by Robert Kelly
The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest marathons and one of its most famous. Runners from around the world gather in Boston every April, along with 500,000 spectators, to enjoy this spectacular event. The race starts in the suburbs and ends in the heart of Boston. One of the more famous elements of this race is known as Heartbreak Hill, and if you ever talk to a marathoner, they will likely grimace at the memory of running this hill. That may be surprising because the hill itself is only 91 feet long, which makes it one of the shortest hills in all five of the large city U.S. marathons. I always thought a 91 foot hill should be fairly easy for a marathoner who is in great shape.
But year after year, drama plays out at this site and many runners crumble. Why does this relatively short hill cause such big problems for well conditioned athletes? One reason is that the hill is actually quite steep, one of the steepest hills of all the US marathons. In addition, it also comes at about 20 miles into the race, which is the point in a marathon when muscle glycogen stores are most likely to be depleted – often referred to by athletes as “hitting the wall."
It’s also the last of four consecutive hills that come occur in a relative short four mile stretch known as Newton Hills. One friend who has run several Boston marathons and dozens of other marathons and triathlons, recounted the first time he encountered Heartbreak Hill. He was running through Newton Hills and as he ascended the third of the hills, he mistakenly thought that he was on the last hill. Because of the terrain, he could not see any other hills beyond and felt that it would be all downhill from there. He was feeling pretty good that he was about to conquer the famous Heartbreak Hill without hitting the wall. Then he crested the hill and saw that there was yet another hill and he indeed felt heartbreak.
Elevation of the marathon hills
The environment also plays a role in just how challenging the Marathon can be. Boston in April often enjoys perfect marathon weather; low humidity and cool temperatures. But it’s just as likely to have very cold weather and maybe a mix of rain or even a little snow. Then again, it could be a very hot, humid day. So what does this all have to do with complex sales?
Complex Selling: The Boston Marathon of Sales
A complex sale is the equivalent of a marathon because this type of sale is usually quite lengthy compared to other types of sales. Complex selling often entail serious challenges along the route. Sure, some complex sales are pretty straight forward and with few challenges so long as you dedicate the necessary time and preparation. More often than not though, a complex sale is like the Boston Marathon that comes with a number of unique challenges, sometimes occurring well into the sale when you least expect it.
How to Avoid Hitting the Wall
Short, Flat Route
Keep in mind that a complex sale is almost never as short or straightforward as some clients would have you believe. Sometimes a client will make it seem like they love your solution, that they are the final decision maker, and no one else in the company needs to be involved. This sounds great and seems like it could be a quick sale, but rarely does it work out that way. Another person is almost always influencing or providing input to the decision or involved in final decision making. Rather than smiling and sitting back in your chair when a client tells you your solution is perfect and he’ll buy from you quickly, you should begin asking far more probing questions to truly determine if the client has considered all necessary buying factors and who else will need to be involved in the buying process. This will help you avoid hitting the wall.
The Unexpected Hill
I’ve been involved in complex sales where I’ve been dealing with the various buyers and influencers, making sure they had the information they needed based on where they were in the buying process. I felt I was near decision time and had everyone that needed to be involved on board. Then I was blindsided by another client manager coming into the buying process late and bringing up issues that slowed things down and introduced new challenges. In this particular case, I should have anticipated this because this particular senior manager was involved early on and then had dropped out of the process. I mistakenly thought he had totally delegated decision making authority to those I had been talking to, but learned too late that this was not the case.
Changing Environment
Other complex sales have been complicated by environmental factors that I had little control over, but could have and should have been prepared to manage. For example, since many complex sales take time, economic conditions change either in the market or at the company. While one cannot always anticipate such changes, staying on top of such factors may help you structure a deal so that the sale remains economically viable even if such changes occur.
In other cases, competitors have entered the fray and learning that I had already laid significant groundwork, sought to unravel my deal by introducing other decision criteria that favored their solution into the buyers’ mindset. Of course this is a good technique on their part, but it certainly caused my client to second guess their decision criteria and where they were in their buying process. By making sure you know your competitors strengths and weaknesses, you should be able to defend against such intrusions by already factoring competitor features into the buying decision criteria while diminishing their importance.
Crossing the Finish Line
Complex sales are often long, grueling marathons with the occasional Heartbreak Hill. But for those of us who practice complex selling, we get a great sense of accomplishment when we can help a client solve a serious problem while we deliver strategic sales to our firms. It’s a bit of a rush similar to, at least metaphorically, the endorphin rush that long distance runners get.