The slow fade: Sales honesty and prospect fit

Before you go any further, I have a confession to make. I am not a sales professional. In my various startup roles, I have to do my fair share of "selling". Each day, I sell thoughts, ideas, feelings, organizational change, and, yes occasionally our solutions. All that aside, it is humbling to see true greats of the sales profession in action (some of whom we are lucky enough to have with us at RevenueWell and Club Automation).

The breadth of responsibility, which I am lucky to enjoy, provides exposure to wide a range of organizational activity, which often provokes thought and, occasionally, the desire to package those thoughts for the outside community to see, scrutinize, and hopefully find useful.

In one of the many daily conversations taking place on our sales teams, a member of our team (let's call him Bob) identified several potential gaps between our solution and his assessment of the prospect's needs. It was a lead our outbound team worked hard to establish contact with, set up an initial needs analysis conversation (which went well), completed a first demonstration (which also went quite well), which led into the third conversation (where the perceived gaps were identified).

We've all been there - energy invested and a feeling that this one will slip away or waste your time. Bob was tempted to "slow fade" on this prospect. After all, why continue to engage a lead which is unlikely to materialize in the near future? Save time and avoid a potentially awkward conversation, right?

We train all our teams to avoid this temptation - the sales equivalent of a failure of the last mile. We asked him not to drop it and to follow through instead. This follow-through, integrity, and customer focus are critical pillars of a true sales professional. In this case, "slow fading" would have compromised Bob's integrity and wasted a valuable opportunity to establish himself and the company as an advocate for their success.

What can Bob do instead?

Pause, analyse, and prepare

Define the gaps.

Take a few minutes to gather your thoughts and write things down. Can any of the gaps be resolved through process? Are they critical to the customer's business operations or create a major inconvenience? Attempt to objectively identify this for each point. Asking a colleague for perspective can also do wonders.

Review information on upcoming releases.

This is an easy step and an easy one to overlook. Will any of these gaps be addressed in the near term?

Determine if the overall value proposition is still intact.

Your solution may be the best at solving just one of your customer's many challenges. It will not matter if the problem you solve well is one the customer most cares about solving. Evaluate the whole picture.

Don't assume.

The gaps you perceive as critical may not critical to the customer. Even strongly expressed positions in the discovery phase could quickly shift to optional requirements later in the sales process. Do not assume and do not give up early in the process. Have the next conversation.

Have the conversation and leave the door open

Treat the time your potential (and existing) customers allocate to you as a gift. Make it about them. Consider approaching the next conversation like so.

Recap and confirm the full context and the value proposition.

Set the context first and establish a firm foundation. How you discuss and present he gaps will depend on whether or your understanding of the entire picture is congruent with your prospect's.

Present the perceived gaps and leave the door open.

If the value proposition is strong, lightly share the gaps you identified in the spirit of transparency and partnership. Anchor in the overall value proposition and present alternatives (process solutions, partners, etc) to engage in constructive dialogue will the prospect. Intelligent prospects will, undoubtedly, identify relevant gaps during the sales process themselves. You have nothing to lose and you'll find both the honesty and thought to be appreciated. Leading with this information enables you to set the table, control the message, and establish trust. Failure to do so, will force you to explain yourself or, if left undiscovered in the sales process, set the customer and your company up for an unfortunate implementation or customer success experience. Set the message and the expectations early.

If the value proposition fell apart, addressing the gaps proactively will not lead to a sale now, but will establish your credibility. Build on that by offering to help the customer in other ways, stay in touch, and ask for the opportunity to come back when the solution is ready for their needs. If Bob were to slow fade on the prospect instead of this conversation, re-establishing contact and trust would take dramatically longer or may not be possible in the future.

Have any of you had a similar experience? Have you approached differently?