Symptoms:
Linda was frustrated by her prospect's unwillingness to make a decision. Her prospect said he needed some time to digest the three options outlined in her proposal before making a decision. The prospect added that he was pleased with the proposal and that she had done her job well. Now she found herself in the "chase" mode because the prospect wasn't returning her calls.
Diagnosis:
Linda is in "desperate salesperson" mode. Desperation comes from a thin pipeline and failure to put in the heavy lifting of helping her prospect understand exactly what they wanted during the discovery stage. To offset from that mistake, she gives a lot of options in hopes that the prospect will find something to buy.
With three options to consider, it was now necessary for the prospect to do an "analysis" of the options. This analysis became an intellectual activity, weighing the pros and cons, and checking the cost/benefit ratios which led the buyer to wonder if he needed more information and whether he had the best price. He began to think about checking with other vendors and the emotion of the entire buying process broke down. What got lost in all this intellectual activity was the emotional reason why he wanted to make the purchase in the first place.
Prescription:
People buy emotionally, and simply justify their purchasing decisions intellectually. This sales rep, in her attempt to be responsive to the prospect, had lost the emotional leverage that she had initially developed and then succumbed to the notion that she had to respond to every request from the client. After spending a bunch of time trying to do the "right" thing, she ended up giving this prospect too much to think about. She should have discovered why the prospect was asking for other options and discussed them thoroughly enough to narrow it down while she was on the call. Then she could have easily asked for a "yes" or "no" after sending the proposal.
The bottom line is this: see or talk to a lot of people, don't give your prospects too many options, qualify more effectively and stay in control of the process.
Be stronger than your prospects when it comes to decision making.
Critical Thinking:
Right now, the problem might not be too many options but too much uncertainty. Yet, what you do now will help prime your pipeline for later. How do you plan on making connections and collecting any decision or sale of the moment with your clients and prospects?
The Drill:
Final Thought for the Morning:
“When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.” ~ Roy Disney
“The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions.” ~ Mike Krzyzewski
THIS WEEK:
Please share your Top 3 Goals for this week and the GD tactics you plan to deploy.
