You Don’t Get a Second Chance to Make the First Impression. Make it Count.

Maximize enterprise sales success by leveraging connections, understanding stakeholder priorities, and preparing for impactful first impressions.
Sales Best Practices

You just got a patch of Enterprise Accounts. Your team just arrived at the fantastic 40 for the coming quarter. You check them out in Vieu, and you find great connections at the operational and strategic layer.  

Should I just punch ahead with the introductions and get that meeting set up? Please don’t.  

You don’t get a second chance to make the first impression. Do yourself a favor and follow this workflow for maximizing your chance to land a revenue outcome. We worked with over 100 Major Account Executives who are top Enterprise Sellers in their respective companies to create this ritual. We insist you follow this too :-)

Account POV: Know Before You Go

If you are a Vieu user, you probably target Enterprise Accounts. You aim for a six-figure Annual Contract Value (ACV). 6 figures (or higher ACVs) seldom rely on just technology. Your buyer has business accountability. They do not buy a tool for a tactical win. Instead, they invest in technology to create a business outcome. That’s why Vieu places immense focus on helping you understand the business priorities, board level agenda, and what’s top of mind for the C-level executive your buyer rolls-up to. When you meet your buyer, talk like you just came from their board room. As a result, you grab their attention.  

Stakeholders: People Buy From People

It’s common knowledge that Enterprise Selling is a people’s game. Your product might be the fanciest, but it is of no use without any support from your buying committee. It is imperative to know your buyers, influencers, and champions. Some write the check, some influence through whispers, and some actively push your product into the account. Vieu plays a part here by using your ICP to automatically locate them and arrange them around BRANT (Budget, Reachability, Authority, Need, and Timing). Review the buying committee and confirm that you have the right blend across the decision hierarchy.  

Connections: Because it’s Soul Crushing to Be a Cold Caller

This is uniquely Vieu. Our multimodal LLMs and proprietary graph algorithms make us the #1 source to connect your company with your target. We connect at three levels, and we recommend that you traverse in this order:

  1. Insider connections: This is the closest human your company can get to at the target account. The “insider” may not be your buyer, but the insider will pick up your call and help you understand the account from the inside.  

    For instance, you sell a Cybersecurity product. Vieu says Serrah in the Legal Department is an insider. Follow the guidance, connect with Serrah and understand how the power, money, and decision-making flow at your target account. Learn who reports to whom, who has the budget, who selects the vendor etc. from the inside. Create the account map. Time with an insider is well-spent.
  1. Strategic connections: These are CXOs, Executive LT, and Board of Directors. You want to build the bridge before you must walk on them. Once you mapout the account with the insider, you leverage your strategic connection and “drop a note”. Let it simmer, you don’t want to burn it.
  1. Stakeholder connections: You have built the account map. Then, you created the executive air-cover. Later, connect with the buying committee. You are ready to make the first impression. Get on the calendar and let’s start working on the pitch.

Pitch: Your Preparation Manufactures Luck

Congrats, you have arrived. You are in front of the buying committee. Let’s be clear, don’t blow it on introductions. Don’t blow it on discovery. There is never a meeting to just say hello or just learn your account. Your buyer looks to see how you stand out and how you add value. Yes, from the very first meeting onwards. Check out the deep Vieu profile on each person you meet, understand the opportunities, learn about competition, partners, and technographics. Create buyer-seller alignment on Day-1.  How differentiated would it be telling your buyer about their strategic priorities vs. a mindless barrage of “discovery questions”.  

Nurture: Nothing Grows Just Because You Seeded it Right

75% of our Enterprise AEs report the phase of “active hold”. You give an excellent presentation, your buyer is happy, you are in consideration, and you are on hold waiting to hear back.  If you just wait to hear back, you will hear a No. Even if the customer says the ball is in their court, do not be a bystander in the game. Engage on social media, showcase recent customer wins, comment on their product launch, tune into their changing priorities, pay attention to compete and co-sell signals. Vieu gives you week by week nurture feed that you can act on while waiting.

Alright folks, got to close. Happy selling. BTW, our Sales team is always at your service to show you how Vieu uses Vieu. Take us upon that.

Simon Skaria
Last updated
September 11, 2024

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