farmtocity profile picture
farmtocity profile picture

farmtocity

SDR Manager

Opinionated
Member
Personal Narrative
+3

Is it good to tell prospect you want to close by the end of the month?

I'm getting pressure from my bosses to close a deal by end of October. This deal has been dragging on for months and I deal with the CTO but the CEO needs to sign who I've never met (and offered to set up meetings with). There is a 3rd person newer to the company now involved with evaluation who I need the CTO to sync with.


Is it a good idea to tell the CTO who I have good rapport that my goal is to get this deal closed by October 31st? That way he understands my timeline and urgency or should you never tell a prospect when you're looking to get a signature by? Is there a way to do it that is more effective?

👑 Sales Strategy
📈 Closing
☁️ Software Tech
21

20 comments

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SaaSguy
Tycoon
10
Account Executive
You need a critical event or compelling event on the BUYER side to make a deadline - otherwise, for them its an arbitrary date and you might only be able to lean on pricing adjustments or more favorable terms to get it closed.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
8
🦊
Be prepared to walk away from a deal. Buyers will own you otherwise.
jefe
Arsonist
5
🍁
Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...
oldcloser
Arsonist
4
💀
Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone.
...still on it from this morning.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
5
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
In the future, try to have some time constraints around any deal. Even if it's "I need to get approval for this discount; we need deals in (name the date). If I'm able to secure the discount, will you be able to execute by (date?). And then make sure there's an expiry on any proposal or contract, and remind them of same so they are tracking.
In this case, you can ask if it's possible to get the deal done by the end of the month, and if it is, you'll request (offer an incentive that matters to them and that you can get approved - is it additional capacity? A discount? Additional month on the system?). I've flat out told customers we need deals by a certain time frame and I'm incentivized to get them, and have asked what would provide sufficient internal leverage at their company to make it attractive.
And Fox is also correct. Sometimes customers flat out drag things out. If there is no compelling event or project, they have no real reason to move forward - so you can walk away.
oldcloser
Arsonist
5
💀
You've got to make it about their timeline. You've got to build in urgency from the start. The minute you start talking about how getting this deal done with a deadline helps you, you're in dangerous waters. Unless, of course, you're married to the prospects daughter. Then... go for it.
Revenue_Rambo
Politicker
4
Director, Revenue Enablement
You may want to get the deal done by the end of the month, but if they don't have a need to then you'll have to provide some sort of incentive.
Sometimes your relationship is good enough that you can simply ask for the favor. However, more times than not you'll need to provide some sort of discount, additional service, or other reason for them to move on your timeline.
3
Retired Sales Professional
All good (farmtocity) advice on this thread. Every goal needs to have a time stamp, it can't be left open because the prospect won't feel as though they need to be rushed. It's not a priority to them. Give yourself a time frame when you want to close, don't leave it up in the air; this way somewhere along your time frame, if you notice that things are not going the way you thought, you can like(Rambo) stated incentify the deal and you can close before management starts to pressure you into closing.
Pachacuti
Politicker
3
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
As others have said and you probably know, it really depends on your relationship with the person and their approval process.

Telling them that it would be great to wrap this up by the end of the month so that it doesn’t interfere with holidays and travel, etc. would be better than saying it will help you hit your quota.
NeanderthalToNerd
Valued Contributor
3
Account Manager
How does you closing the deal this month help the customer with their goals? Unless you have REALLY good rapport with them, they don’t give a shit about what you need. Figure out how it helps them get to their goals and present it that way.
Gasty
Notable Contributor
3
War Room Community Manager
Had the boss cracked this code, month-end meltdowns would be mere myths! FYI, I agree with you @NeanderthalToNerd
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
2
Sales Rep
Like all things, it depends

If you have a really good relationship with them, and they have named you Vender of Choice, then it might be good to have an honest conversation with them. Walk through what you did for them and the pressure you are under to get them to sign by 10/31

This can be a refreshing take compared to being pushy with constant emails and expiring discounts
Phillip_J_Fry
Opinionated
2
Director of Revenue
Just be honest with you customer and ask them if EOM is a realistic timeline.
"Hey, I know we've been working together for a while now on this project, and it would help me hit my number if we are able to get this finalized by EOM. Is there any way to make that happen? I'd be happy to send you a bottle of whiskey for your troubles."
Beans
Big Shot
2
Enterprise Account Executive
Absolutely you should set expectations on a decision.
2
Retired Sales Professional
I found this while wondering the halls of academia.
https://bravado.co/academy/negotiation-closing-sales
ventox35
Politicker
1
Sales Leader
gotta view it from the buyer's perspective. ask them questions that get them to make YOUR point without you saying it. also, set deadlines for signatures. that's fun too.
good questions to figure out how pressing the issue is for them:"Would you be ok without a new solution for the next few months?""Safe to say this isn't a priority for you right now?""Help me understand where you want to get to and how someone like me can get you there"
^
They'll DQ themselves or tell you the real timeline
GDO
Politicker
0
BDM
No create urgency so they need to close by then
TheHypnotist
Executive
0
Sales Manager
Your bosses don’t know what they are doing.
It reeks of desperation.
kittychachas
Valued Contributor
0
VP/Director of Sales
Start with when they want to implement and then walk them through the steps required to achieve that implementation date.

If they want to hit the ground running in January, how much lead time does your team need in advance? 2 weeks, 2 months?

Has the contract already been negotiated? If not - how quickly can their legal team review and approve? Who else needs to sign and how long will that take them?

What resources do you need from them to go live in January? How long will it take them to get that information to you?

As you start to work backwards with the customer on their go live date, it becomes much easier to determine the contract needs signing by date.

RCon
Fire Starter
0
Owner
It is always a good idea to get the buyer to meet your timeline, not theirs. But it has to be mutually beneficial. It can be a one way street. What can you offer as in incentive to get them to buy?

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It's 12pm, END OF MONTH and you have ONE deal that will get you to target

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What method would you use to get your Champion on the phone?
50 people voted
18
Members only

It's the end of the sales cycle (Oct 31) and a prospect is *this* close – do you EVER mention that as a way to urge the sale along?

Question
👑
📈
☁️
31
18

I just have to tell someone… For some perspective, our overall avg order size is about 12k and yesterday I closed a 130k deal and another 50k at my next appointment. I am excited as the year has been pretty tough in my market and big sales like this help remind me I am good at this! 👏

Question
😏 Bragworthy
19
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