Extraordinarily Ordinary
WMMM #084 - This week I share lessons from current sales cycles.
Jeff Keplar Newsletter December 28, 2024 6 min read
In two separate conversations this month, the other party opened with:
"I want to hire you…".
Both are opportunities for my consulting business.
How I responded may help others with their approach to selling and is the source for this week's edition of Win More, Make More.
The Buyer Seller Dance
Let's call the first caller FM.
This is a relationship developed during my career with Oracle.
FM was a C-level executive at a Fortune 500 company.
I was his Oracle executive sponsor for a number of years.
His call came out of the blue.
Our last encounter was four years ago.
He had pinged me back then as I walked into an executive briefing on Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, CA.
This time, he wanted to explore how I might help him "monetize" a new venture in the cyber security world.
He has a solution that uniquely (today at least) solves a pervasive problem with data privacy and authentication.
He is the Founder and CEO.
Even though they are in their early days, FM has populated his firm with key employees and a Board of Directors with world-class credentials.
Extraordinary does not begin to describe this CEO and the group he has assembled.
So what does he want with me?
The conversation took on a life of its own.
Weaving in and out of "Current State," FM took me through a history lesson in technology and social norms, laying the foundation for what they had developed and why.
He told me that few people could appreciate his rant because they lacked the "lived experience" in the tech world to understand it.
He said he knew me to be one of those few.
I have witnessed the evolution of software development.
I was actively engaged during the birth of the internet.
He piled it on by adding my database and Big Data experience as reasons why I was uniquely positioned to help them.
He was generous with his assessment.
He was in recruiting mode.
Listening, asking questions, and then listening more, the word "monetize" was one signal for me.
Monetizing implies helping them with their go-to-market approach.
Go-to-market involves selling.
It's not WHAT you know about tech that makes you good at selling it.
I can probably help them, but not for the reasons FM was giving.
Those were reasons that FM trusts me.
When Ordinary is Extraordinary
It's important to recognize that people buy for their reasons, which may not align with yours.
I now know why FM values me.
I'm humbled and flattered.
I also appreciate him including me in this cohort of professionals with whom he collaborates.
But I do not know why he needs or wants my services yet.
I have work to do to uncover this.
I have a guess, but my opinion doesn't matter.
How FM expresses his needs is the key to moving forward.
For the purpose of sharing the sales lesson, here is my assessment so far.
FM and his cohort possess a vision for how technology could be applied to shape the future.
"Change the World" kind of stuff.
I am serious when I opine that this mindset is what can make them successful.
They will also need a more mundane mindset in order to succeed.
FM will need individuals who can interact with enterprises:
Gain their trust
Enable them to develop their reasons for buying this tech
Help them with their decision process
Execute a purchase process.
The individuals needed to accomplish this do not fit the profile of FM's current cohort.
People tend to like people like themselves.
People tend to trust people they like.
People buy from people they trust.
Most people (most buyers) are not like FM's extraordinary cohort.
Most people are ordinary.
FM's cohort are excellent individuals for the conferences, podcasts, and analyst interviews (the speakers' circuit).
But, FM needs skilled professionals who appear ordinary to his potential buyers.
At the current stage of their startup, with the GTM approach I’m guessing they’ll use, FM needs skilled salespeople.
FM will likely need extraordinarily ordinary individuals to sell their solution.
This isn't easy to do, which is one reason I'm interested in exploring this opportunity.
Another Set of Eyes
Let's call the second caller, FK.
FK is someone I have spoken with before.
He is an account executive for a large software company.
He reached out in August.
A former colleague of his had shared my newsletter with him.
Her father and I worked together at Oracle for years.
(The Network at its best!)
This month, he reached out and told me he'd like to hire me.
As a coach.
He has evaluated a number of sales coaches over the years without hiring one.
He is convinced I can help him.
The "Why" is between FK and me, but it received a "go" in my go/no go matrix.
The "What" is another set of eyes on his sales approach.
FK values my experience in enterprise sales:
Years in sales and sales leadership roles
Lots of practice - thousands of sales cycles.
My real-life sales stories revealed to him a person who has done much of what he plans to do.
His former colleague's father also provided a first-hand account of what it was like to work with me.
Sales Leadership
Sales is rarely what people think it is.
It requires creativity.
There is no one way to do things.
Every sales cycle is unique.
Coaching a salesperson who works in a large sales organization requires calling upon your sales leadership experience.
A sales leader cannot control every single step taken but is accountable for results.
We need salespeople to want to make their number as much as we want it.
So it wasn’t just coaching up behaviors to a certain standard.
For me, it was getting people to care as much as I did.
To accomplish this, we started with how we interacted with one another daily.
Make it familial versus directed.
Help people find their own independence as thinkers.
The act of teaching people, empowering them, supporting them, and giving them confidence is part of leading.
How Do You Choose Who to Spend Time With?
While at Oracle, I'm not sure it was my choice.
Today, it is.
But my thought process applies to both situations.
We hope everyone feels like they are the favored one.
But people respond differently.
So, I alter my approach to offering help and support depending on the individual.
Generally, we identify people that show they are eager to learn.
Some put their hand up and say, "Teach me."
No teacher, coach, or leader isn't moved by that.
While others may have more potential and more upside, if I didn't think they were open to learning, I would choose those I thought were.
Find ways to signal your openness to being taught.
FK has potential.
FK is eager.
FK put his hand up.
Coaching
When we succeed in a doer role, we are often promoted to sales management.
That's not the best approach.
It's not for everyone.
We promote the star salesperson to sales manager, hoping they will replicate what made them a star with the rest of our individual contributors.
Often, it turns out that the new manager becomes a "super salesperson," reducing our individual contributors to his personal BDRs so that he can focus on doing nothing but closing qualified deals.
The reps don't learn anything.
Our sales org doesn't scale.
We want the servant-leader approach.
Work with me versus for me.
Aspire to teach, coach.
The daily sales grind can be painful: "Up at dawn, pride-swallowing siege."
Delight in doing something well - being great at something.
I wanted to work with the kind of people who would delight in and feel proud of accomplishing difficult goals and would be willing to work really hard because they wanted to accomplish something of significance.
Do something difficult that few others have done.
Feel proud of that.
My dream came true, and I still live it today.
Lessons Learned
1) Ordinary has a place in selling.
2) Be open to learning and teaching.
3) Find ways to signal your openness.
4) Work with me versus for me.
Thank you for reading.
Jeff
When you think “sales leader,” I hope you think of me.
If you like what you read, please share this with a friend.
I offer my help to investors, founders, sales leaders, and their teams.
I possess the skills identified in this article and share them as part of my service.
In my weekly newsletter, Win More, Make More, I provide tips, techniques, best practices, and real-life stories to help you improve your craft.
