punishedlad

🧙‍♂️

How do you get past a stalled out contract stage?

I've been working with a prospect for the last four months, two of which he's had a contract on his desk. He's said over and over that they are going to work with us, we even have a kickoff call scheduled. Thing is... I gave him special pricing that was set to expire in August. When he didn't sign in August, I extended it until September.

I had a call with him on Wednesday last week where I really hammered home that the pricing in the contract was only for September. He understood and even went so far as to say that he has the contract pulled up in his email! Ended the Zoom fully expecting to have a signed contract by EoD.

It's now October 3rd and I haven't heard back from him, and will have to reissue the contract with updated terms. I'm concerned that if I turn it around with non-discounted pricing he'll back out of the deal. What would you do in this situation, savages?

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Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

Sales Rep

Do you have Docu-Sign or another provider that gives you a notification if someone opens it, if so are you getting notifications he is looking at it?

Is it a possiblity that the prospect is getting push back from Finance due to the economy now?

Before sending a quote with new non-discount or asking your leadership to approve another month of that pricing, I would try to figure those out

punishedlad

Tycoon

1

🧙‍♂️

Yeah, we use Docu-Sign. And he wasn't kidding when he said that he had it pulled up last Wednesday...

I can't imagine that the current economic factors are resulting in push back. I sell to public schools, which are pretty insulated from the real economy.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

Sales Rep

Then I would use @Tireless's advice and figure out who is the true decision maker. Is their a board meeting with a the school, and its their decision? I feel like your contact isnt the decision maker since 2 months is a long time, unless their is conversations about negotiating price, terms, or legal stuff

punishedlad

Tycoon

0

🧙‍♂️

It's the superintendent of the school, and he's already received board approval. By all means, I don't understand why he still hasn't signed.

Tireless

Contributor

1

CRO

Given all the effort you have put into it, you have earned the right to ask 'who's holding this up?'. It is obvious your contact isn't the decision maker. He owes you to get you connected to the decision maker..or stop wasting your time..this isn't closing...

punishedlad

Tycoon

0

🧙‍♂️

The thing is, he is the decision maker! He's already received board approval as well. It's the superintendent of the school district.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

1

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

It's not cool, to be honest. I really would be pissed, so I get it.

What you can do here is call the prospect up and you can ask candidly what the issue at hand is. Is this something to do with approvals at their side or what is it - and try explaining (again really calmly) that re-issuing contracts is an issue for you and obviously lengthens the probable implementation timeline.

Next, after you know the reason. Send the discounted price again, but make sure you tell them for sure that any delays on this 'might' mean reversal of discount. Make firm statements, not rude. Make sure you ask them for the favour of signing it up considering the efforts you have put in.

punishedlad

Tycoon

0

🧙‍♂️

I think this is the best piece of advice I've seen so far. Thanks for taking the time to type it all out. I'm going to give this a shot (although I've already kind of done a lot of this)

I met up with him in person at a conference a couple of weeks ago, and really thought that would be enough to get it across the finish line.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Something is holding this up. Is your contact the signer, or is he sending it to someone else?

I for sure wouldn't send over a new contract until they ask for it. And he's learned the the discount is now the new effective rate, so you don't really have that as leverage any longer.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

0

🦊

Yeah. The signer may have someone in their ear.

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

This is another example of why the “special price” move is always a bad idea.

Just issue the new one with the higher price. If they don’t sign, you havnt lost anything since it’s taken so long at this point. They may respect you for sticking to your guns and may sign anyway.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

0

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