Handling objections is a daily task for sales people, but what about when the customer expresses no objection, they just tell you “not now.” That’s a stalled deal, and many pipelines are full of them. Sales managers have two problems with stalled deals:
- The longer they sit there, the higher the cost of the opportunity to the business.
- The longer they sit there, the greater the chances the client will spend elsewhere.
How do you recognize a stalled deal? The client says something like:
- I want to do this, but it’s going to have to wait until (plug in date here)
- I like you guys and this product is great but we’re happy where we are.
- This is great, but you’ll have to do better on the price.
In all these, what the customer is really saying is: “I’m trying to be polite here, but I don’t believe what you’re saying enough to do anything about it.”
I’m reading a great book by Carl Moe: Sales Revenue System 2.0 – Your CRO B2B Success Model. In it, Carl helps describe stalled deals for us by comparing them to the plight of explorer Christopher Columbus. Columbus faced what Carl calls “the Flat World Stall.” Naysayers of the day believed the world to be flat, and that any investment in Columbus’ journey would result in lost revenue as he sailed off its edge into the abyss, never to be seen again.
If Chris was like most sales organizations today, he would have come back with how robust his ships were or how professional and results-oriented his crew was. Instead, he told naysayers that indeed the world is not flat, it is round. Because it is round, we can now achieve what was previously unachievable – and that made all the difference.
What does this mean to sales people?
Until you can demonstrate a new reality and explain it to customers in a way that they can see how it changes the game, they will continue to say, in various ways “not now.” Eventually, “not now” becomes “not ever” because someone like Chris comes along and shows them a new reality that compels them to spend, leaving no budget for your someday solution. This is a concept Carl calls differentiated value. It is the unique story you tell that dramatically impacts buyer motivation because it is compelling, aligned and you are the only one saying it.
Thanks Carl for this great illustration of the power of differentiated value on client motivation. What about my readers? Do you have other stories to describe how to get stalled deals out of the funnel and back on the table?
Facebook
LinkedIn
Quora
Skype
Focus Expert Network
Twitter
Google
StumbleUpon
FourSquare
Flickr
Delicious
Email
Don-
Great post. When it comes to stalled deals, I have found that most of the time that I have played into the buyer’s game. Once you present a price/solution etc to them, you have given them the ability to run and hide while they shop that idea looking for a better price or solution. If you set up a “contract” early on where the buyer can say NO you are limiting their ability to run and hide. You have to create a clear future for both parties.
Even then, I still run into it. That is when I know I have given all the power to the buyer. I know what I want to do to keep the power equal, but I have not perfected it yet.
Jim
Good point. Unfortunately many of us are facing commoditization of our offerings to the point where if all the client is looking for is a widget, they have gads to choose from, it’s just a question of which is the “best buy.” Clearly value differentiation can be the white knight in many cases, but executing on that idea can be a challenge. I’m interested in hearing more about your idea of a contract to say no. If you mean a continuing dialogue that has as it’s goal mutual benefit and ongoing relationship regardless of transactions, I can see how that would be ideal. Even if the deal is lost somehow, you have the why and how to learn from for next time.
Hey Don,
Another great post. Having been in both sales and marketing, I have seen this scenario more times than I can count. In sales, we talk much of the relationship, but I think the genesis of any solid relationship is often the responsibility of the marketing team. If a company has a good lead nurturing program in place, the scored prospects that are “turned over” to sales are going to be much more informed and thus qualified for closing. It is the job of the marketer to be sure the prospect has all the information needed, so they can make the decision (yes OR no) when the time comes. If it is yes, then great…but, if it is no, then the prospect needs to go back into the nurturing program until they are ready for sales. It’s a constant cycle and one that most companies have yet to perfect. If nurturing and lead gen is left up to the marketing team and the salesperson is well-skilled in the art of the close, then both have a valuable place in the process.
John
You’re right. I haven’t even looked at marketing’s role in all this. I wonder how many businesses have a well defined turning point where a lead goes from actively being pursued to nurturing for future activity. What would that look like? Is lead nurturing the same for every “not now” or are there different degrees of interest to be addressed with one particular emphasis or another in order to rekindle interest?
Don, these are questions that help me decide on what to do when a sale is stalled:
When and why did “not now” come up? Was the customer qualified? Did this happen on the first meeting or third meeting?
What stage is the sales process in? Has a proposal or quote been given?
Who is the person stalling, are they a decision-maker, etc?
There are many variables that it sounds like a puzzle, and it is. A stall can be a blessing to fish and cut bait or it could be a well disguised, flat out no.
But, we need to know what to do when a sales is stalled for as many situations as possible and there are some very good ideas here.
Gary
Safe to say good questions are the root of good solutions to any problem right? Along with the idea of demonstrating a new reality and explain it to customers in a way that they can see how it changes the game, it only makes sense to ensure that the new reality will be relevant, aligned and simple to understand.
This, no doubt is where discernment, listening skills, strong engagement would all be invaluable too I suspect.
Thanks for chiming in!
Pingback: Content Marketing Strategy: No More Solutioning Please! Inspire Us Instead | B2B Sales & Marketing Blog - mindmulch.net