The New Power Base Selling: Master The Politics, Create Unexpected Value and Higher Margins, and Outsmart the Competition

Milestone Stacking

A core element to achieving a Prime Objective as early as possible in a sales campaign is Milestone Stacking. This is a critical implementation vehicle for establishing the upfront speed necessary for the Indirect approach.

Milestone Stacking means accomplishing multiple task objectives simultaneously or nearly simultaneously. The closer these task objectives are to each other in time, the more the synergy exists between them. In other words, maximum synergy or potentiation (the 1 + 1 = 3 phenomenon) occurs when you achieve critical task objectives in parallel. The result is to geometrically increase win potential and decrease competitive vulnerability, which you can see graphically in Figure 14.3.

Figure 14.3: The Impact of Milestone Stacking

Note: The Milestone Stacking diagram is based on a military version presented by William H. McRaven in his book Spec Ops (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1995).

Milestone Stacking will shape the trajectory of the compete curve. The heavily drawn line in Figure 14.3 illustrates the impact of Milestone Stacking, in contrast to the lighter curve with no Stacking. You’ll note that:

• You can achieve relative superiority much sooner with Stacking, as it dramatically shortens the sales cycle.
• Stacking geometrically reduces competitive vulnerability, while disproportionately increasing win potential; the two go hand-in-hand. ...