RedLightning

Mid-Market AE

Realizing that the customer is the problem

I'm curious to see how people respond to this. I had a inbound lead come in for a relatively transactional service. He came to us and spoke to me about how bad our competitors were in a variety of ways. As the sales process continued, I started to think that he was the problem and it wasn't our competitors who dropped the ball.

How does your org handle these situations? Do you sign up the potential problem customer/high churn risk? Should the AE team put the AM team in a losing scenario like that? Do you outright tell the prospect that you don't want to do business with them (in a more tactful way)?

What do you do in those situations?

🐱 Off-Topic

👑 Sales Strategy

😳 Ethics

28 comments

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UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

It sounds like youre in a transactional biz with quick sales cycles which tells me you should close this shit all day every day. Figure out what he needs to succeed and make sure your AM is on board with that plan of attack.

The other piece is understanding what the break even point is for the business (if youre a small company where this matter, if its a huge public firm, fuck it close it and get whats yours). If you can hit that break even point without too much additional work/resources close it all day every day.

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

@UrAssIsSaaS sort of, we're a SaaS company with a transactional component.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Whats your breakeven, ie how long does he need to stay to make it worth it for the business?

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

transactional service has baked in margins. I've already mentally written this one off as maybe it'll come in out of the blue. I'll absolutely close this deal if it comes in. It's just a prospect that's all over the place stuff.

I made this post more to gauge everyone's reaction to this type of situation.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Gotcha, based on all of the rest of your commentary here, close that shit and move on haha

hh456

Celebrated Contributor

sales

Sell it. Let the AE handle it.

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

haha, I'll take the deal. There wouldn't be any clawback that I know of and it would be pre-paid.

hh456

Celebrated Contributor

sales

as my old boss used to say, 'throw it over the fence and walk away'.

I only advise this for transactional sales. who gives a shit.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

If you miss your number, does that get taken into account? My guess is no. Sell it.

mitts2

Politicker

Account Executive

What did the client do to lead you to believe he is the problem?

Also fwiw, this sounds more like a problem with your AM team than the customer? Dont let the AM team deter you from closing revenue.

Figure out what this guy cares about and why. Get to the root of his concerns, address them, and make sure when you close that shit the AM team has all that context to ensure they handle the client properly. Truly do the best you can to set up your AM team for success and if they drop the ball that's on them.

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

his concerns are wildly inconsistent and he is wildly inconsistent. He seems like he's trying to justify his business concept every time we speak.

He's the type of person who you will tell that something takes 3 days to do and that if he has a deadline in a week that he should do it now to make sure thye make it - but, he'll wait until the project deadline is in 12 hours and yell at you for fucking up because he's a "paying customer"

mitts2

Politicker

Account Executive

sounds like a lovely chap. Is there someone else you can talk to? a different stakeholder to loop in with a different perspective?

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

I dont think he needs to, he just sounds like a pain in the ass but thankfully as an AE you close that shit and let the AM handle whatever comes next.

You get paid upfront here and there are now clawbacks so as long as you dont make a habit of closing shitty high maintenance deals I think its a green light to close. Unless you are a really small company and its too much of a suck on resources. But in my role, at a public company, fuck it, im closing that all day long haha

FromaBlankPerspective

Politicker

District Manager

... I think I've sold this guy before...

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Either close the deal or make the decision to walk away.

FeedTheKids

Politicker

Solutions Consultant

When in doubt, close the deal

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Not sure what is meant here by "the problem". Could you clarify that part? That'll help, thanks!

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

He complained about competitors not meeting deadlines and how bad it was dealing with them in any kind of support interaction and after dealing with him on the sales end I've realized that this would be a nightmare account to manage.

He strikes me as the type of person to order a steak, eat it, and then complain that it wasn't cooked the way he wanted it and demand to speak to the owner for a refund. Whatever the male term for karen is

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Kyle. He's a Kyle.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Right, thanks for that info. It is also very possible that he had a horrible experience with a competitor. I've often met customers that were just pissed at their previous vendor and gave me a hard time when I first engaged with them, but through the process, they softened and I was able to both sell and create a working relationship with them.

My personal opinion here is dig deeper and either confirm this is just a customer you don't want, or a a customer that is actually reaching out for a better experience than he's had already. If he's bad news, you can always choose to walk away :)

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

You said this better than I did. 🤣

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Nah I just threw more words at it lol

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

What were his challenges with last few companies?

1. I will still sign him up but would learn more if he is looking for a montly sub or yearly.
2. I will dedicated very less time knowing the chances of him leaving is high3. I always highlight potential risks in my CRM so my CS can see

I did close an account (similar to this in non-Saas) and later on found this guy to be loyal to us. Sometimes bad experience make them more cautious and they assume we would be the same like we are assuming he is a problem maker.

RedLightning

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

He said they were poor on the support side and missed deadlines. Imagine you paid a legal service for X amount of certain documents - that's basically what he's doing.

Imagine if said legal document takes 3 days to process and has to be done on certain timelines. He's saying they missed the deadlines/timelines. Based on our conversations, he's wildly inconsistent with everything and it seems to me that he's asking for it to be done 12 hours before the deadline and blaming missing it on the company rather than his error.

FormerStartupJobHopper

Tycoon

You have a good heart but fuck that shit and get your commish. As long as you don't lie you're doing your job. Now if you have any account management responsibilities...that changes the calculus. You have to put a premium on your time and dealing with dickheads. But this seems fine, don't sweat it

WomenWantMeFishFearMe

Politicker

Sell it. Flag the AE on info to know about the leasd. Hit your numbers first, but make sure customer success is on board shortly thereafter

Biznasty

Opinionated

Lead Business Development Manager

"the customer is always right but the customer is not always bright"

Jewcan_Sam81

Politicker

Account Executive

As someone that was an account manager that moved over to direct sales, sell it and have the AM deal with it, not your problem