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Deal Review Meeting Template

This meeting is to support an Account Executive on a specific deal.

Created by Jocelyn Brown

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Deal Review Meeting Template

Walkthrough

This meeting is to support an Account Executive on a customer opportunity pursuit. The meeting members should include the AE, their manager, and executive representatives from supporting groups - partner, services, CS, leadership team.

The first 3 sections of this agenda include questions that need to be be answered to get clarity on the current deal. The last section, feedback and plan, includes questions the executive team needs to answer together to support the AE on the best path forward.


Structure of the meeting:

In this meeting, the AE presents their opportunity to a panel of executives/leaders. In response, the executive are only allowed to ask clarifying questions.

Once the AE has presented, they leave the room, and the team consolidates feedback. Then, comprehensive feedback is provided to the AE and the group collaborates on the best path forward.

The goal is to support the AE with structured feedback from executives and genuine help.


Section 1: Why Change

Answer this series of questions to focus your value proposition, success criteria and executive support. A clear alignment to your customer's business goals is foundational to your deal strategy. Identify who the primary players are and any gaps you have in support. The team may be able to provide support here by aligning with an executive or shoring up support for your champion.


Section 2: Why Now

Use this section to get very clear on:

  • What needs to be true for the customer to move forward;
  • What kind of support you need to deliver a solution;
  • and how engaged your customer is in the process.

Extreme clarity helps avoid delays and surprises in any deal. These questions should align with the sales methodology that you are using.


Section 3: Why Not

Thinking through a negative outcome, and anticipating objections and roadblocks will highlight any gaps in your plan.

This section will help you prepare for any moment of truth in your deal. Your supporting team can be invaluable here by providing input from experience in other deals, and revealing potential blind spots in your deal strategy.


Section 4: Feedback and Plan

This part of the meeting should be about constructive feedback and collaboration.

The goal is to help the AE strengthen their chances of winning and support their development for future deals. This is also a chance for executives to hear about the reality of what's happening in the field. The end result is a plan of action to move the deal forwarded that has leadership support and participation. The AE is accountable for making sure that the plan is executed but the whole team is accountable for the deal.

About this template

This meeting is to support an Account Executive on a customer opportunity pursuit. The meeting members should include the AE, their manager, and executive representatives from supporting groups β€” partner, services, CS, and the leadership team.

Posted on Jun 13, 2022

Deal Review Meeting FAQs

How long should a deal review meeting be?

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You should initially set your deal review meetings for 60 minutes with your team. If you prepare and share an agenda in advance you're likely to get through more faster.

How often should you have deal review meetings?

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Most deal review meetings tend to occur weekly. As you go through a few iterations of them you may need to increase or decrease the frequency.

How do you structure a deal review meeting?

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You should think about deviding the meeting into 4 sections: Why Change?, Why Now?, Why Not?, Feedback and Plan. Then adding the following deal review meeting topics, where appropriate:

  • What client business problem is related to this opportunity?
  • What are the associated business goals and success factors? What happens when they solve their problem?
  • Who is accountable fore the goal and/or the problem resolution?
  • Do you have an executive sponsor? If not, what action do you have for your champion?
  • What is the activation event?
  • What is the compelling event?
  • How does this project rank as a priority? What may be the competing initiatives?
  • What current state data have you gathered?
  • Has the client validated the data and summary you've presented?
  • What has the client confirmed as their decision-making criteria?
  • Can we influence decision timelines and decision-making process?
  • Do we require a partner to deliver the solution? What is our partner's history in this account and how can this be leveraged?
  • Is there competition we're aware of? What is your strategy vs. them? Has the client validated?
  • What is our unique business value and is it quantified and linked to their goals/success factors?
  • Has the client helped you co-author the future state solution?
  • What could keep this client from moving forward?
  • How will you address the common client concern of "will this solution work?"
  • Do you predict any challenges from other stakeholders?
  • What feedback do we have for the AE?
  • What support can we offer?
  • What is our critical path to close or mutual action lan?

What should you discuss during a deal review meeting?

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21 great things to discuss in your Deal Review Meeting:

  • What client business problem is related to this opportunity?
  • What are the associated business goals and success factors? What happens when they solve their problem?
  • Who is accountable fore the goal and/or the problem resolution?
  • Do you have an executive sponsor? If not, what action do you have for your champion?
  • What is the activation event?
  • What is the compelling event?
  • How does this project rank as a priority? What may be the competing initiatives?
  • What current state data have you gathered?
  • Has the client validated the data and summary you've presented?
  • What has the client confirmed as their decision-making criteria?
  • Can we influence decision timelines and decision-making process?
  • Do we require a partner to deliver the solution? What is our partner's history in this account and how can this be leveraged?
  • Is there competition we're aware of? What is your strategy vs. them? Has the client validated?
  • What is our unique business value and is it quantified and linked to their goals/success factors?
  • Has the client helped you co-author the future state solution?
  • What could keep this client from moving forward?
  • How will you address the common client concern of "will this solution work?"
  • Do you predict any challenges from other stakeholders?
  • What feedback do we have for the AE?
  • What support can we offer?
  • What is our critical path to close or mutual action lan?

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About the Author

Jocelyn Brown

Jocelyn has spent 15+ years in the B2B and SaaS spaces building and managing high-performing customer success and sales teams that drive recurring revenue and value, and develop life-long customers. Most recently she spent 5 years at Allocadia as SVP Customers and Revenue.

Follow her on twitter.