eBook

Know Relationships. Know Sales.

The number one reason deals are lost or don’t happen as forecast is poor relationships. This is your guide to avoiding that fate.

The number one reason deals are lost or don’t happen as forecast is poor relationships.

At Upland Altify we believe that relationships matter but relationship-building is a more complicated undertaking than it used to be. That’s why we have created the ultimate guide to help you navigate relationships and use that insight to win more deals.

According to Gartner, the average number of people involved in a B2B buying decision is eleven. Yet many sales people pin their hopes on a single supporter in a target account. Understanding where that supporter sits in the political structure in a target account is crucial to success. The level of influence of a supporter in a target account can be broken into 3 areas:

  1. Inner Circle: Key decision makers
  2. Political Structure: Their opinion matters but they don’t make the final call
  3. Outside Political Structure: Can provide feedback but will not influence a deal closing

Relationship Map

Decision Orientation:

Once you ascertain who matters you need to figure out what drives them, and how they make their decisions. Are they driven by Financial, Technical, Relationship or Business concerns?

So, you have figured out who the decision-makers are, how they work together and how they think. The last piece of the puzzle is to figure out where you stand in an opportunity or an account. The eBook breaks down the 5 levels of support in account from enemy, non-supporter, neutral, supporter or mentor. Sales people need to take a cold-eyed view of their contacts level of support. It is always better to underestimate someone’s level of support than to be blindsided. It is extremely rare that anyone is fully neutral and has no opinion so use this classification at your own risk!

Turning relationships into sustained sales success:

Building great relationships and understanding organizational politics has long-term ROI. Insights you gather during sales cycles will give you and your team a competitive advantage through implementation, usage, and beyond, leaving renewal and expansion yours for the taking.

Luckily, building strategic relationships and navigating complex organizational politics isn’t just for elite salespeople anymore. Today, we can scale instinct with visualization tools and automated coaching that help every seller ask the right questions, take the right steps, and win over the right people.

This eBook is a modern-day Haynes Manual for relationship-centric selling. Download it to learn:

  • Why relationships matter
  • The levels of influence in an account
  • How to identify key players in an account
  • The 5 levels of support and why key players are seldom neutral

 

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