Hit the Road Jack: How do you decide it is time to move on from a prospect?

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals

~ Anonymous

Q:  What do you do when you’ve done everything in your power to win the sale and your buyer seems to all of sudden be stalling at actually making a decision? 

A:  You probably didn’t do your homework at the beginning of the process so now you have to do some backtracking.  Regardless, have the confidence to be direct and ask the customer what may be preventing them from making a decision to move forward today?  There could be several reasons for the stall:

1. Your contact is not as high in the organization as they led you to believe
2. Their role is the quote gathering when someone else makes the final decision
3. Who you are selling to is not able to make the final decision and, to save face, they don't want to tell you that

 Hesitation in itself should provide you with clues:

1.  Ask direct questions to uncover why they are hesitating;
2. Perhaps there is another proposal on the table and you are just there to reinforce that their decision is a good one
3. They have a current supplier and they just want to make sure they are being treated fairly
4. You may want to move on tactfully, while keeping the door open for when they are in the market.

If you are a true sales professional, you aren’t dividing and conquering.  You should remain realistic that some just aren’t ready to buy.  You have to determine why they aren’t ready to buy by asking the right questions.  Ultimately, there are questions most experienced sales pros know to ask  at the beginning of the sales process, rather than scrambling at the end when you forecasted as a done deal, or thought it was time to close.

Here are some suggested questions you should ask at the beginning of the sales cycle in the preliminary qualification stage in the sales process:

1.      When are they planning to buy?

2.      What are the steps in deciding how they will buy?

3.      Who is involved with the decision making?

4.      Do they have a specific budget in mind?

5.      Is there specific criteria to determine who/what they will buy from?

6.     Who do they currently buy from and why? 

7.    Is there a specific reason why they are in the market right now? 
8.    How will their business be impacted if they change from suppliers? 
9.    What business issues are they trying to solve? 
10.  Perfect case scenario, what do they really want?
11.  What will it take to earn their business?

Answers from all of the above responses provide clues to you on what the next steps are.  You may have simply overshot the close date or  too optimistic on timelines.  Customers drive the close, not sales reps, even less management who are trying to meet quotas.

If you have done your homework and feel that you completely satisfied the aforementioned questions then perhaps the stall is coming from left field.  You have then earned the right to ask direct questions or find out what you may not have addressed for them to make a decision today? 

Their response may give insight on how you decide to move on - either to the next step or period:

1.      Handle the obstacle that surfaces by asking the direct question,

2.      Ask what you can do to help address that obstacle

3.      Were you a benchmark against current supplier, or price comparison

4.      Decide to move on tactfully yet agree to keep in touch

I don’t want to kick you while you are already down.  Especially, if you’ve already told your partner to plan that big vacation based on the sale.  However, most sales pros sense when they are being stalled and can avoid last minute appearance of “buyer’s remorse” by asking direct questions up front at the earliest qualification stage.

Experienced sales pros also keep up a positive, professional image no matter how deflated they may feel or how much they counted on that particular sale.  They know, that by leaving a positive experience, they will be the very first person that will be contacted whenever the next opportunity comes along .... because they are optimistic realists that know they do.  They don't give up, they're tenacious, committed sales pros.  They will review every step in the process and ask themselves what questions they should have asked, what signs they ignored, how they can do better the next time.  Great sales pros distinguish themselves by knowing there is a next time and optimistic by how much they learned by avoiding the same mistakes.  Everyone makes mistakes, the best are the ones who review the mistakes and take tactical steps to avoid them the next time .... there is always a next time!