Sometimes you don't feel like you are hearing the right things from a prospect. It could be a spider sense tingling you get. You just don't think you are getting through to them, like you normally would.
This article at entrepreneur magazine goes through several important ways to tell if you are losing a deal, and how you might still save it:
How to tell if you are losing a deal and how to save it!
This article at entrepreneur magazine goes through several important ways to tell if you are losing a deal, and how you might still save it:
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| Entrepreneur magazine |
It reminds me of a deal where we had a great first meeting with a customer, and everything was swimming along nicely. They had seen our Ts & Cs, priced up the deal, and then we heard nothing for a week. No one was on holiday. The sales guy couldn't get hold of anyone at their company.
He asked me if I could chase down the technical guy and find out what was happening. I had to be subtle though - the direct question would just make me seem like another sales guy. So I offered up some additional white papers, then a technical session, and a architecture/implementation session. Finally he told me that they were talking with one of our competitors - one we knew well - and knew what wouldn't work for them in this situation. They weren't even going to do a Proof of Concept (POC) with them - so I just suggested that one of their technical environment components would be a challenge for that vendor. I didn't have to do anything else - this was the catalyst for a full POC of that technology, and a chance for us to come in and revitalize our proposal, deal and get closer to the customer.
It all turned out well, and the sales guy was very thankful. Sometimes it is easier for an engineer to get closer to the customer.
He asked me if I could chase down the technical guy and find out what was happening. I had to be subtle though - the direct question would just make me seem like another sales guy. So I offered up some additional white papers, then a technical session, and a architecture/implementation session. Finally he told me that they were talking with one of our competitors - one we knew well - and knew what wouldn't work for them in this situation. They weren't even going to do a Proof of Concept (POC) with them - so I just suggested that one of their technical environment components would be a challenge for that vendor. I didn't have to do anything else - this was the catalyst for a full POC of that technology, and a chance for us to come in and revitalize our proposal, deal and get closer to the customer.
It all turned out well, and the sales guy was very thankful. Sometimes it is easier for an engineer to get closer to the customer.