Managing Major Sales

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Managing Major Sales – Play2Win©

Play2Win© is a practical approach to Managing Major Sales opportunities.

The Challenge of Major Sales

Selling to major accounts is fundamentally different to small scale selling and requires a very different set of skills. Being competent in the small sale is no guarantee of success in large scale selling. Traditional techniques and “tricks” such as closing do not seem to work in the more complex large scale sale. They are replaced by very precise planning, information gathering and behavioural skills which build trust in the minds of the decision makers. Additionally it requires an understanding of how decisions are made in complex and large sales.

What is a Major Sale?

For most businesses they have a number of characteristics:

1. A lengthy sales cycle. This can vary from a few days to a few months or more depending on the industry.
2. Multiple decision makers. Any decision becomes complex as soon as more than one person is involved in making it. Understanding who these people are and their role in the process is vital if you are to improve your chances of success.
3. High potential value/importance. This varies from business to business. If your turnover is £250k an opportunity worth £10k might be considered very important. If your turnover is £50m it might not.
4. Time consuming and costly to pursue. If the business is worth winning it is worth investing the time, money and effort that is required. However, because major sales can be time consuming and costly it is vital to identify those opportunities that are worth pursuing i.e. those that you have a chance of winning. If you adopt the lottery ticket approach and pursue every opportunity you will simply dilute your resources to the extent that you don’t have enough left to win the business you really want.
5. Competition. The sale immediately becomes more complicated when the buying organisation has a number of options. For example, in a bid/proposal scenario you could be up against a number of competitors. How you go about managing the sale can have a huge effect on the potential outcome. Additionally, never forget the hidden competitor – the “do nothing” option for the customer/client.

In major sales there is a need for a simple, structured approach that maximizes your chances of success. By their very nature major sales are too important to be left to chance. Despite this very few businesses seem to have a robust approach in place and every new opportunity is greeted either with unfounded optimism or utter panic.

 Why should you care?

Winning new business is the lifeblood of any B2B organisation and yet many simply do not give this absolutely fundamental area of their business sufficient thought and consideration. Business winning skill is critical to a company’s on-going success. If the skills and processes are not in place in your business you could be paying a high price in lost sales.

Responding to the Challenge

For most businesses there is real benefit in having a structured approach to Managing Major Sales opportunities. This ranges from making the initial Go / No Go decision right the way through the process to the final presentation and post bid review meetings. Picking the right team and adopting the most appropriate business winning strategy is crucial. Play2Win© puts in place all the pieces to help you be more successful.

What is Play2Win©

Play2Win© is a bids and proposals process that significantly increases the opportunity to win every opportunity that you choose to pursue. By focusing on building understanding and relationships it helps in the development of powerful Value Propositions which clearly answer for the customer “Why should we choose you?”

Who have we done it for?

We have developed tailored major sales workshops for Grant Thornton, Akzo Nobel, Alstom Power and others. Our Managing Major Sales workshops can be tailored to look at every aspect of the major sale from initial contact through to the proposal document and formal presentations.

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