Strategic Selling: Creating Alignment & Getting buy-in for Change
Startuplab invites you to an exclusive masterclass in strategic influence where you'll learn proven frameworks used by top change agents to transform resistance into enthusiastic buy-in. Limited seats available for this rare opportunity to master positioning and alignment techniques in just two half-days with industry veterans who've cracked the code on driving meaningful change.
Have you ever wondered or experienced:
Why 56% of all deals end with "no change" despite your best efforts?
How to create true strategic alignment when decision-makers have increased from 5 to 13+ people?
What it takes to build a compelling case for change that overcomes organizational recistance?
How to ensure your initiative rises "above the noise" and gets prioritized?
If you recognize one or more of these challenges, we strongly recommend this high-impact workshop led by change experts Edwin Fjeldtvedt (Founder of Favrit/Ordr, scaling expert) and Espen Sjaavik (Former AVP EMEA at Zscaler, sales leadership specialist). Over two half-days, you'll gain practical, hands-on tools and techniques to drive meaningful change in today's complex business environment.
You'll learn how to:
• Map your value pyramids that connect technical capabilities to high-level goals
• Develop the "3 Whys" documents that accelerate change
• Control stakeholder dynamics to achieve your desired outcomes.
This isn't just theory—it's actionable know-how you can implement immediately in your day-to-day to turn status quo into successful change!
📆 Time:
Tuesday, May 13th: 12.00-16.00
Wednesday, May 14th: 09.00-14.00
📍Place: Startuplab, Gaustadaléen 21
💰Price: 4,000 NOK ex. VAT
👋 Who should attend:
Leaders and Managers: Decision-makers who need to align stakeholders around important organizational change
Change Agents: Professionals looking to gain buy-in for internal initiatives within their organization
Business Developers: Team members responsible for driving new projects, innovations, and organizational improvements
Sales Professionals: Those seeking to enhance their strategic selling skills in complex environment
This workshop is ideal for anyone who needs to influence decisions, build consensus, and drive meaningful change in today's complex business environment.
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👇See below for more detailed description:
56% of all deals end with "no change", ie the customer decides to continue with status quo (according to Gartner). Whether you are a professional seller or an internal change-maker, creating strategic alignment and getting buy-in for your initiative is key. Without it, you risk wasting time and resources which more than half of the time will take you nowhere.
The amount of decision makers in an enterprise deal (an enterprise change initiative) has risen from 5 in 2011, to more than 13 in 2025. Why is this? What are the implications on you as a change-agent? How do you sell your deal/initiative in this chaotic landscape? How do you overcome organizational inertia?
This workshop over two half days will give you an introduction to the key challenges in positioning and driving change initiatives. We will then learn about practical tools and techniques for overcoming the challenges. Participants will leave with an understanding of the tools and techniques - and, more importantly, know-how of how and when to use these to drive the change you want.
Specifically, we will cover:
Why selling and buying is hard
Creating Strategic Alignment
Creating the case for change (how to get your deal/project/initiative rolling)
Why selling and buying is hard
In this section which serves as an introduction to the problem, we go through common issues and obstacles facing sellers (and buyers).
Whilst this part of the training might feel easy, we shouldn't underestimate its impact: only by understanding and labeling the issues can we systematically tackle them.
Format: presentation and background to the topics we'll cover during the training.
Creating Strategic Alignment
How does your initiative fit in with the organisation?
What's the link between a technical capability and a high-level goal? How do you demonstrate it?
How do you ensure that your initiative is "above the noise" and hence gets prioritised?
Format: Presentation and workshop. In this session, you will learn what a value pyramid is, how to build one - and more importantly: how to use it.
Creating the case for change (how to get your deal/project/initiative rolling)
Now that you have strategic alignment; how do you accelerate the "case for change"?
Controlling the stakeholders, controlling the outcome
Developing and using "3 Whys" as a "joint project document"
Format: Presentation and workshop. In this session, you will learn what a "3 whys document" is, how to build one - and more importantly: how to use it to create the change you want, within the timeline you want.
Your trainers will be Edwin Fjeldtvedt (founder of Ordr and Favrit) and Espen Sjaavik (ex-AVP EMEA at Zscaler, plus various other sales leader roles).
Edwin Fjeldtvedt is the founder of Favrit (formerly Ordr) – a platform you might have used to order food and drinks on your phone at bars or restaurants. He has a background in high-performance sports (handball) and has held commercial leadership roles at Expedia, where he helped shape a strong performance-driven culture.
Edwin's speciality is scaling — in 2021, Favrit grew from 7 to 105 employees in just 7 months while launching in 3 new markets. He’s raised over €20M in funding and brings deep experience in business strategy, product strategy, and go-to-market execution. Edwin is passionate about building category-defining companies, and combines strategic clarity with operational rigor.
He's especially focused on what it takes to scale teams and products rapidly while maintaining focus, culture, and customer value. Keywords for Edwin’s approach: velocity, alignment, resilience, execution.
Espen Sjaavik has 14 years of experience from some of the leading IT and SaaS companies in the world: Gartner, Bazaarvoice, AppDynamics, Cybereason and Zscaler. His speciality is "The Playbook" (a concept he'd happily define - it contains these four ingredients: A customer engagement model, MEDDIC, leading indicators, and a defined operating rhythm). Other specialties include high-performance coaching, team leadership, sales strategies and sales/leadership training. Espen has received coaching and training from some of the very best CxOs in software and takes pride in being a nerd in the topics of sales, SaaS, go-to-market, and leadership. Through his career, he has trained 100s of sellers and dozens of leaders in "The Playbook", including very practical "how-to" training. Espen believes in leading from the front and being able to go deep into the details when the situation calls for it. Keywords for the process-thinking Espen applies to sales and go-to-market: predictability, scalability, repeatability.