You know that feeling when a promising deal suddenly goes cold? It’s not fun. You might hear a polite, “let’s circle back in the new year” or the prospect might tell you that they’re simply too busy to chat right now. Deals can stall for a variety of reasons, but they usually come back to 3 core issues.
A post on the Modern Sales Training blog says it’s never easy learning your deal isn’t a priority. But you’re not stuck. You can turn things around by creating urgency and shifting the deal from an afterthought to something worth acting on now. In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we highlight tips from the blog on reasons your deal may be stalling and what you can do about it.
Reason No. 1: You don’t have something they actually need. The post says this is the old need vs. want thought process. People buy things they need without thinking. They buy them out of survival, with survival being the keyword. Consider how your promo offering is crucial to the prospect in some way. The prospect is thinking about how working with you could contribute to their success down the road, even if it’s not necessary for survival. So, what do you do? Re-evaluate your proposal. The post says that’s probably where your problem lies.
Reason No. 2: They don’t want to give you bad news. Sometimes, a prospect decides to go with another promo company and they don’t know how to tell you. However, you can’t move forward with a new strategy unless you know what’s going on. People have different personality types, and those personality types don’t change just because they’re at work, the post says. For example, some people want to keep things friendly while others always look for ways to help. That’s why the post says it’s wise to make it easy to share the bad news.
Reason No. 3: They haven’t informed their manager. Deals will stall if your contact isn’t the decision-maker. Maybe the prospect has been simply researching promo companies and preparing a business case for their boss. In this situation, the post says you should ensure that your proposal is solid. This can build confidence and justify the solution so your prospect doesn’t need to develop it anymore before presenting it to the higher-ups.
The next time a deal seems to slow to a crawl, use it as an opportunity to assess your approach and readjust. It’s up to you to rebuild urgency so the sale moves forward as smoothly as possible.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: A blog post from Modern Sales Training.
