In this episode of the B2B Sales Trends Podcast, host Harry Kendlbacher speaks with Stefan Hartge, Global Head of Strategic Accounts Management at GE Vernova, about how sales teams can engage earlier, influence customer requirements, and build strategic partnerships instead of simply responding to requests.
How can sales teams earn access to customers before a buying decision has been made? And how can sales leaders turn early engagement into profitable growth?
⏱️Timestamps:
00:00 | Why responding to tenders is no longer enough
01:41 | Outcome based selling: From equipment supplier to strategic advisor
03:44 | Enterprise sales and the hidden cost of reactive selling
06:49 | Three ways to influence a customer before the tender
09:25 | Customer engagement beyond the immediate opportunity
12:51 | Sales leadership: Changing the routines that shape selling behavior
16:40 | Key account management and measuring real business impact
20:12 | The three skills every B2B salesperson needs
💡 What You’ll Learn
• Why the buying process starts before the tender: Influence customer thinking before requirements are defined.
• How to earn customer access: Use technical expertise and relevant insights to build credibility.
• How to make proactive selling work: Change sales routines to prioritize strategic customer engagement.
• How to connect account strategy to growth: Use business cases, share of wallet, and engineering feedback to focus resources.
• The three skills modern B2B salespeople need: Strategic fluency, influential leadership, and systems integration.
👤 About Stefan Hartge
Stefan Hartge leads Strategic Accounts Management at GE Vernova. With over two decades of experience, he works across strategic decision making, large infrastructure investment projects, product leadership, and global growth. His work focuses on enabling the reliable integration of renewable and distributed energy resources into the grid and advancing cost effective solutions for the energy transition.
Connect with Stefan Hartge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-hartge/
📃 Resources
🔗 Explore more at: https://globalperformancegroup.com/
🔗 Download "Beyond Discovery" and discover how forward thinking sales leaders are closing the gap between what’s talked about and what’s actually happening inside high performing teams: https://globalperformancegroup.com/white-papers/beyond-discovery-great-needs-arent-stated-they-are-generated
🔗 Try the Revenue Accelerator: https://revenueaccelerator.globalperformancegroup.com
🎧 Prefer audio?
👉 Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/b2b-sales-trends/id1540112247?l=en-GB
👉 Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/5dNb1tA2UfHOR8oGNc5Kbp?si=60f87af8feb74a25
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