Sales Leaders: Losing to "NO DECISION" is a Myth
Brian G. Burns
Do you want more meetings? Close larger deals? Listen to the Brutal Truth about Sales Podcast
I was a huge fan of the ShowTime series BullShit and the hosts Penn & Teller. If you missed the series what Penn & Teller would do is demystify a belief in a very humorous way. In Sales today the phase "NO DECISION" has the same exact feel as many of the topics that Penn & Teller covered. Sales People all over the world are buying into this myth that "NO DECISION" is a real thing. "NO DECISION" is NO DEAL, NO ACTION and NO COMMISSION. "NO DECISION" is like saying I have OK Credit you either have credit or you have NO Credit. At the beginning of every month, we can not write "NO DECISION" on the checks we send to pay our bills.
"NO DECISION" means that your prospect either found a better use of their time and money or they did not have a compelling reason to take action NOW. "NO DECISION" is yet another example of Happy Ear, the most common disease in Sales where the seller hears what they want to hear instead of what is being said. We feel better losing to "NO DECISION" than losing to our competitors, but the result is the same NO COMMISSION. What the client is saying is "We either do not know WHY we should take a Risk" or "WHY we should act Now."
What Great Sale People know is that the highest cost is Opportunity Cost and not the cost of your Product/Service. They focus their prospects on the desired out and the date by which they want that outcome to be Achieved. A-Players know that it is their responsibility to guide the client throw the decision process and demonstrate that the cost of NOT acting is substantially more than placing the order NOW!
This week on my PodCast "The Brutal Truth about Sales & Selling" I share how to avoid the "NO DECISION" TRAP and how to get your deal WON and Closed without resorting to Discounts or Begging.
Please share your thoughts on the "NO DECISION" myth and if you enjoyed the post please Like and Share it.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by,
Brian
Consulting Engineer for Interdisciplinary Problems
5 年Got a phone meesage a while ago from the regional rep of a large test equipment manufacturer. Seemed like a "nice guy" so I called him back. Him:? "I was told you had urgent need of some info". Me: "No. I told the sales caller any need was two years out". Him: "Sorry.? They have to report a certain number of 'hot prospects' so sometimes they just make them up .... At the XYZ tradeshow the company offered the booth staff an iPod for the most sales leads. People were filling out cards with their grandmothers' info" Moral:? If you measure performance (except the final sales) you will get what you asked for - not necessaeily what you want or need.
Wild Card - draw me for a winning hand | Creative Problem Solver in Many Roles | Manual Software QA | Project Management | Business Analysis | Auditing | Accounting |
5 年In sales, there are only two outcomes.? You get paid by commission or you don't get paid on commission. If "no decision" happens, that means failure and no commission check.?
Senior Technology Strategist - Media & Entertainment, Edge Computing, Security
7 年Great article. Sometime deals were never real to begin with, Customers just pretending to go through the motions for education purposes -- never a strong business case or intent to buy anything. It is not always easy to identify, but many times the sales person overestimates just out of need to fill the pipeline with things to talk about.
Salesforce Architect, Musician, Choreographer
7 年Brutal as needed! Love it!