Hi Friends,
Here is your end-of-the-week insight into what I see going on in the business world, what I’m thinking about, and what I’m learning about. Forward anything that you feel inspired to share. If this was forwarded to you and you found value, subscribe here for a weekly edition!
Because much of Q3 happens during the “dog days” of summer, which are filled with out-of-offices, PTOs, and long vacations, getting deals that are called for Q2 to actually close is pretty important.
The first thing I suggested was to identify the deals that really should close in Q2. What I mean by that is to identify which ones have been de-risked the most and the buyer and seller are aligned on the timeline, the impact of the purchase, and the impact of missing the close date. For those deals, I suggest cranking up the paranoia and making sure that you confirm all the relevant information and moving pieces (legal, IT, InfoSec, etc.). These are the deals you cannot afford to let slip. If they do, you are likely to be further from a close when you pick it back up.
The second thing I had the team do was identify the deals that were “wishes and prayers.” These are to be worked but not prioritized. They are highly unlikely to close in Q2, and with time being your most precious commodity, it is important to prioritize the right deals.
That leaves a third category—deals that have a real shot but are far from sure things. For those deals, I suggested doing a deep dive to identify the risks and then creating a document to be shared with the buyer that identified what needed to be uncovered, confirmed, and completed.
The key to accelerating deals is alignment. Both parties need to be moving in the same direction at the same speed with the same urgency. Want to talk about a deal? Feel free to reach out.
In Spanish, the number two is “dos,” and a euphemism for feet is “patas.” When I asked my grandfather to buy me a car (gosh, to have the confidence of a 16-year-old to ask the bold question), he answered that I didn’t need a car because I already had one, a “dodge patas.” Anyway, he would have been proud of the guy who tweeted the following:
FYI, NSFW Handle. God, I love life hacks! This 46-second tweet packs a punch with some very useful cooking hacks!
Potpourri (shoutout to Jeopardy!) is a category that covers a variety of topics.
This past week, I started mulling over a big idea. A few days later, I decided that I was going to go after it (announcement coming soon). A few days later, the tweet below popped into my feed. How appropriate:
Quote for My Son
“Birds aren’t scared about landing on a branch that could break because they know they can fly.”
Mark Pope
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Let me know what you think about this week’s edition of Fuentes Fridays. Which section was your favorite? How can I make this better? Shoot me a message on LinkedIn @willfuentes.
Until next week!
Thanks,