When to call it quits?

I think there is an important lesson that we can all take from the political world. This is not a statement on which party should have won or the election itself but as to how you handle a disappointing outcome. Sales representatives, for the most part, are an optimistic group. All sales representatives are sure when a prospect says they will order next month, a purchase order will be submitted. And they add it to their pipeline and will assure their manager that it is coming. Even as the Sales Manager points out that we have been waiting for this PO for months. Perhaps that is the easiest way to deal with the pressures of a quota. So, how do you know when to give up? How do you know when to move on?

Customers and prospects will give hints as to their intentions throughout the process. But is the account representative listening for it or listening for what they want to hear. Everyone likes to avoid a conflict or disappointing someone. It is easier for the customer to stall the rep and become non-responsive afterwards. They hope the account representative will take the hint and move on. There are so many problems with this scenario, but it plays out the same everyday across the country.

 We talk all the time in our office to listen to the words the customer is saying. We talk timelines and hold the customer accountable just as they hold us accountable. Before we get off the phone, we always have a next step scheduled. But is that enough? Of course not. Just because we have an appointment on the calendar to review quotes or samples, does not mean the customer will honor the schedule. How many times do you call at the appointed time only to get a voicemail? 

So, how do you handle actual rejection or rejection by disappearance? Most politicians watch the public polls and private polls done by research agencies. Wouldn’t it be great if we knew before we tried to close whether we were going to win the business? I suppose understanding what a poll is would be the first step. Polls are the end of litany of questions that people provide. Pollsters are paid to listen to people and interpret their responses. Why can’t we do the same thing? 

In our world, we have certain gates in our pipeline that all prospects must past through. How well a account representative does at each of these gates will determine how well we can anticipate the outcome. At each stage, do we poll the prospect? In our needs analysis stage, it can be referred to by many names, we seek to qualify the prospect. Why? Of course, we want to know if this is a company worth our time to move forward as a sale. But is this a one-sided conversation where we are asking all the questions? How often do we give the prospect a chance to qualify us? Are we the right fit for them? This is our first opportunity to listen to the polls. Are we afraid to listen to the answer? If you know the strengths of your company, you know what you do best, and it is not for everyone.  

Once we have passed that stage, we send a sample. We always make an appointment to review the sample before it is sent. Blindly sending anything seems to allow the customer to interpret and jump to answers without your input. And before we start the review, we confirm everything we learned in needs analysis. Are we still right for you (poll #2)? Assuming the answer is yes, we proceed with the review. Everyone asks if it meets your needs or did you like it or something just generic enough to get a positive answer. Traditionally, salespeople are always taught to get agreement from the customer but is agreement better than an honest answer? We teach to ask, what did you like about the sample? It forces the customer to pick something specific. But the better question is the follow up “if you could, what would you change?” This is another opportunity for the customer to give you honest feedback (poll #3). If the list is too long, you know you do not have the sale.

Whichever stage you are working on, before you move to the next one, we always ask questions to ensure that the customer is actively engaged. From the first meeting, we tell the customer that while we work with many companies from start-ups to global brands, we are not a perfect fit for everyone. And just because I believe that we are the best does not necessarily mean the customer will agree. Admittedly, I am completely biased. It is the continued polling that will help you to move the sale forward, but the poll must make it clear they have a choice to say no. Part of the complaints in the recent political world was that the polling was flawed. Asking the proper questions and allowing the customer to give the honest answer will save so much time in the end. After an apparent decision is made, it is very difficult to get anyone to reverse their opinion.