Ask Me Anything (AMA) featuring Patrick McLoughlin

Joe Huber · 2022-08-29T15:03:39+00:00

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Patrick McLoughlin is a Senior Director of Consulting & Facilitation at Force Management and he's here to answer all your questions! Want to learn how he would approach something you're looking into? Want to find out what he thinks about a specific part of MEDDICC? Want to know what his golf handicap is? This is the place to ask!

Patrick will be answering questions this week. Any questions not answered by noon on Thursday, September 1 might not get a response based on his availability.

Learn more about Patrick in his bio below, or just jump into the comments with questions!

At Force Management, Patrick specializes in delivering transformational sales training and driving measurable results through effective coaching and instruction. He has extensive expertise in meeting sales challenges. Patrick graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Economics from George Mason University and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

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Joe Huber

I'll kick us off!

What is the one skill you think that even the most experienced salespeople sometimes forget to exercise?

And a fun one! Do you have a nickname that you prefer?

Brady Locher Jr

Thanks for being our first guest, @Patrick McLoughlin! My question is, "What is the one thing that people tend to get wrong when looking at their MEDDICC qualifications?"

Patrick McLoughlin

https://community.ascender.co/discussion/comment/67#Comment_67

The most experienced salespeople forget to be Curious! We do discovery and we hear words but don't get the customer to define these words. We know the problems they have and we rush to solve them.

The current process is "aggravating", we should get them to define aggravating. Or the Customer says they want to "improve"; "don't like", "would change"; " is challenging". We hear these types of words all the time. But because we know how to fix them we want to circumvent the process. Make the customer stand where their feet are!

They call me PADDY MAC, pretty obvious when your full name is Patrick Francis McLoughlin. Not very original but something that has been with me for over 25 years!

Kathleen Schindler

Thanks for doing this, Paddy Mac! How do you see the best reps work to build their pipelines? A lot of reps work with BDRs, so how are they helping the BDRs work better?

Patrick McLoughlin

@Brady Locher My biggest observation with MEDDPICC, is sales team mislabels a COACH as a CHAMPION. They can look very similar but ask yourself these questions?

When my contact speaks internally do they gain support and can they build consensus?

When the competition visits the account who are they meeting with?

What have you done to get your Champion promoted, are you an extension of their organization chart?

Have you tested the relationship?

Rachel Clapp Miller

What are the two or three best tips on moving someone from a coach to a champion? A lot of the people I talk with have to deal with this all the time! Thanks, Patrick!

Julie M Leonard

Thank you so much, @Patrick McLoughlin. I am curious about what you do when you're not facilitating?

Patrick McLoughlin

https://community.ascender.co/discussion/comment/70#Comment_70

Kathleen great question! I see alignment from BDR's and Field Reps. The best sales people equip their BDR's with stories, deals they have closed that delivered great outcomes for their customers. Take the scenario where a BDR is completing demand generation activities which is done with great story telling. When the Account Rep or AE engages they can further that same story! How you sell is the Difference!

Patrick McLoughlin

https://community.ascender.co/discussion/comment/73#Comment_73

Rachel love the question! Prior to my first sales job my mom gave me a plaque from Mary Kay Ash! Yes that same Mary Kay who had 400,000 sales people in America. The plaque read "For every person you meet in this world pretend they have a sign around their neck that reads, "make me feel important".......... If you do that you will not only succeed in sales but life." That was my mission. In addition I educated them on what other organizations were doing, a CIO said the greatest gift a salesperson could bring was information. Lastly I acted as if I worked for them and took whatever I could control off their desk!

Patrick McLoughlin

https://community.ascender.co/discussion/comment/74#Comment_74

Julie a fun question for me, thanks! I play basketball and lose every night to my 13 year old daughter. For other fun I do swing a golf club and since the pandemic I found a love for mountain biking. All three of these bring the same challenges and rewards of being a facilitator.

Lloyd Pierre

Hi Paddy!

I'd love to tap into your experiences in sales and consulting here. We're a startup company and while MEDDICC seems tailored to a mature sales team, we have used the process to engage a world financial leader and we are on the doorsteps of significant ARR deal. The process however is long as we understand how to deliver the product and build multiple champions who fight for us throughout the organization. My question is, is it ok to keep implementing MEDDICC while your sales team hasn't been developed yet? A podcast I heard a while back said MEDDICC probably was not the best approach, perhaps due to the complexity of enterprise organizations, but knowing how important internal champions are for sales success, I cannot think of trying any other approach.

Thanks for your time!

Patrick McLoughlin

Lloyd great question! Let me first start by stating that MEDDICC is not just for mature sales teams. I hear many times from young startup companies they DO NOT have Metrics. I understand that situation, but please know the Economic Buyer at this world financial leader understands their Metrics, (how they will measure the spend) for a SIGNIFICANT ARR deal.

My suggestion to you is KEEP implementing MEDDICC as you develop this opportunity. I believe in large enterprise deals there are MULTIPLE Champions within the account. You and the team must identify these individuals and develop / build them up with knowledge and information. The Test of these Champions is when they communicate and identify to you the Metrics that are important to the Economic Buyer, (which also in a large financial organization could be a committee). My personal approach with developing Champions was this; I worked to get them promoted within their organization. My mentor here at Force Management uses this line, "create an emotional connection for your Champion to take credit for the value your solution provides and educate them to speak on that value in language the Economic Buyer understands"

My fundamental belief is "I" Identified Pain must be tangible and quantifiable to help the EB understand why they should spend the money. Access to the Economic Buyer is critical in expressing the value your solution delivers in language they understand . And no large deal is ever won without having a Champion, someone with Power and Influence selling on your behalf. Good Luck Lloyd, reach out anytime. Paddy Mac

Patrick McLoughlin

https://community.ascender.co/discussion/comment/73#Comment_73

Rachel sorry I missed this question. A few things I did were:

1)How is my customer graded in their job, as a salesperson my sales performance, % of plan' was the leading indicator to my job performance. Not that other things did not factor into the equation. I ask my customer questions like, "if they printed a company newsletter and you were the employee of the month what would your greatest accomplishment be? Many times this told me if they had the potential to be a Champion. Could they speak in organizational impact. I tried to be an extension of my customers' organization chart, could I help my contact get promoted to the next position. Could I equip them with skills and information and data that presented and illustrated them as valuable employees / team members to their superiors. I tried to make my contacts smarter than their internal competitors.

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