Coaching · Major opportunities
A major deal is rarely lost on decision day. It is lost weeks earlier: a decision-maker nobody met, a value never quantified in the customer's terms, an optimistic qualification nobody challenged. The team carrying the deal has its head down, and that is normal. Deal coaching gives it a regular pause, on the deal itself, with the people who own it.
Four questions: is there a real opportunity, can we play a role, can we win, and is it worth winning? Each breaks down into five criteria, from available budget to the strategic value of the deal. The grid compares your position with your competitors', and it is revisited at every session: you see what has moved, and what is still to be won.
Who really decides, who influences, who supports you and who holds you back. For each person: their level of influence, their stance towards you, who owns the relationship on your side, and the next action to move it forward. Informal criteria and internal alliances often weigh more than the specifications.
The value quantified in the customer's terms, the event that forces a decision, access to senior executives, and a sequence of dated actions, each with an owner.
A tender defence, a board presentation, a first meeting with a new decision-maker: we run dry runs, playing the customer, until the team is ready.
A major deal quickly breeds optimism. The coach plays the opposite role: asking the questions nobody in the team dares to ask, sorting the answers into proven, assumed and unknown, then looking at the deal through the customer's eyes.
A live deal, as it comes out of a session. Green is proven, gold is assumed, navy is still unknown. The gold and navy boxes become the action plan.
Illustrative example of a fictitious deal.
When it is useful and agreed with you, the coach joins the customer meeting itself. It is the most real application of what was prepared in session. The coach is introduced to the customer as such and observes without intervening. The debrief takes place the same day: first what the person saw for themselves, then what the coach observed, then the next step, agreed before parting.
For each deal we follow, we build a copilot with you inside the artificial intelligence tools you already use. It brings together the qualification and its history, the decision-maker map, meeting notes and commitments. After a meeting, the transcript produces a briefing within the hour: what was learned, what changes in the qualification, and the next step. Before the following meeting, it helps prepare the questions and scenarios. No session starts from a blank page.
On a time-and-materials basis, deal by deal, with the person or small team that owns it. Each engagement starts from a written baseline: the initial qualification, the stage in the cycle, the decision deadline. Sessions are short, face to face, remote or in the field, and timed before the decisive moments. Each one ends with a dated commitment. When the deal moves into negotiation, negotiation coaching takes over, with the same file and the same copilot.
A major tender. A must-win deal. An opportunity that has stalled for weeks for no clear reason. A new decision-maker arriving along the way. A strategic renewal that a competitor has come to contest. A go / no go decision on a deal that is costly to pursue.
The tools come from Business Boost, our module on qualification, decision-maker management and action plans. When the deal moves into negotiation, negotiation coaching takes over. And this coaching can be part of a Sales Transformation Program, dosed to your team's needs.
A major deal in progress? A first conversation is enough to see where it stands and what an outside perspective can bring.
Let's talk about your current deals