Cook The Lame Duck

I had an email chat the other day with a recently promoted, and highly promising, sales manager.

They as a team are going through a typical re-alignment. From open season to focused verticals in their case.

I’ve seen this plenty of times. Reps are loathed give up on prospects that no longer strategically match where the company is headed. Or will imminently cease to be within their remit.

And it creates friction.

One way to get the sweet spot message to stick, is to get each one to do an exercise in pruning.

During a one-on-one, or any type of account reviews-stroke-forecasting session, paint this scenario.

Time is even more precious than it is today. Your pipeline is about to burst. Flooding and waste will ensue.

So, which of your current prospects would you jettison? Pick just one. The one you’d happily cull to concentrate on all the others.

Once you get over the “are you crazy, they’re all mine for keeps” type response, you get a fascinating insight into focus, direction and how the salesperson views qualification.

All the traits that make the deal undesirable are ones you can plan to avoid in future bids and avoid the dreaded feast-famine cycles in future.