discrepancy here but be honest with

yourself if you're not sure take your

best guess we may or may not have the

data thank you Kelly for starting us off

at 8% uh we've got 8% we got 35% I would

expect we're going to see any uh a wide

range of percentages here 30ish we seem

to see like that 30ish percent seems to

be pretty um consistent here we've got

some lower numbers in 10% so any of you

that have numbers lower than 30% U

hopefully it shouldn't be hard to take

one thing to improve that number today

because you may end up as you go through

here going wow all right well maybe

that's why some of the reasons why I'm

having that data to make you feel better

a little bit one study I read recently

is that actually 80% of sales

organizations don't have a forecast

accuracy greater than 75% so if you're

somewhere in those below 75% you're with

the normal right so our goal today is

how do we improve it how do we get it up

a little bit from where it is and

there's some reasons why we're seeing

such low numbers today um and it really

starts with the challenges that we face

in today's environment the world has

changed right it's constantly changing

that's the only thing um that we can bet

on really is that it's going to keep

changing but there's been some

significant changes in all of these

areas and if you saw Dave's talk at

Summit or a prior webinar that did he

kind of went into detail Dave Matson did

went into detail detail in all of these

different areas but the cost of money

more than it used to be technology such

a huge player game changer being a

disruptor every single day um we've got

slower decisions being made because of

these factors and the buyer Journey

today is so different so that's the one

that we're going to really jump into but

all of these are playing factors in

challenges that you've got to be able to

un overcome in order to improve your

odds of success in closing a deal the

remote Workforce where we are in Talent

we've got a couple years away from

having a pretty big talent talent Gap we

got a lot of people retiring and those

people it takes time to replace that

level of expertise and believe it or not

there's more people leaving the

workforce and are actually entering the

workforce so we've got a lot of

challenges a lot of gaps but for the

focus of today's discussion I really

want to dive into the changes that have

happened in the buying Journey so you

could argue and this is Gartner data

that it used to be that it was a fairly

linear process meaning there were some

pretty clear steps most of the time

pretty linear on how to a buyer goes

about making a decision but now they

call it the spaghetti model which I just

love I call it a hot mess of like

jumbled things together um and I'll show

you exactly what that looks like so this

is the same jumbled spaghetti model but

with real things in it so if you look at

the blue navy boxes those are the the

steps really of the main steps that

buyers going to go through they've got

to identify they have a problem they

start looking for Solutions then they

start figuring out exactly what they

need as part of that solution and then

they're going to select well guess what

it is not a straight path look at all

the different things that have to go on

here all these different things that are

at play and my favorite part about this

graphic and it's a little hard to see on

the screen but anywhere where you see

anything in bold so that bold Blue Print

that's where there's buyin or alignment

needed on the buyer's end so they all

have to coordinate and agree at all

those different steps it's no wonder

that even if you have a champion

somebody that really wants to bring in

your solution or your product that

they've got kind of an uphill battle

right they've got all these people that

they've got to align on their side so so

it's no wonder that doing nothing

staying the same status quo is way

easier and we've got a lot of different

people on the call today so a lot of

different things that you sell but I

don't care where you are or what you

sell your number one competitor today is

status quo doing nothing staying the

same and it's no wonder that they're

going to stay the same because look at

the obstacles that they have to go

through in order to make a decision

pretty alarming I would love to see some

feedback on kind of your thoughts on

this as I kind of keep moving a little

bit but I want to jump in there and just

highlight that that I I heard a stat

that over 50% of deals are lost to no

decision especially Enterprise deals is

what that was from I think it was 53% of

Enterprise deals end in no decision so

when we're looking at that end of the

pipeline it's not that you lost it to a

competitor or anything it's just they

were like nah ran out of steam you know

somebody said it earlier decision makers

change you know um somebody replaced

somebody comes into the process late and

it slows the whole thing down and it

gets pushed out of of the data so it's

oh I like Dan's technical term Peta to

change that's a good one Dan I'm gonna

steal that one that's really good um but

it's no wonder right I mean it's and

sometimes you might lose like you said

to status quo it might come back two

years from now 18 months from now it

might not but this is reality folks this

is what those organizations are going

through in trying to make some decisions

so here's a few more stats for you

related to this so because of that

spaghetti hot mess like I like to call

it right there's and I would argue this

number seems low at least maybe in the

Detroit area that's where I am and we've

got a lot of large Automotive

manufacturers and some big complex

organizations I would say the

dysfunction is probably even higher than

55% but buying organizations are

experiencing dysfunction due to the hot

mess spaghetti model right that

dysfunction can be things like turnover

somebody mentioned it in the chat you

got people turning over all the time it

a big one that we see a lot are

conflicting priorities they're not

aligned internally on what they want to

go after what resources are needed

sometimes you've got an alignment issue

where the left hand's not talking to the

right hand um not to mention when you

start talking about global buying groups

trying to align all of those factors so

I want argue that the 55% might be even

a little bit low but dysfunction is

coming from all of these factors

turnover lack of alignment

prioritization and because of that that

it means that 74% of people that are

buying aren't making what I would call a

high quality deal that's what Gardner

calls it and you could argue what high

quality deal means it could be

indecision cause a non high quality deal

it could be change after they've decided

they're starting to pull things back or

they don't fully implement or they

change once they decided to go but it's

because of all of these factors make it

difficult today for buyers to buy that's

the reality so in order to combat that

our salese have to be much better at

creating value and I like to call a

salesperson's role today they have to

become really good at being a coach

you've got to coach your buyers and

different influencers through the

spaghetti you got to help them navigate

what's going to happen next and so Mike

and I like and I know Mike was in my

world back in the day before he went to

the other side and is working on the

home office side of things right but we

had the ability to you know sometimes we

ran into VPS of sales or directors of

sales so at least there salespeople who

have some skills and ability to

influence and Coach a buying decision

some of you might be calling on plant

managers or or all kinds of different

people Engineers that guess what they

have to sell internally so they need a

coach to help them be able to sell

navigate this spaghetti and help their

team get to a quality buying decision

but it starts with our ability to help

coach them through that process so how

do we do this how do we deal with all

this it kind of starts with my first P

which is really all about process so

when I say process I mean your sales

process so how many of you have a

defined process from how you advance oh

like identify a deal so let's skip the

prospecting stuff but you have a live

person that you're talking to so you've

identified a potential opportunity and

then all the way to closed one closed

loss how many of you have a

process defined meaning you know what

the steps are or you've got to process a

playbook for it um so I want you to chat

yes I have a process it could be uh it's

informal like we have a process like we

kind of talk about it we know but it's

it's informal um or they're really

brutally honest people on the call today

I want you to type wing it because maybe

I'm just winging it right it it never

happens but maybe you are so I do see

some people saying gate selling which is

fantastic we're going to show you how to

do that a little bit today we've got

some informals we've got no we do not so

we do have some wingits but if you're

not comfortable saying that that's okay

um but this is the very first step is

having that clearly defined and some

call it a gated process um so that we

know ideally what should the process be

so back to our gamblers here Daniel here

if you have a subscription to master

class and have any interest in gambling

at all honestly I'm not a huge gambler

but I was super fascinated when I

watched this um he teaches a master

class on how to be a better poker player

and so his six million plus in winnings

is certainly not coming for luck in this

class he shares all kinds of process and

data on how he reads opponents the

complex math and statistics of every

possible combo that could come up but

it's a very highly defined process

process that he uses to guide his

decision making so you're gambling a lot

less if you have a highly defined

process with good data to guide your

decision making but highly recommend you

check it out if you never had it's

really quite fascinating have you ever

seen it Mike or um any well oh the this

the math and the gambling is amazing and

how fast they can do it in their heads

where they just see like what an

opponent is or what's there and they

know whether they have the best hand the

second best hand the probabilities of

their losses and wins it's it's crazy uh

I wanted to clarify one thing that I I

think some people have mentioned which

is like the Sandler selling system is a

methodology and not a process we should

probably talk a little bit about that

there's things that we want to do and

there are qualification things that

we're looking for but a process is like

do you do a demo is there a trial like

how many is there a First decision how

long is the S cycle typically are we

getting other decision makers is there a

presentation to a board that's more the

process the Sandler methodology can

apply to any process of how you

absolutely absolutely you're going to

see that a little bit more when we get

to some of the things a little bit later

but the methodology can overlay any

process and some of you are in a very

transactional sale if you're selling B

Toc maybe um very transactional others

of you may be in longer complex sales

where you've got tons and tons of

stakeholders and a very ex could take 18

months to close a deal well that's a

different process and you're applying

that methodology through that process

and you apply the methodology in a

different way in a shorter process but

you're absolutely right that's the kind

of the fuel for your process right that

helps us get through the process but it

starts with defining how should a deal

go right what are the major steps that

we need to go through in order to clear

uh close that deal way to go Mike thanks

for clarifying that all right so some

more chat activity and I love all the

feedback in the chat thank you thank you

so much so the quality of our data

directly impacts our decision-making and

the reason why the master class exists

and all those stats and numbers that

they know is that's high quality data if

you watch any professional sporting

event right baseball season right now so

the Tigers I'll just bring them up right

they have stats on everything they know

their numbers on everything which helps

them be able to coach be able to adjust

be able to make decisions because they

have that data on everything so it

starts with having really good data

about what's going on in your process so

some of you might be kind of low Tech

which is totally fine maybe your sales

process is typed in Excel still works

great I mean it's functional you can do

it right so you might have it hopefully

at least Excel and not like a piece of

paper written somewhere in a file drawer

but you got Excel and then more

sophisticated could be your obviously

using some version of a CRM whether it's

a really sophisticated one like cpot

that combines your marketing your sales

Al together so you got all that data

analytics or it could be something like

a pipe drive that's more geared just

towards managing your opportunities um

but whatever system you use low Tech

high-tech I want you to think a minute

about how high is your quality data

scale of one to 10 so one means what

data there is no data 10 means very

predictable very consistent it's been

proven it's been adjusted based on real

life that's a 10 so one is what data I

don't have any data 10 is very

consistent it's been proven and adjusted

over time go ahead and put in the

quality of some numbers to represent how

you feel about the quality of your data

so I see four and a half I see a

two because this is really the key and

we're going to kind of focus on how to

improve the quality of data based what

you're looking for in a minute but the

reason why the poker players are so

successful is they've got lots andot .85

I like it that's very umic his data was

poor uh but the his personal evaluation

spot on nailed

it I love it all right so we've got I

think the highest number I've seen so

far is what a six or a seven yeah

something like that all right so keep

that number in mind because our goal is

to help you improve the quality and what

it is that you're capturing so we're

going to go back to process for a minute

so the way that we would Define a

process for your sales is in three areas

first is it's staged so those of you

that put gate selling same thing we're

talking about the main stages steps of

an opportunity okay so once we know the

major steps some of you might have two

or three if it's more of a transactional

business some of you might have six

seven I've got a client that has seven

that's probably the longest that I've

seen but they sell software packet

custom software Integrations to large

companies um so they've got a lot that

they have to go through but you know the

major steps think a b c so maybe it's

Discovery maybe it's qualification and

then maybe it's close I don't know but

you'll have some dedicated steps or

stages from there you want to apply

waiting to those stages and the waiting

should be

relatively representative of your real

close ratio at that stage and the

earlier in a deal the less probability

that we're going to win right if I'm

still in the the prospect stage I might

have a

10% uh ability to close that so I might

set that at 10% but anything we have in

those late stage deals that we were

talking about a minute ago right should

be 70 80% probably we think those are

going to close so the further along we

get in our process the higher the

possibility for closing it so they

should be waiting

most CRM systems come with out of the

box waiting that may or may not be the

right waiting for you so really making

sure that over time we're challenging

ourselves and going is that really

accurate for us because if I've got it

set at 25% but it's more like 10% well

then I have a problem so we get use the

data and adjust over time but most

importantly once we know the stages with

waiting we've kind of defined with some

clarity in criteria what each stage

means and if you think about it we call

it exit criteria meanings here's the

things that we have to uncover discover

before we get to progress on to the next

one and I'll give you some more

information on that in a minute so

here's a super simple very generic you

probably have a demo phase or a trial

phase the client I was referencing a few

minutes ago they have a workshop stage

um so these these aren't necessarily

going to be what you call them um but at

a suspect means it's a live person I I I

know I'm talking to Mike but I don't

really know yet if Mike actually needs

what it is I do so my exit criteria for

Mike might be trying to confirm like

does he even need what I do and is he in

my wheelhouse of what I could

potentially help him with then a

prospect is like well he's in the

Wheelhouse but is there anything that he

got going on that's gonna really compel

them to do something or not and then

qualification we'll come back to that

one in a minute is really truly

understanding everything at played

qualifying opportunity and then once

we've done all that you could be in your

proposal stage your quote stage whatever

that looks like that closable is

typically they've seen the full scope of

work whatever that looks like and we're

looking to kind of make a decision um

and what happens here is is without

criteria which I'm going to give you

some examples in a minute we see a lot

of this going on so we call it leap

frogging I had a client who called out

his head of Mexico team in the best way

it was the best because we were going

through a group of leaders six leaders

on a call and we're talking about their

stages because they had a new early imp

uh newly put in a CRM and we were kind

of confirming each of the criteria for

the stages and the head of Mexico says

well we keep everything at

10% and then once we you know know

everything then we push it forward to

the there's are like 70% is their next

stage so he's like 70% it's so you got

to love the president he goes

you know what we call that

sandbagging so it can be very difficult

to really coach and plan resources and

inventory levels and things like that if

it's really more than 10% it should be

showing progress we should be moving it

along the way the other thing we see

really really commonly is salespeople

with high optimism oh yeah that's

definitely closable but really there

isn't any criteria it's more of the well

hope to win I want to win it's I need to

win it might be one of those that we

we've got it overstaged but it's

overstaged because we haven't really

defined what the criteria is um that

we're looking for at each stage so to

keep the chat opportunity going I'm kind

of curious just go ahead and type in how

many steps or gates are in your stages

the example up here is four some of you

might have more some of you might have

less and happy ear syndrome Jose we

absolutely we're

gonna so real yeah it's probably one of

the most common sales weaknesses that we

see honestly um all right so go ahead

type in how many stages are there in

your process I see someone else with

four also just keep typing all right so

what I mean by exit

criteria is really all about the

criteria and again this is very generic

there's some

um uh like abbreviations in here that

you may or may not know what they mean

but in a like big picture format when

we're talking about a suspect we want

oops we want to at least say that you

know we've identified that they um fall

into what it is that we do when we get

to that Prospect stage we call it pain

at Sandler so I've confirmed the initial

problem that they say they have and I've

started digging a little bit deeper I

probably want to ask even at this

Prospect stage for who else they're

talking to or who else they're

considering

UFC is a Sandler term that stands for

upfront contract but I've set a very

firm upfront contract around what's

going to happen going into my Discovery

meeting and Discovery meeting is nothing

more than starting this qualification

phase you could call it a lot of

different things the qualified bucket

there's a lot of things under here right

I put in some of the ones that I see

over and over get missed and we

overstaged a deal um because maybe we

didn't fully understand what the comp

itive offering was or situation uh we

missed some influencers or

decision-making we're going to talk

about that in a bit um we have confirmed

commitment for Action meaning they

actually said they want to do something

about this instead of just explore it

for future purposes um we've done a

little bit of alignment on about what to

expect and budget lots of things that we

see here that get missed and so if I

miss any of these things it shouldn't be

enclosable because I have't truly

qualified it yet um and you're going to

see that play out as a theme here um

over your organization so I'm going to

ask you this I would like you to think

about how well in your companies is this

documented do we have criteria the one

I'd love to know the most about is how

many of you truly have documented the

criteria necessary to truly say it's a

qualified deal which means typically our

win percentage is more than 50 50% our

confidence is more than 50% at this

point um and we've got kind of

consistency across our organization so

tell me if you've got criteria say yes

well- defined criteria um but then

another thing I want you to think about

is if I were to ask everyone on your

sales team for their criteria is it

consistent or are we all kind of winging

it and then I see a lot of not

documented right and if it's not

documented guess what it's open to

interpretation and everybody's going to

have different criteria so this might be

your single biggest action item coming

out of today is to go back and do this

with your team if you're already in

Sandler go back to your Sandler coach

and say hey you know what can we do me

do us a favor and let's kind of review

our criteria maybe it's out to date this

doesn't this changes this is a fluid

discussion here often times so this

might be your single biggest um takeaway

is trying to Define this Mike yeah I

wanted to jump in on this one because I

think especially with qualified and

closable objective criteria is important

like have we sent the proposal like it's

not closable because the salesperson

goes yeah it's closable I mean it could

happen right it's closable because the

proposal has been sent and if you're

using sophisticated CRM some people

mentioned Salesforce or hpot you could

actually include those in there so they

have marked you have typed in what those

pains are in order to become qualified

not just like yeah they got a pain uh

you know like we're taking the

salesperson's word for it and they're

saying it's about 85% so that must be in

the closable range no we want like

specific defin and measurable criteria

that are objective the and one that I

like the most is the other side has

taken an action so it's not that I did

something I sent over the proposal well

did they ask for a proposal or have they

responded to it what did the buyer do

that qualified them to move to the next

step I think is a big key there

absolutely and that objective real

tangible stuff is going to come back

here in a couple slides and I want to

really quickly point out Jose said yes

but sellers don't apply it um so that's

a very very common thing that we see

Jose and you're not going to like my

response to this but that means you as a

leader need to change the way we're

running pipeline meetings and change the

way we're doing deal coaching with our

people because we should be running our

pipeline meetings to this criteria and

coaching our sellers using this to help

really flush out any overstaging any

lack of missing objective information

Etc so it can be written down but it's

my belief that the leadership team owns

the implementation of this because it's

not just that the sellers do it but the

leaders are leading and coaching using

the criteria as well great comments here

great great comments I could keep on

this all day this I'm really kind of

passionate about this but I'm looking at

the time going you better keep moving

Alana so so I'm going to keep moving so

the next step which happens to be kind

of funny is keeping moving is all about

progress right are we really making

progress

consistently on our deals I coach a lot

of clients where you're looking at their

Pipeline and there's stuff that's 120

days old that hasn't moved right so

we're not making progress we have to

make regular progress consistently to

move or reject kick out which we're

going to talk about in a minute as well

so progress starts with what I'm going

to call a clear future commitment and

sometimes we take what our salespeople

say to us and think it's a clear future

commitment but I'm reaching out next

week or I'm supposed to hear back for

them in a week or so is not a clear

future commitment right we have to get

really good at defining those clear

future commitments getting that

commitment ahead of time so if I'm

trying to book a next meeting well then

I want to make sure that meeting is

booked before I leave but I've coached a

lot of salespeople over the years that

oh well I'm reaching out next

week that that's not a clear future step

I should hear something soon not a clear

future commitment um so we've really got

to get the the actually what are we

looking for by when with who that

Clarity needs to come on at every

interaction to be able to really make

regular progress I saw something about

an anniversary cake which just makes me

laugh for for old opportunities Jose

nailed it I think we should

celebrate also gonna chime in because

you hit a great hot button issue there

which is also in these scorings is you

can demote people so you can move

actually it can happen sales managers

and stuff is you can we do this in

marketing too with lead scoring is like

if they haven't taken action in 120 days

they reset they get minus 50 points on

their scores uh for that that's

definitely it's a regular coaching

conversation with clients and

occasionally even with my Sandler guys

right um help me understand why you have

the stages here and I'm not hearing this

or this so I think you need to push it

back right that that should be part of

how we're running sales meeting is is

we're Poss you know we're moving stuff

backwards instead of forwards definitely

and that might be somebody else's huge

takeaway today they're going to go back

and go through their Pipeline and

readjust where everything is sitting and

buy some anniversary

C keeping deals in there for 365 days I

love it Jose is killing it I love it all

right um so I'm gonna go back to the

gamblers again Annie's written a lot of

books thinking in bets is a really cool

book that she wrote if you're interested

on how to guide really good decision

making and I'm not going to read it

exactly on the screen you can read it

but it's 100% dependent on the quality

quality of the information that we're

using so back to that data again um is

really the the key here and this is

where happy years comes in guys this is

evidence over emotions I really want us

to start thinking that we need to be

looking for evidence like a detective

like an investigator I'm looking for

evidence but what we normally hear is

hey Mike how'd that sales call go what

are you gonna say went great I heard

this morning uh by a peer said rrg

really really good okay what the heck

does that mean right um so we have to

get really good at being detectives or

investigators looking for evidence of

that criteria so this next screen if

you're familiar with Sandler will look

familiar this is our methodology right

so on the right hand side this is our

methodology if you're new to Sandler all

I really need you to know is that our

methodology is what we call a consult

ative approach meaning it's a dialogue

it's a discovery it's a continual

process with heavy heavy focus on

qualifying you notice that qualifying

section there all that dark blue that's

where a lot of the evidence is that

we're looking for we're looking for

evidence around the actual problem so

just because they say that they have bad

quality or bad service or whatever

doesn't mean they're actually going to

do anything about it so it's all about

taking what that issue or opportunity is

that they bring you figure out why it's

happening so the what the why it's

happening but then at the end of the day

it's all about impact and I teach my

salespeople it's the what the why and

the so what impact is fully def defined

by the so what if it really doesn't

impact their day their comp their bottom

line their job their customer

then they probably aren't going to do

anything about it because look at the

spaghetti hot mess that they have to go

through in order to get something done

so really being able to truly uncover

and quantify the impact you can tell me

how much it's costing them to live with

it so what is the cost of doing nothing

how have I Quantified the impact in time

dollars Etc that's true evidence the

yeah they're really frustrated so so

what so just keep asking yourself so

what all right competitive landscape I

got to tell you I see a lot of deals

lost because we missed a lot in the

competitive landscape who else is

involved why might they win versus why

might we win I've got a client situation

where they were down to two people but

one of their solution they couldn't do

everything the other provider could do

everything well that really changes how

I'm going to go about that deal if I if

I know that they're looking for somebody

that can build a building and do all

that stuff but I can't do all of that

well then I better be talking about that

to see how important that really is but

we see a lot of gaps in truly

understanding the competitive

landscape um I love this one I could

spend all day on this one but I don't

have time which is buyer success

criteria what does success look like to

them how are they defining success

what's their

criteria obviously they have to be

willing and able to change willing and

able to invest and then the

decision-making process is quite

complicated today there's six factors

that probably have 16 plus on each one

of them which is all the who what when

where why and how they're going to go

about making that decision and unless I

understand and have evidence of these

things then when I get to this

presenting of the solution I've got to

be presenting it in a way that's in

alignment with everything that I know

but what we see a lot is quick to quote

quick to propose responding to rfqs and

rfps without really understanding and

having evidence of what's going on here

and those of you that are Sandler

clients know that this is the heart of

what you learn in the methodology and

how do I apply that to my own sales

process let's talk about influencers for

a minute some of you if you're in super

transactional you might not have 14 but

I promise you have more than a couple

right the number of influencers involved

on deals today has skyrocketed because

of that spaghetti mess look at all those

people that we have to have aligned and

guess what you're not getting access to

all of them so I just want you to think

about a current deal in your pipeline I

want you to type in some real numbers

for you how many influencers do you

think are involved in one of your

opportunities that you're currently

going after let's just get some real

numbers while we keep going here so the

other challenge we see today is the

ability to map the influence so it used

to be you could just look at an or chart

and that would be indicative of how the

decisions being made well I got to tell

you just because Mike's at the top of

the Orit chart doesn't mean he has the

most amount of influence so it's

absolutely critical today that your

sales teams are mapping out influencers

who they are what their advocacy is

which is are they Pro you are they kind

of neutral are they a detractor meaning

they're Pro your competition what's

their advocacy score for you and what's

their amount of influence and the

reality is is the org chart doesn't tell

you everything it's it's often deceiving

your ultimate decision maker may not be

at the top of the or chart so you've got

to flush this out through conversations

with lots of people and I see a lot of

sellers missing opportunities to gain

relationships with some I would say bit

players or people in the organization at

the operational level that can help you

understand how these things go together

um and then there's software tools and

extra things that you can do to really

map this out in today's seller but it's

a huge gap in salespeople we don't we're

not in front of enough people we don't

know how the influence works and when

we're selling in teams so those of you

that sell in teams maybe your program

managers or your engineers or your

marketing or your product whatever it

looks like are selling together this is

even more important and Dave talked a

lot about it in previous sessions the

ability to map our sell team against

their buying team it's critical today to

order to successfully win deals looks

like we've got quite a few I've got six

to 158 to 10 so lots of decision makers

so one opportunity for you might really

be around better mapping better

understanding the influence and better

team selling because it's the reality

and it's not going away it's just G to

get

worse all right let's move on to my

favorite which is pruning so tuning

means disqualifying deals kicking them

out so when is the last time you

actually said to a prospect you know I

really don't think that this is a

priority right now totally okay I'm GNA

go ahead and like call this one good for

now right or we've just looked at that

anniversary cake opportunity at 120 and

gone yeah this really isn't real this

just needs to Flat thin taken out

because it's cluttering everything else

so pruning is all about if we take it

back to to the gambling stage right

knowing when to fold them the Ultimate

Gambler right you got to know when to

hold them and know when to fold them if

you're not a Kenny Rogers fan I'm sorry

but that's a classic and it will now be

stuck in your head for the rest of the

day um so we have to get disciplined as

an organization and as sellers really

challenging what's real and a good way

to know that you've got this problem is

you've got some stalled or stuck

opportunities in your funnel so if I

were to take your opportunity Pipeline

and turn it in a funnel it's getting

stuck somewhere sometimes it's getting

stuck at the top meaning we got a lot of

early stage stuff but nothing's really

moving through sometimes it's more Stuck

in the Middle everything's sitting there

at about 50% and it just hasn't moved or

the most common I really see is we've

got the things really in that late stage

but they're not really closable because

uh we really couldn't win something that

isn't closable and that's really the big

lesson here it's impossible to close

something that's not quality qualified

so you've really got to take a look at

those opportunities clear out what's you

know is not real and then we have a

little technique that I'm going to do

real quick on how to decide is it real

or not get some feedback from your buyer

so if I'm selling to Mike um I might

have tried to attempt and he's like

ghosting me you know I haven't heard

from him in a while and it's still

sitting there and my boss keeps asking

me what's the deal with the Sandler gig

like is it going to happen is it not

going to happen so here's how I'm going

to handle this with Mike I'm going to

send a communication to Mike that sounds

something like this Mike my last couple

of attempts to uh connect have gone

unanswered I get the sense that this is

probably no longer a priority for you at

this time totally okay I'm GNA go ahead

and just close it out for now if by some

chance I might have misread the

situation let me know but I'm going to

go ahead and close it out thanks any

version of that I promise you you will

know immediately where you stand if Mike

responds because his response is going

to sound something like go for it Mike

give me a response what if you were

still interested what would it sound

like no no no not not yet uh we've got

this on the budget there's a board

meeting next uh Wednesday yes or this

came up or I've been sick or I've been

traveling you're gonna hear some version

of something right that's gonna come up

um that'll tell you okay it's still

something here it's not dead if I hear

crickets back from Mike guess what it's

over guys you got to move on that's not

your sign to try again in two weeks

unfortunately but a proven method we

call it the close the file method go

ahead and try it I promise you you will

know where you're stand if it's still

real but we we've got to get better at

kicking out the junk the stuff that's

not real stop hoping as a strategy that

maybe maybe it's going to be different

now and I get it guys it doesn't mean

it's dead forever but it means it's dead

for now now right and we got to move on

so that I can go find through

prospecting what is real so our ability

to really disqualify deals or prune them

out is um directly proportionate to how

much prospecting we're doing and there's

a Sandler longtime rule that's this the

strength of your conviction is directly

proportionate to the strength of your

pipeline I'll say it one more time the

strength of your conviction is directly

proportionate to the strength of your

pipeline it's really hard to close the

file and disqualify a deal when you only

have three and you really really need a

sale so for majority of companies

sometimes what happens is I've got to

increase my prospecting and today's day

and age we can't just call somebody one

time we can't just rely on our existing

customers you have to have a prospecting

strategy you need to know how much of my

business needs to be coming from

existing customers because how much

should I be spending time trying to grow

that business versus new business uh we

see a lot of sellers hanging out in

maintenance land which they Define as

account management um but it's really

maintaining we're not really proactive

prospecting looking for those

opportunities on a consistent basis I

would tell you that in today's day and

age you've got to have a minimum of

three probably more like five different

prospecting activities that you're doing

on a consistent basis asking for

introductions is the number one

overlooked prospecting activity because

we get introductions but you get a whole

lot more if you ask for them um