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Katie Harkins

AMA: Glide VP of Sales, Katie Harkins on Stakeholder Management

November 11 @ 10:00AM PT

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  1. How do you tailor value narratives and business cases to different stakeholder personas?

    Katie Harkins
    Katie Harkins

    Glide VP of Sales • 7mo

    Each stakeholder has a different definition of value. Almost ever sales org I've ever joined I've printed out every single public customer story and flash carded it into my memory. You can use the library of public stories (by industry, title, use case, or geo) to tell a narrative to connect with customers and prospects to build trust, move up the ladder in the organization with action items and connect on a deeper emotional level. At the end of the day, the higher you move up the better it is t ...Read More

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  2. What discovery questions best reveal stakeholder KPIs, pain, and decision criteria?

    Katie Harkins
    Katie Harkins

    Glide VP of Sales • 7mo

    ABCD. Always be conducting discovery. Qualifying isn't a checklist. You have to genuienly be curious. Inspire your buyers to think or teach them something new. What the prospect measured on that you can help drive in the right direction? What is being presented in the company all hands and what are those initiatives this year? What is getting in the way in terms of friction or pain. Who else feels the pain when that happens? What are we solving for and more importantly how are these decisions ma ...Read More

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    2 requests

  3. How do you visualize the org chart and political dynamics; what tools or templates do you rely on?

    Katie Harkins
    Katie Harkins

    Glide VP of Sales • 7mo

    Find out who hired who. It's my favorite trick. Linkedin Sales Navigator is really good for this. Tenure in the company, awards that were given, promotional time frames, etc. I was org mapping one of the largest media companies in Europe yesterday and this individual had 10+ years of tenure with the company. I would want to know what projects did they accomplish to receive 6 different promotions over the course of 10+ years. Why did they join the company in the first place? Who referred them in? ...Read More

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    2 requests

  4. How do you manage conflicting stakeholder priorities and negotiate trade-offs to reach consensus?

    Katie Harkins
    Katie Harkins

    Glide VP of Sales • 7mo

    Once you start working complex sales, you'll see this often and you have to get good at it. I recommend reading Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff or get it on audible. At the end of the day, different departments have different definitions of success (IT vs. Finance vs. Sales). Visibility is key when you're navigating the motivators and non-negotiables. Every CFO I speak with is my Chief Fun Officer. Don't debate feature sets. Outline before and after states of implementing your solution.

    373 Views
    2 requests

  5. How do you structure and run effective steering committees or QBRs with cross-functional stakeholders?

    Katie Harkins
    Katie Harkins

    Glide VP of Sales • 7mo

    Remember to get customer buy in on the agenda and what is being presented. Bring in an external speaker from their industry if you're looking to mix up a QBR and inspire change. Sometimes you can even run the QBR during their normally scheduled team meeting and get in front of new people you might have missed or those that are normally not invited to a QBR.

    391 Views
    2 requests

  6. How do you re-engage silent stakeholders and restart momentum in a stalled opportunity?

    Katie Harkins
    Katie Harkins

    Glide VP of Sales • 7mo

    Tweet at them. Snail mail them. Whats app them. Linkedin DM them. Wiggle into the org from an introduction from a high school friend. Sales is an art and a science and if someone goes silent you need to flex your creativity juices. I like to search if there is a press hit on the company and congratulate them to see if priorities have shifted.

    390 Views
    2 requests

  7. How do you adapt stakeholder strategies for PLG-led deals versus top-down enterprise sales?

    Katie Harkins
    Katie Harkins

    Glide VP of Sales • 7mo

    The difference between PLG and enterprise is like dating in JR high vs. getting married to someone and committing to them for 40+ years. PLG: You users are already using your product. They've already taken you for a test spin. Hopefully you have an awesome PLG motion that empowers your end users to show off how they're using your product to their bosses. Ideally they're already bragging about you. Just make sure you have awesome public documentation and training course material if your PLG motio ...Read More

    408 Views
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  8. What metrics or signals do you track to measure stakeholder health and influence across your accounts?

    Katie Harkins
    Katie Harkins

    Glide VP of Sales • 7mo

    Simple rule I live by: If you don't know your customer's dog's name, you don't know your customer. When is their birthday? How are they trying to get promoted? Do they have kids? What are their ages? This is fluffy, but once you get to know them, I like to understand their 5 love languages. Do they need quality time on product updates or appreciate a swag box (gift giving)? Then you can add the layers of engagement velocity, executive influence, multithreading depth and even advocacy actions. Ar ...Read More

    390 Views
    2 requests