Our previous post presented seven key factors dealmakers need to consider to achieve successful and profitable results. These were offered through Chris Bijou’s insightful, experienced, and expert eyes, "The deal makers handbook". Today, we’re continuing our roadmap, which should be studied after mastering the seven deal makers' key factors Chris exposed. Once you’ve actioned these, you will most probably reach the day when you have the opportunity to close your first million-dollar deal.
As such, Chris will share key factors that lead to closing the deal and ignite that revenue into your startup. Before commencing, let’s briefly introduce those still unaware of Chris Bijou’s sales expertise. His achievements include pioneering the digital imaging market back in the 90s, an industry with over 50,000 companies using his technology when he moved on to his next market. Other successful multi-billion dollar deals account for changing go-to-market strategies for entities like Google, Microsoft, Nike, Warner Brothers, or Goldman Sachs.
Now that we’ve presented Chris Bijou and his deal makers handbook let’s get to the steps to reach a million-dollar closure. He has set points to follow within the path of sitting at the table with that first customer who is ready to sign the deal. These strongholds are, in his expert focused mindset and thirty years of a successful career, the following:
· Reach out through all channels.
· Build trust.
· Keep healthy communications.
· Be a master craftsman.
· Create a common vision.
· Form a circle of talented professionals.
· Understand pain points.
· Patience.
Let’s describe each stronghold separately through the insightful knowledge Chris has provided us with to understand the paths to take, focused on software as a service and directed to a business-to-business level.
Currently, we have a multitude of options to choose from, which can produce a vast network to back up your business. Chris’ roadmap is a mix of offline and online platforms aiding him to reach the customer/corporation to offer relevant content to action the required interest, resulting in investors willing to listen and sit at the decision-making table to close the deal.
You can consider specific niche speaking opportunities via conferences and digital interactions on social media platforms among these online and offline channels. The one thing to keep always in mind is the ability to focus and perform on a recurrent basis, which is the primary intention in this step. The deal will arrive by being consistent, and thus, your figure will stay implanted inside the thoughts of those you want to inspire.
Building trust is linked to the first point we indicated; as such, be ready to solidify the interest created through the growing network. In Chris’ terms, the ability to achieve a network and ignite knowledge into it through your expertise. As a salesperson, he has promoted his trust by spreading his knowledge within his in-house and out-house formation, generating a sales force that has reinforced his business and entered other enterprises as specialists.
In practical terms, Chris has amassed many young professionals who have worked and stayed with him for years because he taught them regularly. When these professionals went on to other businesses, they ran and still run the customer-facing sides of so many tech companies you see today. He explains, “It's not that we just taught them. They outperformed their peers and competitors year after year, so they believed and implemented what I told them.”
Once you’ve created the network and built the trust, the next step is to continue by keeping healthy communications. Learning to be accessible and speak the language of the corporation or customer reaps a good reputation, which will be crucial when it comes down to the closing. As Chris says, “There is a fragile line between being too out-coming or verbally too technical,” and, as a result, the trust and network can fade away through these conversations.
You have to stay at the same level as your prospects and, at the same time, nurture your professionalism for them to see you as a peer. Someone who can walk this thin line will be able to solidify the trust and network required to be accepted into the million-dollar decision table. To do this, keep a natural and down-to-earth approach, being humble but also decisive. Being a good listener and offering recommendations when requested is the start of healthy communication.
As Chris perceives this factor, he talks about following a knowledge line that focuses on acquiring top-notch insight within your niche. Therefore, keeping a specific learning curve is fundamental, which means forming yourself as much as possible in the industry and market where you want to close your first million dollar deal, e.g., SaaS in business-to-business. This process will elevate your trust, communications, and perfect reach-out channels.
The mindset to progress positively has to stay tuned to the target and not deviate to other realms of knowledge. He recommends staying true to your initial close deal intent because his experience tells him many entrepreneurs shift their attention to the next best thing: Bitcoin, Amazon, Airbnb, etc., and thus becoming amazing at one thing is an impossibility. To become an expert in anything, you must consider that 10,000 hours adage is a must.
You might have noticed that this chain needs to be followed to reach the million-dollar deal meeting. Thus, once you’ve progressed through the previous steps, the shared vision will be much easier to get when you come to this stage. As Chris points out, to be a true aspirant to the closing deal stage, a million dollars are on the table, and creating a shared vision has to come out naturally.
It is imperative to understand these steps and follow them because otherwise, alarms will start popping up inside the corporation’s/customer’s circle; this must be avoided at all costs. Because if it is the case, it will create an uncertain environment, and all the hard work will lead to a dead end. Use the above points to construct a solid WIN-WIN vision without allowing any fissures to stand out as the go-to person.
If you believe this is a one-person band, by all means, go ahead and walk it alone, but in Chris’ experience, a million-dollar deal closure requires a band. He insists on constructing, through the channels created, the trust achieved, the communications implemented, your expert craftsmanship and the shared vision formed, a cement via a circle of talented professionals. These will hold fast the canvas with a seamless frame that exploits all your colored shades and figures that will delight at the closing table.
Here you have to know who these professionals are and make them part of your target; they might be in-house taught, colleagues, or like-minded newcomers. The most important aspect is to heighten the force of your proposition on an ongoing basis, building up inertia to culminate it within the million-dollar round table. Furthermore, this inertia through the circle of talented professionals has to continue also after the deal has been closed.
By tackling the above issues and doing it correctly, you will clear a pattern where customer’s/enterprise’s pain points are easily recognized. Chris sees this as a vital observation, key to prompt your possibilities of closing the million-dollar deal. So use all the knowledge acquired throughout the journey to portray and solve aching factors that will smooth the path towards the first million-dollar closing deal date. Managing these issues favor the customer/enterprise and soothes their possible doubts.
Being able to foresee pain points will put you in the pole position to steer the million-dollar closing deal to the game you want to play. Leverage that is priceless and, as such, should be thoroughly studied and nurtured and backed by the well-established channels, communications, trust, professional circle, craftsmanship, and shared vision previously created. Don’t underestimate the importance of these connotations for the success of closing a first million dollar deal.
A final step that should always be considered within this first million-dollar successful deal-maker; is to be patient. Don’t rush through any of the steps presented; take the time, human resources, experience, and budget, to pace each action. Doing this will help you know when to wait, push, or insight, producing an environment where the customer/business will feel relaxed and comfortable. A perfect atmosphere for success!
It might seem a stereotype, but the knowledge that Chris has formed throughout his many million dollars and multibillion-dollar deals, makes him reinforce the capacity of strength patience achieves. In practical terms, this means keeping a keen eye, allowing you to be always one step ahead, and never putting yourself in the line of fire. Do your homework, check it, recheck it alone, and, if necessary, take it down to your peers to solidify and cement you as the core negotiating figure.
We are concluding this insightful text where we’ve been lucky enough to present the priceless knowledge of Chris Bijou. Remember that it doesn’t finish with both parties' signing the deal; the aftermath is as important as the road to the round table. So be prepared to continue the process here exposed to the expertise of a salesperson with over 30 years of deal-making like Chris.
Continue to foster communications, trust, professional talent, channels, craftsmanship, shared vision, pain points, and patience. Also, bring new inputs that might be required once the million-dollar deal has been acquired by keeping listening and answering. Don’t fall into the pit of self-indulgence and lose the grip you worked hard to reach because the deal-making isn’t the finish line.
If you are on the same stronghold track, your startup is on the path to success and reaping profits; if, on the other hand, you are not taking these steps toward your first million dollar deal, keep these handy. We will continue to provide you with more insightful information regarding other crucial aspects of Chris Bijou in the art of closing deals.
Stay tuned to our channel for the following tips Chris will present for startups toward fruitful, successful, and profit-making sales and closing strategies. For now, remember to follow Chris’ steps to successfully close your first million dollar deal within the tech, transportation, or retail industry:
· Reach out through all channels.
· Build trust.
· Keep healthy communications.
· Be a master craftsman.
· Create a common vision.
· Form a circle of talented professionals.
· Understand pain points.
· Patience.
May your business live long and prosper 🖖!
