London Hilton Hosts Devant Masterclass

We were delighted with the turnout for today's masterclass on 'Empowering Sales'. Our objective was to illustrate how encouraging sales staff to engage clients in discussions about key contractual issues, early on in the sales process, would result in shorter sales cycles and more profitable deals.

Contracts are not generally the favourite discussion topic of sales people, especially not when they're trying to close a complex and high value sale. Instead, they tend to be left as long as possible until the deal is more or less done. The consequence? If any contractual concessions have to be made, there is little opportunity to mitigate the extra risk with increased cash or better terms. And any contractual stumbling blocks can hold the sales person hostage, pitting them against their own legal team. We've all been in the situation where the Sales Director or CEO is saying 'Just close the deal - today!'. Unfortunately for many, this results in making concessions on the contract terms just to get the deal signed quickly - not the ideal negotiating position.

Our masterclass looked at the issues that often prevent early engagement on the contractual side, and how to tackle them. We had a limited time to address a large and complex area, but feedback indicated that it was a useful session.

Kevin Bean, Commercial Director, Fujitsu, said “Devant translate potentially complex contractual concepts in an accessible and commercially practical manner with a particular emphasis on where the focus should be when communicating with the customer to ensure a profitable and workable deal is achieved for all.”

As we were oversubscribed for this session we have opened up another date in January - let Bryce know if you'd like to come along and he'll send you the details.