AE Interview Question: “You’ve proven that you’re able to manage 3 month sales cycles… How do you plan to manage longer (6-12 month) cycles in this new role?”
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"Great question. Knowing the sales cycles will be longer, three important steps come to mind.
One, know exactly who will be involved throughout the buying process. Know as many contacts possible who will have influence. A lot can happen in 12 months, people leave, budgets change. Last thing you want is your only POC leaving the company a month before the deal is scheduled to close.
Two, clear next steps after each and every interaction. Recap each meeting and set expectations for what comes next. Never fun to have a prospect ghost you because of a small miscommunication.
And three, patience patience patience. It sucks to look at your pipeline month over month at the same deals. Keep filling it up and continue providing value with your open opportunities."
This is where my head goes, hope this helps!
One, know exactly who will be involved throughout the buying process. Know as many contacts possible who will have influence. A lot can happen in 12 months, people leave, budgets change. Last thing you want is your only POC leaving the company a month before the deal is scheduled to close.
Two, clear next steps after each and every interaction. Recap each meeting and set expectations for what comes next. Never fun to have a prospect ghost you because of a small miscommunication.
And three, patience patience patience. It sucks to look at your pipeline month over month at the same deals. Keep filling it up and continue providing value with your open opportunities."
This is where my head goes, hope this helps!
We should start an interview guide to have templates for questions like this. @sahil
Fire
This is really solid.
Damn Gibbles out the gate 🔥
Appreciate the feedback!
Just passing off what I've learned. Funny part is I'm having a fucking horrible start to my quarter :)
Just passing off what I've learned. Funny part is I'm having a fucking horrible start to my quarter :)
This is extremely helpful thanks!
This is classic
killer
I agree. I personally like to help support dev teams using my solution and treat any tech issues/delays as a chance to show you are willing to help. Lots of support leads to good relationships.
That's classic man.
Damn son. Dropping KNOWLEDGE
More EQ, More strategy, get more buy in across different segments and DMs.
Clear next steps and backup steps and pre steps to next steps
Consultative approach
Clear next steps and backup steps and pre steps to next steps
Consultative approach
🙌🏼
Ensuring that you can expand the people map and have all relevant parties engaged throughout the process, setting defined next steps after every call, and working with more tenured reps/managers to ensure all important timelines for deals are met
Stick with MEDDPICC and a close plan. Detail out the steps the customer needs to go through (help them where you can - business case, ROI, TCO, references), who is responsible for each step, and, as important - who can influence those steps. Don't forget to map out the influence ecosystem - partners, LSIs, and consultants.
Most important, be patient, empathetic, and a trusted advisor. Help them help themselves through the process.
Most important, be patient, empathetic, and a trusted advisor. Help them help themselves through the process.
I think it's harder to go from a role with a long sales cycle to one with a shorter sales cycle. I'll bet you wouldn't do much different, you'd just do it over a longer period of time.
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