The Opportunity Mindset

The word opportunity conjures up many different concepts and even emotions; it means different things
to different folks. But in a sales driven organization, the word opportunity should have a very specific
meaning. Companies that have grasped the concept of managing the opportunity pipeline find that they
are able to sell more in less time, and that their prospects are happier, and those prospects become
happy customers. Those companies can take steps to improve how they respond to opportunities,
creating a virtuous cycle, and manage the process from a holistic viewpoint rather than chasing deals
down a rabbit hole without knowing what lies after each turn.

While there are entire disciplines devoted to this task, and countless products and white-papers to help
at each step, it’s important to understand how you, in your role in your organization, can help the sales
staff better win deals and “close” an opportunity. Where do you fit into the opportunity process?

If you’re not in the thick of sales, you may think that you are so far removed from the opportunity
pipeline that your actions could hardly affect it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every
department is responsible for two tasks relating to opportunities: identifying them, and helping cultivate
them to “close.” Some departments like sales and marketing survive on the opportunity. But even
finance, accounting, and other “back-office” employees come across opportunities every day. When you
can see an avenue for a customer to benefit by taking advantage of your offerings, you can formalize
that into a true sales plan. A simple example is when someone in accounts payable notices how a
customer could reduce their annual spend by increasing their contract length (a win-win), or consolidate
their processes by relying on your company for additional services that you may not be currently
providing them.

Sales is the lifeblood of every organization. Whether you provide services, products, sell to governments
or SMBs, or work in charitable organizations, you are in business to find new customers and service
them. At the heart of it is understanding what an opportunity really is—Opportunity with a capital “O.”
And once you have the skills to recognize an Opportunity, how do you get it to folks who can convert the
pass for a touchdown? Does your organization have a formal definition of Opportunity? If so, is it easy to
grasp by everyone in the organization? If not, then an immediate action item is to grab individuals from
different departments and formalize that definition until it’s tangible and understood by everyone.

Once “Opportunity” is defined in a context that’s relevant to your daily life, you (and others in your
organization) can find ample opportunities to support the opportunity pipeline. Or perhaps more
importantly, begin guiding or managing opportunities—because it’s just as important to know what a
good fit for your firm is as it is to know which companies will not purchase your product or services but
still take up valuable sales, marketing, and operations resources—but that’s better left to another
discussion.

As an active member of the opportunity pipeline, you should define where in the process you fit in. Are
you a subject-matter expert who can provide insight into technical specifications during the proposal
process? Do you have access to the raw data that can help streamline the quote? How about
competitive intelligence information that could help the salesperson “one-up” the closest competitor?
As you begin to see where you can provide assistance, make sure you take the initiative to do so. While
the commission may not end up directly in your pocket, the overall health of your organization will
directly have an impact on your personal bottom line (ideally in the form of bonuses or monetary
recognition for the additional revenue).

Once you have that process in place, it’s important to scrutinize and identify (and reward) where the
opportunities are coming from. Obviously, given my role, I believe that at the heart of all of this is the
need for solid technology. Software called CRM, or Customer Relationship Management software helps
track the progress—it gives your organization insight into how many opportunities are out there, where
they come from, and, if you look carefully and deeply enough, can even point you to where to find
more. And once tracking is in place, there is SFA (Sales Force Automation) software that can help you
make sure that at every step you’re always putting your best foot forward and getting input from all
departments at the appropriate time.

There are many touch points: identifying an opportunity, chasing it down, servicing it, providing quotes
and proposals, initiating demos, setting up trials. Only by constantly repeating the process and dissecting
the information gleaned from both wins and losses can we determine a winnable opportunity from one
that should be passed. We need to know that at every step our company and systems are designed to
prop up the Opportunity. It’s imperative that for every Opportunity, our quotes and proposals are
speaking directly to the pain of the prospect and clearly illustrate how we as an organization can solve
our customers’ pain with our products/services.

Getting the Opportunity mindset into your corporate culture can be extremely difficult, but the payoffs
are immediate, and require little to no additional expenditures to significantly increase your
department’s or your organization’s top (and hopefully bottom) line.

Amit Davé

President

salesElement

www.saleselement.com