The Basics

In the movie Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell's Ricky Boby schools us on winning when he says "If you ain't first, you're last." For those of us in sales competing for business, he is absolutely right. Only one team takes home the bacon, but the reality is more nuanced and a bit more complicated than Ricky Boby's view. Although there is only one winner there usually are several losers and some lose more than others.

During my time at CA, I had the pleasure of working for an amazing sales leader that used to tell the hundreds of salespeople reporting to her to "Get to "no" fast". What she meant is that the sooner we could get out of a deal that wasn't wired for us the less we would lose and the more quickly we could begin investing in cycles that would generate value for our customers and revenue for us. This resonated profoundly with me and lead me to the conclusion that the only real leverage a salesperson has is to "walk away", to stop investing and to move on with one's life.

Salespeople that put the customer first and are looking for opportunities to help and add value have a very easy time recognizing when a prospective customer is not "feeling it" and when it is time to disengage. This is easy for them because the good ones ask for a relationship based on mutual respect before the deal is even done. We recognize the value we are bringing during the sales cycle and every step of the way we ask that the respect be returned and that the customer do what they say they are going to do. For instance, if we agree to execute a proof of concept, the customer has to collaborate around defining objectives, requirements, understanding the process and preparing the hardware. If this doesn't happen, the good salesperson will recognize that the customer either is having some major challenges or they "just aren't that into them". This is a wonderful opportunity for a sales person worth their salt to "get to 'no'" by asking, "Are you serious about this project, have you lost the budget, or why are you not moving forward as you committed." These are hard questions that could very well lead to the premature end of the sales cycle, but the premature ending is not necessarily the worst case scenario. The worst case is that thousands of dollars continue to be thrown at a customer that is no longer in a situation to buy.

I'm sure most of you reading this are very familiar with this collaborative, customer-focused sales approach. I'm going over it here simply to set the stage in order to shake my fist at the sky and yell into cyberspace my frustration at customer's that engage in a collaborative process and then go completely "dark", denying us salespeople the opportunity to hear the "no" and to walk away into the sunset with dignity.

We have two very significant opportunities that had a potential to close before the end of the year. Just prior to the end of the year those two large customers went "dark" not returning emails or phone calls. This after we collaborated, invested, built a relationship and came close to signing a deal. Now we can't get either of them to simply respond to an email.

So, if you're reading this and you're one of the salespeople that puts customer's first while respecting yourself and have had this happen, know that you are not alone and take comfort in the fact this inexplicable and inexcusable behavior has happened to others like you.

If you are reading this and you are a "buyer', please take this message to heart. You will not hurt our feelings by saying, "no", but you will vex and perplex us by failing to simply respond and putting an end to it.