Information technology is an ever-growing industry that is rapidly changing the way we live and work. From cloud computing to artificial intelligence, the technology landscape is constantly evolving, and organizations are becoming increasingly reliant on IT solutions to support their operations and achieve their goals. As a result, the competition in the IT sales market is fierce, and securing large deals can be challenging.
While everyone has their own versions of what is called a ‘Large Deal’, to keep it simple, we’ll categorize any deal more than $50M as a large deal. As you can imagine these deals are not easy to come by. In fact a lot of sales people will not even encounter deals of such magnitude. These kind of opportunities usually comes when you work with large companies having huge outsourcing and consultancy budgets.
Having worked with many Fortune 100 companies, I have been privy to many such deals. These kind of deals also have a lot of competition as high, which means they are not a cakewalk.
However, by following a few key principles and techniques, sales professionals in the IT industry can increase their chances of winning large deals and grow their business. This blog will provide an overview of some of the most effective strategies for winning large deals in IT sales.
- Understand your customers’ needs and goals
The first step in winning a large IT deal is to thoroughly understand your customers’ needs and goals. This requires conducting a thorough analysis of your customers’ current IT infrastructure, business processes, and future plans. It’s important to be able to understand their pain points and the challenges they face, as well as their goals and objectives for the future.
To gain this understanding, it’s recommended that you speak with key stakeholders and decision-makers in the organization, including C-level executives, IT directors, and business managers. This will give you valuable insight into their requirements and help you tailor your sales pitch to meet their specific needs. This step is also referred to as DD (Due Diligence). While this phase may sound simple, getting a holistic picture while considering the individual requirements on various stakeholders is vital in getting a good grasp of the requirement at hand.
- Build relationships with key decision-makers
Building strong relationships with key decision-makers is critical to winning large IT deals. In many cases, the decision to purchase a new IT solution is not made by a single individual but by a team of stakeholders with different priorities and perspectives. By building strong relationships with these key decision-makers, you can ensure that everyone is aligned on the solution you are offering and the benefits it will bring to the organization.
To build these relationships, it’s important to be proactive and reach out to key decision-makers regularly, whether it’s through phone calls, email, or face-to-face meetings. Additionally, it’s important to be responsive and attentive to their needs and to be proactive in addressing any concerns or questions they may have.
While in smaller deals, you can get away by not mapping all stakeholders. That’s not a luxury you can afford in a large deal. Since the deal has a significant dollar value, it is imperative that the decision to approve the budget will be takle at the highest level of the orgnaization. I’ve seen in multiple times, that having a good connection with the stakeholders on the ground can only help you till the last moment, when the deal is snatched by a acompetitor who has a good connect at the higher levels of the organization. Many a times, this is also due to the fact that familiarity in the higher rungs of the organization instills a level of trust that such large deals require.
- Demonstrate the value of your solution
Once you have a thorough understanding of your customers’ needs and have built relationships with key decision-makers, it’s time to demonstrate the value of your solution. This requires you to be able to articulate the benefits of your IT solution in terms that are relevant and meaningful to your customers.
To effectively demonstrate the value of your solution, it’s important to use real-life examples and case studies to show how your technology has helped similar organizations achieve their goals. Additionally, it’s recommended that you use data and statistics to back up your claims and to quantify the potential impact of your solution on the customer’s business.
When handing over such a large budget, it’s logical to assume that the buying organization would want to make sure that the solution or service they are buying will give them the required outcome that they are looking for. While its not rare to hand over such large projects to someone who hasn’t achieved a similar outcome for a large customer, it goes without saying that an organization that has case studies to back similar projects in the past has an edge over the others who don’t. Hence preparing for this is essential.
- Address potential concerns and objections
No matter how well you have demonstrated the value of your solution, there will likely be some concerns and objections from key decision-makers. It’s important to anticipate these objections and to have a plan in place to address them effectively.
To prepare for objections, it’s recommended that you speak with key decision-makers in advance to understand their concerns and to identify potential objections. This will help you to develop a strategy for addressing these objections and to demonstrate how your solution is the best fit for their needs.
Remember, that some objections will not come out in the open, therefore you should strive to actively search them out during your discussions (refer point 1 & 2) to keep addressing them as and when you learn about them. An important point to note is that these objections will pop until the time the SOW (statment of work) is signed by both parties. Hence, be vigilant till the end.
- Negotiate the deal effectively
Once you have effectively demonstrated the value of your solution and addressed any objections, it’s time to negotiate the deal. To negotiate effectively, it’s important to be well-prepared, to understand your customer’s budget and decision-making process, and to be flexible and willing to make concessions where necessary.
A crucial phase in your journey towards a large deal is this step. Many a times, sales professionals think they have got the deal and relax in the last stages, only to find that a competitor has snatched away the project from them due to a clause that they didn’t think about. Always bear in mind, that the deal is not closed until the document is signed by both companies.
CONCLUSION
Large deals are hard to come by, therefore whenever there is an opportunity in the market to secure one, all competitors make it a beeline to get the deal. While there are no sure shots in this business. The steps laid out on top can keep you honest in your pursuit to get one. Keep in mind that being rational alone will not bring you out at the top. You got work on your emotional quotient as well. As with all deals, don’t just approach it with an aim to close a deal at any cost, but put the interest of your client in mind always. While you may lose out on a few deals during the course of your career, but in turn the goodwill and in turn the success you’ll achieve due to the trust of your customers will take you places. All the best!
