The Death of a Deal

If I heard it once, I have heard it a thousand times. Whether in a QBR or a one-off deal strategy review session, a question is asked, and the answer begins with, "I think." If you know me and have worked with me, whether taking one of my sales enablement courses, sitting through a QBR, or participating in a deal review, you have heard this quote from Donald Rumsfeld; watch this quick video.

The key takeaway of this quote is the:

• Known-Knowns

• Known-Unknows

• Unknown-Unknowns

Let's dive into each of these. The Known-Knowns sound simple and are defined as the things we know we know. Here, assumptions creep into deals and infiltrate every fact we think we know. All known knowns should be a fact that has been validated by more than one contact within the organization you are selling to. Often we find out pieces of information, small truths, and use them to build out a BIG assumption. We build a strategy based on these BIG assumptions, leading to the deal's death.

If you are a sales leader, you can uncover these assumptions by following all of the answers that Account Executives answer, "and how do you know? How has that been validated?" Do this enough, and people will automatically include that in their responses. If you are an Account Executive, be honest and ask yourself that same question.

The Known-Unknowns are the pieces of information that you know you don't know. As much as we document the things we learn in a deal, we should be writing these as much. People generally love to talk about what they know and tend to shy away from something they don't know. This is especially true when it comes to account executives and their deals. If you are an Account Executive reading this, this area is the 2nd most significant area of exposure that can kill your deal. You can create a game plan for getting that information by capturing what you don't know.

The last and most important are the Unknown-Unknowns. These pieces of information are the most difficult to gather because you don't even know you don't know it, so how can you even ask a question to uncover it? This is where deal reviews come into play. If you are an account executive, review your deal with your manager, colleagues, spouse, Sales Engineer, or anyone who will listen and contribute.

These unknown-unknowns can only get uncovered by other people, whether through talking to others with different perspectives or reading about the micro and macroeconomic forces, social constructs, and political developments that can affect the organization. If you are a Sales Manager, making sure that deal reviews happen and practicing public deal reviews where others with different perspectives can participate is pivotal.

Sales Leaders - MEDDICMondays offers 1 on 1 training to help you learn how to lead deal reviews. Contact us for more information.

Your assignment this week is to take your top 3 opportunities that you have and document three things on each:

1. Known - Knowns: List every fact you know critical to the account and how you know it to be true. Remember when you took Geometry in High School? Include the "proof" and show your work.

2. Known - Unknowns": List everything you know you don't know and how or who you can talk to, and what questions you need to ask to uncover it.

3. Unknown - Unknown: Talk to your sales manager and one other person and find three things that you didn't know you didn't know. Then capture who and how you can get that information from.