As you can read in the title, I recently closed my first major upsell. I’m not talking about a small upsell, but really a significant expansion of the account.
To do this, I used multithreading to activate various stakeholders, build a champion, and create a business case.
But I think the most important thing was integrity and trust.
In my case, this meant that the Account Executive before me had severely damaged the trust relationship and I was trying to repair it.
I was very direct and transparent in all of the meetings and admitted our mistakes.
When I think back to my previous 6-figure deals, these were the situations that made all the difference.
Exspecially when things aren’t going well, calling the customer/prospect or, in the best case, visit them, being transparent and honest about the status-quo and find a way forward together.
For me, this also means standing up for your values and what you say.
This can also mean recommending a customer not to buy your solution.
Taking extreme ownership for your actions and the actions of your company.
For me, it goes so far that I once risked my job to help my customers.
I am convinced that people can feel it, because people buy from people, especially when it comes to complex, strategic decisions.
Writing and reading this feels like calling empty phrases a learning. But in the end, in my opinion, it is getting these fundamentals right consistently that makes a successful salesperson.