Miller Heiman Strategic Selling Opportunity Planning Training Course
| Course code | SD-S-026 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 5 days |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Category | Sales |
| Delivery | Classroom or live online |
| Language | English |
| Certificate | Certificate of completion |
Course overview
Complex B2B opportunities rarely fail because a seller cannot explain the product. They fail when the account team misreads who can influence the decision, treats every stakeholder as a decision maker, responds to the wrong customer priorities, or advances an opportunity without a defined route to a business win. This course gives sales professionals a disciplined way to plan major opportunities, qualify risk, align internal resources, and create account-specific actions before forecasts and deal reviews become unreliable.
Participants apply the Miller Heiman Strategic Selling opportunity-planning method to identify Buying Influences, distinguish Economic, User, Technical and Coach roles, assess each influence's response mode, and define the Win-Results that matter to them. They learn to build and interpret a Blue Sheet, identify strengths and vulnerabilities, recognise Red Flags, map competitive positions, set a single sales objective, and convert analysis into practical action steps. The emphasis is on choosing evidence-based next actions rather than relying on relationship strength or deal-stage labels alone.
Instructor-led modules combine worked examples, guided opportunity analysis, account-team simulations, stakeholder-mapping workshops and peer challenge sessions. Participants use a live or realistic strategic opportunity throughout the week, progressively completing an opportunity plan that can be reviewed with their manager or deal team. They leave with a completed Blue Sheet-style opportunity plan, Buying Influence map, Win-Result analysis, Red Flag register, action plan and CRM-ready next-step structure.
The course is best suited to professionals selling complex products, services, technology or solutions with multiple stakeholders, long sales cycles and material commercial risk. It is equally valuable for sales managers who need a common language for opportunity reviews and forecast decisions.
Course objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Construct a Blue Sheet-style opportunity plan for a live complex sales pursuit
- Identify Economic, User, Technical and Coach Buying Influences within an account
- Assess stakeholder response modes using Growth, Trouble, Even Keel and Overconfident indicators
- Define stakeholder-specific Win-Results linked to measurable business outcomes
- Diagnose opportunity strengths, weaknesses and Red Flags using the Strategic Selling framework
- Set a single sales objective and convert it into sequenced account actions
- Position a competitive response against each Buying Influence and decision criterion
- Present a manager-ready opportunity review with risks, evidence, owners and next steps
Benefits of attending
For you
- Gain a repeatable structure for planning large, politically complex opportunities
- Lead opportunity reviews with explicit stakeholder evidence rather than subjective deal optimism
- Improve credibility with sales leaders by presenting risks, gaps and actions in a common format
- Prepare more persuasive stakeholder conversations around individually defined Win-Results
- Build a reusable account-planning artefact for active pursuits, renewals and expansion deals
For your organisation
- Create a common language for opportunity qualification, coaching and forecast challenge
- Reduce late-stage deal surprises by exposing Buying Influence gaps and Red Flags earlier
- Improve allocation of pre-sales, executive sponsorship and bid resources to winnable pursuits
- Strengthen account-team coordination through named stakeholder actions and clear ownership
- Increase forecast reliability by separating evidence of support from untested assumptions
Target competencies
Who should attend
- Enterprise Account Executives — who must coordinate multi-stakeholder opportunities with long sales cycles
- Strategic Account Managers — who need to protect and grow high-value customer relationships
- Business Development Managers — who qualify complex pursuits before committing pursuit resources
- Sales Managers — who need a consistent method for deal coaching and forecast reviews
- Pre-sales Solution Consultants — who must align technical value messages with varied stakeholder priorities
- Customer Success and Expansion Managers — who plan renewal and cross-sell opportunities across buying committees
Requirements and prerequisites
Participants should have at least one year of B2B sales, account management, pre-sales or commercial experience and be familiar with basic opportunity concepts such as pipeline stages, qualification, stakeholder engagement, value propositions and next-step planning. They should bring details of one current or recently closed complex opportunity, with account context, known contacts, commercial objective and competitive position where available. Familiarity with a CRM such as Salesforce is useful because plans are translated into CRM activity, but no configuration skills are required. No prior Miller Heiman training, formal sales qualification or specialist software certification is required.
Training methodology
The course is delivered through instructor-led explanation of the Miller Heiman Strategic Selling method, followed by short diagnostic exercises and structured workshops. Participants analyse a running complex-sale case before applying each tool to their own live or realistic opportunity. Small groups challenge Buying Influence assumptions, compare response-mode evidence and rehearse deal-review conversations. Facilitators provide feedback on completed Blue Sheets, action priorities and risk statements. The final session uses a manager-style opportunity review to turn the analysis into a 30-day application plan.
Course outline
Day 1: Establishing the strategic opportunity
- Complex opportunity characteristics and multi-stakeholder sales risk
- Strategic Selling opportunity-planning workflow
- Blue Sheet structure and opportunity data fields
- Defining the sales objective and desired decision
- Account business context and commercial drivers
- Opportunity scope, timeline and decision-process assumptions
- Separating facts, assumptions and missing evidence
Workshop: Participants select a live or case opportunity and produce the first section of a Blue Sheet-style opportunity plan with an explicit sales objective.
Day 2: Mapping Buying Influences and stakeholder priorities
- Economic Buying Influence identification
- User Buying Influence identification
- Technical Buying Influence identification
- Coach role assessment and access strategy
- Formal versus informal influence in buying committees
- Stakeholder response modes: Growth, Trouble, Even Keel and Overconfident
- Win-Results versus seller-focused product benefits
Workshop: Participants build a Buying Influence map and write evidence-based Win-Results for each priority stakeholder.
Day 3: Diagnosing position, risk and support
- Strength analysis by Buying Influence
- Weakness analysis and evidence gaps
- Red Flag identification and escalation criteria
- Supporter, neutral and opponent assessment
- Coach validation and information-quality testing
- Competitive position by stakeholder
- Opportunity health assessment and pursuit decisions
Workshop: Teams conduct a Red Flag review of a complex deal case and produce a prioritised risk register with validation actions.
Day 4: Designing the strategy and action plan
- Matching sales actions to stakeholder response modes
- Creating actions that advance each Buying Influence
- Developing competitive displacement strategies
- Building executive sponsor engagement plans
- Sequencing discovery, validation and commitment actions
- Assigning account-team owners and due dates
- Using Blue Sheet findings in deal reviews
Workshop: Participants convert their stakeholder analysis into a sequenced 30-day action plan with owners, evidence requirements and decision milestones.
Day 5: Applying Strategic Selling in the sales operating rhythm
- Translating Blue Sheet actions into CRM opportunity records
- Evidence-based pipeline stage and forecast decisions
- Manager coaching questions for strategic opportunities
- Running account-team opportunity review meetings
- Maintaining Buying Influence maps as accounts change
- Applying the method to renewals and expansion pursuits
- Personal application plan and deal-review cadence
Workshop: Participants present a manager-style review of their completed opportunity plan and produce a 30-day implementation commitment.
Tools & standards covered
Miller Heiman Strategic Selling Blue Sheet, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Microsoft Excel, Miro
A typical training day
| 08:30 – 10:30 | First session |
| 10:30 – 10:45 | Refreshment break |
| 10:45 – 12:30 | Second session |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch and networking |
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Third session |
| 15:00 – 15:15 | Refreshment break |
| 15:15 – 16:30 | Workshop and daily review |
Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.
What the fee includes
- Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
- Full course workbook and materials
- Exercise files, templates and case studies
- Certificate of completion
- Refreshments and lunch (classroom deliveries)
- Post-course application plan
- Facilitator follow-up on request
- Group rates from five participants
How you can take this course
Classroom
Scheduled sessions in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Dubai and Cape Town.
Live online
The same facilitator and materials, delivered live for distributed teams and individuals.
In-house
Delivered privately for your team, at your offices or a venue of your choice, tailored to your context. Request a proposal.
Certification
Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.
Frequently asked questions
Upcoming sessions
New dates are being scheduled. Ask us about the next session or an in-house delivery for your team.
Ask about datesGroup of 5+?
Request in-house delivery or group rates →Related courses in Sales
Outreach Sales Engagement Sequence Optimisation Training Course
Sales teams often invest in Outreach but still run sequences that produce uneven reply rates, duplicate messaging, poor task compliance and …
Territory and Quota Planning for Sales Operations Analysts Training Course
Sales operations analysts are expected to turn annual growth targets into defensible territory designs, attainable quotas, and operational r…
Sales Coaching and Performance Management for Sales Managers Training Course
Sales managers are expected to deliver reliable revenue forecasts, improve conversion rates and retain capable sellers, yet many rely on pip…
Insurance Sales Needs Analysis and Policy Presentation Training Course
Insurance buyers rarely arrive with a complete statement of their risks, priorities, budget constraints and coverage expectations. Sales pro…