Getting Critical Dates from
prospects is very often neglected, but is surprisingly significant… There
are typically three reasons why a sales opportunity goes to “No Decision”:
- Customer agrees there is
a problem, but doesn’t perceive it as Critical
- Customer doesn’t see the
Value
- There is no Critical
Date by when a solution needs to be in place (from the customer’s
viewpoint)
Let’s look at number 3…
Far too often, customers just can’t seem to “pull the trigger” and make the
purchase. Let’s explore…
We ask, “Isn’t the problem
important for you to solve?” Customer responds, “Oh yes…!”
We ask and note, “Don’t you
see the value – and that you are losing more and more of that value every
day…” Customer sighs and says, “Oh yes, the value is terrific – and I hate
losing that value every day…!”
We then ask, “Then what is
holding you back from making the purchase?” Customer responds, “I don’t
know…!”
They agree the problem is
huge, they see the value, but they just can’t take that one additional step to
make the purchase. Why? People are willing to live with the hell
that they know – forever – unless they have a Critical Date or Event that
forces them to make the change and implement. (Anyone ever procrastinate
writing a college or university paper until juuuuuuust before the deadline?)
Sadly, most sales teams think
in terms of their own quarter-ends as the “Critical Date” – and it is a
Critical Date, but for the sales team, not the customer!
During Discovery, ask if the
customer has a date by when they need to have a solution in place (and
why). Here are a few Critical Dates and Events could serve as examples
for discussion:
- Any major changes in
your business expected in the near future – acquisitions, divestitures,
new building, a move, reorganization or major new hires or retires?
- Any compliance or
regulatory events on the near horizon – audits, compliance reports, new
regulations going into place?
- End of life or end of
support for existing software or equipment?
- End of your fiscal year
or quarter?
- Does your budget go away
if not spent by a date?
- Project deadline?
- New project expected?
- Kickoff or quarterly
meeting?
- Selling season(s) –
e.g., Summer Holidays, Halloween, Winter Holidays?
- Tax season?
- Board meeting?
Critical Dates can be hard to
get if you haven’t made it a habit in your Discovery conversations…
When speaking with my
prospects for Great Demo! Workshops, once a customer sounds like he/she is
seriously interested in a session, I’ll ask something like, “Do you have any
plans to have the team together in the next few months – for example, for a
sales kickoff meeting, quarterly inquisition, or similar event?” This
helps to precipitate the customer’s thinking about when specifically to
schedule a session. I’ll note that “other customers in similar situations
added a day or two to their meeting plan – which saved them substantial travel
costs, since the flights would already have been in the plan for the original
meeting…”
Based on the nature of your
customer’s business, you might suggest a few of these and see if there is a
reaction. What you’d like to hear would be, “Oh yeah – I hadn’t
thought of this in terms of BLANK – great suggestion!” At which point
you’d gently (but firmly) pursue it…
Any other suggestions?
