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

The Red Cell Exercise

Red Cell is a term that was created in 1984 by Richard Marcinko, US Navy commander of the elite counterterrorist unit SEAL Team Six. His mission was to test US naval bases’ security by launching mock attacks and simulating terrorists to discover whether any vulnerability existed. Although this is clearly quite different from a sales environment, it can be both revealing and productive to put yourself in the “enemy’s,” or the competition’s, shoes. However, this is solely the domain of those Stage III and IV sellers who possess the kind of offensive mind-set we presented earlier.

You can conduct a Red Cell exercise by introducing people who are new to the sales situation to the opportunity that you’re pursuing. It is helpful if they know the account, but if they don’t, you can compensate to some degree with your briefing, which is where you begin the exercise.

1. Brief the team on the customer. You provide the participants or team with a customer intel package that familiarizes them with the customer’s industry, market position, and business in terms of structure, historical performance, vision, direction, priorities, competition, and any other relevant information. You share with them the insight gained from your research, observations, and questions.

2. Present your Compete Plan to win. You educate participants on the sales opportunity, account, competition, and your Compete Strategy. This Compete Plan consists of a few short pages composed of information ...