Fuentes Fridays #0029

Here is your end-of-the-week insight into what I see going on in the business world, what I’m thinking about, and what I’m learning about. Forward anything that you feel inspired to share.

What I’m Hearing From Sales Leaders/Professionals

This week, I had many conversations where the seller and I started to discuss the running clock! Yes, I know it is only September 20th, but there are only 91 calendar days between now and December 20th. Why is December 20th the date and not the 31st? Well, because it is a Friday, meaning that the 23rd, Christmas Eve eve, will be on a Monday. You can rest assured that many of the important people in your deals will be taking off on the 20th of December.

91 days is a whole quarter! But, in reality, it is less than 91 days given that there are religious holidays and observances, federal holidays, and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving being late in November is something to be truly thankful for as people will begin to shut down later in the year (let’s be honest, people start to ramp way down after T-giving).

Furthermore, in some industries, there is a freeze period during the holidays that starts as early as October. I am advising sellers to get out ahead of these potential roadblocks by understanding who will need to be involved in the later stages of their deals and asking their champions to find out about potential vacation issues for those people.

Outside of functioning as a calendar app for my clients this week, I have also been discussing how to accelerate those deals that are marked for November and December closes. November and December deals have a likelihood to slip if the buyer doesn’t have a compelling reason why they must buy before the end of the year. Thus, we have to manufacture momentum/speed.

The most common tip that I gave this week was, “Make your buyer’s job easier.” What does that actually mean? I gave my clients a few suggestions:

1. Creating a buying kit. This is a well-organized folder that contains the relevant information for the different stakeholders of the organization (e.g., IT fact sheet, AI ethics policy, product sheets).

2. Develop a business case template document and schedule time with the champion to complete it.

3. Create an internal “pitch” deck for the buyer (this should be in the prospect’s branding) to use with the steering committee and do a run-through with them. This deck should contain a timeline of all the work they have done, including competitors they have considered, different options weighed, as well as why they (my client) are the right choice.

4. Role play the meeting with finance and arm the buyer with a well-designed and accurate Excel spreadsheet.

For many of my clients, there was still more work to do before the champion was in a position to use the materials suggested above. I told them all that this should not stop you from introducing the idea of this work and targeting a time to do it (soft-close).

Unfortunately for some, this soft-close brought to light that their Q4 deals were not actually opportunities for Q4. As disappointed as they were, it did help to prioritize their time over the next 91 days and give them a more accurate forecast heading into the final stretch.

If you have important deals that you want a second set of eyes on, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

What Made Me Laugh

My grandfather used to say that he never knew why people thought babies were cute, especially since they all looked like him.

My grandfather looked like Roy Orbison. But he also looked like the third baby in this post (if the third baby was wearing Roy Orbison’s glasses). Angry babies are never not funny.

This Week’s 40/20

For every 40 hours of work, I believe you should spend 20 (additional) hours mastering your craft. This is how I spent some of my 20 hours this week.

I love TV. I quote TV shows non-stop (Friends, anyone?). I was always curious how the world went from black and white to color. Was there a big to-do, or did it just gradually happen? Well, this week, I got my answer. Here it is!

Potpourri for 800

Potpourri (shoutout to Jeopardy!) is a category that covers a variety of topics.

Months ago, in this section, I wrote about the TV show “Shogun.” This past week, that show won 18 Emmys. I’m not saying I had anything to do with it, but I do love an “I told you so.”

Currently, I am watching Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist on Peacock. It stars Kevin Hart (in a more reserved role), Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard—you get it, a stellar cast.

Fight Night tells the story of a robbery that happened on the night of Ali’s return fight in Atlanta. The show does a fantastic job of setting up the tension in Atlanta without overdoing it, and the acting and story are great. I highly recommend it.

Quote for My Son

Every day, I leave my son a note with a quote. This was my favorite from this past week:

My son, an eighth grader, played his first high school football game last week. To add to the nerves, he was playing a team that had many of his former youth football teammates on it. It goes without saying that he was nervous. The morning of the game, I left him this: “‘People talk about dogs, but I was a wolf. Wolves eat dogs.’ George, you are a wolf.”

[Editor’s note: Based on this quote from Jerry West. “The word ‘dog’ comes up a lot…well, I was a wolf, okay? I used to eat dogs.”]