Sellers hate to lose.
They have a competitive nature, and giving up a deal just isn’t in their DNA. But sometimes, as a seller, you have to know when to walk away.
We talk a lot about using Customer Verifiable Outcomes to build qualification into the sales process. These buying indicators help provide your sellers with the necessary information to advance the opportunity to the next stage of the buying process. They may include things like (1) the organization has to invest resources around a new product or a recent acquisition, or (2) your prospects may have documented pain points that they’re under pressure to correct.
Sellers that use Customer Verifiable Outcomes are able to better validate deals, where they otherwise would be guessing. The same benchmarks can also be just as effective at indicating when it’s time for the seller to walk away.
When you try to qualify a deal, and the information you collect tells you that the opportunity isn’t a good fit, move on. (Harvard Business Review Blogger Steve W. Martin, provides some interesting insight as to why customers don’t buy here.)
Sellers can hold on to opportunities too long, hoping they’ll be able to turn the deal around. They’re natural quarterbacks. They like to get the ball in the end zone and don’t do so well with simply walking off the field.
Sometimes though, you need to compete on a better playing field. Remember, the time you spend trying to turn around a dwindling deal is valuable time that you aren’t spending on qualifying better opportunities.
Work smarter. Don’t spend too much time on a deal that won’t happen, and don’t waste time on delays that you could have foreseen with a better qualification process. Ask yourself these questions about the sales process within your own organization.
- What sales process are you following in your own organization? (Calling on 10 leads a day is not a sales process)
- How do you ensure that you aren’t skipping steps in the sales process?
- How do you know when to progress opportunities to the next sales stage?
- What are the leading indicators that tell you it’s time disqualify an opportunity?
