Hello friend, Ren here! Welcome to my newsletter, where I share sales mindsets, strategies, tools and processes for winning High-Value Deals.
If you have been here for a while, my apologies for the silence over the last three weeks. I was traveling for work and visited my daughter who is graduating from the University of Colorado. ⛰️ Me at the Great Sand Dunes below.😊
If you have just joined, you must be thinking....what is this newsletter? And who is this person? Yes, that is the problem with inconsistency. Like anything in life, we lose momentum when we stop—and worse, if we give up entirely. So here's me going back on track.
The same applies to business development and account management in complex million-dollar sales.
I’m not here to tell you that it’s easy; the reality is that consistency in anything can be quite a challenge. If it was easy, we’d see everyone doing it. So, brace yourself for some highs and lows.
In managing and winning million-dollar deals, you need the right strategy, process, and behaviours. And if you keep learning and pushing forward, great things will happen.
In early April, I conducted a half-day sales workshop for the awesome team at WTW. WTW is one of the largest multinational insurance service providers, WTW (formerly Willis Towers Watson).
I had the privilege of staying overnight, joining the dinner celebrations, and sharing ideas and insights with the sales teams.
There were a lot of great questions and discussions. One question I wanted to share was how to have that mental toughness in sales.
Sales is a high-pressure role.
Performance is consistently measured daily, weekly, and quarterly. Despite these challenges, the rewards are substantial. They include personal growth, financial success, and satisfaction from helping clients solve their problems.
I often liken being in sales to being an elite athlete, so my cohort-based course at Maven is called Elite Sales Athletes. Early registration is open for June 12, 2024. Stay tuned for more information next week!
This week’s newsletter will discuss principles for developing mental toughness when managing and winning complex million-dollar opportunities.
Love the pressure. It’s a choice, not a sacrifice.
Stay in the moment and enjoy the process.
Celebrate the most minor wins.
Leverage the competition.
Will to win.
Securing million-dollar deals in the high-stakes world of B2B sales is not just about understanding the market or having an excellent product; it requires mental toughness that distinguishes top sales professionals from the rest.
In this demanding field, enduring pressure, overcoming challenges, and staying resilient can make all the difference. Let’s break it down.
1. Love the pressure.
You can’t excel in sales if you’re uncomfortable in high-stress situations.
The ability to remain calm under pressure is a crucial characteristic of top salespeople. While this trait is often considered innate, it can be learned. You can learn to appreciate the pressure as it drives you to refine your sales skills. Being in Sales requires a commitment to self-improvement.
You are in sales because you love what you do - both the easy and the challenging aspects.
Meeting new people, travelling, achieving financial success, and seizing growth opportunities are all part of the appeal.
Thomas Edison once said, “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.” He chose to view his tremendous challenges as opportunities for enjoyment and growth—a mindset essential for today’s sales professionals.
How to “love the pressure”.
Winning a million-dollar deal is not luck or because you were “born to win.” It is a result of careful planning—creating a strategy, managing sales processes, and using consistent sales behaviours to enable clients to make decisions.
🔄 A structured sales process simplifies pressure management.
It helps you identify any “gaps” and address them effectively to secure a deal. Alternatively, it can help you recognise when you need to either walk away from a situation or put it on hold.
📊 Effective forecasting.
As the country manager of Ruckus Wireless, my CEO tasked me with securing Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications provider, as a client. After applying a strategic key account approach and executing it for eight months, I asked my CEO,
“Do you want us to win Telstra or achieve our targets?”
Being honest and transparent with your sales forecast is a crucial skill for a high-performing salesperson. It also helps avoid unnecessary pressure.
2. Stay in the moment, enjoy the process and focus on the long-term goal.
However, the challenge lies not in understanding these concepts but in putting them into practice. When faced with initial setbacks or challenges, many of us lack the faith that persistence will lead to success. Patience wears thin, and we often quit before reaping the rewards of our efforts.
How to “enjoy the process”.
✨ Plan short-term goals that lead up to winning.
Develop a set of concise, short-term objectives that will ultimately guide you towards your overarching goal of winning. These short-term objectives should be tangible, achievable, and directly contribute to your mission.
How to “focus on the long-term goal”.
🎯 Create a comprehensive Strategic Account Plan.
This plan should outline your key actions, detail your approach, and provide a roadmap for achieving your goals. It should be well-structured and clearly define the steps you need to take.
For example, securing a meeting with the CEO or a key decision-maker. Achieving this goal brings you one step closer to your ultimate goal.
3. Celebrate your wins.
🎉 Elite sales performers know how to party-even the smallest win.
I’m not talking about the big party thing. It’s rewarding yourself and enjoying the thrill of achieving.
Recognition of progress, no matter how incremental, fosters a culture of achievement and positivity. Each step forward is a win and marks progression toward the larger goal. This approach boosts morale and fortifies your mental resilience, as every small success reinforces your capability to succeed.
For example, securing that meeting with the CEO or critical decision-maker is a win.
Similarly, if you successfully execute a workshop to share best practices within your industry, consider that a win. Not only does it position you as a thought leader in your field, but it also provides an opportunity to exchange ideas and learn from your clients.
These small victories, when accumulated, contribute towards your larger goal and should be celebrated.
4. Leverage your team.
During my tenure at Ruckus Wireless, there were numerous memorable moments.
But one that stands out was my first sales conference. Ruckus was a start-up at that time. We were in Sunnyvale headquarters. In a room filled with hungry and dynamic peers, our magnanimous CEO, Selina Lo, delivered a speech that left an indelible impression on me.
She looked at us and said, “Salespeople, don’t lose alone. Lose with your team.” These words resonated with me and shaped my perception of teamwork.
The reality is that when you involve your team and leverage the collective expertise of your colleagues, the dynamics change.
It’s about more than sharing the burden of loss; it’s about increasing the chances of success. With the right strategy, process, and behaviours, you can win. The probability of winning escalates to 99% when you work as a team, utilising everyone’s strengths and compensating for individual weaknesses.
This is the power of teamwork and strategy, a lesson that has stayed with me throughout my career. Seek out the power in your team.
5. Will to win.
💪 The foundation of mental toughness is the will to win—an unwavering commitment to your goals.
The will to win involves recovering from setbacks and embracing them as integral to your growth journey. Determination and a commitment to excellence will carry you over the rough days, and you will focus on how to win. And you will keep on, even when days are hard and challenging.
My own sales path has been about A LOT of failures. Failure is feedback. You need to persevere. It’s about persevering through each ‘no’ and resolving to keep going.
Another of Thomas Edison's quotes that I love.
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas Edison
These strategies for building mental toughness aren’t just pointers for doing well professionally. they’re a blueprint for personal achievement as well. If you take these lessons to heart, you’ll see that you’re not just getting by in high-pressure situations. You’re actually excelling and thriving in them.
Actionable Steps Towards Mental Toughness
Assess and Reflect: Identify when and why you feel overwhelmed in your sales process. Check-out your B2B Sales Maturity Score for a deep dive on your sales strategy, process and behaviours.
Positive Reinforcement: Engage in daily affirmations and visualisations that focus on success and overcoming hurdles. It's like building muscle memory.
Celebrate Small Wins: Set and recognise small daily goals to build momentum.
Physical and Mental Exercise: Use sports or other enjoyable activities as a practice ground for mindfulness and stress relief.
Practise Situational Tactics with your team: Simulate high-pressure sales scenarios with your team to build confidence and competence.
Remember, mental toughness is a muscle that anyone can develop. It just requires dedication, practice, and grit. Go forth and close those deals—you’ve got this.
Please let me know how you go!💜
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