How to Win 7-Figure Deals With One Sentence: Fireside Chat with Nate Nasralla

This week I sat down with Nate Nasralla, founder of Fluint and author of Selling With. Nate gave us nothing short of a Masterclass in Executive Messaging. He showed exactly how top sellers craft soundbites that travel, enable champions to sell when we are not in the room, and ultimately win the largest and most complex enterprise deals.

Who Nate Is and Why You Should Listen

Nate Nasralla is the founder and CEO of Fluint and the author of Selling With. He is a repeat software founder and three-time sales leader whose frameworks have been used to land 70 percent of the Fortune 100 while simplifying the path to closed won.

Summary of What I Learned

This session sharpened how I think about winning complex enterprise deals. Here are the biggest takeaways sellers can apply this week.

1) Big deals are won by short soundbites that travel

Executives remember and repeat one tight paragraph, not 30 slides. Write the deal in two sentences with four bricks:

Because of [external change], now is the time to respond with [non-obvious, differentiated approach].
This response helps us avoid [critical negative] and unlock [valuable positive].

Make each account’s soundbite truly different. If your top three soundbites look the same, your discovery is not deep enough.

Make soundbites stick with:

Numbers that replace sentences
Names such as internal phrases or codenames
Dates that tie to real timeframes

Quantify the problem with RSF

Reach who is affected
Severity how painful
Frequency how often or how fast it is growing

2) Message, messenger, and message travel

Message. Start early. Write to expose gaps, then fill them.
Messenger. The right person can elevate an average message. Find hidden influencers people take cues from. Look for respected skeptics who push back.
Message travel. Design content that is easy to forward. Write short internal notes with a clear ask your champion can send up, over, and across.

3) Build a one-page business case executives will use

Drop vendor billboard branding. Use a white page, black font, and the customer’s logo. Include:

Headline that uses their internal codename
The deal in two sentences
Problem with numbers
Approach as a strategy, not just your product
Outcomes with base and upside scenarios
Investment in dollars, team, and time

Attach this 1 page business case as a pre-read in the calendar invite. Use visuals in the live meeting. Here’s a copy of the business case template Nate created and shared:

Follow up with the narrative doc.

4) Multi-threading that actually happens

Write through one persona to another. Example: a note the CIO can forward to Operations that speaks to Operations’ wins.
Open light threads early with likely stakeholders. Keep them posted. Ask for nothing at first.
Exec matching. Ghostwrite short notes your executive can send to their counterpart.
Coach your champion. Role-play the objections they will face in their one-on-ones.

He generously shared his framework for writing e-mails that can get forwarded: How to Write Forwardable E-mails

5) What to anchor on right now with executives

Consolidation fewer vendors, tools, and staff
OPEX reduction deliver more with fewer people
Resilience prepare for uncertainty
Optionality choices today that preserve choices tomorrow
FP&A alignment expect scenario tests and logic checks

Offer small, medium, large options and tie investment to impact and implementation effort. Small investment equals small outcome. Large investment equals large outcome.

6) Avoid these common mistakes

Starting late instead of early
Selling to the champion instead of with them
Obsessing over ROI before the narrative

Put It Into Practice This Week

Pick three active accounts and write the two-sentence soundbite using their language.
Circle every number, name, and date. If any are missing, fix your discovery plan.
Draft a 100-word forwardable email for your champion to send to power with one clear ask.

Resources Nate Shared

I hope you find this conversation as valuable as I did!

-Ian