TennisandSales

Head Of Sales

As an AE this is one of your top responsibilities.

this really only because clear when i got into ENT sales.

but as an AE you HAVE to understand everything that COULD go wrong. and make sure the team is aware of it and what the plans are if it does happen.

If you think everything is always going to work out fine, and it doesn't, you will be caught with no plan and probably screw up a deal or two.

This has for sure happened to me in the past.

I bring it up now because its clear my boss does not think anything will go wrong ever. 😂🤦‍♂️

🏰 War Stories

👑 Sales Strategy

📈 Closing

23 comments

Sort by:

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Oh, I'm always looking for what could go wrong.

We used to have formal sessions for deal deconstruction on our biggest deals, and a jury of specialists would go through everything with you and question everything. The goal was not to make the rep look stupid; it was to uncover unknowns that we'd need to take care of or ask about or be aware of as risks. The team was enormously helpful for establishing best practices and helping a rep get a thorough view of the deal.

It was very intimidating the first time I did it, but once I was in the process, I really liked it. They weren't there to judge me, but to help me do a full 360 on the deal so I had a much better chance of getting it in.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

This is phenomenal! This kind of approach also opens up our mind to think at a broader level.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It was an amazing method. I wonder if they are still doing it. I really benefitted.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

nice! this is really really cool!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Yup. You need a backup plan FOR the backup plan too.

slaydie

Big Shot

Account Executive

always!

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

This I think is also key when forecasting deals in your CRM. You have to be critical of your deals to get support from leadership to win them. And if you lose them, they will blame you since everything they read made it seem like an easy win

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yep for sure! if you rainbows and sunshine all the time, then a few deals fall through you KNOW leadership will start to doubt you.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Then they will be super critical and micro-manage every deal

Mendizo

Opinionated

Sr. Director

One tip to help with this is to put yourself in the customer's position (with what they care about) and ask "Why shouldn't we do this deal?". You'll usually uncover some really great reasons that can then arm you with unknowns.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Excellent tip!

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

For sure - things might work out fine sometimes but not always and identifying and preparing for what’s not going to work out is sustainable on a long run.

punishedlad

Tycoon

Business Development Team Lead

Every deal I work I operate under the assumption that something will go wrong at every turn. 100% agree that you've gotta be prepared. Always.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

id much rather be viewed as a paranoid AE with a high close rate, than the easy going positive AE with a terrible close rate haha

HappyGilmore

Politicker

Account Executive

100% agree with this. Always important to know where the holes in the deal are too.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yepp! gotta know where the holes are so you can plug em up!

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

LMAO, but it's all rainbows and butterflies I thought?

WhoDey

Opinionated

VP of Sales

Definitely need to anticipate problems. Most folks ask themselves "What will it take to get this deal done?" but never ask themselves "What would prevent this deal from getting done?"

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yep thats a good way to phrase it!

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

Oh god this is so true! Unless and until it is not one call closure or sorts in SMB, please be prepared for everything to go wrong.

One really amazing client told me "Yeah the offer is great, let me think over the weekend" I even scheduled a call for coming Monday, and boom! She never f*ck*ng showed up. I feel dumb, but yeah. You got to be prepared.

activity

Politicker

VP, Business Development

Regardless of industry you need to know how to arbitrage.

cashmachine

Politicker

AE (Account Executive)

gotta be a quarterback/project manager

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

Gotta be the Tom Brady for real for real!

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

TennisandSales

As an AE this is one of your top responsibilities.

23 comments

Related posts

Top AE - Moving Into Leadership

top sdr gigs