Comments on: Long Sales Cycles: How to Handle Prospects Who Won’t Agree to Move Forward

By: kimachi

kimachi — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

This kind of slick salesperson harrasment is more than likely to get people telling you to go fornicate in Austalia. Business people here have an aversion to such obvious leveraging techniques and it just kill organic growth and referalls in a business. If anyone want to apply these techniques better to sell insurance – a product without an on-going relationship.

By: aneitlich

aneitlich — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Kimachi,

Could you please specific about which of the above elements is "slick salesperson harrassment"? I agree with you that the last piece is risky. You definitely have to create urgency in a natural and appropriate way, not with language that comes across as slick or harrassment, and in rereading what I wrote I can see how that might be the impression left. (So I've written a replacement example in place of what I originally wrote.)

However, if by slick you mean confirming basics like budget, decision making, timeframes, and whether there is a compelling need -- then I'm not sure what to say. Those elements of the sales process are basic things that are applicable in all countries, so long as you ask about them in a natural, non-tacky way.

Please tell me you're not questioning those things....

By: jmdaviswa

jmdaviswa — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

There is nothing slick or manipulative here. Having an understanding of the budget and decision making process is fundamental to a business relationship. No one is suggesting that you be dishonest, just that you and the client have a mutual understanding of the decision making process. Building an on-going relationship with a client requires building mutual trust and respect. If the project is real and the client is unwilling to share the decision making process with you, you have not yet won their trust and have more work to do.

By: jmdaviswa

jmdaviswa — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

There is nothing slick or harrassing about this. This is basic stuff for a business relationship. Why should I invest my time with a client unless I understand the budget and the decision making process? If the client is unwilling to share these things with you then the client does not yet trust you and you have more work to do.

By: RockyShark

RockyShark — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah - I don't have a problem with this either (and I'm in Australia!)

And if they do tell you to get lost, at least you've got an answer!

By: jimbov

jimbov — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

It's all about the decision making process, which itself is vital to materializing your vision of the project and the strategy, set of objectives that keeps the (potential) project alive and kicking...

I can say with no doubt that both the article and the comments helped me a lot!
Thank you all!

By: John M

John M — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

First- Make sure you are dealing with the organ grinder and not the monkey. Second- Don’t tell the prospect (suspect) how clever you are and what you’ve done etc. they couldn’t care less. First you have to build trust. Do that by asking questions about their business and any problems (real and potential) they are experiencing. By keeping asking questions you will slowly build empathy and trust. No one will ever buy from someone they don’t trust. I always ask the suspect what their goals are for the website. It’s an excellent opener and gets them talking. Remember to ask open ended questions, not closed. In other words: don’t ask questions they can answer with a simple yes or no. Pay close attention to what they tell you because that will often provide you with the leverage to get further. Lots of head nodding and “Mmmmm’s”. Listen at least twice as much as talk. Never give ballpark figures or advice at this stage. Tell them you need to digest what they have told you and come back with a proposal. Ask what the timeframe is and make the next appointment right there and then. Again, make sure that there isn’t anyone else you need to talk with,like sales, design, accounting or whoever. Hey, it takes practice but you get perfect by the doing. When it works take note of how it got to the success stage. Equally when it doesn’t work track backwards and see where it went wrong. Hope this helps you out. It works well for me.

By: kimachi

kimachi — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Hi sorry for the delay.. Been working my booty off! :)

Look the way you write it reads like you are treating potential clients as binary in nature..i.e If they don't snap back to your satisfaction during the pre-sale period - your not sure if you want them as clients?

Well IMHO, by jumping straight to an ultimatum you will lose 60% of your future business.

The art of sales is outlined above in just 1 sentence - demonstrate your product/service to be saturated in value. That is it. In addition, be flexible and contactable. Anything else just makes you (me/us) seem like a P.I.T.A to a prospective client.

See all clients are either people, or groups of people - and they have something more important than you (us web services) until they do not.

Once you ARE the most important item on THIER agenda - you'll know. Don't be a pain in the ass to people. Most people don't like to be headed like cattle to their chequebook.

Try a big company or government.. Contingencies can arise and again, you are going to have to be flexible.