Why a 50 per cent win rate just isn't good enough?
Martin Coburn
We help ambitious, driven individuals transform their careers, build confidence and self-belief and power up their performance
Welcome to the first edition of The Win Advantage For Sales Leaders.
Every fortnight, we’ll deliver the latest insights, strategies and thinking on increasing your win rate from The Win Academy.
Between us, The Win Academy team have been collectively responsible for?more than ￡1 billion in sales?annually.
Every fortnight, we alternate between the latest advice on sales strategies and tools we're using in real-world environments to dramatically increase win rates and insights from our sales trainers and coaching team.
In this issue, check out the details of our online workshops - the first of which is?Thursday 3rd February at 5pm?(UK time) on turning the challenges of virtual pitching to your advantage. See below for all the details or register here .
If you have any feedback about this newsletter or would like to discuss how we can help your sales team increase your win rate, contact us today at?[email protected] ?or call us on +44 020 3303 0415.
OPINION
Why a 50 per cent win rate just isn’t good enough
Are you comfortable with a 50 per cent win rate? Many salespeople are, but really it’s no better than a coin flip.
Based upon our experience, 80 per cent of salespeople are winning less than 50 per cent. That’s not even passing coin flipping averages. By contrast, the top 20 per cent of sellers average a win rate around 70 per cent.
What does the top sales professionals do that others don’t?
Before we delve into exactly what they do really well compared with others, let’s take a step back.
It’s important to recognise that the difference between winning and losing is marginal. For high-value contracts, nobody wins by a country mile. The outcomes are always very close when the contract value runs into the millions. It’s these variances that can make all the difference to your top-line growth.
So how do you go about tilting the odds in your favour? We describe these winning margins as the Disciplines of Pitching. We believe there are key areas of focus every sales professional tasked with pitching needs to master.
It’s all about the discipline of doing critical things better than your competition. Here are three areas to focus on when improving your win rate.
A winner’s mindset
A lot is written about mindset. Really it comes down to having a winner’s mindset, in particular.
How do you know you have a winner’s mindset? Simple.
Answer this question in the affirmative:
Are you pleased to win? Or are you expecting to win?
How you react to winning highlights everything about your mindset.
Top sellers are not surprised when they win. They expect to win and project a winning attitude in all their meetings.
So consider, what are you projecting onto the minds of your client? What do you, as a team, project when you’re in the room?
Preparation and rehearsal
The next area to focus on is developing a disciplined approach to preparation. It is vital to make every detail count.
A well-rehearsed team is a confident team. The client will notice smooth transitions between subjects, arguments well-practised and a team that has done its homework.
Clear handovers between speakers demonstrate you’re well-rehearsed as a team.
Referencing elements of each others’ presentations show you come across as a team, not a group of individual experts.
It comes down to this:
Teams who rehearse stand out.
We can’t reinforce this enough. The client sees how much effort you put in and the respect you show for their time.
By the way, it’s also a proxy for how you would approach the project. If you can’t manage a 45-minute presentation, how can you expect the client to believe you can manage a five-year contract?
Understanding client needs
The third area of focus is understanding your client’s needs.
Most salespeople already know the importance of understanding the client’s needs. That shouldn’t be a huge revelation. The question is, how much discipline and skill have you applied to this?
It’s not just about replaying the requirements stated in the request for pricing (RFP). You can do that, but it won’t differentiate. You need to go beyond the more obvious criteria, understand the emotional and political drivers.
What is really at stake for them personally?
Have you fully understood the political landscape?
Uncovering these types of needs requires skilful questioning and excellent listening skills. The ability to articulate how your proposal solves their problem requires forensic discipline.
It’s worth mentioning again. Anyone can repeat the requirements in the RFP. But going further and offering insight creates a significant marginal difference.
领英推荐
Like everything in life, winning takes discipline. Being better at lots of small critical details combined with an expectant mindset is what puts you amongst the elite. Do this, and it puts you in the top 10 per cent of sellers.
At The Win Academy, we believe there are 10 Disciplines of Pitching that make a critical difference. To discover more about the 10 Disciplines and hear our latest thoughts on selling, sign up to?our newsletter here .
Find out more about how we can help you put more discipline into your pitching process. Our Pitching To Win programme teaches the strategies and disciplines that resulted in our clients winning 85 per cent of their qualified pursuits. Click here for more details.
UPCOMING EVENTS
[Online Workshop] How to overcome the challenges of virtual selling and turn it into a serious advantage for your sales team
Thursday 3rd?February 5pm (UK time)
The world has changed, and selling will?never?be the same again. Now, we have the added complexity of selling in a virtual environment... and not everyone is thriving.
Many feel disadvantaged by not being able to sell face-to-face. Sales professionals and teams have a choice, either to embrace virtual selling and online pitching to excel quickly and stand out - or simply get left behind.
In this presentation, Martin Coburn and Ian Mackenzie bring their experience working in an online pitch environment over the last two years to show sales leaders and their teams how to be?more effective in delivering impactful presentations online?and increase your win rate.
Knowledge and feedback gained from working on major deals over 20/21 showed us the way forward for those wanting to succeed in the online environment. Martin and Ian will reveal practical tips and tools learned from spending hours successfully coaching pitching teams in the last 18 months.
Click?here to register ?and secure your place at the workshop.
FEATURED VIDEO
Value selling with Futurecurve CEO Helen Blake
Solution selling is all about staying on the client’s agenda. Clients want sales professionals who ask the difficult questions - creating insight beyond their current understanding.
In this week’s featured video, The Win Academy Founder Martin Coburn speaks to Futurecurve CEO Helen Blake about her unique Value Pyramind model designed to achieve this. Click the video to watch or visit?The Win Academy Youtube channel here .
INSIGHT
Fear can kill a sale. Here’s how to turn your fear into confidence
You may have superior sales training, such as great listening and questioning skills or knowing how to respond to a client. Yet, there is one trait that can rob you of your potential in any sales meeting.?Read the full article here.
FEATURED PROGRAMME
Pitching To Win
Each month, we showcase one of The Win Academy's signature programmes. This month we focus on Pitching To Win.
Pitching to Win ?is the most intense live programme that sales teams ever experience, blending immersive, in-person pitch coaching with powerful digital tools.
Pitching To Win helps your team dramatically increase their win rate on live opportunities to deliver more revenue, more predictably.
Based on a proven methodology developed over 30 years by leading pitching professionals, the programme unlocks your team’s potential by applying our 10 Disciplines of Pitching.
We show you how to rigorously apply this in every pitching opportunity to win more. Discover how your team can?start winning more pitches here .
HOW CAN WE HELP?
Follow The Win Academy
www.thewinacademy.co.uk | [email protected] ??|??+44 020 3303 0415