The Enterprise Sale

Or How to Close Multimillion Dollar Deals with the 0.1%

“You’ll be able to choose from thousands of recent-model year cars, SUVs, trucks and vans in a variety of makes and models.”

from enterprisecarsales.com

Businesses come in all shapes, structures, and scales — and the angles and processes used to sell to different companies reflect that variability.

Enterprise sale refers to a complex process leading to large contracts that typically involve long sales cycles, multiple decision-makers, and a higher level of risk than other sales. They are unavoidable when selling an investment-level product or service to a large corporation. For neither factor, there are hard cut-offs as more simple, transactional sales gradually blend over into “enterprise” territory.

Let’s look at a typical enterprise sale and some of the defining key elements:

Multiple Stakeholders

According to Gartner, the typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves six to 10 decision-makers, and when you're conducting an enterprise sales process, you typically have contact with all of them at some point.

Decision-makers in large corporations have many decisions to make, and, in turn, there are more decision-makers to make them. Large corporations also have a system of checks and balances in place, especially for larger purchases affecting multiple financial periods (aka investments.) A purchase of a piece of new packaging equipment in a manufacturing environment is often driven by the plant manager while relying on subject matter expertise from stakeholders in procurement, supply chain, marketing, finance, and legal.

This is distinctively different from a smaller company with an owner or CEO making all of the largest investment-type decisions.

Long Sales Cycle

A transactional sales cycle is measured in days, maybe up to a maximum of 60 days. An enterprise sales cycle is typically measured in months, it may involve different phases like trials or pilots, and it may require a new budget cycle to start. It is rarely less than six months and often extends beyond one year.

Large Contract Value

The deal size can simply be the result of the type of solution being sold, though, in a lot of cases, it is also a direct result of the size of the enterprise. An organization with 200,000+ employees requires a multitude of licenses; a brand with manufacturing in 50+ countries wants all packaging to look identical.

Higher-Risk

99.9 % of all businesses in the US fall into the category of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Consequently, enterprise deals are few, and because of all the factors described above, they are hard to win. And with the obvious big win in sight, the risk is high.

Relationships

As Jay Fuchs puts it, “establishing rapport and relationship-building are particularly important when it comes to your typical enterprise sales cycle. The best way to get there is by positioning yourself as a helpful resource for your prospects. Building relationships through education and communication might be the key factor in successfully conducting an enterprise sales process.”

For any business, it is very important to understand where on the spectrum their sales process falls. Or what type or types of sale you want to execute with your team at what point in time: Are you selling one basic software license to a solopreneur upgrading from a free trial? Or are you looking to sell Volkswagen, the #1 car manufacturer in the world, a global corporate license? Do you start with one and transition to the other?

Either one can lead to success for your business. But each requires a different skillset from your sales team. When I place fractional sales leaders into assignments, their past experience in executing the client’s type of sale, handling similar deal sizes, or dealing with similar stakeholders become key factors.

Contact us to determine how the right interim or fractional sales leader can guide your team through the enterprise sales process.

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Jay Fuchs - The Enterprise Sales Cycle - How Massive Deals Come Together

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