The Three Reasons Salespeople Win Deals that Matter

There are only three ways a salesperson wins business that matters. Do you know what they are?

Typically, salespeople fall into the trap of analyzing why they lost a sales opportunity — an event for which there are many possible causes. This kind of analysis has its place. However, there is something to be said for focusing on the positive rather than the negative. And when we do that, what we see is that salespeople win sustainable business in one of three ways:

• Stronger relationships than the competition
• Better salesmanship than the competition (Sorry — I’m not able to come up with a gender-neutral equivalent to “salesmanship,” but I trust you understand I’m talking about all salespeople.)
• A superior product/service offering.

Notice that I excluded deals we win on price alone from this list. I don’t see that as a way of winning sustainable business, and I hope you don’t, either. If the only reason we win is price, then we have no relationships or selling skills and we do not put forward a superior product, solution, or service. Winning on price means we are choosing not to sell on value, and that falls into the much longer list of why salespeople lose business rather than win it.  In high-transaction environments and in large, complex sales, our strategic focus must be on winning deals that matter, not deals that will evaporate the moment someone shows up with a bid that’s a dollar lower than our most recent invoice.

So, with that said, let’s do a deeper dive on the three core reasons salespeople win deals that matter — and how we can capitalize on those reasons to succeed more often.

Relationships 

The first and most well-known reason salespeople win deals that matter is that they build and maintain stronger relationships than their competitors. Anyone who has been in sales more than a few months understands just how critical personal relationships are. We spend months and sometimes years developing deeper levels of trust with our clients, ideally to the point where a competitive threat never gains traction — because our contacts shut it down before it even begins. These relationships are invaluable.

However, danger is always lurking. Buying committees now outnumber single decision-makers by a fair margin, and many senior executives stay in their roles for less than two years. As important as a one-on-one relationship is, and it is important, being single-threaded in an account is an increasingly risky proposition. As professionals, we must work diligently to broaden our relationships within an organization to maintain and grow our business.

Another reason we need to beware in the area of relationship has to do with the (common) occurrence of a price increase becoming necessary. Many salespeople will resist raising prices, justifying their hesitation by saying they want to “preserve the relationship.” That thinking is always flawed, but especially so in a period of inflation, like the one in which we currently find ourselves. ,If we have powerful relationships and provide real value, then our clients will understand when price increases reflect that value.

Salesmanship 

The second way sellers win deals that matter in high-transaction environments and large, complex sales is through mastering the craft of salesmanship. Even setting aside the gender-non-neutrality issue, this word has somehow become taboo in recent years. That’s a problem.

Too often, we hear that top-producing salespeople say they no longer need sales training or coaching. They’re beyond all that. When I hear that kind of thing, I want to ask: When did Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler stop practicing or taking lessons from their coaches? The answer, of course, is never. The best performers in any field continuously work on their skills.

Whether they’ve been selling for five, ten, twenty, or thirty years, the genuinely top-performing salespeople I’ve met still study and refine their approach. I know many salespeople who are naturally gifted at building relationships; when they pair that with outstanding selling skills, they consistently dominate leaderboards within their companies and industries.

Sales is both an art and a science. Those who understand and embrace that balance pave the way for the next generation of sellers. Today’s best young salespeople will combine proven sales skills and methodologies with modern targeting and relationship-building techniques, creating a decisive advantage for the future. But they’ll never stop working on improving their game.

Product/Service/Solution Quality 

The third and final reason sellers win deals that really matter is that they represent a product, solution, or service that is objectively the best on the market.

That situation can be a double-edged sword. If a product truly sells itself, why do we need top-performing salespeople? With AI and every other imaginable technology advancing at quantum speed, high-growth companies are bringing best-in-class solutions to the market at a speed once undreamed of, and frequently catching the competition off guard. Yet even when we are representing the best product, I would argue that we must not rely too heavily on that advantage.

Think about it. A competitor with deeply rooted relationships can still win against a superior product. Additionally, even when we are selling the best product, we must qualify opportunities effectively. Understanding a prospect’s pain or gain, available budget, and decision-making process is still essential. Return on investment will always be a key factor, and salespeople must quantify, in clear financial terms, the value their solutions deliver. Qualification without this quantification is incomplete.

Of course we have a professional responsibility to understand, and to be able to communicate, the competitive advantages our product/solution delivers. That means developing a compelling value proposition, and it also means being able to answer the most common buyer questions in terms the buyer can understand.

But let’s not forget that today’s clearly superior product/service/solution may or may not be quite as clearly superior tomorrow.  Just look at how once-dominant products like BlackBerry smartphones and Blockbuster video rentals were overtaken by newer, more adaptable solutions. Having a breakthrough solution is the beginning of where we add value, not the end.

The Bottom Line 

As sales professionals, it’s in our best interests to focus more often, and with greater clarity, on why and how we win deals that matter. That includes strengthening our relationships, continuously honing our selling skills, and cultivating a deep understanding of the competitive advantages our products and solutions deliver. We must also articulate our value proposition clearly and avoid selling on price alone.

Written by Michael Norton.
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