Enabling is Tabling

Have you ever been in a situation where your contact person shows interest in your business growth ideas but goes silent after a while? You thought you got her commitment to act and share your ideas with other stakeholders, but apparently, that did not happen. Why not?

Read on to learn all you need to know about enabling, why it is essential, and how to do it. Enabling is Tabling.

Trust is the Core of Influencing

One of the critical components of influencing other stakeholders is being trusted. Imagine one of your colleagues comes to you and says, “We need to do something different”. Your first reaction is probably “Why”? When the answer is “Because I met with a salesperson and he said that it is a good idea”. What would your reaction be? How can you trust a Salesperson? Their objective is to sell you something, right?

That is what probably happened to your contact person. Although she discovered new growth opportunities for their company during your meeting, she didn’t have evidence to support your business growth idea.

Who Can You Trust?

That’s why it would be better if your colleague came to you with a business growth idea and said: “Here, let me share with you the research that recommends that we seriously consider this as a growth strategy. I read it, and I believe it is credible. If research companies like McKinsey, Gartner, and Deloitte recommend that companies like ours embrace this growth strategy, then we should understand it and draw conclusions. It’s in your inbox now”.

Let Others Do The Selling For You

So, here is the thing. As salespeople, we have the challenge of convincing our main contact person (the one you are always naturally dealing with) and convincing others of the buying room. And how do you get to these people you most likely have no relationship with? It would be great to meet these stakeholders yourself, but you know the reality. Either your contact won’t let you, or these stakeholders demand your contact to deal with you and leave them alone. The more reason to become skilful is to let others do the selling for you and leverage the fact that most of the influencing happens when you are not there.

Make Your Contact A Change Champion

That means she needs to believe that your business growth idea is excellent and may work for their company. Your objective is for her to table this with another important stakeholder in the buying room. You do this via Enable 1-2-3:

1. Support your idea with third-party research. Make it even more credible by saying, “I have helped other customers with this.”
2. Share a story about their challenge and what happened after they focused on your business growth idea.
3. Use your business acumen and share how this could work for their company. Describe an outcome in percentages and monetary value.

Then, the most important thing: Digitally enable your Change Champion by sending them the link to the research.

Ask For Commitment

To ensure the opportunity is tabled as you planned, ask your Change Champion with whom she will share the link and when. You need to hear her commitment. You may even want to rehearse the Enable 1-2-3 with her.

Enabling is Tabling!

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