06 October 2009 | Miller Heiman

If you could only ask one question of your sales team this week to move sales forward, ask this:

Are there individuals in the buying organization that may not want you to win?

No one expects smooth sailing when someone with influence in the organization you’re trying to sell into is actively working against your proposed solution.

Some people work to negate your efforts to improve positioning with your account – and when these individuals have influence on the key players in the account, it can be a bad situation. Understanding their motivation can help you work toward more neutral ground. Are their self-interests perhaps better served when they support your competitors? Are they perhaps advocating for using an internal solution? Are they bringing an alternative solution to the table that competes for the same budget dollars?

It’s better to understand someone who is vocal about their desires to undermine your efforts than to try to counter a force you can’t pinpoint. Demonstrate  that if your solution is chosen, they will be able to see a legitimate personal win.

Learn more about personal wins here.

Previous Questions:

Week 5

Week 4

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1