As we move towards the end of 2020 and into 2021, we’ll be seeing Enterprise Sales Opportunities becoming rarer. One of the key challenges in times of economic instability is that key decision makers can become more risk averse.

Organisations have switched from expansive and innovative mode to looking at the many ways that they can cut costs.

This risk averse climate makes it important to maximise the opportunities that are available to us, as they are presented to us. In other words, don’t do a Djokovic!

Novak Djokovic must have known that his US open was over as soon as he hit a ball directly at a line judge - in the throat. It is a non-negotiable, you're gone. This was at the exact same point that he was steering his way towards his 18th Grand Slam, without his two major rivals in that event - a gilt edged opportunity. Instead of making the most of that, he lost his cool and, in a moment of anger, blew it all.

Just like Grand Slams, Enterprise Sales opportunities are really difficult to come by

The parallel to the Djokovic situation in Enterprise Sales would be that you’ve done all of the hard work, you're shortlisted for a particular win for a particular customer, your two biggest competitors are actually not in the race and, still, you do something that really doesn't allow you to actually maximise the opportunity available to you.

You let the opportunity slip through your hands because you haven’t done the work that enables you to maximise it. The ‘win’ is lost.

Putting yourself in the best place to exploit those opportunities is becoming even more key in the current climate because commercial opportunities for significant Enterprise Sales are going to get more and more limited. You need to be ready to take advantage of those opportunities no matter how narrow they may be. You have to be ready, so focus on getting better.

The great Irish rugby Captain Paul O'Connell and the current Welsh Captain, Alun Wyn Jones are both known for being absolutely relentless at trying to get better. For them, better never stops. They always want to improve and if somebody knows a little more than them, they learn from that person. They are known as sports men who take full advantage of the opportunities available to them and win in their sports as a result.

Are you making the most of the opportunities available to you?

The following stages describe Enterprise Sales in a nutshell.

1. Prospecting

2. Social selling

3. Opportunity qualification

4. Relationship building

5. Closing

6. Negotiation

If you were to mark yourself out of 10, which would you give yourself an 8 or a 9 for? Which ones would you give yourself six or seven? And which, maybe Four?

What could you do to get better in each of those areas? I’ll be sharing my thoughts on how to ‘get better’ next week.

But...in the meantime...

I’m really excited to announce that Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our goal is to provide world class Enterprise Sales, career management and life skills to help you navigate through these challenging times.

If you want to take your career seriously, and also improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me [email protected]