On a recent #livesaleslab, we talked about prospects who disappear, go dark, or stall. Show of hands, how many of us have had that happen?
Right. If you didn’t raise your hand, then you’re either new to sales- or can’t remember that far back. It happens to everyone.
You may not be able to prevent it from happening 100% of the time, but there are things you can do to make it happen less.
Keep a list
For every deal you have ever lost, or has disappeared, keep a dirty laundry list on why. This could be as easy as setting up your CRM to require a deal lost reason. But you have to be honest; you missed something, didn’t ask something, or something changed.
Give them an easy opening
People don’t like giving bad news. Bail them out by asking:
- “Did your <boss or board> say no?”
- “Did I miss something important?”
- “What changed?”
- “Did you current provider promise to fix everything at 20% less?”
That might sound like:
- What will you do if you <boss or board> says no?
- What might impact that timeline?
Before you do a bunch of running around, and put together a deal that isn’t real- find out what everyone’s compelling reason is to solve a problem or make a change. If you have multiple decision makers, you have to understand from each of them:
- Why it’s a problem
- Why it needs to be fixed
- What the solution needs to look like and
- When results need to happen by
How is your team adding value?
On this #livesaleslab, we found that in some instances, there are salespeople that are adding so much value to the process that they are going through, that they are actually able to charge for those meetings which greatly reduces the number of prospects that are going to go dark on you or that are going to disappear because there is skin in the game.
How are you or your teams adding that kind of value in the sales process? If your team isn't adding that level of value, there is something missing.
Let’s keep sharing!
What do you do when prospects go dark?
