Cardinal Initiatives Newsletter Apr 29, 2023 3 min read

The world of business is full of stories of sales calls that go awry. Sometimes things don't go according to plan, and salespeople must rely on their instincts and quick thinking to salvage a deal. This is one such story of an enterprise sales call that did not follow the script.

Trusting Your Instincts: The US Cellular Story

This story takes place in the early 2000s when an Oracle sales team was responsible for the Teleco vertical. They had successfully worked with other wireless companies, but TDS/US Cellular, a new account, presented some challenges. In this story, we'll explore how a sales call with the CIO of US Cellular deviated from the script and how the sales team was able to salvage the deal.

In enterprise sales, establishing rapport with executives is key to building trust and finding common ground. It's a strategy based on the science that tells us we tend to like and trust those who are like us. This is why scheduling more time for a first meeting (60 minutes instead of 30) is often a good idea, as it allows for more time to break the ice and find commonalities.

However, sometimes things don't go according to plan.

Our team at Oracle was responsible for the Teleco vertical. Unlike other sales teams within the organization, our vertical sales teams were responsible for Oracle's entire product line. This meant larger annual sales quotas and increased competition, but it also gave us more relevance and enabled us to cover more departments within each account.

One account in our Teleco vertical was TDS/US Cellular. While we had succeeded with other wireless companies, we knew less about US Cellular. Our account executive, Bob, had been working with them for about twelve months and had identified the CIO as a key stakeholder for a transaction he had tee’d up.

TDS had put Bob through the paces. He had to overcome “No Trust” caused by a combination of a) he was a new face to the account due to a change in Oracle’s coverage model and b) some TDS employees had long memories of bad behaviors of prior sales reps. He had “ping-ponged” between stakeholders in Wisconsin and Chicago. He had reached a point in the sales cycle where he needed sponsorship for this transaction from the CIO of US Cellular. Once we had that, we could align our selling process with their buying process. In an ideal world, we could then agree on a sequence of events to closure and move this opportunity into the Forecast.

Bob arranged a meeting with the CIO using the Management Sponsor technique. This involved mapping customer executives with Oracle executives and assigning a name and function to each pairing. When requesting time with the CIO, Bob had a talk track that explained the purpose of the meeting, who from Oracle was mapped to her, the benefits they could expect to receive, and the required time investment (60 minutes.)

We flew into Chicago the night before, reviewed the agenda, and role-played possible scenarios.

However, when we arrived at their offices the next morning, we sensed early posturing from the CIO. She got right down to business, not allowing any time for rapport building. She shared exactly what she needed from us to make the transaction work for her without allowing us to introduce the topic or hear her process.

I sensed that this was a critical moment, so I decided to "trial close" and asked if there was anything preventing us from moving forward if we could get it done for her. She said no, and I decided to use a tactic I had seen work before - I offered to give her 45 minutes of her time back so I could work on her request.

This caught her off guard, but she agreed. I could tell she was pleased, and we left the meeting after only 15 minutes. I called the Oracle executive I needed, and got verbal approval within 30 minutes. I circled back with Bob and we got back to her at the end of the day.

Ultimately, the deal closed one quarter earlier than estimated, with no impairment to the order amount.

Summary & Lessons Learned:

1) Get additional eyes on your deal. Use the Management Sponsor technique to do that.

2) Identify possible scenarios and role-play your responses.

3) Trust your instincts. Things may go differently than planned.

4) Giving time back is a welcomed gesture.

Thank you for reading,

Jeff

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