One of the most common challenges has to do with stalled opportunities. It seems you’ve done everything right. Your prospect has clearly explained his business and relevant personal issues. You’ve connected to those issues with a differentiated solution that only you can provide. You are working directly with the person who has the authority and ability to make the decision. You’ve agreed, in writing, to what each of you will do together to initiate a business relationship. The only thing missing: you haven’t yet been able to get them to sign on the dotted line.
If you are like most sales people, between 30% and 50% of the sales in your pipeline will result in no decision. In a tough market, one of the biggest productivity returns you can reap is to jump-start opportunities by identifying stalled decisions early in the sales cycle. Keep in mind, the problem isn’t that the sale stalls out. Typically, the problem is that dead-end opportunities are not recognized early enough. Therefore, you expend too much time and resources on opportunities that lead no where.
After reviewing thousands of stalled sales cycles and helping our clients jump-start the opportunities through the years, below are the five most common explanations for a sale in limbo.
- Lack of connection to a critical business issue. Unless you can connect your solution to increased revenue, time to market, cost management, improved quality, competitive differentiation or some other looming business issue, expect a stall. Senior executives focus the majority of time on items that directly impact the business. To uncover the business issues, ask the following three questions:
Why do you want this solution?
Why are these problems important to solve?
Why does that matter to you or any other executive?
- Lack of perceived value. Most people can only juggle five or six critical issues at a time. These issues are prioritized by their “value” – the benefit that results in solving the issue. If the value isn’t identified, an issue will quickly fall to the bottom of the priority list. Can your prospect articulate the “value” or impact of addressing their business issue? If your solution, from their perspective, doesn’t have enough value to rise to the top five or six issues, the opportunity will stall or be placed on the back burner. Ask the prospect to quantify the impact of resolving the business issue. Better yet, ask them how the solution will impact them personally.
- Lack of differentiation. A lack of differentiation gives the prospect a reason to spend more time evaluating, which translates into a stall. If you can’t differentiate on your capabilities and ability to solve problems, you will be forced to differentiate on price. That’s a no-man’s land you want to avoid.
- Lack of decision authority. Lack of decision authority is one of the most common causes for a stalled decision. The buying frenzy of the last decade basically eliminated the need to call on the real decision-makers for everyday purchases. Unfortunately, those days are over. To avoid a stall caused by lack of authority, ask your prospect key questions such as, “Have you made this type of decision before?” and “When and how?” Triangulate the information by asking these questions to multiple people in the organization in order to find out who really has the decision-making power in the organization.
- Too much perceived risk. Selecting a new vendor or a new solution presents risk to your prospect. Perceived risk may include lost time, money or career and reputation. As a prospect gets closer to making a decision, the risk becomes greater in their mind. Alleviate their risk by providing them with references, trial usage, iron-clad implementation plans, guarantees and/or your executive backing.
When your prospect gives you all the buying signals but nothing happens, quickly identify the likely cause of the stall. Then, craft a strategy to re-energize the sales cycle by focusing on the missing or underdeveloped component. Increase your sales productivity. Drop the dead-end opportunities and jump-start the real deals.
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