Handle Close Dates Like Plutonium

Sales forecasting, like nuclear power, can be a dangerous business.

When a customer provides you with a date --- “we will purchase by December 15th” --- please handle this statement with extreme care.

The worst thing you can do:  take the date at face value, and tell your sales manager it’s the date you expect to receive the PO.  

Whenever you think you have a date certain for receiving an order, don’t celebrate.  Instead, put on your skeptic’s hat and ask questions, such as:   

Who needs to approve this purchase?

What forms must be completed prior to purchase:  an NDA? a Master Services Agreement? a Statement of Work (SOW)?  A W-9 tax form?

Will we need to be processed as an approved vendor?  

Will the purchase be made through a channel partner?

Here’s an example.  Two years ago a large bank told us with complete conviction that their absolute can’t miss purchase deadline was December 15th.  After inquiring further, they insisted that by that date (within the next 30 days) they would review competing products, issue an RFP, get through a security audit, and issue a PO to the selected vendor.  Yes, they communicated that timeline with a straight face, as if they were telling us the sun would rise tomorrow.  

But to us, it defied the laws of physics.  And so it did.  By December 15th, they hadn’t even finished reviewing our solution, let alone issued an RFP.  Purchasing was not a gleam in anyone’s eye by that date (and the purchase didn’t happen for another three months).  

Why would a buyer issue an unrealistic timeline to a vendor?  Let me count those ways in a future post.  Meantime, when you hear a close date from a prospect, bring your questions to the table.

Who's Closing Who?

There’s nothing more sacred in sales than the idea of closing.

It’s the stuff movies are made of.

But it’s an old paradigm that has been fading for years.  

Do salespeople in the 21st century really “close” CIOs and IT Directors?  More likely, these buyers may or may not select your product, after a lengthy period of investigation, trial, and internal discussion among multiple stakeholders.

An articulate statement of the salesperson as “closer” appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 2012 and seems as old school as it gets:

"Dominance is gaining the willing obedience of the customer. The customer listens to your opinions and advice, internalizes your recommendations and agrees with them, and when you close the sales call follows your course of action. Your personality greatly influences the way in which you establish dominance during sales calls…

A salesperson’s goal is to gain dominance over a submissive customer.”

Submissive?  Today, buyers are just as intent on dominating the sale as salespeople.  Asking salespeople to engage in a fight for dominance sets them up to lose.  

It’s true that salespeople need the internal drive to steer a sale to a successful conclusion, and need to take the wheel when the ship seems off course.  When things are not working during a sales cycle, it’s critical to get to the bottom of things and figure out how to get the process moving forward again (or whether it’s time to move on).

Today, buyers see themselves as co-pilots at the very least.  It’s essential that 21st century salespeople learn how to navigate towards happy outcomes while sharing power with their prospects.

This may not be true in all situations.  There may be products and markets where there are few alternatives and buyers must bend to the will of salespeople in order to get what they have to have.  But with most technology products there are multiple vendors, the differentiators are thin, and, thus, the tables are turned.  

Most importantly, buyers of technology are often not just looking for a one-time purchase, they are looking for a relationship with a company they will need to engage with for years, who can improvise, customize, and demonstrate the ability for give and take.  

In this century, the most successful closers will likely be those who are better advisors, catalysts, orchestrators and negotiators than dominators.

Time is your enemy

Patience is a virtue, and it can help in sales.  

As long as you remember this: time is your enemy.

“Aren't you beginning to feel time gaining on you? It's like a predator. It's stalking you.”

Dr. Tolian Soran

The longer it takes to close an opportunity, the greater the chance you will encounter some kind of sales-killing alien.  The dreaded Reorg.  The Disappearance of your coach/champion.  The sudden Freeze on spending.  

Best to take coach John Wooden’s advice:  be quick (but don’t hurry).

Speeding The Sales Cycle - 4 Ideas

"Why can’t you close more deals?”

“Because our sales cycle is so long.”

“So what are you going to do about that?”

Here are four ideas:  

1- Limit pilots, trials and evaluations to 15 days

The length should match the complexity of your product, and the employee/revenue size of your prospects.  For example, major banks will need more than 30 days to test your complex on-premise solution.  But an SMB should be able to test your hosted mobile app in less than 30 days.   

2- Limit to 15 days with a 15 day extension

This is a good compromise if a prospect explains the need for a full 30 days.  You can ask for a day-14, calendared status conference, to ensure you get their feedback and supply any needed support before the 30 days expires.  If there are issues or concerns, you don’t want your first follow-up conversation to occur on day 30.

3-Conditional POs

For smaller prospects and lower-priced offerings, consider offering the opportunity to buy it now with a 30-day return privilege.  There won’t be anything to physically return in most situations, so effectively it means you won’t invoice them until day 31 (assuming they “accept” your solution).  It’s a way to address the perceived risk, while avoiding the added layer and documentation involved in pilots.

4-Success Criteria

For more complex solutions and larger ticket sales, you should know what specific functions are going to be tested, and what will be judged a success.  Otherwise, you may be asked for extensions to test “just one more thing.”  Make a detailed list and get their (digital) signature on it.  You won’t know where you’ve been, or where you’re going, without this kind of roadmap.

MASTERING THE CONVERSATION

Selling is fundamentally about conversations.

Sometimes they happen in emails.  Sometimes on the phone.  Sometimes face-to-face.

But it all comes down to this:  what words are you using, and how are you using them?

When I was a lawyer (now fully recovered), words were everything.  Lawyers are careful about words because they affect outcomes.

Same thing with sales.

Your first ten to fifteen seconds on the phone with a prospect are important.  Get the words right.

Your email’s subject line matters.  The content matters.  Before you compose your email, follow the advice of my tax law professor:  “Think it through.”

Mastering conversations also requires good timing.  Reply immediately, or at the end of the day?  

Think about the best venue for your conversation.  Just because you received an email doesn’t mean it’s the best forum for your next communication.  Perhaps you should advance to a phone conversation, or an on-site meeting.  

Read carefully.  Emails can be misleading.  Without gestures, tone, and pitch, you may not understand what a prospect is truly thinking.   I’ve sometimes mistaken curt language for anger.  One of my maxims:  when in doubt, pick up the phone.

Lead qualification is all about words.  

Sales:        “Do you have budget for this?”  

Prospect:   “Absolutely!”

That’s an example of a poor initial qualifying question yielding a vague answer.  Choose your words differently, and you can do a better job of qualifying.

THE #1 PROBLEM WITH COLD CALLS

Reports of the death of the cold call are greatly exaggerated.

I received two of them lately.   But neither were very good.

After decades of books and seminars and in-house training, why are salespeople still so bad at making cold calls?

The key problem:  the salesperson doesn’t explain why they are calling.

Most cold calls I get begin under the ruse of a survey, such as, “I’m just wondering what CRM tool you are using,” as if I might leap at the chance to disclose this to a total stranger.

The call I received today also began with a question, something about whether I managed a certain type of team.

Please:  just start by telling me your name, your company, and what you do.  

Feel free to complete your first sentence with a question.  But don’t hide the fact that this is a sales call.  

“Hi I’m Dave calling from Appcelotron, we help companies share large files, I apologize for barging in on your day but I wondered if you might be interested in a better way to share large files?”

That pitch takes all of 12 seconds to deliver in a moderately-paced voice.

Feel free to take out the apology, or add some spice to the value proposition, but don’t leave out the most important part:  who you are and why you are calling.

IS THE SALE LOST, OR ARE THEY JUST BUSY?

Many times you’ve done a great job during your first call with a prospect.  You’ve identified a real need, and they’ve agreed on a date and time for a second call.  

Then the prospect fails to show up.

So an email goes out, and a follow up phone call, in hopes of rescheduling.  This was a buyer, not a tire kicker in need of brochures.  Sending them a whitepaper at this point is, well, pointless.

What do you do?

a) Persistent patience.  

   There are all kinds of reasons for a no-show.  Illness.  Vacation.  Week-long trainings.  Sudden change in priorities (your prospect is in a large company and has finally found a window to solve a nagging problem, but now his boss comes in and closes that window, reassigning him to a different task).

   Try reaching out at different times, using different methods.  Check with his colleagues, at the same level on the org chart; below that level; or if necessary, above.  And if that feels uncomfortable, enlist your manager as a wingman for this task.

    

   After several failed attempts, I’ve sometimes sent an email with this subject line:  Are We Done?  It regularly gets some kind of a reply.  

  The goal here is not to keep up appearances by sending this person relevant content every week.   You need to find out why the agreed next step is not happening, and whether this opportunity really exists, and what the real timeline is.  

b) Re-check your qualification

   Even though the prospect agreed to call #2, it could be that their actual timeline is far different than you thought.  Their disappearing act could be a version of “the check’s in the mail.”   Rather than rejecting you directly, they found it easier to talk at length and schedule a meeting they viewed as optional.  

  In some cultures, this is a way of “saving face.”   For example, in Japan, you may never hear “no”; you will simply hear a lot of “yes” that does not materialize.   

 When people don’t show up, you may have identified a serious need, but no real timeline, i.e,. the buyer has no commitment to do something about the need near-term.

Sometimes buyers will tell you this in the first call.  Just be sure you are listening!  Don’t let a screaming need cloud your other senses.