One of the greatest challenges we have observed for enterprise sales professionals is – How to win 7 or 8-figure ($10M+) deals. A lot of salespeople talk about closing mega deals, but the reality is that most don’t achieve it or at best had a deal driven by their management. We’ve found that its usually a small percentage of sellers who’ve cracked the code and have done it multiple times. We’d like to unlock the mystery of closing these deals.

One of the most accomplished people I have seen, first-hand, is Paul Evans.

Paul an over-achieving enterprise sales director, with 20 years plus software industry experience. He is typically brought into an organisation to accelerate revenue growth - this is always achieved by creating high performance and a positive people culture.

He has a rare ability to create compelling narratives that connect solutions to decision makers - enabling them to align with key business objectives. He is a stellar relationship builder and thoroughly decent human being.

A declaration - Paul is a client and we have worked together multiple times.

Thank you, Paul, for taking time out:

1. How do you achieve such big deals?

· Three possible routes:

· RFP, by that point written by someone else and have another in mind.

· Defined project, or

· Consultative approach - you proactively discover what the customer really needs.

· Third option whilst harder enables you to help the customer more than they know themselves. It is the most uncertain.

· Reading the annual report will give you the investment intentions of the company. Discovery work, contacts in the company to build up a picture of what the need is. Joining dots and aligning your solution to these is the optimal route to larger deals.

· Early executive engagement - win the psychological and social contract before commercial contract.

· It feels authentic to Paul to know the executives at the beginning of the process and have relationships in place rather than last few days before deal sign off.

· A $27 million deal started out in the account executive mind as a $50-100,000 opportunity, it would have stayed there if they had not thought differently and asked:

o “What could this deal mean at its largest?”

o Burning platform, a high level of pain allows larger deals.

2. One of my observations is how you connect with senior level executives and create a compelling narrative; can you tell us more about that?

· Paul paints the pictures of where the customer is now, a vision of an outcome and how the technology will close that gap.

· At a human level we are ready for story. For business, a compelling narrative arc. So, tell that story well.

· Rob recalls the time when working with Paul at an offsite sales conference at Juniper Networks Rob and Paul in the same team to create a pitch for client business. Paul created a compelling narrative which became the winning pitch.

· A 2-year active customer engagement process led to the eventual signing of a 26million deal.

· Consultative selling builds trust and enables bigger wins.

3. What do you wish you knew early on in your career, that you know today?

· Take more risks, not unmeasured, yet explore possibilities. Be braver.

· Paul like a Catherine wheel, gaining speed and energy. Would have challenged himself to step into the unknown more.

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