Here is a great story about the concept of land and expand. A few years ago I was leading a sales team. We enjoyed exclusive Canadian distribution rights to a line of cellular antennas. One of our customers was doing a major network upgrade and we really wanted a piece of that business. The Account Executive (I will call Phil – not his real name) had met multiple times with the customer Wireless Engineering team and even brought the Manufacturer’s Sales rep into the account. We provided demo antennas for testing. We submitting pricing and delivery schedules based on volumes. We met with the customer’s Procurement team. After a lengthy process we were awarded a ‘portion’ of the business, about a third of the overall total. It was still a significant Win and was widely celebrated in our Company. Off and running and then….watch the 45 sec below video to see what happened next!

So what lessons can we learn from this good surprise?

  1. It really was only by having a strong and trusted relationship with the customer did Phil even get the call and get the land and expand opportunity. Not only was it good that Phil and Jim knew each other but Phil also knows Sue in Procurement to reduce the time and effort to move this through to the actual order.
  2. Be careful not to overpromise and underdeliver – under the circumstances Phil was prudent to ask Bill for the full details and a couple days to work this internally and with the manufacturer to confirm it could even be done.
  3. With a price already in place, this really became a delivery and logistics problem so Phil was able to take a step back and be the Maestro or quarterback to make sure everyone got their part done!
  4. Phil was totally right in sharing the glory with the Team. He could not have done this alone and knew it!

Have a great day! Feel free to share this with your networks by clicking on the links to the right.

Have a great week but before you go be sure to check out my online courses at https://www.takeactionsalesacademy.com

Also get my Daily 2 Minute Leadership and Sales Thought videos on my Facebook Group ‘Raise Your Sales IQ’ at 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/399906394125860/about/

Wayne Fredin
Wayne Fredin

With over 40 years of experience as an Army Officer, a Sales Executive in both public and private companies and having been self employed, Wayne is a highly respected Sales Trainer, Coach and Mentor. Having published Sales Leadership: Distinctions With a Difference in 2015 he had now created a series of online sales training courses, tools and resources.