Archives for March 2019

Sometimes the sales process suddenly speeds up or slows down. A project that was dormant suddenly springs to life. Or, one that was moving along briskly suddenly comes to a screeching halt. When that happens (especially in the case when it speeds up) you should ask the prospect “what changed?”. The reason you ask is that things happen for a reason. And it is important that you know that reason. It might be the prospect got a visit from the EPA regulators and now they are under a deadline to remedy a situation. It could be that they were focused on a competitor and the competitor has slipped up for some reason and are now out of the running. In either of these cases the answer to the question will give you insight into the urgency of the situation, the pain of the prospect and the decision process of the prospect. It is also possible that nothing changed but in my experience that is rarely the case. Don’t be so excited by the project springing to life that you forget to ask what prompted the sudden change. If you do, you will miss a golden opportunity to get an advantage over the competition or some leverage in the negotiations to come.

Pipelines are bloated with prospects who think the solution presented is interesting or who want to buy something but haven’t bought yet. These deals usually don’t close. The reason is that there is not enough of a compelling reason to buy. The solution to this problem is to find someone in the organization who cares about the problem. They usually care about it because it affects them in some way. This makes the pain personal and personal pain is the biggest motivation to take action. The message is as simple as that. Find someone in the organization who cares about the problem.

Experts can cause you problems if they you don’t handle them correctly. There should always have a reason to bring them on the call with you. It might be that they are there just in case there is a question you can’t answer. It might be to make the presentation about how you will solve the problem, or it might be to lead the effort in finding pain because the person you are dealing with is a technical person. It is important that whatever the plan is the expert knows what the plan and is ready to follow your direction. If they are just there in case a question comes up, make sure you tell them not to speak until you ask them to. To do otherwise is to invite disaster. If you are not careful they may take over the sales call in a misguided attempt to help you. This never ends well. In summary have a plan or don’t take the expert and make sure they know the plan and are ready to follow it.

There can be a big difference between someone who wants your product and someone who will buy your product. Many salespeople get excited when the prospect exhibits interest or says that they want or need their product. However, if you stop with need or want, you may end up with a pipeline bloated with prospects who are never going to buy. The difference between “I want that” and “I will buy that” mostly lies in whether there is enough pain to “compel” action. The first step in qualifying a prospect is to make sure there is a compelling reason to buy. The compelling reason usually resides in the answer to the question “why do you want it” or “why do you need it”. It may take more questions than that and many minutes of conversation but eventually the prospect must reveal what is driving them to move forward. If they don’t then there will be no sale in the immediate future.

Are your forecasts inaccurate? Is your pipeline bloated with deals that never close? It might be because you don’t appreciate the difference between someone who will buy form someone who merely wants to buy. As I write this I want to buy a new car. The Lexus I have is getting older and there are some minor problems with it. Nothing major, there are just some minor annoyances. Plus, I like some of the features of the new cars. BUT, I am not in enough pain to buy one. There is no urgency. Besides I hate cars in general and don’t especially relish the task of buying one. Money is not the issue. If I was in front of a car salesperson, I would sound like a buyer and act like a buyer, but I would not be a buyer since there is nothing pushing me to buy. However, that could change. If my mechanic would alert me to a major impending expensive problem, I would suddenly have enough urgency to buy immediately. Don’t be fooled by people who give “buying signals”. Make sure they have enough urgency to buy in the short term. Ask questions. Dig deeper and you will avoid the dreaded pipeline bloat.