You can win without a strategy; it's called luck. But we don't pay salespeople a lot to be luck, we can do that on the web cheaper. We pay salespeople to make things happen, to control the opportunity as much as they will allow, to influence the competition, the politics, and the decision process. Some people and sales organizations don't think that way. They quote and hope; price, propose and pray.

Historically a strategy is a plan to apply our strengths to the opponent's weaknesses, creating advantage that results in winning. Strategy fell out of military strategy to business strategy to sales strategy. The ancient military strategies are: Direct, Divisional, Fractional, and Delay.

Not everyone thinks in terms of models. So we at TCS have brought it down to today's relevant language that relates to the deal that they must win tomorrow.

In order to win a complex sale, you need a:

Solution Strategy - what problems will we solve with what capabilities we have? How can we differentiate ourselves? What operational and strategic value do we offer?

Competitive Strategy - Who prefers our competitor and why? How will they plan to beat us? How can we anticipate and neutralize their tactics?

Political Strategy - What role will each stakeholder play? Who will pick a vendor and who influences them? How do we win each vote or live without it? Can we build trust with the powerful people?

Closing Strategy - What is the approval process for this deal? Who will become involved and what do they need? Is there a source of urgency?

Finally, all strategy must be executed at the individual stakeholder level. To earn their preference you must either solve their problem or build a relationship, or both.