Some sales people just wait wait wait for the prospect to come back and say formally if they are getting the deal or not, but I believe a good sales guy should be able to predict in most cases what is going to happen with the deal, instead of keeping at it for ever, thinking that I have high perseverance or praying that the deal comes through. One good way to get out of this trap, is to think more from prospect's perspective, ask yourself these simple questions, why should they buy from you? what you got which the other vendors cannot provide? and did you differentiate yourself enough so you are at the top of prospect's mind? if none of these are giving you favorable answers then probably you aren't in the right position to get the deal.
In addition to these ask some good questions to the prospect, like dear prospect, do you think we covered everything you needed? is there any area you think we didn't exceed to your expectations? you will see sometimes prospect's sounding their concerns or telling you things, which will provide you enough insight where the deal is heading and what you need to do about it.
Recently, to one prospect I even asked, you are contemplating doing this in-house, which means you can pull this off at lesser cost, then what you think are the most compelling reasons for you to go with a Vendor like us? I got some answers from the prospect, which gave me some cues where this deal is possibly heading, and what I need to do. Should I persist? do something to change the equation? or just exit?
Bottom-line, ask some tough questions, connect dots, question why you are the only one who is BEST suited for this deal and if you think the prospect's selection criteria itself are misaligned for their own good, tell them that, because that is the biggest help you can offer them as a consultant and by the way, that may even get you the deal.
PS: let me know your comments and also what you think could have been a better title for this blog.
Happy Selling Value!!!
The concluding words can be the title and separated by a hyphen your current title can follow. The longer the better :) great read.
ReplyDeleteThe take away for me is "dear prospect, do you think we covered everything you needed? is there any area you think we didn't exceed to your expectations?"
"Bottom-line, ask some tough questions, connect dots, question why you are the only one who is BEST suited for this deal and if you think the prospect's selection criteria itself are misaligned for their own good, tell them that, because that is the biggest help you can offer them as a consultant and by the way, that may even get you the deal."
Waiting for more such articles.