# How to Implement Deal Desk Processes for Complex Sales
In the world of complex B2B sales, high-value deals often get stuck in a bottleneck of manual approvals, legal red tape, and pricing inconsistencies. Implementing a Deal Desk acts as the 'mission control' for your revenue operations, ensuring that large contracts are structured profitably and closed faster without sacrificing compliance.
For Australian businesses scaling their operations, a Deal Desk provides the necessary guardrails to manage bespoke pricing, service level agreements (SLAs), and multi-year commitments while keeping the sales team focused on what they do best: selling.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure you have the following ready:- A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system: Such as HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive.
- Historical Deal Data: At least 6-12 months of data on your most complex or discounted deals.
- Key Stakeholders: Access to representatives from Sales, Finance, and Legal.
- Standard Pricing Sheet: Your baseline pricing and standard discount thresholds.
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Step 1: Define Your Deal Desk Objective
Every business has different pain points. Are you trying to stop excessive discounting, or are you trying to speed up the time it takes to get a contract signed? Action: Write down a single mission statement for your Deal Desk. For example: "To reduce contract turnaround time by 30% while maintaining a minimum 20% profit margin on all bespoke service packages."Step 2: Establish Entry Criteria (The 'Threshold')
Not every deal needs to go through the Deal Desk. If a small business client is buying a standard package at list price, let them fly through. You only want to capture the 'complex' ones. Common Australian Thresholds:- Deals over a certain Annual Contract Value (e.g., $50,000 AUD).
- Any deal requiring more than a 15% discount.
- Contracts involving non-standard legal clauses (e.g., specific Australian Consumer Law variations).
- Deals involving third-party integrations or custom development.
Step 3: Map Your Stakeholders and Approvers
Identify who needs to have a say in a complex deal. In a typical Brisbane-based mid-market company, this usually involves:- Sales Lead: To advocate for the customer.
- Finance/CFO: To ensure the deal is profitable and GST-compliant.
- Legal/Compliance: To check for indemnity and liability risks.
- Product/Operations: To confirm the team actually has the capacity to deliver what is being promised.
Step 4: Create a Standardised Deal Intake Form
Stop the back-and-forth emails. Create a simple internal form (or a specific stage in your CRM) that sales reps must complete to trigger a Deal Desk review. Screenshot Description: In your CRM, you should see a custom sidebar or 'Deal Desk' tab. This should include fields for 'Requested Discount %', 'Payment Terms (e.g., Net 30)', 'Custom Legal Requirements', and 'Strategic Value of the Client'.Step 5: Design the Approval Workflow
Use a 'If This, Then That' logic for your approvals.- Level 1: Discount < 10% → Sales Manager approval.
- Level 2: Discount 10-20% or Custom Terms → Deal Desk review (Finance + Sales VP).
- Level 3: Discount > 20% or High Risk → CFO/CEO approval.
Pro Tip: Use an automation tool like Zapier or your CRM’s native workflow builder to send Slack or MS Teams notifications to the relevant approvers the moment the form is submitted.
Step 6: Standardise Your 'Commercial Playbook'
Your Deal Desk shouldn't be making 'gut feel' decisions. Create a document that outlines what is acceptable. This is your 'Commercial Playbook'. It should include:- Pre-approved alternative payment terms (e.g., quarterly vs annual).
- Approved 'give-gets' (e.g., "We will give you a 5% discount IF you agree to a case study and a 2-year term").
- Standardised wording for common Australian contract objections.
Step 7: Set Up a Regular Deal Desk Sync
While many approvals happen asynchronously, high-stakes deals benefit from a 30-minute weekly meeting. This is where the Deal Desk team reviews the 'pipeline of exceptions'. The Goal: Unblock deals that have been sitting in 'Legal Review' for too long and find creative ways to make a 'No' into a 'Yes'.Step 8: Build a Centralised Document Repository
Ensure that once a deal is approved, the final contract reflects the approved terms exactly. Use a tool like DocuSign or PandaDoc integrated with your CRM. Warning: A common mistake is approving a deal in the Deal Desk but then having the sales rep manually edit a Word doc contract. This creates massive compliance risks. Always use locked templates.Step 9: Define Your Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
Nothing kills a salesperson's motivation like a deal sitting in an 'Approval Black Hole'. Action: Commit to an internal SLA. For example, "The Deal Desk will provide a first response or approval on all submissions within 24 business hours."Step 10: Track, Iterate, and Optimise
A Deal Desk is a living process. Every quarter, review the deals that went through the desk.- Are we losing deals because our 'lowest' price is still too high?
- Are we winning deals but finding they are unprofitable to deliver?
- Which sales reps are using the Deal Desk most effectively?
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Common Mistakes to Avoid
- The 'Sales Prevention' Department: Don't let the Deal Desk become a place where deals go to die. Its job is to find a way to win the deal profitably, not just to say 'no'.
- Manual Data Entry: If a rep has to type the client's ABN and address five different times, they will bypass the process. Automate data syncing from your CRM.
- Lack of Transparency: Ensure the sales rep can see exactly where their deal is in the approval chain.
Troubleshooting
Problem: The Sales team is complaining that the process is too slow. Solution:* Check your SLAs. Are approvers being notified? Consider empowering Sales Managers to approve higher discount tiers to reduce the load on the Deal Desk. Problem: Finance is rejecting deals because the margins are too thin. Solution:* Update your Commercial Playbook. Clearly define the 'Floor Price' so Sales knows before they even submit the deal that it won't pass. Problem: Contracts are being signed with terms that weren't approved. Solution:* Lock down your document generation software. Only allow the Deal Desk or Finance to 'release' the final contract for signature once approvals are logged in the CRM.---
Next Steps
Now that you have your Deal Desk framework, it’s time to technicalise it.- Audit your current CRM: See if your current setup supports automated approval workflows.
- Draft your 'Give-Get' list: Sit down with your Sales Lead and list 5 things you can ask for in exchange for a discount.
- Need help with the tech? If you need help setting up these complex workflows in HubSpot or Salesforce, contact our RevOps team at Local Marketing Group for a strategy session.