Best way to deal with hesitant decision makers , any ideas..?
Maximas
Hesitant Customers
10
More discovery and directly calling out pain and how your widget will solve it. It can feel awkward but literally say you (your team) said xxx was (wasnโt) happening and that was leading to xxx awful business issue (turnover, lost revenue, excess expenses, whatever) is that not the case? How will you solve these issues if you donโt make a move? Blah blah blah.
Great advice!
Super important to set the timeline and have them agree which if they become hesitant you can walk through the timeline and ask what changed
Super important to set the timeline and have them agree which if they become hesitant you can walk through the timeline and ask what changed
Value. Why you why your product and why now.
Too broad question - is the champion / decision maker the same, which part of your sales process you face this problem - prospecting, Poc, negotiating?
Negotiating..
Great. How do you do to discover why they are hesitant - is it the product fit issue, price, terms, support, implementation delay โฆ. and the list goes on
I would always try to break things to find the real problem. Once identified, plan of action is determined
I would always try to break things to find the real problem. Once identified, plan of action is determined
Exactly. Sometimes it's as simple as asking what's holding them back.
If you're in the negotiating stage then there are two things that are happening. There's either an issue at the organizational level that you haven't uncovered or there's an issue at the individual level that you haven't uncovered. One of these "reasons/needs" is causing the resistance. Also, one thing I've learned in my career is don't assume that your customer knows "how to buy" from you. Depending on the audience, they might have no idea how to navigate the deal internally.
I find that creating best case timelines with key dates and working your way from contract execution to project completion or go live date helps a ton. Did this on a call today (1 ppt slide) and finally closes a hesitating prospect.
Deals are made in disco. Hopefully it's ongoing throughout the process.
Disco inferno, baby! Find their groove and keep your thumb on the pulse.
Also, casual mention of Gap selling, etc.
Also, casual mention of Gap selling, etc.
Recently had a situation where my champion was laid off, and she and I became friends and were able to debrief after. She REALLY loved my product, but there was another person on her team that was hesitant and I asked what I could have done
She told me that being able to read people in sales is key, and so I've gotten the first step down. The next would be to actually address it and show them you are reading them. Call out the elephant in the room.
"Hey Person, you seem a bit hesitant about this. Can you talk to me about what's going on and how you're thinking about this?"
She told me that being able to read people in sales is key, and so I've gotten the first step down. The next would be to actually address it and show them you are reading them. Call out the elephant in the room.
"Hey Person, you seem a bit hesitant about this. Can you talk to me about what's going on and how you're thinking about this?"
Great question!
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