Enjoy this episode, which was originally aired in August 2022, with John Kaplan. Solution requirements are a critical component of every deal you sell. These are things that must be in place in order for a buyer to achieve their desired outcomes, and they exist with or without your solution. In today’s episode, John Kaplan explains the importance of recognizing your customer’s solution requirements and what to do with that knowledge. You will learn how to:

• Bridge the customer’s current state to their desired future state.
• Position your value in a way that influences the customer’s requirements.
• Ask great discovery questions that show your customer how your solution is needed to solve their business issues.

Here are some additional resources:

• How to Stack Customer Requirements in Your Favor
  • https://bit.ly/3AMo4z3
• The Missing Link Between Your Differentiation and Your Buyers
  • https://bit.ly/3dVvQ0H

Check out this and other episodes of The Audible-Ready Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

In this episode, John Kaplan joins Rachel to talk about bouncing back from losses as a seller. For reps, he sheds light on the key factors to reflect upon after losing, the importance of maintaining transparency with management in order to get appropriate feedback, the decisive benefits of early qualification, and applying the lessons learned from a loss to succeed in similar accounts. John also addresses managers, highlighting the need to foster an environment that promotes continuous learning and empowers sellers to take risks.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Win/Loss Review | Ascender Course
• Key Questions for Managers to Ask in Deal Reviews | Ascender Article
• Ascender’s Best Content on Decision Criteria | Ascender Article
• Close the Excuse Department | Ascender Video
• Take Ownership of Your Success | Ascender Video
• Asking for Help | Ascender Video
• Prepping for Your Deal Reviews | Podcast
• Attaching to the Biggest Business Problem | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

Today, John Kaplan joins Rachel to explore the many elements involved in building a healthy pipeline, and doing so in a purposeful manner. He talks about prioritizing strategy during pipeline generation as opposed to merely chasing a number, pinpointing an Ideal Customer Profile, articulating your value by tying technical requirements to business outcomes, and the art and skill of getting the customer to stand in their moment of pain.


Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Ascender’s Prospecting Elite Selling™ Certification
• Plan to Make Your Plan | Ascender Course
• The Franchise Mindset | Ascender Article
• Four Questions to Ask About Your Most Critical Accounts | Ascender Article
• When to Use Customer Case Studies in the Sales Process | Ascender Article
• Overcoming Seller Deficit Disorder | Ascender Video
• Building Your Pipeline | Ascender Video
• When AI Isn’t Enough: Getting an Opportunity | Podcast
• Five Areas Where You Need Consistency | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

For today’s episode, Tim Caito joins Rachel to share his insights on what reps can do to consistently elevate their sales conversations and get higher in organizations. Tim talks about recognizing the giveaways that you are too low in a company, prioritizing influence over org charts, keeping track of shifting priorities over the course of a deal, preparing in advance for successful sales calls, and gaining return access by tailoring your message to the relevant concerns of the buyer.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Selling to the C-Suite | Ascender Course
• Getting to the Economic Buyer | Ascender Course
• Building Champions for Life | Ascender Course
• Aligning to Win | Ascender Article
• Our Best Content on Decision Criteria | Ascender Article
• Preparing for Sales Conversations | Ascender Video
• Preparing for Sales Negotiation Conversations | Podcast
  

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

In this episode, Antonella O’Day joins Rachel to discuss best practices on managing the transition of prospects from initial interest to buying intent. Over the course of the conversation, Antonella touches on the need for sellers to approach early sales calls with a mindset of curiosity, shares strategies for testing a prospect’s intent in order to qualify deals early on, advises reps to make use of mutual action plans (MAPs) to build consensus and trust, and supplies questions to help reps gauge progress.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Creating a Compelling Business Case | Ascender Course
• Moving Buyers to Action | Ascender Article
• How to Convince Your Customer to Take Action in Your Sales Process | Ascender Article
• Helping Customers Persuade Themselves | Ascender Video
• How Do I Get My Customer to See the Importance of My Differentiation? | Ascender Video
• How to Uncover Buyer Needs | Podcast
• Aligning with Corporate Initiatives | Podcast
• Developing Mutual Action Plans | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

In this episode, John Boney and Rachel speak about the need for sales leaders to coach based on value. They explore ways in which leaders can endeavor to make every conversation with reps an opportunity to drive growth, not just hit a number. You’ll learn how to ask questions that uncover your reps’ motivations and struggles, differentiate solving and coaching, and lead in a way that builds trust and empowers your reps to take ownership of their challenges.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Coaching Model Essentials | Ascender Course
• Effective Opportunity Coaching Sessions | Ascender Course
• Coaching the Coaches – Front-Line Sales Managers | Ascender Course
• Three Ways Managers Can Drive Value-Based Selling Practices | Ascender Article
• How to Coach Value-Based Sales Messaging Aligned with C-Suite Priorities | Ascender Article
• Remember These Key Steps to a Value-Based Sales Conversation | Ascender Article
• Keeping the Focus on Value | Podcast
• How to Uncover Buyer Needs | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

In this episode, Rachel and John dive into a critical moment every seller faces: recognizing when it's time to pause, reassess, and reset a deal. They explore how to identify red flags, reframe conversations, and re-engage buyers without losing credibility.

Visit these other episodes for more on this topic.

1. Go High, Go Low – Adjusting Your Sales Conversation
   Learn how to shift your conversation up or down the org chart when your deal is stalling or misaligned.
2. Confidence and Conviction
   This episode explores how to re-engage with confidence when you need to reset a deal.
3. Influencing Your Customers’ Solution Requirements
   A key skill when backing up a deal—this episode dives into how to shape decision criteria around your differentiation.
4. Competing Initiatives: Moving Your Deal Forward
   When your deal is stuck behind other priorities, this episode helps you reassess and reposition.
5. The Outcome Conversation
   Focuses on aligning with buyer outcomes—critical when reframing a stalled opportunity.

In today’s special episode for those selling to government agencies, John Boney joins Rachel to discuss how to respond and adapt to changing federal priorities in the current landscape. He explores the concept of “value drivers” and explains how reps can uncover them with effective, mission-oriented questions. John also talks about the need to align with the client’s procurement process, focus on ROI for the agency in question, build a stakeholder map that allows you to adapt your narrative for the value lens of every stakeholder, and manage the often-overlooked post-award delivery phase.


Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Deepen Your Discovery | Ascender Course
• Changing Your Approach with Procurement | Ascender Course
• Remember These Key Steps to a Value-Based Sales Conversation | Ascender Article
• Four Questions to Ask About Your Most Critical Accounts | Ascender Article
• Keeping the Focus on Value | Podcast
• How to Uncover Buyer Needs | Podcast
• Aligning Sales Strategies with DOGE Priorities: Navigating the New Federal Marketplace | Webinar

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.

Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

Today, Brian Walsh joins Rachel to talk about the mindset sellers need to have when their company launches a new product. He walks through key considerations for reps to weigh during the enablement process, such as figuring out what problems the product solves and the outcomes it can drive, determining your ideal customer profile, staying honest to avoid overpromising, and discussing technical features while maintaining value-based discipline.


Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• 5 Attributes of Effective Presentations | Ascender Course
• Opening Statements | Ascender Course
• Storytelling in the Sales Process | Ascender Course
• Unlocking Prospect Insights with AI Prompts | Ascender Article
• The Single Selling Motion | Podcast
• Being an Effective Sales Coach | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison

In today’s episode, John Kaplan joins Rachel to talk about the steps necessary to be an elite seller. He goes through and explains the habits and behaviors consistently exhibited by the most elite reps, including disciplined and intentional execution, preparing insightful questions to aid discovery, shifting the conversation from their own solution to the customer’s business pain, and influencing the Decision Criteria with differentiation backed up by value.

Here are some additional resources:

• Get MEDDICC Certified on Ascender!
• Aligning Sales Planning and Execution Disciplines | Ascender Course
• Objection Handling | Ascender Course
• Attaching to the Biggest Business Problem | Ascender Course
• Selling to the C-Suite | Ascender Course
• How to Ask Questions that Highlight Your Solution’s Differentiation | Ascender Article
• Creating Urgency with Your Customer | Ascender Video
• Aligning with Corporate Initiatives | Podcast
• Preparing for Sales Conversations | Podcast
• Three Tactics for Handling Objections | Podcast

Visit Ascender, a platform designed solely for salespeople who own a quota. If you enjoy the Audible-Ready Sales Podcast, Ascender is perfect for you! We put out content every day with insights to help you level up in your sales career.


Check out the platform here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/
Subscribe here: https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/PlanComparison