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Strategy is back in fashion—maybe it never left—but I’ll tell you that my time on my client’s big deals in the last eight weeks has not been spent as much on pricing as you might think. Rather, we’ve been spending time on:

  • Deal structure. This includes partners, alliances and possible joint-ventures to support the proposal.

  • Implementation approach. Phased-in coordination of players—internal, external and tertiary across a timeline for the deal.

  • Service level definitions. Every piece of the service contract.

  • Risk mitigation. Guarantees, minimums, insurance and liable parties.

  • Terms. The usual suspects for this category, plus underwriting of financing


In a word: strategy. There is a lot to be written about this topic, but let me just offer some recent areas of focus for me...

  • The meeting after the meeting. Many of the bigger deals are being decided “out of the box.” Sure, traditional decision criteria are being used, but in addition to some new ones. If you’re going to win the complex and “new deal,” you’re going to have to keep in mind the meeting the players will have after you leave the room. This means focusing on the clarity of the deal structure. Leave behind materials so that the buyers can walk through your proposition and understand it at a conceptual level without you there. Trust me, there will still be questions, discussions and negotiations later. However, if you’re going to present your solution with a unique strategy, the key idea has to be easy to understand and visually represented so that the person in the meeting can then pitch and explain its core components to someone else—someone new.

  • Something for everyone. If you’re pitching a strategic solution that is different from what your prospect has bought before, then there has to be a unique win in the solution for each person involved in the purchase. Like politicians, these people have to be able to explain why they didn’t go for the obvious choices, such as:

    • Biggest vendor

    • Lowest price

    • Stay with the incumbent

    • Do nothing


  • Landmine your competitors, early and often, In one of my blogs, "Under the Bus, thump, thump..." I talk about the need to address your competitors, but to do so in a way that doesn’t violate the rule of “never talk down your competition.” In the area of strategy, this has to factor in front and center. Winning the strategy game means beating the competition, not just winning the hearts and minds of the buyers.

The 7-9 figure deals that I’m working on with clients right now have so little to do with price. The bigger the deal, the less price drives the conversation. However, these three areas of focus should be a part of all of your big hunt strategy conversations.

— Tom Searcy


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Tom Searcy, The Whale Hunters Company, Large Account Sales, Business Growth, Sales Process Development, Fast Growth Strategies, RFPs, Key Account Management, Current Account Growth, Sales Management, Breaking Business Growth Plateau's, Prospecting System, Business Acceptance Process, Sales Management Development, Big Sales, Big Deals, Deal Coaching, Transform your company, Explosive Growth, Whale Hunting