The Deal You Have vs The Deal You Want

Within a deal, you’re qualifying two distinctions: the deal you have versus the deal you want. Through a sales cycle, it’s hard to tell the difference.

A few years ago I ran a deal that looked really strong. I would’ve made my quarterly number in one go. I knew the IT manager from a previous company, so together we pieced together the use case, the pain point worth solving, and a partner lined up to deliver a foundational layer. I was already planning how we could scale future-state problems elegantly and with speed.

I’d never met the economic buyer. I didn’t know the procurement process. I had no idea what he needed to sign my order form and provision a purchase order.

But my champion assured me things were looking good. He assured me we’d get this squared off before end of quarter and start project kickoff the following month. Every time I called - same response. Looking good. So I committed the deal. One week out from end of quarter, he stopped returning my calls.

I qualified the deal I wanted. I never qualified the deal I had.

Qualification isn’t about the boxes you can tick. It’s about ticking the ones you’re avoiding the most.