Growth Dynamics Get Down

Jody was driving away from her newly won account with that smirky smile of satisfaction on her face. She had walked her way through the process from the referral stage, onto discovery and fact finding, then qualification with a commitment to act one way or another, and finally the agreement to do business together.

She knew her self-satisfaction was a result of the actions she took only a few short weeks ago, after several nightmare appointments almost sent her to rock bottom. During those calls, she had been nervous about her lack of preparation and from not knowing where she was in her own sales cycle. All that should have been done did not get done because she kept telling herself she was "too busy" to spend the needed time on any one aspect of her business.

Ellen felt blah, like the world’s color had vanished and everything was stuck between black and white in some all gray tones of reality. After 12 long weeks of working from home and trying to force herself to keep fighting the fight, Ellen’s commitment sagged to its lowest point ever. The constant barrage of virtual meetings and remote access sales calls created a sense that the sales world no longer felt like the same place she was so excited about three long months ago. Was this it? Was post pandemic selling how people were actually going to be doing business? Was Ellen’s personal touch and ability to connect with her customers going to be limited to email, voice mail and ZOOM interactions? To Ellen it all looked like the world had turned Battleship Gray faster than she could believe, and no, she did not like that color at all.

Jerry never felt compelled to trust or rely on technology. In his opinion nothing beats getting out there and looking someone in the eye or at least picking up the phone and chatting live with a prospect or a customer. No one ever refused to do business with Jerry, and in many of his customers’ locations he had free rein to essentially come and go as he pleased. No way email could be that important as long as Jerry could walk in, pull up a chair and talk about personal “stuff” before staring his pitch. Jerry thought email and all this new “webinar” and virtual selling stuff was just more trouble than it was worth and never going to be as important as that face to face visit. Jerry stuck to his guns and even managed to get one of the inside team to transcribe his emails, so he was not forced to adopt that new-fangled irritation into his sales game. And then Covid-19 arrived, and Jerry was lost.

Erin looked at her monthly sales report and did not like what she saw. Despite working harder than she had all year, the numbers told Erin that she could forget about getting her quarterly bonus. It seemed like each quarter turned out the same; one month that Erin thought would carry her to a bonus and two months that fell short. The pattern was frustrating for Erin as she tried to figure a way to break into the top performer group in her office. It seemed like all the wins she posted in the one good month stole the time she needed to prospect for the other two months. Besides, how could anyone be expected to stop the customer service fire drills that popped up all the time? Erin was beginning to feel trapped.

Most of Mike's potential accounts seem to be unable to make a decision on their own regarding his service. They claim they have responsibility, listen to his presentation, but then let him know there are "others" who have final decision-making authority. He is frustrated by this situation and usually just makes his presentation, anyway, hoping for the best. As a result, his closing ratio is poor and his sales cycle is exceedingly long.

Cliff was surprised. He assured the customer how things would work out and, when the customer disagreed, he told him again. And again, and again. Then his manager got an angry phone call asking Cliff not be sent back into the account because the client didn't see any way for him to handle their account to their satisfaction. Cliff was indignant. Didn't the client understand that Cliff was the expert and knew best what the client really wanted and needed?

Alice was at her wit's end. After three months of hard work, moving step by step towards the final decision, the sales process was stuck. She had worked the system well but had failed to get either a “Yes” or a “No” while she was in front of the prospect. Now her calls were not being returned by the client. Alice had put too much work into the account to walk away, and she was smart enough to know that the selling isn't over until she says it's over. However, she was uncertain how to proceed if she couldn't find out what was going on behind the scenes at the account.