Have you ever started to read a book – and begun to realize all of the things you didn’t know… you didn’t know? That is how it’s going for me with Lisa Magnuson’s new book The Top Sales Leader Playbook: How to Win 5x Deals Repeatedly.
Which of course means you’re going to go on my journey – because traveling and learning is more fun done together.
This week is Part 1 – Sales Leadership Plays;
Play 1 Inspire and Activate Account Teams
> My personal why didn’t I know that moments were centered around two things – inspiration as changed management AND account team agreements
1. pg 4 “It’s helpful for sales leaders to understand change managmeent and how inspiration fits within the larger framework of helping account team members move through change if they are new to the work of winning 5x deals repeatedly.”
2. pg 6-7 begins talking about account team roles and responsibility – it’s important stuff ESPECIALLY for organizations who aren’t used to working in true account teams. What I hadn’t considered is creating account team agreements around: war room attendance, participation, and commitment… being a team player… confidentiality… tam dispute resolution… winning and losing.
Play 2 Establish 5x Deal Sales Expectations
> you need to read this chapter for all the pieces and parts that go along with the differences of typical sales expectations from 5x deal expectations! It’s broken down into Attitude and Approach, Behaviors and Actions, plus Results. What I really love is the idea of both the leaders and account team members signing a contract of mutual expectations!
Play 3 Create a Blueprint for Cross Functional Collaboration
> Thinking of the organizations I typically work with I realized as I was reading this play, that I more often see sales as asking for action items or favors or tasks to be done than true collaboration.
> From pg 15 “it’s critical for sales leaders to build alliances early and often.” notice Lisa says sales leaders – that means at the highest level in sales creating alliances… an alliance requires trust, knowledge about the other person and their department, having a relationship that goes both ways NOT only when sales wants something.
Play 4 Mentor and Develop Account Teams
> the interesting part about this section for me was differentiating not only the how of leadership – mentoring – coaching, but also that WHO the leader mentors is important to understand as well: not only are they mentoring and developing the account quarterback -> they are also looking at the account team as a whole. This means the sales leaders group facilitation skills are a critical part of winning 5x deals, pulling everyone’s individual skills in to win.
> be sure to check out the coaching questions from pg 24-30! They are broken into deal sections: identify, qualify, develop, propose, possible pitfalls, close-win, close-loss, after internal and prospect loss retrospective, and expand.
> the can we win? assessment outline on pg 30-31 is also fantastic.
Play 5 Develop a 12-Month Cadence
> check out the calendar snapshot on pg 39 – then take a look at your own calendar; do your priorities match what is on your calendar? can you even tie what’s on your calendar to your priorities?
If you’re too busy fighting day-to-day fires to handle critical sales issues – learn to win like TOP #SalesLeaders. I highly recommend you read Lisa Magnuson’s new book The Top Sales Leader Playbook: How to Win 5x Deals Repeatedly
Plus join us here next week for Part 2, Sales Methodology Plays
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