Latest / Sales Leadership with Fexingo: Quota Carriers, Sales Managers, and Revenue Teams / How Top Reps Use the Pre-Mortem to Close More Deals
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've all been there, right? You've got a deal that looks great in the pipeline, the champion's on board, the demo went well, and then out of nowhere, it just dies. The budget gets cut or the champion leaves the company. Luna: Yeah, that gut punch. And you look back and think, how did I not see that coming? Lucas: Exactly. And the frustrating part is, often the warning signs were there, we just weren't looking. Today I want to talk about a technique that forces you to look, and it's borrowed from the world of project management. It's called the pre-mortem. Luna: Pre-mortem. So like, before the deal dies, you imagine its funeral? Lucas: Precisely. Instead of asking, what could make this deal succeed, you ask, it's six months from now, this deal fell through, why? You create a structured way to surface the risks that you might otherwise gloss over. Luna: I love that. And it's not just about being pessimistic. It's about being realistic. Lucas: And that's the key. The best reps I've seen do this naturally. They run a premortem on every major opportunity. Not a formal meeting necessarily, just a disciplined mental exercise, often with their manager or a trusted colleague. Luna: So how do you actually run one? Is it just, okay, list all the bad things that could happen? Lucas: It's a little more structured than that. You start with the assumption that the deal is lost. Then you work backwards. You ask, what were the contributing factors? Did we have the right stakeholders in the room? Did the budget actually exist? Was the timeline realistic? Did we create a compelling business case? Luna: So it's like a root cause analysis, but for a deal that hasn't happened yet. Lucas: Exactly. And you want to be specific. Not just, the prospect lost interest. But, the economic buyer went quiet after the security review, and we didn't have a champion in IT to push back. Luna: That's a real scenario. I've seen that happen. So then what? You have a list of risks, what do you do with them? Lucas: You prioritise. Which ones are the most likely, and which would be the most damaging? Those are the ones you need to address now, before they become problems. Maybe you need to bring in a technical resource to preempt security concerns. Maybe you need to schedule a meeting with the economic buyer earlier in the process. Luna: And this is something you can do with your own team, but also with the prospect, right? Lucas: That's the really powerful move. When you have a strong relationship with a champion, you can actually say, look, we want this to succeed, so let's do a quick premortem. What could derail this from your side? You'd be surprised at what they'll tell you. Luna: I bet. They might reveal that the CFO is skeptical about the ROI model, or that there's an internal project that's competing for budget. Lucas: Exactly. And that information is gold. It lets you address the real objection before it becomes a wall. Luna: So let's talk about a specific example. I remember you mentioned a deal last quarter that turned around because of this. Lucas: Yeah, a rep I work with, let's call her Sarah, she had a six-figure deal with a mid-sized manufacturer. The champion was the VP of Operations, really enthusiastic, but the deal kept slipping. So she did a premortem with her manager. They imagined it was a year later, and the deal had never closed. Luna: What did they come up with? Lucas: The big one was, they realized the VP of Ops was not the economic buyer. The CFO was. And the CFO was completely absent from the process. The champion had been selling internally, but the CFO had never seen a formal business case. So Sarah's action item was to get a meeting with the CFO, and she did, and she brought a detailed ROI model that showed payback in under 18 months. Luna: And that unlocked it? Lucas: It did. The CFO later told her that the deal was about to be killed because the budget wasn't allocated. But her presentation gave him the ammunition to go to the CEO and say, this is a no-brainer, let's find the money. So that deal closed a month later. Luna: So the premortem didn't just save the deal, it actually made it stronger. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's the thing, it's not just about avoiding failure, it's about finding the gaps in your sales strategy that you can close proactively. Luna: I think this is something that would be really useful for our listeners to try. Do you have a framework they can follow? Lucas: Sure. For a major deal, block out 20 minutes on your calendar. Invite your manager or a peer who knows the deal. Write down the deal is lost as of today, and then brainstorm every reason why that might have happened. Don't filter, just get everything on the table. Luna: And then you group them into themes, right? Lucas: Right, you might see themes like stakeholder alignment, budget, timeline, product fit, competition. Then you rate each one for likelihood and severity. Pick the top three, and for each, you write down one concrete action you'll take in the next week to mitigate it. Luna: So it's not just a brainstorming session, it's a commitment to action. Lucas: Exactly. And you need to hold yourself accountable. Put those actions in your CRM as next steps, and check in on them. Otherwise, the premortem is just a nice conversation. Luna: And you can do this at any stage of the deal, right? Not just at the beginning. Lucas: Yeah, actually it's great to do a quick check before a major presentation or a contract negotiation. Just spend five minutes asking, what could kill this in the next 30 days? It's amazing what comes to mind. Luna: You know, this reminds me of how we approach this show. We're always trying to think about what could make an episode fail, like, is this too generic? Is this too much of a tangent? And we try to address that upfront. Lucas: That's a great parallel. And actually, that's a big reason why we keep this podcast ad-free. We want to give you practical, focused content that moves the needle, not something drowned in sponsor breaks. Luna: Right. And if you find value in these conversations, and you want to support that ad-free choice, you can. The link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to say thanks and helps us keep doing this. Lucas: No pressure, just an option. We're just happy you're listening. Luna: But back to the premortem. Lucas, what's the most common mistake you see reps make when they try this for the first time? Lucas: They do it too late. They're already in the red zone, the deal is about to die, and then they try to use the premortem as a last-minute rescue. That's not the point. You want to run it early enough that you still have time to act on what you find. Luna: So it's a proactive tool, not a reactive one. Lucas: Exactly. And the other mistake is not being honest with themselves. If you're the one leading the premortem, you have to be willing to say, maybe we don't have the right product fit here, or maybe we're just chasing a deal that's never going to happen. Sometimes the best outcome of a premortem is that you disqualify the deal early, which saves you a ton of time. Luna: That's a great point. It's not just about closing, it's about using your time wisely. Lucas: And that's what separates the top reps. They're not just optimistic, they're strategically paranoid. They've seen deals die, and they know the signs. The premortem is a way to catch those signs before it's too late. Luna: So if you're a sales manager listening, how do you encourage your team to do this without seeming like you're doubting them? Lucas: Frame it as a team exercise, not a criticism. Say, I want to help you protect this deal, let's do a quick premortem. It's a sign that you're invested in their success, not that you think they're doing something wrong. Luna: And you can even make it a regular part of your pipeline reviews. Let's do a premortem on your top three opportunities. Lucas: Yeah, that's a great practice. It turns pipeline reviews from a status report into a strategy session. And it gets the whole team thinking about risks proactively. Luna: So, as we wrap up, what's the one takeaway you want listeners to remember? Lucas: The premortem is a low-cost, high-impact habit. It takes 20 minutes, it can save you months of wasted effort, and it can turn a likely loss into a win. Next time you have a big deal in your pipeline, spend 20 minutes imagining it failed. Then do something about it. Luna: That's a great way to think about it. Thanks for that, Lucas. And for those of you who want to try this, we'd love to hear how it goes. You can find us on the Fexingo network.