SALES STRATEGY BASED ON TALENT MANAGEMENT WINS $787m DEAL
‘Big Deal Coach’ appointment is first step
THE CHALLENGE
A huge consulting contract from a Fortune 100 company was up for tender. A Big Four consultancy firm was keen to win the contract but was late to the starting gate. The RFP had already been issued, almost certainly favoring their competitors and there was not much time left to mount a campaign. The account team were actively considering whether it was worth the effort to put forward a proposal at all.
THE SOLUTION
A ‘big deal coach‘ was assigned to the project by the Big Four’s partner team. The new coach, an experienced executive, brought considerable know-how in closing major deals through use of talent management methodologies. The partners wanted his guiding hand on the bid as the buying process edged towards the presentation stage. The new coach rapidly assembled a bid team using the concepts of Method Teaming to inform his choices. The team contained exactly the right mix of talents, or Intellects (not a measure of intelligence but how the mind channels the intelligence), to face the sophisticated challenge ahead. Its formation was calculated with scientific precision and individuals were selected for their natural aptitude for their designated role.
Employee engagement was high from the outset. The new team formation was working well with the various Intellects sparking off each other like a well-run combustion engine. The sales team began by providing information about the personalities involved within the target customer. But they also colored in the players on the competitors’ teams. All these personalities were analyzed and their Intellects mapped onto the revealing Method Teaming Group Icon. This allowed the entire bid team to view them synoptically with their talents and behavior patterns laid bare. A revolutionary advantage.
Now they used the insight provided by Method Teaming science to deduce how each member of the buying and competitor teams would logically think. They considered each one’s natural strengths and how they would behave under different circumstances. Almost without realizing it they had begun to take charge of the sale.
The final phase of the campaign came as the team predicted the competitors’ strategies and developed a sales strategy of their own to counter them. They also designed forms of words, phrases and visual imagery that they knew would speak to the Intellects of the individual buyers. For each buyer they prepared different word and imagery sets and practiced how they would use them in forthcoming meetings. All this was based on their knowledge of the buyers’ Method Teaming Intellects, as deduced from the sales team’s input.
THE OUTCOME
The talent management-based sales strategy was successful and the Big Four team stole the huge contract from under the noses of their competitors. They were able to achieve this result because they were talent-aligned to the client rather than talent-opposed. They had done their homework, intelligently, and acted on the results.
The Big Four team:
- Won a $787m deal against the run of play
- Beat entrenched and highly professional competitors
- Applied Method Teaming science to their bid
- Came from behind to overtake the favorites
- Remained highly motivated and engaged as a team throughout
Is your team capable of winning a big contract?
