Alyssa Merwin is Vice President of Global Sales Solutions at LinkedIn.
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Building relationships and engaging with senior executives are time-tested strategies of B2B sales and continue to be a cornerstone of most go-to-market teams. These senior executives can make or break a deal, so it makes sense that sellers invest the majority of their time and energy trying to connect with them.
But in today’s environment, focusing exclusively on relationships with the most senior leaders exposes sales organizations to more risk. LinkedIn research shows that 81% of sellers have had a deal fall through or stall in the past year due to a decision maker changing roles. Not only are decision makers moving around, which destabilizes deals: Today’s buying process only includes a salesperson in the last mile of the sales process because buyers prefer to do most of their research on their own. In addition to all of these challenges, buyers are facing immense pressure to make the right decision for their organization as their companies navigate economic uncertainty, often leading to the worst outcome—no purchase decision at all.
All of these factors make it clear that being connected to only a few individuals is a risky strategy. So what do sales teams need to do to safeguard their opportunities and reduce risk in deals? Enter “hidden allies.”
What are hidden allies, and how can they help?
Hidden allies are the individuals at accounts, both in new business and current customers, that sellers need to know but probably don’t. That’s because oftentimes, these hidden allies are not the senior-most leaders. They may be a past customer who is now at a new target account, a former colleague or an individual that is connected to the seller’s leadership team.
They may very well be the ones evaluating resources and making investment recommendations, and they are increasingly influential in the decision-making process. Regardless of seniority, these are also often the individuals who can coach and provide guidance to sellers about internal dynamics and business priorities.
Hidden allies are equally valuable for breaking into new accounts as well as growing and expanding existing customers.
Consider the example of a past customer taking a new job at a new company.
This individual brings knowledge of the seller’s product and can speak to their personal experience with it, immediately lending credibility and possibly helping the seller build influence and gain access within the organization. Additionally, this hidden ally may help the seller connect dots, understand tricky internal politics and coach the seller on how to map their solution to key priorities and challenges.
Why hidden allies need to be part of the modern-day sales process.
While engaging senior executives will always be an important part of the sales process, in the current environment, the winners will be those who build advocacy across levels, functions and key personas. Sellers will find success by building a groundswell of support rather than focusing exclusively on one or two senior-most leaders—because, after all, the real selling and decision making happens when sellers aren’t in the room.
The great news is that hidden allies are not as hidden as they may sound. Building relationships is one of the core skill sets for sales teams. They just need the right tools to know how to identify these hidden allies and sales leaders need to help their teams focus time and energy on connecting with these highly influential voices.
Today’s revenue leaders should take a fresh look at their risk exposure with deals.
It is crucial for leaders to measure and evaluate relationship connections at target accounts as a KPI and pressure-test deals based on how effectively reps are multi-threaded with multiple individuals at an account if they want to help their teams build this new muscle. I hope this article offers some valuable takeaways for leaders seeking to better identify, and leverage, relationships with these hidden allies.
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