Aligned

Say it with us: “Chloroform is not part of the sales tech stack” You shouldn’t ever have to “chase” a prospect at the end of the month, quarter, or year The timeline should be mutually agreed upon with solid next steps planned out that make their buying process less painful like: - IT/InfoSec meeting - Legal to legal meeting - Proposal review - On-boarding calls If their timeline isn’t aligned with your sales goals then one this you can try to test the water is a talk track like this one: “Our company has some big goals we’re trying to hit this year. It’d make a huge impact to expensive this deal however our timeline isn’t yours so I wanted to ask - If we got creative with things in the proposal, would that make any difference to your pace to move forward?” Only do this if: - You have good rapport - You are vendor of choice - The prospect has already confirmed they want to move forward - The timeline is realistic for their process (legal rarely moves fast around the holidays) Otherwise it’ll come off salesy, desperate, and probably plant the idea of a discount in their mind for the following month/year

Mutual Success Plans used RIGHT Brian LaManna shares how he shows buyers how others *typically* buy

Last week Winning by Design predicted AI will start replacing 70% of GTM in 2025. While it seems scary (and too fast), here's why I think it's a good thing for the future of AEs: BACKGROUND: ?? Jacco van der Kooij (Founder @ WbD) recently published a jaw-dropping - and brilliant - article about AI replacing salespeople in 2025. To sum it up: → AI-Led Growth is the next big GTM motion → It’s better for vendors AND buyers → AI is moving faster than most realize → It will run sales processes end-to-end → It will start in 2025 Do I agree with all of it? Partially. I think 2025 is a bit ambitious. But here's the exciting part: This is a HUGE opportunity for us in sales. The age of transactional selling is over—and that's GREAT news. It's the final blow for the low-value, sales-centric motion. We're on the brink of transforming sales into what we've always wanted it to be: a role that truly adds value to buyers. Complex Sales isn't just for Enterprise anymore. It's the NEW SALES. Here's what the AI world looks like for AEs: 1. You’re a Buying Expert (Not a Sales Expert) Access to information is commodified. Making sense of information is what sets AEs apart. But now buyers can drop your collateral into ChatGPT and get it analyzed. That means where sellers add value is in Buying Expertise. E.g. How to evaluate, how to build consensus. 2. You’re ALL About Solving Complexity AI will be great at handling repetitive, low-complexity transactions. Sellers should focus on high-complexity, high-value interactions that require creativity and EQ. Think: Navigating decision committee conflicts, multithreading, leveraging internal experts. 3. You’re Truly Strategic AI can access public and vendor information and help make sense of it. Where AEs will shine is in nuances that AI misses. E.g. Understanding the unspoken motivations, organizational dynamics, or cultural factors. 4. AI as Your Teammate While transactional sales will be replaced, the same AI capabilities that killed it will be used internally by AEs. If a buyer benefits from AI in problem research and information sense-making, AEs will do the same. Then, add their value on top of it. 5. Build Relationships with Machine Customers Gartner mentions “Machine Customers”; AI agents that will be used by buyers. Think: RFP Builder, or Business Case generator. So AEs multithread to whoever uses that AI, to influence it to get the best results. Yesterday we influenced RFP criteria, tomorrow we’ll influence RFP prompts. 6. Project Management as the Master Skill Buying is complex, lonely, and risky. It costs political capital and your job is at stake. There’s HUGE value in having a human give you both emotional and practical support in running the process. Learn to use Mutual Action Plans and project manage your deals. TAKEAWAY: AE's shouldn't fear AI. It's the catalyst we've been waiting for. To dump our old sales-centric habits. And become the trusted allies our buyers deserve.

“Ignore your competitors; you will more likely kill yourself than be killed”— That’s YC’s famous advice to founders. But I’d take it one step further. Here are 7 reasons why you want your competitors to succeed: 1. More leads, not less Aligned generates incredible demand. But here’s the truth: we’re also generating leads for our competitors. Some of our biggest accounts grew to 100-200 AEs/CSMs on the Free Plan, only to become competitive deals once a sales process started. But I’d rather have all my competitors generating demand. Recently, as our competitors ramped up demand-gen, our G2 leads tripled in 45 days. The market is a tide. When it rises, all boats rise. 2. Hot markets = higher valuations If you’re alone in a market, you have no market. If you’re the only one succeeding in a market, you’re in a bad market. If multiple players are winning, you’re in a hot market. And if you’re truly the best, you’ll capture the most value. 3. Better positioning When buyers know what a Digital Sales Room is, 90% of our job is done. In an unknown category, you’re selling Why Do Anything AND Why You. In a known category, your positioning is about how you’re better, so you’re only selling Why You. Category awareness makes selling easier for everyone. 4. Free R&D Competitors test ideas, so you don’t have to. They validate what works and what flops, giving you the opportunity to do it better. Apple wasn’t first with most of its products—but they perfected them. Most of what we’ve built at Aligned was novel. However, being innovative also came at a price since some things didn’t work as expected. 5. Higher win rate Buyers feel confident investing in proven categories. No one wants to bet on the only player in a space. Or take the risk on a potentially great player in what appears to be a failed space. A thriving category reduces buyer risk and cuts the odds of no-decision (where 40-60% of deals end). 6. It puts you at a better mindset to win, not worse Michael Jordan said is best, “Every day, I feel like I have something to prove. Every time I step on the court, I’m competing against myself to be better than I was before. Others may be trying to beat me, but my focus is always on outdoing my own expectations.” TAKEAWAY: Now, don’t get me wrong… This is not an anti-ambition message. Be a killer, have big dreams, and aim to be the best. But don’t wish for your competitors to fail. Wish for the entire market to succeed. With you as # 1. Big difference.

Most sales processes are designed for sellers, not buyers. And it’s costing you millions. If your sales stages are based on meetings like: Discovery, Demo, POC, and Negotiation. You might not know it… But you’re running a sales-centric process. Here’s the problem: 1. It focuses on what the AE is doing – not what the buyer needs Example: The fact you’re running discovery, doesn’t mean there’s nothing more to learn once you move on to the Demo. In fact, you should never stop doing discovery. But words have power and this is what these stage names tell AEs. 2. It pushes for the next sales activity – not progressing buying activities Example: We might have finished doing Demos, but the buyer doesn’t need a POC. They might need to build a business case now. The CFO was looped in early, asking questions about the ROI. This might kill the deal if not addressed. 3. You “finished the POC” – but your buyer is still building consensus Example: The buyer might still be working on achieving internal alignment that this is a critical problem to solve now. However, AEs have finished the POC, so they start pushing to close prematurely. — Here’s the buyer-centric process: 1. Stage names reflect buyers’ internal tasks – aligning with their needs Example: Problem Alignment → Needs Assessment → Evaluation → Decision. AEs know that discovery continues throughout the deal, but that consensus about the problem needs to be achieved before starting a POC. 2. Stages are based on buying objectives – not sales activities Example: The AE might still be running the same Discovery Call, Demos, POC, etc. However, the sales process has built-in activities to facilitate buying: Business Case Building, Multithreading, Co-Create TCO/ROI/COI/MAP, etc. 3. Exit criteria tied to buyers’ progress – ensuring you’re BOTH moving Example: Instead of “Finished Demos with 2-3 key stakeholders”, “High priority problem confirmed by 2-3 key stakeholders”. Small change, big difference. In one you’re moving down the funnel, in the other, you’re both moving together. TAKEAWAY: In 2010-2021, AEs needed a cookie-cutter process to follow. But transactional sales is dead. And so is Growth At All Costs. I’d argue 95% of sales teams face +4 stakeholders and intense budget scrutiny. If they don’t, it’s an outlier or it will be shortly replaced by AI and PLG. Adjust your sales process to how buyers buy. You’ll see sellers becoming truly helpful and closing more deals. P.S. If you want to design a buyer-centric sales process, grab a copy of our free 12 page Buyer Enablement Sales Process how to guide: https://lnkd.in/d7JXsbiU

Steal these 5 steps to make sure your business cases don't fall flat when presented to economic buyers

Everyone's taught "No next step" no deal But if you can't explain the value of that next step (to your buyer, not you) then it's not even worth setting Understand the "What" and "Why" of how your recommended next steps line up with their internal buying activities For example: "Can't be sure what purchasing software looks like on your end, however at this point typically we suggest rev ops get involved with a sales engineer on our end to scope out the more technical integrations..." The magic happens when your recommendations align with their internal buying process

You can't force a dream onto someone else. Your Timeline =/= Your Buyers Timeline It's getting to that time of year where we as sellers want to make sure we hit Q4 quota before the holidays disrupt everything But with that comes some dodgy sales tactics that can repel buyers Pressure, salesy tactics, and borderline harassment You can't force a buyer's timeline, you have to understand when they want to move forward and most importantly "why?" Knowing that let's you make a judgement call on whether or not you can accelerate a deal to close before EOY If you have a good deal, that's late stage (vendor choice, proposal) then try make use of one of your execs to test the water An email that reads "Hi {customer}, Sounds like you've been talking to our team and have aligned on {X} being a problem worth solving. A decision may be premature, however it would be meaningful to our team to have this wrapped up by EOY. With that said our timing is not your timing, so I wanted to personally see if offering some form of incentive in exchange for accelerating the decision would even be on the table? Looking forward to working with you. Name"

I made over 100 purchase decisions as a B2B buyer, but I can count on one hand the times sellers TRULY enabled our team to say yes. Here are 6 ways the top 1% of AEs use Champion Enablement to prevent no-decision: 1. They Don’t Skip Co-Creating Compelling Business Cases Most AEs spend hours preparing, attending, and summarizing calls. They think it’s time well spent. The truth is, none of it matters if your Champion fails to put a compelling case in front of their exec team. And most don’t know how. Facilitating that step is the best use of time with your champion. More than any demo or presentation. 2. They Facilitate Internal Buying Discussions Most AEs spend their time selling TO their Champions (e.g. share info, give demos, support a trial). That’s nice, but it misses the point → Creating an internal version of you. You truly unlock the power of having a Champion when you sell WITH them (as Nate Nasralla calls it): Strategize, discuss risks, co-create internal buying tools, and help prep their internal discussions. 3. They Tailor EVERYTHING (Leaving the Generic Stuff to Marketing) Most AEs share resources to solve an Information Starvation problem (e.g. long whitepapers and ebooks). However, the problem isn’t Starvation, but Indigestion (credit to Nick Cegelski). You truly enable Champions by Tailoring and Sense-Making resources: a comparison, requirement builder, use case/architecture, TCO/RO, etc. 4. They Collaborate on Solving the Problem (Not Pitch a Solution) Most AEs love to share their solution. They come up with the use cases and demo them. They work with SEs on a solution and present it. That’s all good, but where you truly build commitment is by doing it WITH your champion. Instead of presenting, try having a Use Case Workshop. Instead of building the Solution, bring it half-baked and complete the rest together. 5. Build Mutual Plans for Success (Not Next Steps) Most AEs miss the point of having a committed champion → Having someone ‘on your side’. They always treat them like after the first call and lock only a single next step. They’re afraid they’ll disappear. But a true champion is here to run the marathon with you. Help them do that by co-planning the entire process, from a successful rollout backward to where you are today. 6. Test, and Build Commitment and Influence Most AEs’ idea of a champion is having a Main Contact. That's a mistake. Your main contact might not have enough influence, or commitment to pull it off. Don’t limit yourself. Test and actively build champions. Assign them specific tasks, such as gathering internal data or facilitating intros to execs. If they fail, try to add others who’d potentially do better. TAKEAWAY: Most buyers lack experience in making complex purchasing decisions. If all you’re doing is giving demos and sharing info with your main contact… You’re not doing your job. With AI becoming capable of doing a lot more for buyers. There’s no better time to learn these skills.

Want to hear how multithreading, proof of concepts, and mutual action plans can come together to create consensus and close a sale? Listen to Sarah Brazier break down how she managed this at Gong