ZVRK

Enterprise Account Executive

Valued Contributor

Closed on Hold after 2 years

Absolutely gutted after this email I got yesterday.

For a bit of context: this is a client I've been working on since the end of 2021. we`ve been through all the hoops several times: discoveries, demos, technical demos, InfoSec meetings, design workshops, legal/contract back and forth... this was about to close end of June.

Then, I get a meeting request from my champion and get blindsided by an explanation that there are company-wide budget cuts, including the department I`m selling into (IT), and that they`ll have to go for the budget again for next year. The email from above is just sent for the record and it was much longer, I got the news via MS Teams...

While I`m just venting here I guess, I`d also like to ask you savages, what is it that we need to do to avoid "surprises" like these?

Do we need to qualify prospect out, and "go for the no" more often, so at the end we`re not left hanging with a false positive?

Also, are you also getting more deals being cancelled because of budget lately?

✍️ Sales advice

9

13 comments

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Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

8

Director Sales and Market Development

Budgets are tight everywhere, where you dont see the mass layoffs you see the spending freezes. Your "champion" was a really good coach, but didnt have the buying power. How to test your coach into a champion is getting you in front of the person that told him next year

CuriousFox

WR Officer

4

🦊

Also wtf is up with that font 👀

Filth

Politicker

4

Live Filthy or Die Clean

I had a similar gut punch happened last quarter. I followed up to understand why the postponement (it was my quarter nut easy). Made sure there wasn't anything we could do to change that and then offered us for anything they may need in the meantime (there wasn't TY but we just aren't moving forward at this time, etc). 2 months later, another vendor of theirs was dropping the ball and we are in proving our ability to clean up messes and win this new project while still having the initial one waiting for next year.

Ask the right questions to the right people and do the right things and good things end up happening.

HVACexpert

Politicker

4

sales engineer

Not sure there was much you could do. Budgets change, even if you were in front of the right person the duration might not be different. Sucks man.

Yeah a lot of people and projects are having a hard time finding money to get things moving.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

Similar trend for our product lines, it’s common that either the plans are deprioritized, delayed, killed. Opp size shrinking, more ghosting, no positive response etc etc. I am with you 😅

ZVRK

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

pray for 2024 to make up all the losses I guess

😅

oldcloser

Arsonist

2

💀

I don’t think my own personal recent war stories will be helpful. But, yes, I’ve got one similar. I don’t think it’s reasonable to give you a “shoulda done this” reply. There’s an endless number of deals that did happen with less than you had here.

…just blows

Justatitle

Big Shot

2

Account Executive

There are times where you just have to accept that despite best efforts and running a clinic on sales things like this will happen. Unless you were talking to the c-suite that decided the week prior that no budgets were going to be approved there is literally nothing you could have done. Ultimately it's why you need to have 4-5x your pipeline in sales because this happens.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I'll observe a moment of silence for the passing of your deal.

Unfortunately this happens. Even when you are at the C-level, this can happen. If you are going back through everything you did during the sales cycle and you cannot find any holes in your process or connections, you may chalk this up to "sometimes things happen".

ZVRK

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Seems like this was the exact same case here.. things happen..

Sunbunny31

Politicker

0

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

In which case they may be back when they’ve got their $&@! together.

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I had 2 in '22 happen to me like that. We went down the path, did everything and then suddenly their budgets got whacked.

Lesson learned for ME..... be engaged at the highest level possible. In both those accounts I was not engaged at V/C level and I feel that if I was, those Execs would have had more feelings of ownership and less likely to be cancelled.

Maximas

Tycoon

0

Senior Sales Executive

For the budget as a rejection reason Yeah, most of us get it all the time and not currently in particular!
And sure, I believe that you should only qualify who deserves to be qualified based on solid criteria you set to yourself that have to be met, so that you won't get as many cases as this one you just shared!

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