Fuentes Fridays #0034

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 received lots of calls from AEs that have had significant slowdowns in deals that they thought were on the right track. This happens. A lot. Both the calls and the deals slowing down.

The common theme in all the conversations was how likable the account executives are and how few of them could accurately describe why someone would buy. Yes, all of them could tell me what problem they solved, but none of them had dug deep enough to understand what would happen if that problem was not solved.

Further, none of them could really tell me who at their prospect’s company might be a blocker or what they had unearthed in discovery as possible friction points. The reality is that this is a common issue in many deals that I review.

I think it is difficult for anyone to ask about what could potentially gum up the works when we are hearing positive responses in our conversations/demos. However, when this is happening, it is even more critical to be a bit pessimistic and ask direct questions. The best sales professionals do it.

One of the things I suggested was for each of the account executives to write down a list of questions that they wish they had asked or had the answers to. For the current deals, they should pick up the phone and ask those questions. Pick up the phone—not email!

For future deals, they should take these questions and create a “kill-switch” list. That is a list of questions for which they need answers to determine where they truly are in the deal. I know “kill-switch” sounds overly aggressive, but it does sound better than “true assessment” questions. That’s really what these questions are, though—the ones you ask after you get positive signals to see if the excitement/value goes beyond the moment of the conversation and/or the person you are currently talking to.

This becomes incredibly important if you are a really likable person. I am not, so people love telling me no! But you, my kind, attractive, beautiful readers, probably make it very tough for people to tell you they are not interested, and thus they would rather avoid you and the conversation. Setting ground rules for the interaction, giving them permission to tell you they are not interested, and asking direct, bold questions are essential to avoid getting ghosted.

If you want to discuss a deal or two, please feel free to reach out. If you have received any deal advice from me, please comment so others know I am not as unlikeable as I described above!

What Made Me Laugh

Some people are just so talented! The actress in this clip really captures the feeling of forgetting a password. The tweet is right. She deserves an Oscar.

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 breakfast. I do intermittent fasting, so I don’t get to have it much outside of when I make breakfast for dinner. The other times I have it is when I want to spend some time with my son on a Saturday morning and treat him to an ungodly amount of food after we hit the gym. Recently, I took him to one of my favorite spots from my youth.

I got a sandwich and some home fries. They brought some Heinz ketchup to the table, except it wasn’t Heinz. I knew as soon as I tasted it (and then really looked at it). I guess “condiment fraud” is enough of a problem that Heinz has set out to solve it. Check out the image below:

Potpourri for 800

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

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Usual Suspects . This week, I found out that Rihanna’s song “SOS” is basically The Usual Suspects in song form. It always amazes me how brilliant some people are at their chosen professions. Interested in learning the secret to “SOS”? Click HERE.

Quote for My Son

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

One of the struggles of raising a 13-year-old boy is how heavy the world can feel for them from time to time. They, like many people in the world, have not learned that their outlook can influence outcomes greatly. This week, my son needed a little bit of a reminder that he has a lot of influence on what happens. I shared this quote with him: “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sail.” – Dolly Parton*

* Editor’s Note: This quote has been attributed to so many people, and similar versions go back to at least the mid-1800s. We’re attributing it to Dolly Parton because she said it at some point, and we like her.