RedLightning

Mid-Market AE

Valued Contributor

Politely asking a prospect to hold up their end

I'm building out a list of closed lost opps to re-engage with in a month or so.

I had a few that flaked out because the prospects didn't hold up their end of the equation. I'm good at sniffing those out and ending things rather than chasing, but the accounts are solid and I can win the deals at a future point.

When other's have re-engaged, what's a good way to basically say "are you actually going to do what you said you were going to do this time around?"

Edit: I don't think I was clear on what I'm asking for here, my bad.

I have closed lost opportunities that never came into fruition for a variety of reasons. For some, I was dealing with contacts who can influence but not make decisions. In a few of those, they had action items between calls that they consistently did not accomplish and I killed the deal because we were stuck on a treadmill.

When I inevitably try to re-open these deals, I will have to deal with those people unless they've moved onto new roles or to another company. When we get to a stage where they have an action item, I don't know the best way to say "are you actually going to follow through this time" without burning a bridge. How would you say that?

Edit 2: I understand I have to do more discovery when or if I re-open these opportunities and that I could have lost it by not probing deep enough. Having said that, what I'm looking for advice with is how to politely call out the prospect dropping the ball in the past. How do I ask "are you going to waste my time again by not doing XYZ at this stage again?" We will inevitably hit a stage where they have to do something between our calls and have shown a history of not doing it.

👑 Sales Strategy

11

23 comments

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hh456

Celebrated Contributor

7

sales

That's not bad.

"Hi Steve, Looks like this fell apart but you had committed to ACTION ITEM on July 14th. Do you want to continue with this or should I close this out?"

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

Straightforward and to the point. Not sure how you could make this any more clear.

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

0

Inside Sales

I like to build out collaboration plans with prospects - what steps need to be done by which date? Who will do what? Make sure there's no unexpected steps.

BillyHoyle

Tycoon

3

Senior Account Executive

My move is, "As a sales guy, my favorite answer to hear is yes. My second favorite answer is no. If at any point you are feeling less than lukewarm on this, please tell me."

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

3

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

The ol "Closing the File" email/phone call is the move. Straightforward and to the point as @CuriousFox said. You are DOING YOUR JOB. If they don't have the courtesy to communicate properly, then you escalate your assertiveness. Sales Is Dope, Never Ever Stop Selling

DataSlangah

Politicker

1

SAE

LOL - Closing the file. That works every time, 0% of the time.

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

0

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

Really? I have about a 60% reply rate and about 45% of those convert to Closed Won.

DataSlangah

Politicker

0

SAE

You have a 27% Closed won rate on "I am just closing your file?" When are you using that in the sales process? I would argue that those customers would have closed anyway had you simply re-engaged. No customer ever has been, "you know what, I wasn't going to buy, but since you were going to close my file, I will move forward."

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

2

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

Yes, that exactly what Im saying. And my CTF email is a bit more eloquent than that, but sure. Don't over complicate things, people are simple and often just need a nudge with urgency attached. At least, 27% of people do lol.

So, 45% of 60% of the time, it works every time.

DataSlangah

Politicker

1

SAE

Whatever works. That is great that you have that much success with that.

goose

Politicker

1

Sales Executive

"Have you given up on ...?"

RedLightning

Politicker

0

Mid-Market AE

I'm past that stage for these, this is opening them back up a month or so down the road because they likely have the same issues

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

0

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

@RedLightning so is this a product fit issue or a budget issue for these?

RedLightning

Politicker

0

Mid-Market AE

Timing on a lot of the closed lost ones, but specifically this is the prospect not doing what they said thye would do - loop in another contact, check on current contract timelines, etc - and the deal flaking.

Realistically, priorities shifted or pain wasn't deep enough for them to dedicate extra time outside of calls. If I re-open the deal cycle, I want to confirm that they're actually going to do what they say they will do between calls without being a dick about it

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

0

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

Deals are Won and Lost in the "Qualifying" stage. I might run back through some of those qualifying meetings in my mind (if I were you) to see what better questions you could have asked, were clear next steps established, and were you speaking with the end decision maker.

I'm sure you already do much of this, but this is where my mind would go. People hate saying no, so ask them a lay-up question where they can answer "yes". -> "It seems like priorities have shifted, does that sound right?" .... Its an easy question to answer for them and you get your direction on whether to keep or toss this opp.

RedLightning

Politicker

1

Mid-Market AE

I've tossed these. I'm going to see if there are win back potentials.

In that scenario, no I wasn't dealing with the end decision maker. I was dealing with people who could champion the deal and had potential to kill it but not approve or sign anything it.

However, they are still good accounts.

When I follow up and I we set steps that they have failed to follow through on in the past, I'm looking for a way to call out the past behavior in a professional manner to mostly save myself time but to also see if they will actually follow through this time.

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

0

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

So dealing with champions not decision makers?

You could pull a @GeneralCorp and CC the decision maker on a response email? Super passive-aggressive but tends to move the needle one way or the other.

RedLightning

Politicker

0

Mid-Market AE

That's a good move, but there's likely another vender in play in most of my deals and that can kill it. The influencer is often the person who would either use the platform or manage a team who does. Pissing means shooting myself in the foot.

Diablo

Politicker

1

Sr. AE

This is what I have done. Ask them if that item is still on their Radar and move ahead from there

goose

Politicker

0

Sales Executive

The problem is that it might still be on their radar (specifically if they need competitive info to drive down price with another option) but they might not be interested in moving forward with this person. If that's the case then this person needs to figure out how not to waste their time.

DataSlangah

Politicker

0

SAE

I would go back to your notes and find out what their pain/problem is and engage around that. You didn't dig deep enough to discover their true pain points or they have changed, in which case, you can start the discovery process over.

goose

Politicker

0

Sales Executive

Sales people shouldn't take a subservient role in any business relationship. If they do then they'll be relegated to the role that play. Your time and effort has value and if client's are unwilling or unable to uphold their end of the bargain then we need to understand what is going wrong and take corrective action. Professionalism and tact are always necessary but in my opinion it is totally fine to ask them to deliver on their commitments.

Covfefe4ClosersOnly

0

VP of Sales

I usually end every call with all the remaining steps and time needed for those steps. That way they realize that what I need in 2 days is only one part of a larger process, and if they delay that, they put their desired start date at risk. During stalls, I’m basically saying “if you still want this in place by x, I need to hear back”. And you have to be willing to walk away.

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