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Recap of the First Principle
In the first post of this series, we discussed my “Guiding Principles” — the secrets of my success. I introduced the first principle, “Take Your Time” and the mantra:
Since this is my time, I’m going to take my time.
Today, we’ll add application to the theory, and I’m going to share stories of what happened when I didn’t take my time, and what happened when I did.
Example 1: Pressure to Peril
“Hey Karsten, we have a prospect who wants to see a demo. They’ve been difficult before, but we should be fine.” — my Account Executive, to me.
Spoiler alert: if someone in sales says “we should be fine,” the chances of you not being fine just quadrupled. Everything about this opportunity was rushed:
- Getting me in front of the prospect
- Dissecting why the prospect had been “difficult before”
- Building the Proof of Concept (POC) environment with little to no preparation
When I did talk to the prospect, it was nothing short of disaster. Before I could begin by providing an overview of our solution, I was bombarded with questions and objections from the buyers, including:
- We currently handle this specific cyber attack by completing 7 steps. Show me those 7 steps in your solution.
- What does that button in the upper right corner do?
- Why don’t you guys have an option to start a workflow by doing this specific set of actions?
- This is extremely beginner level. Why doesn’t your company have a product that runs these four advanced methods?
- I don’t care that you can do that action. I want to talk about the way I like to do this process and how to do that in this platform.
Reader, when I tell you that this was the worst demo I’ve had in my career, I mean it. My company was not prepared, my team was not prepared, and I was not prepared. The executive officer of the prospect told my Account Executive (AE) that he wanted to fix three specific problems, but the other five people from the company never even mentioned it. As a matter of fact, when we did bring up one of those use cases, they shut us down before we could articulate why we’d even mentioned it.
Needless to say, we lost the opportunity. Plus, our credibility was tarnished and our morale was shattered. I give it a negative 20 out of 10 stars. Do not recommend.
But I learned three valuable lessons:
- Rushing and attempting to circumvent critical parts of your process only means you’ll end up at the opportunity being closed-lost sooner.
- A PreSales professional is a strategic business partner. One of the most important parts of our role is to be strategic — even if our peers are not.
- Disregarding your strategy to speed up the sale will take more effort and resources than if you took the time to strategize from the beginning.
To be honest, we would have lost this opportunity even if we did take our time. However, we could have quickly disqualified this opportunity because our services didn’t meet their use cases, and because it was evident that the prospect’s teams weren’t even on the same page. How can you help an organization where everyone thinks they need help with something different?
Disqualifying trivial opportunities that you can’t win allows you to refocus your efforts on those you can.
Example 2: Positioned for Progress
“This is our most important opportunity this quarter. Let’s brainstorm what we should do to be successful before we speak with the prospect.” — me, to my Account Executive
Spoiler alert: taking your time increases your likelihood of winning the opportunity faster. Unlike the first example where I was hurried to perform, this time I carefully crafted a course for completion. This prospect was (and still is) a prominent leader in their sector. They work to be the best, and they only want to partner with vendors who do the same.
I researched the organization, potential use cases based on their vertical, and the latest threats to organizations like theirs. Meanwhile, my AE met with our point of contact from the prospect’s team and learned which other individuals and teams would be involved in this project and potential POC.
My AE and I shared our findings, and I worked with the point of contact with whom he originally talked to become our technical champion. The AE took the research I shared and began working on pricing for the appropriate parts of our platform that would meet their use cases. See the level of preparation? Well, guess what? We had’t even made it to the POC yet.
Before the POC began, I met with my manager to discuss strategy and solicit guidance. That meeting grew into an internal team of product management, support, researchers, and senior leadership. We identified who should be involved in this opportunity, the tasks for which they would be responsible, and a timeline for when they should act.
We all took our time to get things right from step one, instead of having to spend more time getting it right later. The dedication merited great success. Not only did we displace a competitor, the prospect provided feedback on new features we planned to release, and we were positioned for upsell into more of our products and services in the near future. Final spoiler alert: the upsell was successful, too.
I learned three valuable lessons:
- Taking my time means I’m able to take more people with me on the journey, which means we can win the deal and perfect our processes.
- Being careful doesn’t mean you’re forcing everyone to crawl; rather, it means you’re working to ensure you don’t stumble when you’re serving. Advising my daughters to not run in the house doesn’t mean it will take longer to get from the bedroom to the kitchen to get a snack; it means they’ll be able to enjoy the snack because they arrived safely.
- Your team will provide more assistance if you provide them proper guidance. My manager re-arranged their calendar, product management re-prioritized roadmaps, and our support team improved their processes not because I hurried them. It was because I prepped them.
Ready, Set, Go…
Am I advising that every one of the opportunities in your pipeline should involve internal meetings with multiple leaders within your organization? No, that is not scalable. However, taking the time to know which specific opportunities require greater strategy means that all your opportunities can be more strategic.
The lessons learned from that one deal improved the quality of service the company provides for all deals. I’ve learned that if I exercise and improve my lifestyle to hit a certain weight target that my quality of life will be improved at any weight. The things you learn by taking your time allows you to have better use of your time.
Please know that everyone feels rushed. A few years ago, a study showed that 65% of Black
professionals said they have to work harder than their non-Black peers to advance. While the treatment of male workers is based on how much others respect them as workers and men, treatment of women workers are based on how much others respect them as workers and like
them as women. While it is widely known that LGBTQ+ individuals face various levels of discrimination in the workplace, the main reason many of the victims do not report it is because they do not feel that they would be believed and don’t want to hurt their relationships with peers.
These difficult statistics mean that many people who have been marginalized feel pressure not just to work harder, but also faster. If you’re working, you will feel rushed. It is critical that you implement strategies so that you can do your best work and feel like your best self. That takes time, not speed.
I’ll leave you with something one of my first mentors told me:
Hurry up and take your time.
He told me that if I were in a rush to do anything it should be a rush to take my time. Don’t delay to develop. Don’t stall in succeeding. Don’t wait to win. Don’t be idle in improving. Since this is your time, take your time.
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About Karsten Chearis, Manager, US and LATAM Threat Intelligence Sales Engineering at Rapid7
Karsten Chearis is a CyberSecurity PreSales leader at a top global security provider. He builds process strategies in the technical sales of a curated threat intelligence solution suite. With over three decades of public speaking engagements, he delivers impactful messages that challenge the listeners to be their best selves.
Karsten has experienced the lonely solitude of being the only person of color in the room, and understands the effects of systemic oppression. His goal is to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion of every room he enters while unapologetically being authentic.
Karsten resides in Memphis, TN with his wife and two daughters and a host of pets that he was outvoted to keep.
Recap of the First Principle
In the first post of this series, we discussed my “Guiding Principles” — the secrets of my success. I introduced the first principle, “Take Your Time” and the mantra:
Since this is my time, I’m going to take my time.
Today, we’ll add application to the theory, and I’m going to share stories of what happened when I didn’t take my time, and what happened when I did.
Example 1: Pressure to Peril
“Hey Karsten, we have a prospect who wants to see a demo. They’ve been difficult before, but we should be fine.” — my Account Executive, to me.
Spoiler alert: if someone in sales says “we should be fine,” the chances of you not being fine just quadrupled. Everything about this opportunity was rushed:
- Getting me in front of the prospect
- Dissecting why the prospect had been “difficult before”
- Building the Proof of Concept (POC) environment with little to no preparation
When I did talk to the prospect, it was nothing short of disaster. Before I could begin by providing an overview of our solution, I was bombarded with questions and objections from the buyers, including:
- We currently handle this specific cyber attack by completing 7 steps. Show me those 7 steps in your solution.
- What does that button in the upper right corner do?
- Why don’t you guys have an option to start a workflow by doing this specific set of actions?
- This is extremely beginner level. Why doesn’t your company have a product that runs these four advanced methods?
- I don’t care that you can do that action. I want to talk about the way I like to do this process and how to do that in this platform.
Reader, when I tell you that this was the worst demo I’ve had in my career, I mean it. My company was not prepared, my team was not prepared, and I was not prepared. The executive officer of the prospect told my Account Executive (AE) that he wanted to fix three specific problems, but the other five people from the company never even mentioned it. As a matter of fact, when we did bring up one of those use cases, they shut us down before we could articulate why we’d even mentioned it.
Needless to say, we lost the opportunity. Plus, our credibility was tarnished and our morale was shattered. I give it a negative 20 out of 10 stars. Do not recommend.
But I learned three valuable lessons:
- Rushing and attempting to circumvent critical parts of your process only means you’ll end up at the opportunity being closed-lost sooner.
- A PreSales professional is a strategic business partner. One of the most important parts of our role is to be strategic — even if our peers are not.
- Disregarding your strategy to speed up the sale will take more effort and resources than if you took the time to strategize from the beginning.
To be honest, we would have lost this opportunity even if we did take our time. However, we could have quickly disqualified this opportunity because our services didn’t meet their use cases, and because it was evident that the prospect’s teams weren’t even on the same page. How can you help an organization where everyone thinks they need help with something different?
Disqualifying trivial opportunities that you can’t win allows you to refocus your efforts on those you can.
Example 2: Positioned for Progress
“This is our most important opportunity this quarter. Let’s brainstorm what we should do to be successful before we speak with the prospect.” — me, to my Account Executive
Spoiler alert: taking your time increases your likelihood of winning the opportunity faster. Unlike the first example where I was hurried to perform, this time I carefully crafted a course for completion. This prospect was (and still is) a prominent leader in their sector. They work to be the best, and they only want to partner with vendors who do the same.
I researched the organization, potential use cases based on their vertical, and the latest threats to organizations like theirs. Meanwhile, my AE met with our point of contact from the prospect’s team and learned which other individuals and teams would be involved in this project and potential POC.
My AE and I shared our findings, and I worked with the point of contact with whom he originally talked to become our technical champion. The AE took the research I shared and began working on pricing for the appropriate parts of our platform that would meet their use cases. See the level of preparation? Well, guess what? We had’t even made it to the POC yet.
Before the POC began, I met with my manager to discuss strategy and solicit guidance. That meeting grew into an internal team of product management, support, researchers, and senior leadership. We identified who should be involved in this opportunity, the tasks for which they would be responsible, and a timeline for when they should act.
We all took our time to get things right from step one, instead of having to spend more time getting it right later. The dedication merited great success. Not only did we displace a competitor, the prospect provided feedback on new features we planned to release, and we were positioned for upsell into more of our products and services in the near future. Final spoiler alert: the upsell was successful, too.
I learned three valuable lessons:
- Taking my time means I’m able to take more people with me on the journey, which means we can win the deal and perfect our processes.
- Being careful doesn’t mean you’re forcing everyone to crawl; rather, it means you’re working to ensure you don’t stumble when you’re serving. Advising my daughters to not run in the house doesn’t mean it will take longer to get from the bedroom to the kitchen to get a snack; it means they’ll be able to enjoy the snack because they arrived safely.
- Your team will provide more assistance if you provide them proper guidance. My manager re-arranged their calendar, product management re-prioritized roadmaps, and our support team improved their processes not because I hurried them. It was because I prepped them.
Ready, Set, Go…
Am I advising that every one of the opportunities in your pipeline should involve internal meetings with multiple leaders within your organization? No, that is not scalable. However, taking the time to know which specific opportunities require greater strategy means that all your opportunities can be more strategic.
The lessons learned from that one deal improved the quality of service the company provides for all deals. I’ve learned that if I exercise and improve my lifestyle to hit a certain weight target that my quality of life will be improved at any weight. The things you learn by taking your time allows you to have better use of your time.
Please know that everyone feels rushed. A few years ago, a study showed that 65% of Black
professionals said they have to work harder than their non-Black peers to advance. While the treatment of male workers is based on how much others respect them as workers and men, treatment of women workers are based on how much others respect them as workers and like
them as women. While it is widely known that LGBTQ+ individuals face various levels of discrimination in the workplace, the main reason many of the victims do not report it is because they do not feel that they would be believed and don’t want to hurt their relationships with peers.
These difficult statistics mean that many people who have been marginalized feel pressure not just to work harder, but also faster. If you’re working, you will feel rushed. It is critical that you implement strategies so that you can do your best work and feel like your best self. That takes time, not speed.
I’ll leave you with something one of my first mentors told me:
Hurry up and take your time.
He told me that if I were in a rush to do anything it should be a rush to take my time. Don’t delay to develop. Don’t stall in succeeding. Don’t wait to win. Don’t be idle in improving. Since this is your time, take your time.
About Karsten Chearis, Manager, US and LATAM Threat Intelligence Sales Engineering at Rapid7
Karsten Chearis is a CyberSecurity PreSales leader at a top global security provider. He builds process strategies in the technical sales of a curated threat intelligence solution suite. With over three decades of public speaking engagements, he delivers impactful messages that challenge the listeners to be their best selves.
Karsten has experienced the lonely solitude of being the only person of color in the room, and understands the effects of systemic oppression. His goal is to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion of every room he enters while unapologetically being authentic.
Karsten resides in Memphis, TN with his wife and two daughters and a host of pets that he was outvoted to keep.
Recap of the First Principle
In the first post of this series, we discussed my “Guiding Principles” — the secrets of my success. I introduced the first principle, “Take Your Time” and the mantra:
Since this is my time, I’m going to take my time.
Today, we’ll add application to the theory, and I’m going to share stories of what happened when I didn’t take my time, and what happened when I did.
Example 1: Pressure to Peril
“Hey Karsten, we have a prospect who wants to see a demo. They’ve been difficult before, but we should be fine.” — my Account Executive, to me.
Spoiler alert: if someone in sales says “we should be fine,” the chances of you not being fine just quadrupled. Everything about this opportunity was rushed:
- Getting me in front of the prospect
- Dissecting why the prospect had been “difficult before”
- Building the Proof of Concept (POC) environment with little to no preparation
When I did talk to the prospect, it was nothing short of disaster. Before I could begin by providing an overview of our solution, I was bombarded with questions and objections from the buyers, including:
- We currently handle this specific cyber attack by completing 7 steps. Show me those 7 steps in your solution.
- What does that button in the upper right corner do?
- Why don’t you guys have an option to start a workflow by doing this specific set of actions?
- This is extremely beginner level. Why doesn’t your company have a product that runs these four advanced methods?
- I don’t care that you can do that action. I want to talk about the way I like to do this process and how to do that in this platform.
Reader, when I tell you that this was the worst demo I’ve had in my career, I mean it. My company was not prepared, my team was not prepared, and I was not prepared. The executive officer of the prospect told my Account Executive (AE) that he wanted to fix three specific problems, but the other five people from the company never even mentioned it. As a matter of fact, when we did bring up one of those use cases, they shut us down before we could articulate why we’d even mentioned it.
Needless to say, we lost the opportunity. Plus, our credibility was tarnished and our morale was shattered. I give it a negative 20 out of 10 stars. Do not recommend.
But I learned three valuable lessons:
- Rushing and attempting to circumvent critical parts of your process only means you’ll end up at the opportunity being closed-lost sooner.
- A PreSales professional is a strategic business partner. One of the most important parts of our role is to be strategic — even if our peers are not.
- Disregarding your strategy to speed up the sale will take more effort and resources than if you took the time to strategize from the beginning.
To be honest, we would have lost this opportunity even if we did take our time. However, we could have quickly disqualified this opportunity because our services didn’t meet their use cases, and because it was evident that the prospect’s teams weren’t even on the same page. How can you help an organization where everyone thinks they need help with something different?
Disqualifying trivial opportunities that you can’t win allows you to refocus your efforts on those you can.
Example 2: Positioned for Progress
“This is our most important opportunity this quarter. Let’s brainstorm what we should do to be successful before we speak with the prospect.” — me, to my Account Executive
Spoiler alert: taking your time increases your likelihood of winning the opportunity faster. Unlike the first example where I was hurried to perform, this time I carefully crafted a course for completion. This prospect was (and still is) a prominent leader in their sector. They work to be the best, and they only want to partner with vendors who do the same.
I researched the organization, potential use cases based on their vertical, and the latest threats to organizations like theirs. Meanwhile, my AE met with our point of contact from the prospect’s team and learned which other individuals and teams would be involved in this project and potential POC.
My AE and I shared our findings, and I worked with the point of contact with whom he originally talked to become our technical champion. The AE took the research I shared and began working on pricing for the appropriate parts of our platform that would meet their use cases. See the level of preparation? Well, guess what? We had’t even made it to the POC yet.
Before the POC began, I met with my manager to discuss strategy and solicit guidance. That meeting grew into an internal team of product management, support, researchers, and senior leadership. We identified who should be involved in this opportunity, the tasks for which they would be responsible, and a timeline for when they should act.
We all took our time to get things right from step one, instead of having to spend more time getting it right later. The dedication merited great success. Not only did we displace a competitor, the prospect provided feedback on new features we planned to release, and we were positioned for upsell into more of our products and services in the near future. Final spoiler alert: the upsell was successful, too.
I learned three valuable lessons:
- Taking my time means I’m able to take more people with me on the journey, which means we can win the deal and perfect our processes.
- Being careful doesn’t mean you’re forcing everyone to crawl; rather, it means you’re working to ensure you don’t stumble when you’re serving. Advising my daughters to not run in the house doesn’t mean it will take longer to get from the bedroom to the kitchen to get a snack; it means they’ll be able to enjoy the snack because they arrived safely.
- Your team will provide more assistance if you provide them proper guidance. My manager re-arranged their calendar, product management re-prioritized roadmaps, and our support team improved their processes not because I hurried them. It was because I prepped them.
Ready, Set, Go…
Am I advising that every one of the opportunities in your pipeline should involve internal meetings with multiple leaders within your organization? No, that is not scalable. However, taking the time to know which specific opportunities require greater strategy means that all your opportunities can be more strategic.
The lessons learned from that one deal improved the quality of service the company provides for all deals. I’ve learned that if I exercise and improve my lifestyle to hit a certain weight target that my quality of life will be improved at any weight. The things you learn by taking your time allows you to have better use of your time.
Please know that everyone feels rushed. A few years ago, a study showed that 65% of Black
professionals said they have to work harder than their non-Black peers to advance. While the treatment of male workers is based on how much others respect them as workers and men, treatment of women workers are based on how much others respect them as workers and like
them as women. While it is widely known that LGBTQ+ individuals face various levels of discrimination in the workplace, the main reason many of the victims do not report it is because they do not feel that they would be believed and don’t want to hurt their relationships with peers.
These difficult statistics mean that many people who have been marginalized feel pressure not just to work harder, but also faster. If you’re working, you will feel rushed. It is critical that you implement strategies so that you can do your best work and feel like your best self. That takes time, not speed.
I’ll leave you with something one of my first mentors told me:
Hurry up and take your time.
He told me that if I were in a rush to do anything it should be a rush to take my time. Don’t delay to develop. Don’t stall in succeeding. Don’t wait to win. Don’t be idle in improving. Since this is your time, take your time.
About Karsten Chearis, Manager, US and LATAM Threat Intelligence Sales Engineering at Rapid7
Karsten Chearis is a CyberSecurity PreSales leader at a top global security provider. He builds process strategies in the technical sales of a curated threat intelligence solution suite. With over three decades of public speaking engagements, he delivers impactful messages that challenge the listeners to be their best selves.
Karsten has experienced the lonely solitude of being the only person of color in the room, and understands the effects of systemic oppression. His goal is to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion of every room he enters while unapologetically being authentic.
Karsten resides in Memphis, TN with his wife and two daughters and a host of pets that he was outvoted to keep.
